Key Issues

Discuss about the International Business for 360 Degrees Global Connec.

The case study uncovers significant issues that are associated with poor performance of 360 Degrees Global Connec organization. To start with, the non-profit agency has recorded high overhead costs as well as slow development in business activities. Recently, the agency has experienced a high rate of staff turnover, where even the directors and other consulting staff have exited. Therefore, to address this issue regarding high staff turnover, the company should consider paying the employees more to improve the working environment. Also, offering potential promotion and rebalancing the workload is a significant solution to the issue. In addition, it is evident that the managers such as Sophie appear less concerned and as a result the staff ignore and embrace a different approach to work. For that reason, conflicts and lack of motivation in the organization arises. The employees are overworked while the leaders experience challenges in work allocation (Bolden, 2016 p.143). Also, there is insufficient information that may be required by the finance department for use in budget completion. However, various solutions may be developed as discussed in this paper.

As a director, Rachel can use both leadership and managerial skills to solve issues in the organization. For instance, Rachel must be resilient to sustain and establish a momentum in the organization where the employees appear motivated to work. Also, she should be courageous to solve the circumstances that may hinder the organization from succeeding. Rachel should ensure she can deal with complicated issues which prevail such as envy, self-promotion, corporate politicking, and power-plays which results in the unproductive workforce. Racheal should apply creativity and embrace the wisdom that will align with a linear vision hinders opportunities that exist. Rachel should avoid viewing the organizational problems as a distraction but should view them as an enabler for progressive achievement that would guide towards recognizing the unseen opportunities. Communication is an important requirement which should be transparent in every organization (Goetsch and Davis, 2014 p.10). Therefore, the director should create a transparent platform where people submit their concerns to ensure the rate of employee turnover declines. Sophie deals with a multi-cultural team and it is obvious there can be misunderstanding of different cultures.

Therefore, as a good manager, Sophie should allow the employees to work under minimum supervision without controlling them on how to work. However, the counsellor must always be present to support the employees when there is need. Therefore, the significant solution to this issue is that the managers should adopt better technology advancements. In addition, the company should prioritize the employee effectiveness and also supervise capital usage to increase performance and minimize the overhead costs. Finally, the company should embrace entrepreneurial commitment as well as focus to address the issue of overhead costs effectively.  Allowing competitive advantages, encouraging employees and facilitating trust would help in creating healthy and friendly working relationships in the company. In case of conflicts, Sophie is expected to avoid taking black and white view of the issues that prevail. This is because every individual views things differently and they have different opinions. Therefore, the best solution to this issue is that Sophie should consider all opinions, embrace the best and ignore others. There is need to acknowledge the employees as they just seek to help solve things at their best level. In the case where employees are overworked, the best solution is that the leaders should ensure that the employees are allocated work that they can handle without any pressure, issue employees an overtime, and allow them holidays when necessary. In the case of inadequate information the manager should ensure that there is appropriate information that can be used by the finance department. Sophie should not leave her team behind while driving agendas as every suggestion from the employees matter. At no point an individual will succeed alone. There is need for Sophie to ensure healthy working relationships. Sophie should ensure that the employees meet at least once per year, build networks, have good meals, and hang out at nice places to ensure that they know each other better each day. The manager should not expect every employee to like her as every individual has their significant strengths and weaknesses. Rachel should adopt delegation and creative skills as a perfect combination of both managerial and leadership skills consecutively.

Develop Solutions

There are steps that should be considered to assess overall employee satisfaction within the organization between the two managers as well as the entire workforce. First option is evaluating the employee attitudes where managers are guided towards enhancing a moral reflection within the institution (Jacobs, Yu and Chavez, 2016 p.68). Employees and managers satisfaction is determined by various aspects such as attitudes, personal characteristics, talents, development opportunities, identification of satisfactory work, and work surrounding. A survey can be a conducted to assess satisfaction as they help the managers and employees give honest opinions. Second, focus groups can also be used in the assessment (Huang and Rundle-Thiele, 2014p.196). They produce an effective response based on the discussions which are conducted by the trained facilitators (Viera and Kramer, 2016 p.50). Third, individual interviews can be used as they provide employees with an opportunity to clarify and explain their opinions. Fourth, every institution has a suggestion inbox where the managers ask the employees as they respond in an honest way. This is the easiest technique for assessing job satisfaction between the two managers and the team. Finally, the two managers may use a performance review to assess the employee satisfaction. This step ensures the employee’s individual needs are communicated.

There are various ways in which Rachel can improve the leadership skills as well as motivating and inspiring others. I would ask Rachel to embrace true motivation within herself. Second, I would let her know that she should think about the team and the organization specifically. Rachel should ignore all the negativity that prevail in the institution to improve leadership skills. It is important if Rachel hires positive people to facilitate a positive working environment. Appealing to values is an important step which encourages a leader to ensure the team observes policies and values outlined. Rachel should ensure that there is a celebration of small achievements to keep employees motivated. Rewarding the team is important as a way of encouraging them to work more. Finally, Rachel should initiate trust and delegation which guides the employees to be loyal to the organization and work together towards a common goal.

On the other hand, the managers can improve their managerial skills through various ways. To start with, the managers outline goals that they wish to achieve in the organization (DuBrin, 2015 p.32). Also, the managers determine effective ways of communication with the team to keep them organized (Barnes, Guarana, Nauman and Kong, 2016 p.1196). An effective manager takes leadership as a course to gain the appropriate knowledge required. Also, they read as many management books as possible to ensure they improve the leadership skills. Moreover, they are good listeners and also exercise motivating and rewarding employees.

Evaluating Options

In this type of a situation, charismatic style of leadership would be the most effective. Charismatic style of leadership involves the leaders who can energize, inspire, and also motivate the employees. The capability of initiating enthusiasm and excitement at the workplace is a significant advantage for any leader (Gebert, Heinitz, and Buengeler, 2016 p.98). The pros of such type of a leadership style include keeping the employees inspired as they work hard for positive results. However, the cons associated with this type of leadership is that a charismatic leader believes in their ambitions more than that of the team (Zehir, Müceldili, Altinda?, ?ehito?lu & Zehir, 2014 p.1365). Therefore, this style of leadership puts projects at risk of collapsing in case the leader leaves them. Moreover, charismatic; leaders always believe they do right things and do not listen to the team in case a problem is recognized. Moreover, the Laissez faire style is another leadership style that would fit the organization as there is a multicultural team besides the charismatic style of leadership. The significant advantage of laissez faire style is that it ensures effective communication when dealing with a multicultural team. For this reason, a leader must be aware about cultural differences that prevail and understand them. The significant disadvantage is that the leader may experience challenges in communication based on the accents of different employees from various cultural backgrounds.

If I was a CEO at 360 Degrees Global Connec, I would take various steps to improve employee loyalty and minimize the rate of turnover. For instance, I would focus on the improvement of employee experiences by improving their morale by allowing them incentives, rewards, and holidays. Also, I would show case my employees’ success story without fear. Running loyalty programs and establishing employee retention tools will ensure the employees keep loving a leader. In addition, I would be optimistic than be pessimistic, as being hard on the employees does not make them work effectively, but it may result in conflicts. For instance, Rachel should not excuse anyone as it is her obligation to ensure everything works fine. I would suggest that the organization should adopt some team activities such as sport day, marathon day, Christmas party, and skiing. Such team activities should be conducted in Austria where employees have 3-4 days where they can communicate with the boss on things that they need to achieve in future. A real example of employees’ loyalty is evident at Elopak, an international supplier of paper based packaging solutions for liquid food. In this company, managers and other leaders get every two years the newest mobile phone in the market such as Samsung and iPhones. The employees are retained in the institution through business trips which are fully paid by the company. Employees are offered bonuses like first class plane tickets and they get money back from the company to keep them motivated.

Recommendations

On the other hand, there are various ways in which 360 Degrees Global Connec can improve the low staff morale. For instance, practicing transparency is a significant way as the employees are conversant with every activity conducted in the institution. Second, giving cognition and training the managers with appropriate skills to run the institution (Williams, 2017 p.53). Collecting feedback would also be effective as it informs the managers about the employees’ concerns. Finally, having activities for team building ensures that the managers and the employees exercise togetherness facilitating boosting of the staff morale. A real example of an organization which has addressed the issue of low staff morale is the University of Illinois. The leaders in the University ensures that the professionals are taken for annual parties which facilitates team building within the institution.

Conclusion

To summarize, it is evident that the case study uncovers issues that prevail in the 360 Degrees Global Connec. Therefore, after analyzing various problems, this paper provides recommendations that would help the company to improve in the future. For instance, there are different types of leadership styles that the company should adopt such as the charismatic leadership style. Also, the managers should find ways of improving leadership and managerial skills to run the institution. The company should find solutions to facilitate a low staff turnover and increase their morale. Finally, this paper offers real-life examples of institutions that have shown effective leadership which aim to retain employees and increase their morale. For instance, the Elopak Company is a good example where employees are given phones such as Samsung and iPhones as reward. Managers should focus on the needs of the employees to ensure the staff turnover is minimized. Also, managers should consider the views of other people as every opinion matter. It is evident that allowing employees holidays and overtime facilitates employee retention in an organization. 

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