JFT2 Task 1
Bill Bailey When presented with the idea of a merger between the Salt Lake Symphony and the Opera, Bill Bailey and the opera trustees expressed concerns about the financial standing of the two organizations with the opera being financially stable and could be flexible in size, number of performances offered, number of full time staff and fundraising events. On the other hand the symphony, a 52 week orchestra employing 33 full time staff and 83 musicians which along with a loss in funding left the symphony facing some financial challenges. It appeared to Bill Bailey that the symphony would be gaining much more from the merger than the opera and the only apparent benefit for the opera would be to become a tier-one arts organization but at the risk of losing its established identity. Bill could use Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation to represent how this merger will not benefit the opera or its board and possibly hurt future operations. Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation is one based on fairness and justice and the consequences of events that cause feelings of inequity or injustice. There are two components to this theory. First is the input, meaning what an employee provides for which a just return is expected for the efforts. Second is the output, meaning pay, bonuses, benefits and job security. Because people’s personalities vary each individual or group will evaluate events as either a positive or negative inequity when comparing outcomes with other involved entities. Positive inequity results from feeling that the outcome is greater than that with whom a comparison is made, whereas a negative inequity results from feeling that the outcome is more beneficial to the other entity (Rebert Kreitner, 2013).
Looking to apply this theory in an organizational setting it is further expanded into three different components of organizational justice: * Distributive Justice is the perception of how fairly resources and rewards are allocated among the different entities of the organization * Procedural Justice is the perception of how fair the decisions are for the allocation of resources and rewards * Interactional Justice is to what extent the different entities feel treated when procedures are implemented.
All aspects of Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation demonstrates that any decision that is made or change implemented each individual or groups perception of equity is what is important (Rebert Kreitner, 2013). Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation would benefit Bill in an attempt to avoid a merger with the symphony due to the perceived inequality of the benefits of the merger. Though the two companies are very different in performance, they both are still a part of the arts community allowing for a comparison of inputs and outputs of each. For Bill Baily this would be a negative inequity for the opera because the financial strength of the opera when compared to the symphony. The opera also has the flexibility of alter or eliminate projects as necessary when fund-raising goals are not met where as the symphony is a 52 week orchestra with no flexibility and facing financial difficulties due to a decline in attendance, public subsidies and endowments. Another concern is that the opera would lose its identity, even with the opportunity of becoming a tier-one arts organization, because it would be overshadowed by the symphony, which is currently considered at the top of the Group II symphony orchestras in the United States.
As demonstrated with distributive justice, the perception of Bill Baily is that with the merger, the resources of the merged arts programs will be unevenly distributed with the symphony receiving much more than the opera because of their standing within the community, the size of their paid employees and musicians and because of the inflexibility of their program. Procedural justice would also be a useful aid in this motivational theory because of the way that the decision distribute resources will be unfair because of the needs of the symphony to operate and finally and most importantly is interaction justice because of the feelings of playing second fiddle to the symphony when the merger is implemented because the opera is currently in a good financial standing with strong support from the community knowing that the two, the symphony and the orchestra, are so dissimilar. Bill Bailey could possibly use those motivational tactics to avoid a merger with the symphony.
Scott Parker Scott Parker serves as chairman of the board of the Utah Symphony, serving to work with board members, the CEO ad the community for the continued operation and success of the symphony. Having a history of successful hospital mergers to realize economic benefits as well improve quality of health care in the community. It became apparent to Scott that the financial standing of the symphony and the arts community had taken a declining turn. The current CEO for the symphony had also announced that he would be leaving and that recruitment of a skilled professional to lead the symphony organization would be no easy task. Scott presented the idea of the merger to the board as a way of avoiding financial disaster for the Utah Arts Community. The symphony was established in 1940 as a part-time community ensemble. In 1947 Maurice Abravanel was hired as conductor and went on to become the music director and took the symphony on to become a world renowned, world class symphony and one of the first United States orchestras to tour internationally. After his death in 1993, his widow, Carolyn Abravanel, continued her involvement with the Symphony Guild. When the merger was announced, Carolyn Abravanel publicly opposed the merger because of the possible loss of her husband's legacy as a staunch defender of his orchestra. There were concerns that the symphony would lose their full-time professional status, loss of full-time salary, benefits, the ability to organize and have union representation and the loss of status due to them for past achievements. Scott Parker can utilize Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory to convince Mrs. Abravanel and ease her concerns. Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory is based on human behavior and needs. It begins with physiological needs or what is physically needed to survive. Second is safety or the need to feel safe in our environment. Third is the desire to be loved or a feeling of belonging. Fourth is esteem or the need for reputation and recognition, self-confidence and strength and last is Self-Actualization, meaning to become the best that one can possibly be. It is thought that this motivational theory begins at the bottom, or most basic, with physiological needs and stair steps as each need is met and it loses its motivational significance until the last need of self-actualization is realized. In this instance, Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory can be used to convince Mrs. Abravanel that her husband’s legacy will continue to thrive through the suggested merger. To meet the physiological need it is necessary to show that the merger will allow the symphony to continue to deliver the performances necessary to survive and maintain the high standard that was set forth by Mr. Abravanel. The same can be said to meet the safety need because the continued performance of the symphony will keep her husbands legacy as well as the symphony’s existence safe as well as meet the desire to be loved by the community as a top notch symphony orchestra. The merger will not interfere with the continued recognition as a top group ll symphony of the United States and lastly that the merger will demonstrate that the Utah Symphony though faced with a challenging financial future will continue to thrive in the arts community.
Power
Positional power, also known as legitimate power, is based on ones position or authority within the organization and can be used either negatively or positively to manage people. Legitimate power, reward power and coercive power are all forms of positional power because the position grants to authority to manage employees in lower positions, use rewards to influence performance and the use of punishment for employees not performing to expectations of the job description (Fracaro, 2008). Ann Ewers had previously served as the general director of the Boston Lyric Opera before coming to Utah Opera Company (UOC) where she retired a rather large debt of $450,000 she had inherited with the job, building an endowment fund and increasing the number of productions from one to three. She also served as the assistant director the San Francisco Opera and the Canadian Opera Company. Her previous experience had built an early successful reputation among the opera community which aided her to move into her current position as General Director of the UOC where she had grown the annual budget from $1.5 million to $5 million, increased the number of annual productions from three to four, attracting patrons from Utah and surrounding states. She also implemented the addition of staged performances for over 70,000 students throughout the state with the intention of developing an appreciation for opera and ensures future patronage (Thomas J. Delong, 2005). Anne, as the current general director of the UOC, grants her positional power with the UOC during her tenure. Her history of leading the opera in a positive growth pattern since she was hired has given her a history of positive decision making and leadership skills which will be an aid in influencing the symphony to accept her leadership. Her personal power skills are deeply imbedded into her personality and life philosophies showing that she is successful with interactions with people and organizations for support in fund raising and awareness activities with a vision of achieving future goals set forth by the organization. Her personal power has been key to achieving her successes during her career. Her drive and ambition as well as personal experiences and relationships with individuals throughout her career have resulted in achieving her leadership position and acquiring a strong positional power with the UOC. Anne’s continued success using her personal power along with her positional power will ensure that both organizations thrive through her keen business skills as well as her personal influencing capabilities.
Positional power, also known as legitimate power, is based on ones position or authority within the organization and can be used either negatively or positively to manage people. Legitimate power, reward power and coercive power are all forms of positional power because the position grants to authority to manage employees in lower positions, use rewards to influence performance and the use of punishment for employees not performing to expectations of the job description (Fracaro, 2008).
With the perception that position within an organization is earned, Anne has acquired the positional power to expect her employees to respect the hierarchy and accept decisions made and fulfill their job requirements. She can use the power granted to her to manage both the symphony and the orchestra and use whatever influences are necessary to achieve success. She has previous success to show with her leadership skills and using the power of her position to change the financial standing of each position that she has served in a leadership capacity.
Personal power is to exert influence other than through position such as skills, interpersonal skills, result oriented or persuasive abilities. Expert power and Referent power forms of personal power. The type of work that Anne has performed in her previous, as well as current positions has helped her to develop strong personal power qualities. Anne demonstrates a resounding amount of energy and enthusiasm in making the merger successful and as history of her experiences show she will dedicate herself to all stakeholders equally and utilize her power to influence positive outcomes. The success she has demonstrated previously with her energetic and charismatic personality and outlook will be vital in working with Keith Lockhart to ensure the continued success of the symphony. Because she has demonstrated good listening skills, which he has previously identified, will be key in ensuring him that he will be taking the lead with the symphony and they will be working together to see its continued success. She needs to take every measure to reassure Keith that his authority is not being undermined or silenced.
Organizational Performance One of the issues that the musicians are concerned about is their right to collective bargaining through the American Federation of Musicians Union. Through negotiations an agreement had been reached granting full time salaries to all 83 members of the Orchestra with a wage increase of 12.9% from 2002 to 2003 and by 6.8% from 2003 to 2004 (Thomas J. Delong, 2005). Taking into consideration that the boards primary reason for the merger was the declining financial status of the Symphony, the musicians express a fear of losing the benefits and wages they already enjoy as well as the current agreement for future increases to become void. The idea of renegotiating is especially concerning to them because the board is bringing in a CEO, Anne Ewers, who has no history of managing a symphony and placing her as a barrier for Keith Lockhart, the conductor, rather than reporting directly to the board. In order for the merger to be successful it is necessary for the orchestra to remain in a stable state and continue to continue offering consistent performances throughout the year. In the event that the musicians do not agree to renegotiate and make the decision to strike it would be disastrous to the final standing of both the symphony and the opera as much of their operating funds, though lacking in recent years, comes from ticket sales to scheduled performances. It is in Anne’s best interest to listen to the musicians concerns prior to any negotiations and respond with transparency and sincerity, discussing how their concerns for collective bargaining for wages is a valid one but also how the current agreement is one of the major contributors to the symphony’s current financial state. She can also reassure them that in her position as CEO she is willing to work with the collective bargaining group to reach an acceptable agreement to both parties but that the main concern is to keep the symphony intact and operational while successfully moving forward with the merger. Due to the concerns that were brought up by the musicians, Anne needs to successfully persuade both the opera and the symphony to support the planned merger of the two organizations. There are two influence tactics that could be of benefit in bringing both groups to understand and agree to the necessity of the merger for continued survival. One tactic would be rational persuasion and the other is exchange. By using those tactics Anne can demonstrate first the logic of the merger and the exchange influence tactic will demonstrate a willingness to offer a return for their support. Rational persuasion is a way of influencing someone using the facts to support your argument, logic to support your desired outcomes and reason to demonstrate a clear understanding of what the needs are. Using this tactics will also support transparency in a decision making process that leaves little room for assumptions but yet an opening for debate or negotiation. Exchange tactic is used to influence through a give and take negotiation where one can offer a solution by offering something in return for supporting the request (Rebert Kreitner, 2013). Anne can first use the rational persuasion tactic to present her case to both organizations using the facts of the financial standing of the organizations to state the need for the merge, having a presentation of financial statements of both organizations available for review. Following that would be the logic of merging the two to not only improve finances but to promote both organizations in the Arts community and combine fund raising efforts, which she has a proven success record. The rational persuasion tactic would be especially useful to influence the opera’s full time staff and artists in understanding that if steps are not taken to improve the current financial status the end result would be insolvency and the opera could suffer closure. Ann, as the current general director of the opera, has a proven track record as a successful leader when in a leadership positon in that she has been able to increase the opera’s standing with the arts community by continuous growth, increasing ticket sales, increasing productions and patrons as well as grow future audiences through staged performances for students. She also increased the UOC endowment fund from $1.5 million to $5 million with her enthusiastic fund raising capabilities. The UOC’s staff and artists are already familiar with Anne’s capabilities due to the power her position gives her and it will serve her well in using the rational persuasion tactic to gain their support. Using the exchange influence, Anne can also use the exchange tactic to influence the opera staff and artists to support the merger because in exchange for merging with the symphony the opera will gain recognition as a tier one arts organization. She can also demonstrate how merging with the symphony will increase the resources available to the UOC through combined fund raising events, foundation resources and the combined artistic talents of Keith Lockhart and her to promote high demand and quality productions of the opera. With these arguments Anne is able to encourage the UOC to recognize that by supporting the merger and combining resources, the UOC will gain recognition as a Tier one company and have more financial resources available to them for expanding and offering more to the community.

Works Cited
Fracaro, K. E. (2008, October 10). You're a Manager, but are You a Leader? (N. C. Association, Producer) Retrieved March 21, 2015, from Professional Development: http://www.ncmahq.org/files/Articles/CM1008%20-%20Professional%20Development.pdf
Rebert Kreitner, A. K. (2013). Organizational Behavior, Tenth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
Thomas J. Delong, D. L. (2005, August 8). Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal. Retrieved March 21, 2015, from Harvard Business School: https://services.hbsp.harvard.edu/authorization-service/proxy/content/16237306/16237308/a6c558944b75a76bae117f9e8d56b3ce