Leadership paper Teacher Charles only

Analysis of the Case Study:

Part 1 – (background history) of business landscape in the form of a contextual description of the company and how it operates its business dealings.

There has been a change that has occurred recently in business strategy since Metro Services Inc. has taken on the addition of a new more demanding type of client (governmental organizations). When a company services a governmental organization they must readjust their approaches to match policy dictates. More than likely, training is required to upgrade standards in 3 major areas of service specialty efficiency which include: operations, building performance review systems and information management. The company’s marketing strategy operates on the premise that a management replacement can be fully trained and qualified in a 14 day period or Metro Services will assume a loss of operational revenue by forfeiting the finder’s and placement fee it normally charges.  The loss is substantial because it is calculated by a percentage of 10% annually ($5,000). The company wants to produce the best and the brightest talent so that the company will hire full time at a cost of another $5,000 for retaining permanent placement of the professional.  The ideology which was and still is the basic vision for the establishment of the firm, is to place the most fully up-to-date, and highly qualified professionals who are exceptionally trained, and have the capacity to fit into many diverse workplace settings because they have been trained to be adaptable (and possess extraordinary qualifications, and to have high-level multicultural, social skills, which allow for ease of transition and successful integration.

In order to maintain its market positioning (its hard-earned high standard policies earned by its 15 year reputation) and to meet the requirements imposed by their new client (governmental organizations), Metro Services Inc. has had to invest a great deal financially as it was necessary to find a reasonable space that could be affordably renovated. This was a mandatory move on the part of Metro Services Inc. as the new building has been slated to be a training center.  Monetary outlays have been incurred and will have to be accounted for (an expensive proposition commonly undertaken by any business entity forced to grow to remain competitive for its own survival).

Part 2 – (correspondence) from one Mr. James Baker, a one-time employee of Metro Services.

The letter from Mr. Baker is suspicious for several reasons.  He has a permanent placement opportunity which has been made available by Metro Services Inc. They located him and placed him in a good fit position and because of this match he is no longer a temporary worker but enjoys the status of a full-time position.  There was no apparent need for the circulation of a letter to staff at this point nor his self-appointed leader status of the employee group which makes his motives questionable. After looking into Mr. Baker’s background one clue emerges immediately, an issue where Mr. Baker felt financially slighted this issue stands out as noteworthy as an intrapsychic motivating force that propelled the psychological need to revisit the monetary issue from the past by participating in a obsessive act which was to send out the letter as a form of retaliation once in a secured position with another company and no longer in need of a professional bond with Metro Inc, especially, since he knew of the growth the company was sustaining. Mr. Baker was operating off a deep seated belief that the company had cheated him and it influencing his actions despite the opportunity he was given. This understanding gives a clue by marking the type of conflict (both overt and covert conflict) and utilize findings to either implement preventative measures or inform corrective courses of action (restorative) that will help to regain trust again with the employees; important element necessary for leaders to make happen to resolve this conflict.  

Part 3 is a synopsis (outlined rundown) of the principles (ideologies) and the business conditions (statuses).

The three partners are not seeing the situation in an empathetic way.  Each is imagining what is happening without thinking of how they might feel if they felt they were being cheated or undermined. One can’t believe what is really occurring, the other is overly optimistic, thinking that it can be straightened out if need be by professional mediators, and another partner expects things to remain the same in terms of satisfaction as if the situation never came up.

Part 4 is a synopsis of the spokesperson's role and agenda (plan); some of the problems are further defined.

Communication or lack of clarity it seems has been a central issue.  The employees feel left out of the loop, and do not feel as if they are valued for their contributions and now, they find that the company is moving forward, apparently, without their knowledge of the acquisition of this building, new training and growth of the firm. In each of the three points, communications went around the employees without giving much thought to creating a buy-in of the company’s growth process and to explain what to expect. In some instances, the way the company did its monitoring, it appears as if they could have interpreted suspicion or of the company supposing they were concealing knowledge, or engaging in acts of disloyalty. Metro now, needs to reconsider their patterns, postures, or perspectives or they will lose more trust of their work staff. It could also cost them their reputation if these employees decided to circulate their impressions.

Part 5 contains the results of a ten-item survey that was given to the employees, with the items and results shown.

You have been asked (retained) by Metro's management to study the five existing documents and identify the positives (for resolution) and negatives (for resolution) in favor of the management group

The survey makes it clear that there has been a good foundation made for relations but the employees are seeking more autonomy and areas that Metro can provide to strengthen opportunities of individual performance with several other business entities. This could be provided by the outgrowth of the new training facilities since they are considered experts in the areas of development the training will provide. More can be done to offer job security. Promotion opportunities need to be thought out and included. A new paradigm for negotiation of fees prior to placement needs to occur. More than any of these factors there needs to be a stronger line of communication. Ombudsman’s office could be set up to represent the employees if situation ethics are called into question as they were in this case.  In making provisions such as this it demonstrates that the company has a special concern for workforce issues. More meetings even brief encounters would invite discussions and this effort would give staff a stronger voice plus create a platform for shared values to identify with in the future that would be central in supporting Metro’s growth and would help staff feel as if they were on top of the changes (Kidder, 1995) that will be occurring as the company continues to expand.  The employees would have a chance to learn about the stipulations placed on the company now that it will be servicing government contracts.  Mr. Baker’s assertion would not have gone very far if these efforts would have been made because the outlay of the expenses to meet the requirements would have change the negative perspectives making the impression Mr. Baker imposed look like the misconception it truly was even though on the face of it, it was really quite a different situation altogether.

A time-phased strategy to address the conflict and recommendations for change and resolution recommendation.

In this instance DiZazzo (2000) communication did not get the attention it needed. According to Argosy University (2017) if mediation is required, only a fleeting amount of time is allotted if it is to be effective.  Monitoring of the essential window of this opportunity to make the discussion an aid to relations it is vital prior to, or after the closure of the opportunity it can possibly, provide, mediation is likely not to be a resource for resolution of conflicts.

What should have transpired in this company after 15 years in operation and in anticipation of the changes they were in the process of making, an effort to construct some viable conflict management strategies would have been helpful prior to the incidents. MIT for example, has such an instrument that identifies four separate ways to note how a company handles conflict. Davis and Kraus (2017) categorize a firm’s individual conflict style using an investigative tool called a Conflict Dynamics Profile. It determines a company’s conflict applications; classifying its approach as it falls into one or more of the following four extents:

·         Disinterestedness

·         Evasion

·         Intimidation·    Alliance

Metro Services Inc. exhibited various characteristics of all four throughout the escalation of the situation.

References

Argosy University Online, Module 5 course notes. Retrieved from:

http://myeclassonline.com

Coleman, P., Deutsch, M., & Marcus, E. (2014). The Mediation of Conflict. In K. Kressel (Ed.), the Handbook of Conflict Resolution:  Theory and Practice (3 ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Davis, M. and Kraus, L. (2017). Conflict Dynamics Profile CDP Survey of Organizational Conflict Management Style. St. Petersburg, FL. Retrieved from:

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