Running head: PROBLEM SOLUTION: GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS

Problem Solution: Global Communications
John Smith
University of Phoenix

Problem Solution: Global Communications Problem-based learning allows the student to develop his or her problem-solving skills by applying them to an authentic scenario that requires them to identify a problem, apply a problem-solving approach to develop and analyze alternative solutions, and recommend and defend an optimal solution (University of Phoenix, 2010, para. 2). The Global Communications (GC) scenario identifies several issues for the student to analyze and solve using the lessons learned from the course. This paper identifies the major issues that GC is facing. These issues will be analyzed and the perspectives and ethical dilemmas of the stakeholders will be identified. An examination of the problem statement will reveal what improvements GC would like to see in three years. Alternate solutions will be presented and analyzed for validity. An appropriate risk will be assessed on the selected solutions and mitigation techniques explored. From this evaluation an optimal solution will be selected and a plan to implement explored. Finally, a plan to evaluate the results will be presented.

Situation Analysis
Issue and Opportunity Identification This is a challenging time for GC, the mega-giant telecommunications company headquartered in Centralia, USA. The telecommunications industry is flooded with competition and the industry is waning. In the past three years, GC stocks have decreased in value more than 50 percent. To combat this decline in profits, senior leadership and board members of GC have announced a strategy that they hope will bring GC back into the forefront as an industry leader both domestically and internationally. GC plans on introducing new technologies such as wireless and satellite broadband service that can handle video and data which, will give them an advantage over their competitors. Small businesses and consumer customers are GCs target. GC has also announced their intent to open new technical call centers in Ireland and India in response to global consumer demand for more technical sophistication from GC sales representatives. Unfortunately, this strategy also includes plans to close local call centers and layoff hundreds of employees not re-assigned or re-located elsewhere. Employees who do stay on or are re-assigned will be expected to take a 10% average pay cut. The reasoning behind these closures is to save GC nearly 40% in reduced unit costs for handling calls. Labor costs are relatively cheap in Ireland and India so GC stands to save more costs by outsourcing their jobs to these locations.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas This scenario has four stakeholders: (1) GC senior leadership team, (2) GC employees, (3) Technologies Workers Union, (4) Shareholders. Each stakeholder group shares common and opposing interests, rights, and values. The main focus of Global Communications senior leadership is to keep the company alive by increasing sales and profits. To do this they plan to introduce new competitive services and become more aggressive in the global market. GC is also concerned with their public image as well as taking care of their employees. “Our Edge Is People” is the GC philosophy and it conflicts with their proposed plan to layoff hundreds of employees while offering jobs to foreign interests. They recognize this layoff will affect employee morale negatively, which could result in previously committed employees seeking employment elsewhere. The main interest of GC employees is to keep their current jobs and salaries. They do not want their jobs outsourced to foreigners, neither do they want to be relocated nor take pay cuts. GC management recently cut their education and health benefits by 20% and this latest blow will not be taken easily. The Technologies Workers Union is designed to protect and speak out for the common worker. They desire to achieve an honest and open partnership with GC management and create a win-win situation for all three stakeholders. They expect GC to communicate and work with them on any policy change that affects the employees. Adamantly opposed to the announced layoff of GC employees and the plan to give those jobs to foreigners, the Union is prepared to take action through the government and other available resources if GC does not change their strategy. They believe this plan is unethical and a ploy to manipulate the current contract conditions. Shareholders are concerned with the 50% drop in price of GC stocks over the past three years. When they invested in the company, shareholders expected GC stocks to increase in value rather than depreciate. The shareholders are focused upon returns and profit and are less likely to care if a few employees are terminated to save money.

Problem Statement Staying true to the company philosophy “Our Edge Is People,” Global Communications aspires to increase company profits by becoming more competitive and innovative.

End-State Vision In three years Global Communications will become a viable and competitive leader of the telecommunications industry both nationally and internationally. By implementing new competitive and innovative services directed at small businesses and consumer customers, sales have soared and GC stocks have rebounded and increased in value. Because GC stayed true to their philosophy “Our Edge Is People” employees responded by working harder, adding significantly to GCs competitiveness in the industry (Behm, 2009). The Union has become a trusted friend to GC and employee morale and motivation is at an all-time high. GC has been rated one of the 100 best companies to work for in the United States.

Alternative Solutions To support the problem statement, several alternative solutions are considered. Benchmarking research has revealed the following possible solutions: 1. Hiring freeze – Global Communications can initiate a hiring freeze on all new employees. Current employees have the option to transfer within the company or to fill critical vacancies. Human resources can post jobs to be filled internally. In this manner GC can slowly cut costs in labor without subjecting the company to a massive layoff. 2. Employee technical training – As stated by Katrina Heinz (GC CEO) the “customers are demanding more technical sophistication from GC sales people.” To fulfill this need GC will initiate a training program to increase the knowledge base of sales employees. Time will be allotted for cross training between sales employees and technicians. The goal is to have a well rounded and versed technical staff who can solve all of GC’s customers’ needs. 3. Don’t layoff employees – It would be unwise to enact a massive layoff. Employees will be officially reassured that this part of the plan has been recalled. Rumors in the grapevine as well as negative PR will be corrected. An official statement to the company, the Union, and the press will alleviate fears. 4. Implement employee morale boosting – Because of the negative publicity and grapevine rumors, employee morale has plummeted. Therefore, GC will initiate employee morale reform projects such as ergonomic workspace designs, competitions, BBQs, contests, birthday recognitions, and awards. Studies have shown that employee productivity is directly related to morale. By empowering employees to initiate improvements to their working arrangements they are less likely to be absent or leave the company, and more likely increase their productivity (“Empowering employees to create a great place to work,” 2007). 5. Renegotiate with Union – The Technologies Workers Union is a powerful force to be reckoned with. They could encourage an employee strike that would shut down GC and damage customer satisfaction ratings and profits. Efforts to re-establish positive working relationships will take effect immediately. GC will open negotiation with the Union and diplomatically work to make a win-win situation. 6. Research and Development – GC will continue R&D into new services and technology advancements. Efforts will continue to seek alliances with technical service providers (e.g., satellite and video service) to offer customers cutting-edge technology and service. 7. Hold off expansion plans – Plans to expand into Ireland and India will be suspended. Continued research into the benefits and costs of such a venture will continue to be researched. Plans to expand internationally will proceed at a future date when company shares have increased 50% and have been approved by the stockholders.

Analysis of Alternative Solutions Global Communications was founded upon the concept that the employees are their greatest asset hence the GC philosophy “Our Edge Is People.” GC believes that if their employees are happy and morale is high then they will be more productive, will develop emotional intelligence, will be eager to learn new skills, and will provide the customer with the best technical service available. With this in mind, the solution that increases employee motivation and morale rated the highest in value upon the evaluation matrix. Reforms that promote employee morale improve relationships with the Technologies Workers Union. The Union benefits when their members are satisfied with working conditions. Morale Reform Projects moderately effect the value of company shares and do nothing to help the company expand internationally. Surprisingly, the second highest rated solution is grouped in the Secondary Alternative Solutions category. Increasing employee technical training came in just slightly below morale reform projects. When GC trains their employees to be more technically sophisticated, it directly affects the company’s goal to offer innovative and competitive services. Customers will be pleased with this new service. Studies have shown that when service increases so does consumer confidence (Mayer, Ehrhart, & Schneider, 2009). Training also improves employee job satisfaction and morale. Training stimulates the brain and allows the student to become more self-aware. As the student recognizes his or her strengths and weaknesses, a natural desire to improve oneself is awakened (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004). More technical training moderately effects the value of GC shares and improves relationships with the Union. The Union will be happy that their members are receiving training, but it is not high on their list of benefits. Because GC has not expanded internationally, additional technical training does little to advance that goal. The third highest ranked solution is to increase Research and Development (R&D). R&D is most advantageous in increasing GCs services. As new technology comes in to the market GC will need to stay on the cutting-edge of that movement. Increasing R&D gives GC an advantage by allowing them to introduce new services before the competition, creating a trend, or brand following. Apple’s iPod is a good example of this. Apple is known for taking existing technology and transforming it into breakthrough products. They were not the first company to develop the first MP3 device but they did combine many earlier ideas, and some new ones, into a single package that not only looked better but also performed better than the competition the iPad a game changer?,” 2010). This type of R&D benchmarking would help direct GC toward innovative ideas. This matrix places the hiring freeze solution lower on the list. Recalling the decision to cut costs by initiating a hiring freeze instead of laying off hundreds of employees would alleviate fears of unemployment while boosting morale. The Union never wanted a layoff and was very upset that GC made this decision in their initial plan without their consultation. This solution would help repair the damaged trust with the Union. Finally the solution to delay international expansion was rated last on the matrix because it offered no help achieving any of the goals listed.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques GC should focus on three possible solutions: Morale reform projects, increasing technical training, and increasing R&D. Each of these solutions have a variety of high, medium, and low risks, and probability factors inherent to them. Morale reform programs have been rated with four possible risks. Three of these risks are low in consequence and severity but one was rated high. The low risks involved with this solution are: 1. It may backfire. Because GC has already released their initial plan to cut costs by laying off hundreds of employees, employee morale has already plummeted. Feelings have been hurt, people are afraid and angry, trust has been violated, and confidence in the company is at an all-time low. Employees will think that if the company solved their problems with a layoff once, they will do it again. Any morale boosting program could be seen by cynical employees as insincere. Though this probability is rated low it could still hamper the effectiveness of the program. 2. Waste of time and productivity. Some employees will not care for these programs and will vocalize their opposition by claiming that the activities are a waste of time and GC could use their time more constructively. Any activity held during working hours will take an employee away from his or her daily routine and be viewed as a time-waster. 3. Employee injury. A slight possibility exists that employees could become injured during morale boosting events. For example, if GC sponsored a family picnic at the local city park, someone can be burned touching a hot BBQ or break a leg playing Frisbee football. Accidents can a do happen. The only high risk associated with a morale reform projects is that it will cost money. Any new program will initially cost money to start up. Usually once the initial costs and supplies have been met, maintaining these programs will be relatively easily. How much it will cost depends upon what programs management wants to pursue. To mitigate costs, GC management should be frugal in the programs they choose to pursue. Help in the form of gifts or supplies from outside sponsors can also offset the startup cost. A budget must be drawn up and approved before any project is initiated.
The solution to increase employee technical training comes with three risks: 1. Employees who get technical training may quit. A moderate possibility exists that some employees will take the advanced technical training to increase their marketability and then turn around to accept employment with a competing company. 2. Takes time. It is a fact that any training program will take time. How much time depends upon who needs to be trained, what will be taught, and how easily the training concepts will be grasped and understood. 3. Cost and location of training. GC will have to determine how much this training will cost. They will need to decide whether to hire outsiders to train their employees, or whether they might already have current employees who are qualified to be trainers. Any training program will cost revenue to initiate and maintain.
The final solution evaluated is to increase R&D. All three risks for this solution are rated as high. By its own nature, R&D will cost money, take time, and there is a high probability that the product or service being researched may fail.

Optimal Solution As discovered by completion of the evaluation matrix and the risk assessment and mitigation techniques table, the optimal solution for GC to implement would be a reform program aimed at boosting employee morale. GC rightfully recognized in their company philosophy that ‘their edge is people.’ Happy and content employees make for a productive workforce. Satisfied employees are also able to show more empathy with customers and work associates. This attribute combined with strong communication and listening skills are characteristics of the best customer service and sales agents (“Sales-to-Sales Excellence: Developing Service Representatives into High-Sales Achievers,” 2003). When employees are discontent with their work environment, they will seek more satisfying employment elsewhere. Hiring and training replacements will cost much, both in time and money. By implementing simple morale programs, GC can save costs by retaining their current workforce and improving productivity. In essence, GC will adopt the four core beliefs of the acclaimed Great Place to Work Institute (2009): • Trust-based relationships are at the heart of every great workplace. • Any company can be a great place to work. • Business benefits of a great workplace are measurable. • Better workplaces lead to a better society.

Implementation Plan The process to implement an employee morale boosting program is relatively simple. The main steps, as outlined in table 5, should take approximately three to four weeks to fully implement. The first week will be devoted to selling the program and getting feedback from the employees. Because employee morale is currently low GC management will actively promote and engage the employees in the program. Some employees may be resistant or cynical at first, however, an honest and positive attitude can persuade these individuals to give the program a chance. Once the employees understand the program and what it is designed to achieve, leaders will motivate and involve the employees in making the program work. The goal here is to change the perception of ownership of the program from management to the employees and empower the employees to initiate improvements to their working environment (“Empowering employees to create a great place to work,” 2007). This will be an employee program approved and sponsored by the management. Week two involves brainstorming sessions with the employees to identify fun and positive activities that will boost employee morale. Brainstorming is an effective tool to stimulate and capture creative thoughts and ideas. It involves the creative generation of many ideas to solve a problem (DeJanaz, Dowd, & Schneider, 2002, p. 398). Emphasis in these brainstorming sessions will be placed on creativity. All ideas are good ideas and no positive or negative critiquing will be permitted. Week three involves management gathering all the ideas generated during the brainstorming sessions and identifying which ones are feasible. Naturally there will be many good ideas that will work however, not all the ideas can be accepted. Therefore, a vote will be conducted by the employees to select the top 10 ideas they want to see enacted. Once the vote is conducted, management will review the results and select five that will work best for the company. Finally, a budget and resources will be agreed upon by the management, and leaders will be selected to spearhead the individual activities. Week four will see the fruits of this program as they are implemented. Depending upon the nature of each activity, some may begin immediately and others may take time to accomplish. GC should see an improvement to employee morale during week three.

Evaluation of Results As identified in table six, GC has five end-state goals that will be measured for success: 1. Provide customers with innovative and competitive services. 2. Provide an enjoyable working environment for employees. 3. Increase value of GC shares. 4. Develop a win-win relationship with the Union. 5. Understand how competitively to operate internationally. Quantitative data will be collected monthly on each end-state goal and compiled into a report. From this report GC management will measure the effectiveness of the metrics against the target. The main challenge will be obtaining accurate results and correctly identifying what areas need attention. Once this information is gathered and processed a quarterly report will be compiled and presented to CG senior management and the stockholders. From this point decisions will be made about the effectiveness of the programs initiated.

Conclusion The preconceptions I had while gathering information for this paper led to the belief that the GC Senior Leadership Team had made an irreversible mistake. In their attempt to cut costs, they failed to negotiate with or notify the Technical Workers Union of their plans to layoff employees and to outsource their jobs to foreigners. This action effectively destroyed the trust, loyalty, and support of a powerful business ally. Benchmarking research indicated that cost cutting measures could have been achieved by means other than terminating employees. This mistake created a greater problem of plummeting employee morale. So in essence, GC created one problem while trying to solve another. However, the solution to the new problem, raising employee morale, results in benefits to most of GCs end-stated goals. The decision to create an enjoyable working environment for the employees will effectively help GC become a viable and competitive leader of the telecommunications industry and lead to GC becoming one of the 100 best companies to work for in the United States.

References
Behm, M. (2009, October). Employee Morale. Professional Safety, 42-49. DeJanaz, S., Dowd, K., & Schneider, B. (2002). Interpersonal Skills in Organizations. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Empowering employees to create a great place to work. (2007). Strategic Communication Management, 11(6), 28-31. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=27575057&site=ehost-live
Great Place to Work Institute. (2009). What we believe. Retrieved from http://www.greatplacetowork.com/
Hellreigel, D., & Slocum, J.W. Jr. (2004). Managing Human Resources (4th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Is the iPad a Game Changer?. (2010). Critical Studies in Media Communication, 5(4), 34-35. doi:10.1049/et.2010.0406 Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2009). Organizational Behavior (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Mayer, D. M., Ehrhart, M. G., & Schneider, B. (2009). Service Attribute Boundary Conditions of the Service Climate Customer Satisfaction Link. Academy of Management Journal, 52(5), 1034-1050. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=44635617&site=ehost-live
McKnight, D., Ahmad, S., & Schroeder, R. (2001). When do feedback, incentive control and autonomy improve morale? The importance of employee-management relationship closeness. Journal of Managerial issues, 13(4), 466-482. doi: Business Source Complete
McShane, S. L., & Von Glinow, M. Y. (2004). Organizational Behavior (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Sales-to-Sales Excellence: Developing Service Representatives into High-Sales Achievers. (2003). Best Practices, 1-147. Retrieved from http://reports.best-in-class.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/reports.nsf
University of Phoenix. (2010). What is Problem-Based Learning. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, MMPBL/500 website.

Table 1
Issue and Opportunity Identification
|Issue |Opportunity |Reference to Specific |Concept |Course Concept (Include citation) |
|Global Communications wants to improve |GC has created alliances with a |“An integrative negotiation calls for |Integrative negotiation |
|company profits by introducing new |satellite provider to offer video |a progressive win-win strategy,” | |
|services to its small businesses and |and broadband wireless services. |(Kinicki & Kreitner, 2003, p. 504). | |
|consumer customers. | | | |
|GC plans to cut costs by laying off |These measures will improve |“A distributive negotiation usually |Distributive |
|employees and outsourcing their jobs to |profitability as well as introduce|involves a single issue—a |negotiations |
|Ireland and India. They are unwilling to |GC into the international |‘fixed-pie’—in which one person gains | |
|negotiate this issue with the Union |telecommunication market. |at the expense of the other. For | |
|representative. | |example, haggling over the price of a | |
| | |rug in a bazaar is a distributive | |
| | |negotiation,” (Kinicki & Kreitner, | |
| | |2003, p. 503). | |
|By not giving the Union advance notice of|GC can develop better negotiation |“Compromising is the give-and-take |Compromising |
|the pending strategy, GC has alienated |skills and actively seek a win-win|approach involving moderate concern | |
|them and has lost their partnership |compromise with the Union |for both self and others,” (Kinicki & | |
|status. | |Kreitner, 2003, p. 500). | |
|GC did not carefully consider the effects|GC can be honest and up front with|“Hierarchical communication is the |Hierarchical |
|of how the layoff would affect morale and|its employees and help them |exchange of information between |communication |
|retention of the remaining employees. |understand the situation facing |managers and employees,” (Kinicki & | |
| |the company as a whole. If drastic|Kreitner, 2003, p. 540). | |
| |steps are not taken it is possible| | |
| |that the company will fail and | | |
| |everyone will be out of a job. | | |

Table 2
Stakeholder Perspectives
|Stakeholder Perspectives |
| | |
|Stakeholder Groups |The Interests, Rights, and |
| |Values of Each Group |
|The Senior Leadership Team of Global Communications |Increasing company profits, introducing new competitive services, |
| |implement cost-cutting measures, becoming more aggressive in the global |
| |market, keeping GC from failing as a whole, positive public image, |
| |maintaining a positive morale with employees, being honest with GC |
| |employees, retaining committed employees, out-sourcing technical services |
| |to India and Ireland. |
|The Employees of Global Communications |Keeping their jobs and their current salaries, knowing what is going on |
| |with GC and how it affects them, having fair education and health |
| |benefits. |
|The Technologies Workers Union |Maintaining an honest and open partnership with GC, open and timely |
| |communications with GC, opposed to GC laying off employees and |
| |out-sourcing new jobs to foreigners, maintaining current industry |
| |standards. |
|Shareholders |Private investors want GC shares to increase. The decrease of stock by 50%|
| |in three years is unacceptable to them. They are driven by profit by |
| |whatever means necessary. |

Table 3

Analysis of Alternative Solutions
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Table 4
Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques
|Risk Assessment and Mitigation Techniques |
|Alternative Solution |Risks and Probability |Consequence and Severity |Mitigation Techniques |
|Morale Reform Programs |May backfire |Low |Be open and sincere |
| |Cost money |High |Frugal, award sponsors |
| |Waste of time and productivity |Low |Keep meetings brief, after hours parties, |
| | | |be aware of deadlines |
| |Employee injury | |Observe safety standards. |
| | |Low | |
|Increase Technical Training |Employees who get training then |Moderate |Sign an employment longevity agreement |
| |quit | |Stagger training |
| |Takes time |High |Use existing facilities and train a group |
| |Cost and location of training |High |of employees to be trainers. |
|Increase R&D |Cost money |High |Benchmark research |
| |Takes time |High |Set realistic deadlines |
| |Product/service may fail. |High |Set realistic goals |

Table 5
Optimal Solution Implementation Plan
|Deliverable |Timeline |Who is Responsible |
|Engage and involve employees in the morale program.|Week 1 |GC management |
|Ensure that employees understand the program. |Week 1 |GC management |
|Gain employee buy-in to the program. |Week 1 |GC management |
|Gain employee views on what makes a great place to |Week 2 |GC management |
|work. | | |
|Identify and approve appropriate activities. |Week 3 |GC management and employees |
|Identify budget and resources to implement |Week 3 |GC management and employees |
|individual activities. | | |
|Identify who will lead activities. |Week 3 |GC management and employees |
|Execute activities. |Week 4 |GC employees |

Table 6
Evaluation of Results
|End-State Goals |Metrics |Target |
|Provide customers with innovative and |Benchmark two competitive businesses. |Implement one idea per quarter. |
|competitive services. | | |
|Provide a enjoyable working environment for |Brainstorm with employees. |Select ten ideas by week 3. |
|employees. | | |
|Increase value of GC shares. |Monitor stock prices. |Increase GC stock by 10% each quarter. |
|Develop a win-win relationship with the Union.|Re-open negotiations immediately. |Negotiate a win-win plan. |
|Understand how to operate competitively |Research operating laws and regulations in |Prepared to negotiate contracts to work |
|internationally. |Ireland and India. |internationally in one year. |