8.5 Cases and Problems

Learning on the Web

1. Using a search engine, look for the term “company organizational charts,” and find at least three examples of organizational charts for corporations, not-for-profits, or government agencies. Analyze each entity’s organizational structure. Is it organized by function, product/service, process, customer type, or geographic location?
2. Search the archives at the Bloomberg Businessweek (https://www.bloomberg.com), Fortune (http://fortune.com), or Forbes (http://www.forbes.com) website for stories about companies that have reorganized. Pick two examples, and prepare a summary of their reorganization efforts, including the underlying reasons the company chose to reorganize, the key elements of the reorganization plan, and if possible, how successful it has been.
3. Visit the Inc. magazine website, http://www.inc.com, and use the search engine to find articles about virtual corporations. Using a search engine, find the website of at least one virtual corporation, and look for information about how the company uses span of control, informal organization, and other concepts from this module.
4. FlexJobs (http://www.flexjobs.com) is an online company devoted to matching job hunters with flexible job experiences, whether they are telecommuting jobs, contract work, or part-time gigs. Read more on how the company started and the void its services have filled over the past decade for people looking for a flexible job situation. Share your findings with classmates, and lead a discussion on the pros and cons of the flexible job movement.
5. Managing change in an organization is no easy task, as you’ve discovered in your new job with a consulting firm that specializes in change management. To get up to speed, go to Bpubs.com, the Business Publications Search Engine (http://www.bpubs.com), and navigate to the Change Management section of the Management Science category. Select three articles that discuss how companies approached the change process, and summarize their experiences.
6. After managing your first project team, you think you might enjoy a career in project management. The Project Management Institute is a professional organization for project managers. Its website, http://www.pmi.org, has many resources about this field. Start at the Professional Practices section to learn what project management is, then go to the professional Development and Careers pages. What are the requirements to earn the Project Management Professional designation? Explore other free areas of the site to learn more about the job of project manager. Prepare a brief report on the career and its opportunities. Does what you’ve learned make you want to follow this career path?
7. Many companies are outsourcing portions of their IT departments. Should they, and why? Develop a position on this issue by researching outsourcing trends on Information Week, (http://www.informationweek.com), or an IT website of your choosing. Then divide the class into two groups, those that support outsourcing and those that oppose it, and have a debate on this subject.

Preparing for Tomorrow’s Workplace Skills

1. When people talk of climbing the corporate ladder, they are referring to moving vertically upward through the organizational structure. Many employees plot career paths that will take them to increasingly higher levels of management. Do you think you would be more interested in climbing higher in an organization, or being a middle-management bridge between the employees who do the work and the executives who set the strategy? Explain the reasons for your choice. (Resources, Interpersonal)
2. Teams are an increasingly popular method of organizing corporations, but not all people are suited for teamwork. As a manager, what do you do with employees who are talented but unapproachable? Can you think of a way to involve people who are uncomfortable in team settings so that your teams have the perspective of these employees as well? (Interpersonal)
3. Think about how gossip and rumors travel through a grapevine. Draw as many grapevines as you can think of that reflect the different ways rumors move through an organization. Can you think of information that a manager would want to disseminate through the grapevine? Is there information that is inappropriate to disseminate through informal channels? Provide examples. (Information)
4. Do you think companies that outsource will inevitably become virtual corporations? Why or why not? (Resources, Systems)
5. It used to be that only high-level executives and CEOs were able to work out of the office. Mobile computing, however, is trickling down the organizational chart. In your opinion, is there a point in the organizational structure at which working remotely (at home, on the road) should stop? Should all employees in the hierarchy be allowed to work in a virtual environment, or should there be limits? Explain your reasoning. (Technology, Systems)
6. Team Activity Have you ever worked on a team with an underperforming member, such as a slacker, a complainer, or a critic? Assemble a team of three to five students and brainstorm a list of “bad” team members you have experience working with. Once you have a list of types, discuss how that person affected the work of the team and the outcome the team produced. Brainstorm ways to better manage and mitigate the negative effects of “bad” team members. Share your results with the class. (Interpersonal, Systems)

Ethics Angle

Training IT Replacements

Recently the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) announced it would lay off more than 80 IT workers and outsource their jobs to India. This change is part of a larger plan by UCSF to increase its technology outsourcing, which over time could save the organization more than $30 million. A large part of UCSF’s IT work focuses on its hospital services, and many other health care facilities have already outsourced these types of “back-end” jobs to foreign countries.

Working through a multinational contractor that will manage the outsourcing process, UCSF has also asked workers who will soon be out of a job to train their overseas replacements via videoconferencing calls to India. One such worker remarked, “I’m speechless. How can they do this to us?”

A UCSF spokesperson explained that the organization provides millions of dollars in charity care for the poor, and that to continue providing those services, the school has to focus on more specialized tech work related to patients and medical research and send other IT work overseas.

UCSF is not alone in sending IT jobs overseas and making the laid-off workers train their Indian replacements. Recently ManpowerGroup, a staffing and workforce services firm with more than 3,000 offices worldwide, issued pink slips to 150 workers in Milwaukee whose jobs were outsourced to India.

Using a web search tool, locate articles about this topic and then write responses to the following questions. Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources.

Ethical Dilemma

• Are UCSF and other companies justified in outsourcing technology jobs to India?
• Do they have any obligation to find other jobs or provide training for displaced workers?
• Should organizations ask employees who are being laid off to train their replacements?

Sources: Sam Harnett, “Outsourced: In a Twist, Some San Francisco IT Jobs Are Moving to India,” All Tech Considered, http://www.npr.org, accessed July 19, 2017; Dan Shafer, “Exclusive: ManpowerGroup HQ Workers Being Laid Off Required to Train Overseas Replacements,” Milwaukee Business Journal, https://www.bizjournals.com, March 30, 2017; Bill Whitaker, “Are U.S. Jobs Vulnerable to Workers with H-1B Visas?” 60 Minutes, http://www.cbsnews.com, March 19, 2017; Louis Hansen, “After Pink Slips, USCF Tech Workers Train Their Foreign Replacements,” The Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com, November 3, 2016.

Critical Thinking Case

Gore’s Flat Structure Works Well

Imagine an organization with more than 10,000 employees working in 30 countries around the world—with no hierarchy structure. W. L. Gore & Associates, headquartered in Newark, Delaware, is a model of unusual business practices. Wilbert Gore, who left Dupont to explore new uses for Teflon, started the company in 1958. Best known for its breathable, weatherproof Gore-Tex fabric, Glide dental floss, and Elixir guitar strings, the company has no bosses, no titles, no departments, and no formal job descriptions. There is no managerial hierarchy at Gore, and top management treats employees, called associates, as peers.

In 2005, the company named 22-year associate Terri Kelly as its new chief executive officer. Unlike large public corporations, Gore’s announcement was made without much fanfare. Today, more than 12 years later, Kelly continues as chief executive but is the first to admit that it’s not about the CEO at Gore—it’s about the people who work there and their relationships with one another.

The company focuses on its products and company values rather than on individuals. Committees, comprised of employees, make major decisions such as hiring, firing, and compensation. They even set top executives’ compensation. Employees work on teams, which are switched around every few years. In fact, all employees are expected to make minor decisions instead of relying on the “boss” to make them. “We’re committed to how we get things done,” Kelly says. “That puts a tremendous burden on leaders because it’s easier to say ‘Just do it’ than to explain the rationale. But in the long run, you’ll get much better results because people are making a commitment.”

Because no formal lines of authority exist, employees can speak to anyone in the company at any time. This arrangement also forces employees to spend considerable time developing relationships. As one employee described it, instead of trying to please just one “boss,” you have to please everyone. Several years ago the company underwent a “strategy refresh,” conducting surveys and discussions with employees about how they fit into the organization’s culture. Not surprisingly, there was a cultural divide based on multiple generations of workers and length of service stature, which Kelly and her associates have worked hard to overcome. She realizes that not everyone will become a “lifer” at Gore, but recognizes the importance of younger employees who have helped the company become more tech-savvy in communications and stay well-connected in a fast-moving business world.

The informal organizational structure continues to work well. With revenues of $3 billion, the company produces thousands of advanced technology products for the electronics, industrial, fabrics, and medical markets. Its corporate structure fosters innovation and has been a significant contributor to associate satisfaction. Employee turnover is a low 3 percent a year, and the company can choose new associates from the thousands of job applications it receives annually. In 2017, Gore was named one of the 12 legends on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” These companies have made Fortune’s list for all 20 years the magazine has published its annual “Best” rankings.

Sources: “Our Story,” https://www.gore.com, accessed July 18, 2017; Jeremy Hobson, “What It’s Like to Lead a Non-Hierarchical Workplace,” http://www.wbur.org, accessed July 18, 2017; Alan Deutschman, “The Un-CEO,” Fast Company, https://www.fastcompany.com, accessed July 18, 2017; Claire Zillman, “Secrets from Best Companies All Stars,” Fortune, http://fortune.com, March 9, 2017; Daniel Roberts, “At W.L. Gore, 57 Years of Authentic Culture,” Fortune, http://fortune.com, March 5, 2015.

Hot Links Address Book

1. Like corporations, government agencies have organization charts, too. Learn how the Department of Health and Human Services is structured at http://www.hhs.gov/about/orgchart.html.
2. Find team-building resources galore, from team-building activities and training exercises to guidance in solving team problems, at Team Builders Plus website, http://teambuildersplus.com.
3. To read articles on current best practices in outsourcing for both buyers and providers and find other outsourcing resources, visit http://outsourcing.com.
4. What benefits can a company gain by using web-based organizational charting software? Check out the features Organimi offers companies at http://www.organimi.com.
5. How can your organization develop better group skills? A good place to start is Management Help’s Group Skills page. Go to http://managementhelp.org and click on Group/Team Skills for links to resources on many topics, including self-directed and self-managed work teams and virtual teams.