Abstract
Vortex, a telecommunication company is a merger between company A and company B. Since the merge they have face various challenges and have called upon a specialist to assess their problems and help them come up with a solution.
Keywords: VP- Vice President.
Case Study: Vortex
The Boundaries of Analysis
Vortex is surely going to need my assistance in addressing their problems. Some of the major problems are those of the VP Fred Santos. He is a man that is clearly overworked. Before he got this position, he had just completed a tough assignment only a few months before the merger closed. He is also too involved with Media Relations rather than his duties as the VP (DiPrimio, 2010). Another major problem is that of the directors. The Corporate Communications leadership team of 8 (Fred and his direct reports) has been together for just over 7 months, and continues to struggle to get unity as a team. The leaders are used to their old ways of doing business, and find it difficult to agree on new operating norms and processes. They tend to compete for Fred’s attention and, because of work load, they tend to focus on their silos of work, sometimes seeing little need to consult each other. They also seem to be having too many goals at their youthful stage as a merged company and most of their employees still have not met each other which crucial in building confidence and cooperation (DiPrimio, 2010)..
Objectives of the Project
By the end of this analysis, the VP will have to choose a priority between Media Relations and his role as the VP. He should also be allowed time off. The directors too will have to cooperate and work as a team as well as the rest of the employees and realize they are no longer company A and company B. Perhaps too is scale down the level of ambition. They are over ambitious with six goals to tackle.
The Kind of Information to Seek
For me to successfully carry the consultation and recommendations to the company’s problems, I will need a complete list of the staff’s names and their qualifications. From the same, I will also want to know their duties in the firm with their job description. I should be able to get this information from the human resource desk and from the employees themselves. If they are too many, I will use random selection as well as pre planned employees. For example from the most influential departments or those perhaps those departments that are excelling and those are failing to meet goals (DiPrimio, 2010).. The key players remain to be the VP and his other seven directors. This is because they hold key and most influential positions. But ultimately, the VP Fred Santos’s office handles the most critical duties (DiPrimio, 2010). I will also take keen notice on the department of Media Relations where two staff had given notice, citing workload stress and too much travel as reasons for leaving. It will also help if the two staff can tell what can make them remain as employees of Vortex. With this complete list of staff, I will also be able to how many they are. Whether they are over worked or underworked and therefore make recommended changes. Under the qualified sections, I will know whether they are qualified or not. If they are qualified, then there must be other reasons which are causing the companies ineffectiveness and will be diagnosed as well. Learning the duties of each employee will enable me know where there are loopholes. That is understaffed departments as well as overstaffed meaning they are under working. This too will allow me make relevant recommendations. Even though the most involvement I will require is that of the eight directors changes there will have a trickledown effect. As an external consultant, I should be able to make logic and unbiased solutions. It will almost take involvement of the whole firm but mostly the leadership.
My Role in the Project
My role remains to be able to research and point at what is slowing down the company. Since this deals at the heart of the company’s issues without which the company will crumble, I need not emphasize how much cooperation I will need from everybody especially in communication and presentation of data and figures.
The Product I Will Deliver
During and after the consultation, I will offer workable advice. That will be advice on how to improve quality and quantity of work done and how to improve on qualified employees such as by training the ones that are already there and hiring new ones. Concerning the employees, I will be able to deliberate on whether they are enough for the company or not. I will also cover the leadership of Vortex by ensuring they reduce the goals to the most crucial ones. This will greatly reduce they overload of work they have, create less exhaustion and demand. Once this is achieved, they will be able to concentrate on more important stuff that is the most crucial goals. As the consultant, I am accountable for final report on what is causing the company inefficiency as well as providing a detailed account on how to deal with the problems (DiPrimio, 2010)..
Support and Involvement needed from the client
For the consultation to be successful, I will require utmost cooperation from the leaders to the rest of the employees in order to give proper recommendations. I will therefore need support from everyone in giving the truth and all information that will lead to improving on the company. Among the employees, I will require to know whether they find working with new colleagues hard and why they do if yes. It will also be important to know the truth in the matter that is whether they are working as hard as they should and whether they are using any innovativeness in their work. When it comes to the head, support in form of truth will also be on whether they are working as hard as they should be and whether they are co-operating with their new colleagues (DiPrimio, 2010). This is because most of the companies problems especially inability to achieve goals seem to be coming from their lack of cooperation and little effort. Generally, it should be a frank relationship for me and my clients. It will also be mostly confidential. This will motivate the clients open up in helping me see what is affecting the business.
Time Schedule
I have been given 45 days to complete this assignment. Roughly a month and a half. It is a large company and therefore my schedule will be tight. Work will begin immediately formulating how best I can maneuver my way through the company. I plan to start with the employees that are not in the leadership roles. This is so that I can present my findings to the department heads once I interview them. It will start though with two staff meetings with as many staff as I can to be held as former company A and company B premises. Those that will not be able to attend will have it notified to them most likely by word of mouth. This is to enable everyone know what is going on and prevent any unpleasant confrontations. With that out of the way, I will go ahead and put 21 days aside for meeting and interviewing employees. Three days for each department should do. It will be very exhausting as it might involve moving from different premises to another. First up will be internal communications followed by media relations, publications, special events, advertising and promotion, public and governmental affairs and finally consumer direct marketing. This will not involve any heads of departments but will target those that hold other significant influential positions. Another nine days will be spent with the seven directors and Fred’s eight direct report the executive assistant. First up will be the department internal communications followed by media relations, publications, special events, advertising and promotion, public and governmental affairs, consumer direct marketing and the executive assistant’s office. I will have a final day to meet with the VP where I will interview him as well as tell him my findings as the VP (DiPrimio, 2010).. After the interviews have been held, the head of departments and will take seven days discussing and suggesting solutions for the information I come up with. It will have various suggestions from the various interviews with the employees. It should take at least one day to discuss the issues of each department and deliberate. The next seven days will be used in implementing the suggestions and they should all simultaneously take place in each department. A further six days that will mark the end of my 45 days will be taken to review the progress in the implementation of given suggestions following impromptu meetings. The working schedule will be such as to allow this. This will make a total 14 days of implementation under my watch which should be enough given the circumstances.
Confidentiality
The people involved in the meeting will be employees not holding departmental head positions but with a considerable level of involvement, influence and significance in the company’s output. It will also involve each of the departmental heads as well as the VP. This is because it is these people’s decisions that will have the greatest impact in the company’s well being (DiPrimio, 2010). They will also see the report I compile but will not have a chance to see the interviewees take on the matter as that remains confidential in line with my work as a consultant in such matters. Communication during the assignment will be through contact. We should be able to discuss on a one on one basis where I will use questionnaires, notes and sound recording. In the case where I cannot meet with required people telephone will be the next best option.
Feedback
As mentioned, the result of my work will be checked starting on the 25th when I meet with the directors to deliberate. There will be seven days of reaction to my findings and recommendations followed by a further two weeks of trying out and making relevant changes. These three instances will be the feedback I require. This will be generally be inform of what suggestions are made but mostly how the changes will affect the business. A positive feedback will be quite satisfactory in the form of progress for the company after the changes are applied. I should be able to get it over a period of the last 21 days. This will greatly help me evaluate myself especially in problem solving as my career and it will also help Vortex run normally.
Problems/Opportunities
I expect very positive reactions to the recommendations I make. After such a thorough assessment nothing if anything should go wrong. The greatest opportunity for change comes in the form of the leader’s attitude towards each other and their departments. The change from lack of cooperation to that of full cooperation will be a major milestone. The VP’s decision on what he is to focus on is a real opportunity for change too. He will most probably step down as VP and concentrate on Media Relations which will be best for Vortex. There will be others too but these two are the biggest changes and most significant too. In order to achieve these, the previous interviews I will have held will enable me have enough facts to base my findings, arguments and reasons for my decisions. My role is to convince them again with the information at hand why this and that has to change. I expect a few challenges. The first will be that of the leaders concerning their lack of cooperation with each other. This might be fiercely resisted because part of the company’s failure will surely be blamed on them. Another will be that of providing the reality to the VP that he might have to step down. That is because it will seem like a loss of dignity or blow to his ego and honor at the company (DiPrimio, 2010). If not that having to stop working too much at Media Relations where he is so passionate about will definitely meet fierce resistance. Other barriers will include deliberating or helping come up with a solution as this is complex organization. The company’s employees may not be willing to share information and that too may prove a barrier. These will addressed from the very beginning at the meeting. I will make it very clear that I am impartial and I will base all my arguments on facts and deal with them empirically. It is my job to help them and if push comes to shove I will be ready to stand my ground and state the facts as I refer them to what I had told them earlier.
References
DiPrimio, A. (2010). The Managerial Mistakes that a CEO Must Avoid. Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics. Holy Family University
