Astratech Communications International (pdf)

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CASE STUDY
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MAIN BODY...........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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Case Analysis
The discussion in the case study revolves around ACI (Astratech Communications
International). In the respective organisation, George Anderson is seen to be appointed as the
CEO. He is seen to be an effective person who tries his hands to ensure the execution of business
activities in the desired manner. While he was practicing as the CEO of this corporation, the
news of step down of company' chairman instilled a sense of zeal and enthusiasm within him to
get that post then. The company is regarded to be a well renowned and establish supplier of fiber
optic transceiver elements corresponding to the telecommunication sector. The provision of
offerings of company was for corporations such as Northern Telecom, Alcatel and Ericsson, who
are seen to put Astratech Communications International's elements in to the light wave equipment
they produced. The annual turnover of this corporation was acknowledged to be approximately
$500 million with a staff total of around 2500 in geographies such as Mexico, Scotland and
Southern California. The staff of this company within the confines of USA and other parts of
globe is seen to be represented by IBEW which is a union with a history of good working
relationship with senior management. The whole case is seen to be revolving around certain
issues that George has acknowledged during his tenure as CEO. He was an effective leader as
wherever he is found to have discovered an issue, he came up with a solution to resolve that also.
It can be drawn from the case that as soon as he started working at the position of CEO, he began
searching for the issues that were pestering the profitability and growth performance of the
corporation. As the days passed, he gained comprehensibility that there was a dire need to resolve
the issues found to be prevailing in the premises of ACI but he was unsure that the source of the
challenges was product development procedures, top management team, sales and marketing
units. In this regard, the problems that were recognised by the CEO were lack of focus, improper
estimation of product cost implying ineffective cost accounting, poor quality, ineffective
planning policies and procedures and stipulation of unclear vision. All of these were looked upon
as stepping stones by George and he came up with sound solutions to deal with each one of them.
George Anderson’s approach to leadership was quite effective for the respective organisation.
As a CEO must be dedicated to the growth and sustainability of corporation in market
place for a long period of time, he was also loyal to the company and driving it toward success.
George possessed the right skills, competence and practical skills that are essential to be present
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within the leader of any entity. He had the zeal to turn around the current position of entity and
take it to new heights whereby none of its rival firms would be able to reach easily. Being the
head of the organisation, it was significant for him to ensure that he gave the right direction to all
the employees as well as the overall corporation such that it could come out of the issues
recognised by him. As it is expected that the leader of an entity should be positive and
enthusiastic, George was the same personality. He was optimistic in nature owing to which he
was able to even identify opportunities within the issues. He applied his out of box and critical
thinking skills so as to devise and enforce effective strategies through which the firm could
combat the threats faced by it in the open market. By keeping a positive outlook towards the
acknowledged issues, he could even motivate the entire staff to work as per his planning and
strategies. Owing to such kind of leadership approach employed by him at the organisational
premises, the respective business entity (ACI) became the most profitable corporation in a time
span of next 2 years.
Key Issues
The main problem that has been presented in present scenario include, lack of focus as
well as fast-paced industry. In addition with this, it has been evaluated that in organisational
environment there is no clear vision which is required and wanted by ACI. Thus, with the lack of
acceptable plan performance and profitability business lead towards downfall. These are some of
the issue that decrease organisation performance that further lead towards decreasing growth
perspective. In addition with this by evaluating business system the main issue that seems was
lack of adequate cost accounting, in this individual product cost has not been known by company.
Thus, it is essential for company to address this challenge in best effective manner for this chief
financial officer has been brought in by George. In addition with this one of the most affecting
issue that has been found in this report include lack of attention towards quality. Thus, these are
some of the issue that affect company reputation among that customers that further lower down
high growth opportunities for company.
Key issues that has been facing by company as per according to the present report include
lack of focus and general weaknesses in business systems. In addition with the absence of real
vision both employees and company did not have a plan with the help of which they can lead
towards growth. Along with this one of the major issue that has been hold by company include
lack of adequate cost accounting this effect company in a way that they did not know their
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individual product cost to any reasonable degree of accuracy. These are some of the major
affecting issues that decrease organisation performance and reputation in Marketplace. All the
issue define that there is lack of proper leadership prevailing in organisational culture and system
as due to this there is no formative communication within employees and manager that further
lead towards affecting performance of both. In addition with this with the lack of leadership and
vision organisation are not able to effectively guide their employees and communicate the real
problems that have been faced by company. Thus, it becomes essential for organisation to
effectively resolve and overcome all these issues in best effective manner and further initiate
communication with employees along with best form of decision making process with the help of
which issues and challenges can be solved and Organisation lead towards more productive
outcomes.
Alternative Solutions for resolving the problem
Since the given company i.e. Astratech Communication International (ACI) has faced issues
related to lack of focus under workers due to unclear vision of what company actually wants.
This leads to manufacture products of less quality that results in cancellation of various orders.
To resolve this issue, CEO has suggested to either layoff near about 900 workers or implement a
policy of four-day work-week. But hearing such kind of steps, press media and other labors have
made a number of arguments and damaged the car of new CEO. Therefore, to overcome from
this situation, a number of alternative solution for resolving the mentioned issues are given as
below –
Solution I: Set clear goals and provide feedback –
Employees at workplace are generally motivated more if they know what company actually
wants in what manner they have to work for achievement of desired goals. By clearly stating
goals, new CEO (George Anderson) of ACI Company can provide a clear vision and guidance to
its workers. Since low quality of products is taken as main issue behind cancellation of orders
and reduction in sales. Therefore, given company also needs to develop Short-term goals. This
will prove more effective in encouraging workers of both branches of Mexico and Scotland, for
properly managing their performance while doing tasks to meet business targets, in given period
of time. Additionally, it is also essentialfor managers of respective company to provide feedback
to employees and supervised themfor doing well. Hereby, accomplishments must be
acknowledged, while failures or any errors in meeting targets needs to be promptly addressed.
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Along with tis, to maintain the employee productivity, some good management practices like
designing economic incentives, provides adequate training etc. should be incorporated at
workplace.
Advantages Disadvantages
The main advantage part of this
solution which is setting goal for ACI
is to get more focused worker. In
addition to this, providing timely
feedback to them, will also help in
getting high performances as well. It
results in producing high quality of
products, that reduces the fear of
cancellation of orders also.
Apart from given advantage, this
solution fails to describe how layoff of
workers can be avoided and the way
they can be influenced to accept
changes related to reduced working
days weekly.
Solution 2: Adopt change leadership qualities:
Change leadership concept refers to an ability of influencing others towards attainment of
business goals, through personal advocacy. In this regard, in order to become successful leader,
when new CEO of ACI has implement a task force strategy to resolve company’s issues.
Therefore, it is recommended to change the leadership style first. As per the case analysis, it has
been analyzed that to resolve the issues, many solutions have been provided like – layoff certain
workers, reduced working days (4week-days), hiring of new chief financial officer etc. shows the
autocratic style of leadership, where mostly people at workplace either opposes the changes or
feel less motivated that impact on their performances. Therefore, it is recommended to adopt
effective leadership qualities for implementation of changes successfully at workplace. In this
regard, the three main skills that needed to possess for a leader are –
Communicate -Leaders that tended to focus more on “what” behind the change often
faces failure in implementation of same. Therefore, to become successful leaders they
need to concern on finding the reasons for developing changes and communicated the
same to workers. By explaining the purpose of such change, which are connected to
organization’s values, new CEO of ACI can strongly influence the workers towards
urgency for change in business.
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Collaborate. Leaders also need to focus on developing collaboration among workers by
increasing their participation in plan. In this regard, to execute changes successful which
is critical to gain growth and profitability of business, George can encourage workers to
break out of their silos and give best performance for producing products with high
quality. George also need to include employees in decision-making process for
strengthening the commitment of workers towards proposed change.
Commit. Successful leaders always ensure that their own beliefs as well as ethical
behavior will supported changes. Therefore, for willing towards step outside the comfort
zone of some workers, George needs to devoted more time to execute change
successfully.
In this regard, after developing the leadership competencies and three C’s skills, it is also
essential for new CEO (George), to adopt democratic style in his leadership. Hereby, he can give
equal chance to managers of other department also, to propose more alternative solutions for
resolving current situation of business. This would help in creating a positive environment at
workplace, where workers can influence easily to accept changes and give high commitment for
improvement of products’ quality.
Advantages Disadvantages
Adopting changes in
leadership style and traits will
help in getting more
supportive working
environment. Hereby,
developing three C’s skills,
will help CEO in earning
collaborative team where all
give equal commitment to
attain current goals of
company. This would also
help in executing changes
more easily at workplace.
The main drawback of given
alternative solution is time,
because to adopt effective
leadership style and implement
changes successfully in
business, requires proper
duration. But as new CEO of
ACI wants quick actions to
resolve issues related to
cancellation of orders, therefore,
under this situation, it seems to
be difficult to change current
leadership styles.
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Recommendations
As per the above mentioned report it has been recommended to ACI that, in order to
overcome challenges and issues that have been faced by organisational in their organisation
structure. Thus, it has been recommended to George to undertake change leadership qualities, as
with the help of this they can effectively able to motivate other towards attainment of goals in
best effective manner. In addition with this, it is essential for an organisation to have formative
set of clear vision and acceptable plan. With the help of this company can identify the road
which is required to be led by them. In addition with this it is also essential for company to
analyse their product cost as to offer services in best effective manner along with in cost-effective
manner. Further in order to increase company reputation among Customers Company is required
to focus on high product quality. Further it is essential for organisation to undertake best effective
leadership approach as to guide individuals in directional level (Becker, 2018). Along with this,
organisation is required to formulate well defined vision with the help of which company can
guide their employees.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Becker, G.K., 2018. Moral leadership in business. Contemporary Issues in Leadership, pp.237-
257.
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Para-González, L., Jiménez-Jiménez, D. and Martínez-Lorente, A.R., 2018. Exploring the
mediating effects between transformational leadership and organizational
performance. Employee Relations, 40(2), pp.412-432.
Quesado, P.R., Aibar Guzmán, B. and Lima Rodrigues, L., 2018. Advantages and contributions in
the balanced scorecard implementation. Intangible capital, 14(1), pp.186-201.
Kibbe, M.R., 2019. Leadership theories and styles. In Leadership in Surgery (pp. 27-36).
Springer, Cham.
Ashaye, O.R. and Irani, Z., 2019. The role of stakeholders in the effective use of e-government
resources in public services. International Journal of Information Management, 49,
pp.253-270.
Hoch, J.E., Bommer, W.H., Dulebohn, J.H. and Wu, D., 2018. Do ethical, authentic, and servant
leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-
analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), pp.501-529.
Wildavsky, A., 2018. A cultural theory of leadership. In Cultural Analysis (pp. 253-282).
Routledge.
Huffington, C., James, K. and Armstrong, D., 2018. What is the emotional cost of distributed
leadership?. In Working below the surface (pp. 67-82). Routledge.
Oc, B., 2018. Contextual leadership: A systematic review of how contextual factors shape
leadership and its outcomes. The Leadership Quarterly.
Obholzer, A. and Miller, S., 2018. Leadership, followership, and facilitating the creative
workplace. In Working Below the Surface (pp. 33-48). Routledge.
Boamah, S.A., Laschinger, H.K.S., Wong, C. and Clarke, S., 2018. Effect of transformational
leadership on job satisfaction and patient safety outcomes. Nursing outlook, 66(2),
pp.180-189.
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