Problem Identification

Discuss about the People, Management and Organization.

Pluto Telecommunication is a telecom company, which was founded in 1930. This report analyses about the problem suffered by Pluto Telecommunication in its operations. Along with this, this report will provide some alternatives for the solution of that problem. It also provides recommendation to management regarding the selection of alternatives to surmount the problem going on in Pluto.

Pluto Telecommunication is facing many of the problems, which directly affect its market share. Pluto Telecommunication has three different departments, which are Sales, Customer service and Marketing. The problem, which is faced by Pluto Telecommunication, is that these three departments do not work together. Along with this, these departments work in against of each other. This kind of behavior of these departments leads to loss to the organization. This unprofessional behavior by the departments leads to losing of new orders by the company. It also increases complaints from the existing customers. In addition to this, the marketing department of the company had launched many of the products. But this is done without giving any prior notice and training to other departments. This will directly affect the sales of company.

Pluto Telecommunication is suffering from many problems, which affects the structure of the company roughly. In this case, it is found that there is an unethical behavior followed by the different departments. The analysis of this case can be done on the basis of the SOGI model: Societal, Organization, Group and Individual.

Each Organization is a mixture of organization culture and organization structure. According to Cresswell et al (2014), in every organization, unitary culture is followed. Veronica Tsang also followed the same culture in the organization. But in Pluto, the three departments made their own working culture, which is distinct from the main culture of the organization. In addition to this, the subculture, which is created by the departments leads to miscommunication and it also acts as a hurdle in achieving the organizational goal. The employees of the company should be innovative and practical enough to deal with the outsiders. This innovation can be developed among employees by adopting unitary culture in the whole organization. But strong culture not guaranteed success of the organization. IBM has the powerful organizational culture but till suffered from losses.

In the view of Erhemjamts et al (2013), Organization structure defines allocation, coordination and controlling of the activities for achieving the main aim of the organization. Structure of Pluto follows proper departmentalization system. In departmentalization, there is a proper hierarchy to be followed. In Pluto, all the three departments (i.e. Sales, Customer service and Marketing) give their reports to Ms Tsang. These departments develop their own organization structure, which leads to miss communication in Pluto Telecommunication. Furthermore, the marketing department of the company had launched many of the products. But this is done without given any prior notice and training to other departments. These departments do not connect to each other, which may affect its working in significant way. The same problem is faced by Mr. Jeff Bezos (CEO Amazon).

Analysis of problem

Group structure in Pluto Telecommunication is distinct in different departments. Sales department follows intentional group features. On the other hand, customer service department follows bureaucratic structure and the marketing department has used structure of teamwork. Intentional group permits all the employees to participate in all the activities of the department (Vandichel et al 2015). The employees of the sales department work as individuals for achieving the goals, which leads to discords among them. Customer service department follows the proper bureaucracy in its working, which includes working under proper level of hierarchy (Onyekwelu et al 2015). This department works under a set of law, rules and regulations. This working style may struggle in new circumstances. Along with this, marketing department of the company focuses on the teamwork but the department fails to identify the proper level of structure. This failure also affects in the achievement of the goal of the organization.

Group culture of Pluto telecommunication differs according to change in department. The sales department follows the culture of rewards and recognition based on performance of employees. Rewards are conferred to employees benefits based on their performance in achievement of goal of department (Aguinis, 2013). In the customer service department, the style of working and authority is clearly defined, where the performance is tightly controlled by the head of the department. Due to this, it is not able to adopt the changes effectively. The employees of marketing department follow the same independent culture. This behavior of the employees affects the interdepartmental communications. In Pluto, this kind of the group culture is followed, which leads to disintegration in the organization.

Leadership plays a very vital role in the success of an organization. In Pluto Telecommunication, it is analyzed that Ms Tsang’s leadership has failed to guide the employees of company in achievement of business goals. The above analysis has found that Ms Tsang feels that the entire department’s heads criticize her work for the failure of the company. She feels that she is cornered by all the male directors of the company. In words of Peter Drucker, “A leader is someone, who has followers”. Ms Tsang should develop herself as a transformational leader to improve the condition in the company. She should transform her employees to work effectively and accurately. The similar situation is faced by Marissa Mayer (CEO, Yahoo). She has also failed to lead the organization effectively.

In Pluto Telecommunication, different departments motivate their employees in different ways. In the sales department, the employees can gain the rewards by achieving their individual targets. For earning reward, employee works individually and which leads individual work rather than teamwork. But, payment of rewards to employees cannot motivate employees. In the customer service department, bonus system is applied to motivate the employees to work effectively. At a certain point of time, motivation of the employees is from fear of failure e.g. warnings. In marketing department, performance targets are not clearly defined. Due to this, some employees feels undervalued in the department. Theory of W. Edward Deming also states that paying rewards and benefits to employees do not properly motivate them. 

Analysis at Organizational level

Pluto Telecommunication can change its organization structure to dissolve the given problem. Pluto should launch itself in the market as a whole unit instead of personal grouping in the departments. This can increase working flexibility and accuracy in company. Pluto should develop coordination among employees of different departments through group assignments and meetings. Pluto can reengineer its structure in the way that creates dependency of departments on each other. This can create sense of obligation among all.

Reward system is helpful in short-term motivation, but it is not effective for long-term motivation among staff (Kerr, and  Rifkin, 2013). The goals assigned to employees should be clear, and challenging but attainable. Pluto should change its reward system by applying the flexibility model in the reward system where the employees are given the reward according to their performance. In addition to this, Pluto should improve a wide variety of the reward system, which will help in removing the barrier of communication among departments.

Regular company meeting can be conducted in the organization to eradicate the gap between the departments of the organization. These meetings are necessary to review the quarterly progress of the departments. Meetings can be helpful in bridging up the communication gap between the departments. Regular company meetings will create a sense of urgency for each department to share departmental progress at the meeting. Regular meeting of departments will give the information about the departments, which will help the other departments in deciding their actions accordingly.

Involvement culture is the culture, which focuses on the participation of the company’s employees in different activities, contest, and decision-making ( boyd, D. 2014). Pluto needs to change its organization culture and to adopt the culture of involvement to achieve business goals. Ben & Jerry’s Homemade is one of the examples of the organization, which has successful adopted this culture. This will motivate the employees to work together towards the achievement of organizational goals rather than personal goals.

Delegation of power and responsibility can increase the performance of employees. The Pluto telecommunication should use decentralized organizational structure, where the power to take discrete action and responsibility is delegated to proficient employees in the organization based on their performance. This will motivate other employees to work at best to get the higher position in the organization. The feeling of control over others is one of the ways for motivation among employees.

Pluto Telecommunication should conduct the regular meetings, as it is necessary to remove the communication gap among three departments. The meetings held will remove the communication gap and will help to track progress/performance of departments. This will also lead to harmony among the departments.

Analysis at Group level

In the long term, Pluto Telecommunication can transform its organization structure to improve its working. This change of the structure should be in the way to improve the flexibility and accuracy in the working of the company. Structural change can improve the sales of Pluto Telecommunication. Apart from this, the organization should adopt the involvement culture for timely achieving the organizational goals. In this culture, the groups should be given privilege to participate into decision-making of organization. Furthermore, Pluto Telecommunication should develop proper communication system in the organization. This will remove the communication gap and establish the coordination among the departments.

The management shall need to develop agenda to call a meeting of the departments. There should be properly mentioned time, venue, date in notice of meeting. The notice needs to be prepared and sent to each department. While in reward system, the reward policy of company should be reviewed to diagnose need of possible change. Reward distribution policy can be improved through evaluation of best reward policy in industry.

To change in organizational structure, first, prevailing structure of organization will be analyzed to determine the problem with this structure, and then possible remedies will be developed. The views of employees and upper management personnel can also be invited for this purpose.

Conclusion

From above report, it can be concluded that the main problem suffered by the Pluto telecommunication is the communication gap among departments. There are various alternative solutions that can be employed for solving this problem such as regular meeting of departments, change in organizational structure, delegation, and improving the reward system. Based on analysis of problem and alternative, regular meeting, improvement in reward system, and change in organizational structure are recommended to company to solve the problem.

Reference

Aguinis, H., Joo, H. and Gottfredson, R.K. (2013) What monetary rewards can and cannot do: How to show employees the money. Business Horizons,56(2), pp.241-249.

 boyd, D. (2014) It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. USA: Yale University Press.

Cresswell, C., Moizer, J. and Lean, J. (2014) The Role of Organisational Culture in the Merger of English Local Authorities into a Single Unitary Authority. Local Government Studies, 40(3), pp. 356-379.

Erhemjamts, O., Li, Q. and Venkateswaran, A. (2013) Corporate social responsibility and its impact on firms’ investment policy, organizational structure, and performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(2), pp.395-412.

Kerr, S. and  Rifkin, G. (2013) Reward Systems: Does Yours Measure Up?.USA: Harvard Business Press.

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Vandichel, M., Hajek, J., Vermoortele, F., Waroquier, M., De Vos, D.E. and Van Speybroeck, V. (2015) Active site engineering in UiO-66 type metal–organic frameworks by intentional creation of defects: a theoretical rationalization. CrystEngComm, 17(2), pp. 395-406.