Pedro - a Case Study

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Development of another Strategic Business Plan

The current business state can be an opportunity to develop a strategic plan that focuses on distributive justice amongst employees involved.

Start of Regular Business Communication

A tone is very important in an organization. In order to create the organization’s tone, it is necessary that every member of the group is aware of the business decisions and conditions thru proper communication and cascading of information.

Threats

Demotivation of Employees

It is detrimental for an organization to develop a practice of slashing jobs year after year that is obviously visible to members of the organization. This may lead to employees losing interest to work resulting to demotivation and less productivity.

Massive Resignation

Because of business condition instability, employees might consider looking for a more stable company that could provide them job security.

Social relationships could be at risk

Social relationship is one of the reasons why it could be sometimes difficult to make managerial ethical decisions. Pedro, his relationship with his boss and subordinates, might be greatly affected by the business decision. Hence, their social relationship could be at risk.

Alternative Courses of Action

In addition to regular business communication meeting, it is believed that the following courses of action may be considered when dealing with critical business conditions.

1. Transferring of target employees to other departments/business units that are in need of additional manpower; yet, giving them the last decision if they’ll accept the offer or not.

Pros: Cutting off jobs will be avoided. This strategy provides more justice to the least advantaged member

Cons: Target employee might lose his/her expertise if to be assigned to another job function. New learning path shall be taken again as a beginner.

2. Rearrangement of work schedules and job responsibilities in practice of the Skeletal Support system. The number of active members of the team will be reduced and team members will be expected to go to office in alternate manner (every other week/day).

Pros: The team remains intact. The chance to preserve the social relationships is high. No one lost his job.

Cons: This will reduce the employee’s income as he will get to be paid based on the number of days he goes to office. Work endorsements might also cause confusions hence, might result to lower productivity.

3. Develop a series of selection guidelines to make sure a fair and just process was performed before an employee is considered a target. This may include key performance indicators, core competencies, individual development matrix, etc. After which, provide the target employee a desirable separation benefit package. to lighten the situation and provide employee a slight sense of comfort.

Pros: The selection guidelines will be a strong proof that every business decision has gone through due process and everyone was treated fairly and just. “Whenever employees are asked who was the best manager they ever worked with, they regularly quote someone who was 'firm but fair'”. (How To Earn Your Employees' Trust, Drennan 2014) The separation benefit package will help lighten the situation and provide employee a light sense of comfort.

Cons: The employee will lose his job. The organization might create a negative impression, internal and external, because slashing off jobs clearly denotes that the organization is unstable.

Recommendation

Transferring of target employees to other departments/business units that are in need of additional manpower is recommended. Through proper business communication, employees are aware of the current business condition. Knowing the target people are the weakest link among the team, it is still uplifting that the company is considering them to still be part of the company despite of the critical business state instead of cutting of their job. This will promote employee relations over any other business aspect. In effect, employees will be motivated that they felt the organization’s trust in them, hence, performing better and providing outstanding results. “Without trust in the workplace, communication and teamwork will erode.” (3 keys to building trust between managers and employees, Marshall 2010).

Implementation Plan

The business communications meeting shall be scheduled regularly to make sure all members of the organization are aware of the current business state. It will also be helpful to create a tone of the organization, reminding them the company’s vision and guiding everyone towards one common goal. Each business unit shall submit a quarterly performance report so it could be easier to monitor which groups are performing well and which are performing poor. Poor performance may have many factors. The one we are to consider is the headcount. Note of the business units/departments that are performing poor due to limited manpower. Shall another business crisis arise, deployment of the target employees to these groups will be easier and transfer is expected to be smooth since everything was well planned.

Learning Points

Business decisions are not as easy as it sounds. Different points and angles are to be considered when creating a business decision that could affect the members, the management, and the business as a whole. One major factor affecting manager’s decision is their social roles. It is a dilemma between doing what is right for the business and what is good for the employee. Every business decision shall consider the welfare of the members without compromising the business commitments. In this case, employee relation is given the top priority. It is believed that a motivated employee can contribute a huge positive impact to the company, from his work to his small social groups. “Maintaining a strong employer and employee relationship can be the key to the ultimate success of an organisation, the results are advantageous.” (Why Strong Employee/Employer Relationship is Important and How to Achieve This?, O’Brien 2014)