Interclean, Inc

Problem Solution: Global Communications

Global Communications (hereinafter "GC") is engaged in providing communication services in the telecommunications industry under the direction of a five-member senior management team. The outlook for this industry is diminishing, too much competition for the same business. GC has experienced a 50% depreciation of its publicly traded shares over a three-year period and now has one basic, overriding goal - to improve company performance to emerge as an industry leader. In addition, the lack of communication between the employees and the management has caused lower employee morale within GC. Due to the lack of communication between the Union and the management, great deal of conflict ensued and the Union has is ready to take legal action against GC.

GC is falling behind in the communication industry they will have to decide what avenue they are going to take in order for the company to survive. The end state vision will discuss the issue and the opportunities facing the company. GC will discuss different plans to help reach the right one. The implementation plan will be use to deal with the problems for the company; they will also use risk assessment for the suggested alternative solutions, and the optimal solution to determine which plan GC will take.

Situation Analysis

Issue and Opportunity Identification

GC is facing numerous issues. First, GC is suffering from declining stock prices. Both the Board of Directors and management are becoming involved to ascertain why this is occurring and what can be done to prevent the stock from depreciating further. They will want a full investigation of why the stock prices are falling, so they can correct the problem before further damage occurs. Secondly, GC is contemplating outsourcing the call center to India and Ireland. The outsourcing will enable GC to cut costs and give it a competitive edge in the industry. In addition, outsourcing will cause a loss of jobs employees taking a 10% pay cut. The next problem that GC is facing is tight industry competition. This is a huge concern, a hard issue to resolve, and why the stock prices been declining for three years. Finally, GC has a lack of efficient communication. GC had not told the Technical Worker Union about his or her plans. The Union was upset to learn about it through their grapevine. The Union has threatened to sue GC. With the issues GC is facing, it is time to undertake new strategies to management.

By improving decision-making, knowledge management, employee needs, and coordination, workplace communication has a significant effect on organizational performance. (McShane & Glinow, 2005 page 324). GC has an extraordinary reputation for treating their employees well, so they are worried that if news of a layoff reaches the employees before they are able to communicate it to them, further problems will surface. GC needs to arrive at a solution to improve upon its technology and outsource their call centers to India and Ireland to cut costs in an efficient and organized manner. GC needs to find the best means to satisfy all stakeholders and emerge successfully into the future as a communication leader.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

The stakeholder includes the board of directors, employees, community, the vendors, and The Technology Union Workers The activities and business decisions of GC affect their stakeholders who are shareholders, employees, and the Technologies Workers Union. Each stakeholder has there own interests, rights, and values. First, shareholders are interested in GC because they have an ownership position in the firm. Shareholders have a right to expect high performance and stock increases from GC since they legally own the firm. In addition, they have the right to elect the directors and executives who essentially run the company. Based on the above, the GC five-member senior management team must focus on shareholder value maximization.

Secondly, employee's interests in the company are their wages, being loyal, job security, safe work environment, and benefits. The employees have the right for job security and he or she should be informed with any type of problem that may arise within the company for example, layoffs, and pay cuts. I believe not telling the employees could be unethical if GC hides the fact about the layoff. Now GC is worried, because rumors of the layoff are leaking through the grapevine. The employees could lose their jobs or receive pay cuts up to 10%. The employees also have rights to work in a safe environment. The last rounds of negotiations were difficult due to financial problems, which led to cuts in education and health benefits for the GC employees. In most conflicts, however, more than one issue is at stake and each party values the issues differently. The outcomes available are no longer a fixed-pie divided among all parties. (Kreitner & Kinichi, p 503 and 504).

Problem Statement

Through GC's intention of controlling costs and its recognition of declined gross profits, it should be able to rebalance with a greater emphasis on improving profitability. Within a three-year period, the value of GC's stock fell from $28 to $11 per share. GC was losing consumer confidence. The five-member senior management team undertook immediate aggressive action by recognizing that new strategies were needed.

GC needs to outsource their call center to India and Ireland in order to reclaim consumer confidence the globalization concept is introduce with new technology such as local, long-distance, and international market. Outsourcing has taken on new meaning in the IT industry. Although many companies have outsourced selected IT projects and functions for many years, the growth in offshore outsourcing has exploded in size as companies have sought to lower labor costs and other company benefits. This article synthesizes recent published reports to provide an overview of the status of offshore IT outsourcing and some current and projected effects on the IT industry. (Pfannenstein and Tsai, 2004 p 72-80)

End-State Vision

GC is concerned about the pressure of increased competition like other companies in this industry. Because of the increased competition, GC would like to advance into the international market. By advancing into the international market, GC will be able to secure better connectivity and accessibility for its consumers. GC has also joined teams with a wireless provider to aid in providing better services. This will assist GC with connectivity and accessibility for its consumers.

The stakeholders have determined that by cutting costs, improving