Gap Analysis: Global Communications
Global Communications is a company that was losing value and competitiveness in the marketplace. In an attempt to save itself the management team has devised a plan to cut operating costs by 40% and to increase product offerings to its customers. This plan involved outsourcing some of the call center labor to India and Ireland. The employees whom were to be outsourced were members of the Technologies Workers Union. When confronted with the plan to outsource labor the union was vehemently opposed to the plan which instigated the conflict between the union and the Global Communications management team.
There were a number of things that could have been done to minimize the impact of the new strategy plan such as maintaining better communication, managing risk, planning for contingencies, and being more skilled at conflict negotiation. It is also noted that the difference in ideology between the two parties made it very difficult to find an amicable solution which benefited both parties equally.
Situation Analysis
Issue and Opportunity Identification
When putting together the new strategy plan the Global Communications management team did not analyze the complete situation and failed to account for major areas of concern.
Strategy depends on numerous analytical factors and some of these present challenges to planners. This essay will identify some of these challenges that strategists encountered during WWII. Moreover, it will present strategy as a fluid process requiring refinement throughout.
The case study of GMFC provides an example of a company attempting to avoid unionization of its workers. GMFC is expanding by building a new U.S. plant which will manufacture motorized recreational equipment. The company plans to hire about 500 production workers to assemble mechanical components, fabricate fiberglass body parts, and assemble the final products. In order to avoid the expected union campaign by the United Automobile Workers (UAW) to organize its workers, GMFC must implement specific strategies to keep the new plant union-free. GMFC’s planning committee offers suggestions with regards to the plant’s size, location, staffing, wages and benefits, and other employee relations issues in order to defend the company against the negative effects of unionization and increase...
The first common theme is the importance of clear strategic intent and big picture thinking in negotiations. Before taking the Negotiation Behaviour unit, I always perceived negotiation as a fixed-pie, a zero-sum gain situation, where one party wins and the other party loses. This belief has often led me to a competitive behaviour in negotiation by trading the big picture thinking with the need to win, getting too detailed too quickly, leading to a positional approach instead of having a broad goal and explore for ways around problems to create value and get the best outcome.
I believe that the union and management did not fulfill their objectives and consequently reached a settlement that did not improve Zinnia’s future competitiveness in the market. Although the union and management initially agreed to focus on wages and health insurance, they bargained a contract that does not reflect their objectiv...
Design is a focused inquiry that enables the commander and staff to make sense of a complex situation, capture that understanding,17 and share the resulting cognitive map. Commanders use design to frame the environment, identify conditions contrary to US national interests, and describe the tensions resident in potential future conditions that describe a problem we must solve or manage. From that understanding of the environment, a critical analysis of the problem compared to the desired outcome based on projected future conditions occurs. The products of environmental and problem framing lead to the development of potential solutions. The design method is iterative, relies upon constant inquiry, and is inherently non-linear. Systems thinking and discourse based upon learning and assessments enable design and continue throughout planning and execution.18 For example, in Kosovo the desired political solution (essentially a Serbian-free Kosovo province) was developed in isolation from the realities of the environment. The strategic end state failed to consider the existing conditions, the potential actors, the tendencies within the environment, internal and external relationships, the patterns of resistance, as well as the opposition to or support of any proposed solutions. The 78-day bombing
The management team was sceptical with regards to the project metrics and did not pay enough attention to the data.
- The Group was too far away from the BU and markets to appreciate the complex strategy issues
Many theorists (Lynch, 2003, Mintzberg, 1990, Ansoff, 1991) will argue that the two main schools of strategic planning are the prescriptive, also known as intended, and emergent approaches. Both are debated widely about which is the better approach; recognised best by Idenburg (1993). Prescriptive strategies focus on planning; where predictions of the future are made, leading to long term decisions where the main elements of the strategy have been specially planned before being commenced and as stated by Mintzberg, 1990 "Strategy formation should be a controlled, conscious process of thought". The emergent approach relies on the fact that the outcome of the objective is not known; in contradiction to the prescriptive approach it is not a 'controlled, conscious process of thought' and has been described by Downs, et al (2003) as a trial and error process. The importance of strategy within organisations has been discussed as early as the 1950's with ...
Variables such as time constraints and importance of relationships as they relate to the issue at hand often determine the strategies used to overcome conflict (CPP, 2016). For instance, compromise is often the best strategy for handling conflicts that are subject to important issues that require quick resolution. However, compromise does not foster innovation to overcome obstacles or satisfy either party during resolution.
The tolerance of the company in accepting external business factors that influenced its existence was stained in the 1990s and 2000’s when the company experienced labor unrests. This further compounded the capacity of the company to continue employing a huge number of workers as its struggled to cut costs in the face of dropping sales. As a result, a lot of workers were laid off, and those retained suffered degrading pay grades and benefits.
...w to apply these tactics into practice. Understanding the meaning of each tactics is just the first stage, flexibility in the use of appropriate tactics in future issues is more important. Besides, I need to make a detailed plan before the negotiation. Firstly, analyzing the interests, perspectives and weak points of the opposite side and selecting suitable tactics. Secondly, preparing several response strategies will help me to control the situations. Thirdly, setting the minimum level what I can agree on the issue is also essential part of negotiation.
John W. Budd & Devasheesh Bhave (2006). Sage Handbook of Industrial and Employment Relations. Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota. Chapter 5.
Traditional literature in the field of labor relations has focused immensely on its benefit towards the employer and in the process equating it to working rules. This has been so despite the field being expected to cover the process of, labor management, union formation, and collective bargain; all which are anticipated to create a positive employer-employee relationship. This relationship is said to be positive if there exist a balance between employment functions and the rights of the laborer. Also important to note, is that this relation is equally important to the public sector as it is to the private one. Therefore, to ensure a mutually conducive labor environment exists, effective labor management process and inclusive negotiation program should be adopted (Mulve 2006; Walton, 2008).
Provide an understanding of pressures that can affect an international company accused of worker exploitation.
A challenge in strategic planning is to decide what bits and where bits of information will be used to support business decisions. In general, strategic plans can fail for two types of reasons: inappropriate strategy and poor implementation.