a. StereotypesAccording to the copy attached to the email “ Charles is one of thefaceless men from corporate”.
It shows that the person written the emailthought that many people in the company were irresponsible, untrustworthy andruthless. Therefore, this message can be categorised as the stereotype becausethe person spread email around offending people recklessly without seen the detail information andsituation that happened in the company. Even though the email just mentioned Charles, the sentence “ one of the faceless” isalso accused some other people in the company. b. Halo EffectAs described in theemail of Mary to Andrew.
“ Charlesis a wonderful choice of chairman, although not everyone knows it yet. He’sthoughtful, well informed, completely trustworthy and honourable, and he isdamn smart. As head of technology, he has shown that he knows how to help”. Mary was generalising characteristic based on Charles informationwithout any consistent relationship among them. This message has strong moralimplication even though she has a positive effect on the Charles. c.
Selective perception (confirmation bias)When Charles wrote to Andrew, said “ I promised you and yourcolleagues that I would think over our discussions at the executive operationsCommittee meeting this morning. Having done so, I want to confirm my decisionto carry out a deep across-the board-reduction of UPC staffs” In this situation, Charles was selecting the choice that supports hisbelief and filters out information that does not confirm the belief. He thoughtthat the decision was correct and completely overlooking the other viewpointsto convince Andrew to proceed with the downsizing.
The negative could be companymorals, productivity, loosing long-serving senior management personals. d. ProjectionIn the email, Charles says that.” I understand completely howdifficult this is. As you know, I’ve been in similar situation before, and itis a manager’s worst task.
But I feel we have very little choice, and the boardof directors agree fully”. Inthis case, Charles assigns his feeling which possesses himself to Andrewwithout thinking about the different level of capacity and possesses hischaracteristic managerial. This can be a more implicate to Andrew decision, ashe also aware that Charles decision is agreed by the board of directors, therefore, Andrew has not much choice on executing his task. In this situation, Charles was creating more frustration and disappointment. e. ExpectancyIn the letter, Charles pointed that, “ But I feel we havevery little choice, and the board of directors agree fully. What’s more, across-the-board cuts are the only way to accomplish this necessary downsizingquickly and fairly. This is a case of “ the sooner, the better.
“ Dragging it out is in no one’s interest”. The idea shows that Charles beingconvinced by the decision to consider a reduction in the company rather thanthinking of another option which is worthier and responsiveness. 1. Identify the potentially influentialstakeholders in this decision scenario and examine the present situation fromthe viewpoint of each of the stakeholders or stakeholder groups you haveidentified. (25%)a. Chairman and CEO, Charles Rampart. As the new CEO, Charleswants to solve UPC’s problems as soon as possible, by saying “ I feel we have very little choice” rather than honestlysuggesting what he has certainly to do. From the meeting withexecutive operation committee, Charles decided to cut the number of employeesby 11%.
He feels that this is very hard and difficult to implement because ofthe amount to be incurred will feel very painful because it takes a lot of timeto get a new job, also, the company has invested much to these people. Thisalso hard as of the promise made by the previous CEO, that the reduction of thenumber of employees in August is the last and will not happen again. However, with the company’s unclear financial situation and always experiencing a profitdeclined, therefore, Charles concluded that there is no other way than toreduce employees in the short run. He said the decision should be done in aperiod of two months because it has been approved by the board of directors.
So, he wrote an email to Andrew, as general manager of Connector Division to askfor support and good cooperation in the staff reduction. Those people that willbe reduced are from the managerial and professional rank in Connector Division. To restore the company’s situation, he wants a reduction from 6720 to no morethan 6000.
b. SVP and GM, AndrewJordanIn this scenario, Andrew isa stakeholder who has not responded to the decision to reduce staff at theConnector Division. Since the employee reduction target is at Andrew’smanagement, therefore, he will consider some of the inputs provided by Charles, Vice President for Finance (Mary Wyatt) and Samuel Godwyn (Vice President forMarketing and Sales) which will ultimately to be the best possible decision forthe company, the employee to be let go and for those who are will stay. c. Vice President forFinance, Mary WyattMary Wyatt argued that thetake the company issue as a whole. For instance, Connector might be performedbetter, however, other division such as Wire & Cable still needs tomodernise to recover company financial health.
The idea of ?? Mary Wyattwas to support the new chairman, Charles, even though this is very difficultand painful. However, she argued that reducing staff in Connector Division thebest way to recover company financial health. Therefore, she proposed to Andrewto support Charles to make his decision. She says that the new chairman istrustworthy, respectable and intelligent, although not yet known by manyothers. She also said that currently there is no best way to solve UPC problemsin addition to supporting Charles to perform his duties. She said that that themain problem of UPC is systematic action and investment and it can be solved byCharles. Wyatt proposed to Andrew to support Charles as this not only saved thecompany but also their future investment. d.
Vice President for Marketing and Sales, Samuel Godwyn. Godwyn’s idea wassuggesting Jordan bring the alternative plan to the board because he knowsCharles is weak. However, he was not confident in their own authority, therefore, he was seeking a power outside shareholders and investor throughleaking the news to the financial press. According to Samuel Godwyn, the policy to reduce staff in Connector Division is a disaster because thiswill affect the performance of the company for a long term.
He believes that, if all divisions perform the same performance as Connector then there will beno such problem at this time. However, he is aware that staff reductions arealso necessary but not across the board because this is like taking a blunt ofaxe to the company when a surgeon’s scalpel is called for. He assumes that alldivisions are working hard to create a profit so not necessarily all divisionsare sacrificed, some need additional investment.
As a Marketing vice president, he assumes that staff cuts not only have an impact on the company but also thecustomer as well as the project planned. 2. As Andrew / Andrea Jordan state andjustify/support the course or courses of action you will take in response tothis situation. (You are meeting your managers in one hour!) (25%)The key issue in the UPCwas not downsizing but how the management works on restoring financial healthto create a business strategy for the future. The consequence of the latedecision making will be tougher than reducing the 11% of staff.
It shoulddetermine the changes based on the logic behind the company situation. Otherwise, the company will cease as an independent entity. In response thissituation, there are three possibilities that can be considered; supportCharles decision to maintain the survival of the company, prepare a plan forthe implementation of reducing staff, revise a business strategy to maintainthe business financial health and find out the way to minimise the impact onthe morale of those remaining staff and for those being let go. Jordan needs togain support from his subordinate in order to pursue his plan to start reducingstaff by 11% as the company commitment. Then review business prioritiesfocusing on the business trends among customers and competition. Then, proposefor business change from the divisions and the relationship to the wholecompany. Lastly, the redundancy strategy by preparing the payment andcounselling.
In the meeting, Jordan can be questioning the autonomy of the divisions, to evaluate overstaffin the administrative work in each division. This is necessarily communicatedto Charles. It can be more effective if the company carefully evaluate itsunnecessary administrative work and reduce it. Finally, the CEO and all seniormanagement need to review the business strategy in order to pursue newmanagement system. However, this needs to be coordinated with all entities andspecifically the plan of Charles. Jordan can reduceheadcount in the Connection in a manner way; voluntary retirement and createprograms that allow people stay connected with the company. Management mustbegin to remove away everything in the company that is not adding value. 3.
For each stakeholder or stakeholder groupthat you have identified in 2 above, discuss their possible reactions to thecourse or courses of action which you will take. (25%)As a CEO, Charleswill communicate to all middle managers not to take power and responsibilityand reducing the bureaucracy in all division. Reduce the workload and which ismore efficient and responsive. In fact, the corporation will be free of thecommunication obstructions endemic to overstaffing and middle management. CEO will plan forthe cost and not personnel target. Regularly with the idea of distributingresponsibility lower and lower in the organisation.
Moreover, reducing the costthe way they see fit and preparing a timetable for these changes. While this isto be done, that management can organise the concern to its customers Furthermore, theother stakeholders will be following the instruction from CEO and implementedbased on the new business strategy.