Introduction
Management is a very important part of any company since it contains several aspects that contribute to the success of the company. The contemporary business world tries to improve the management functions in order to easily meet the rising demands. In this case study, Greg James; a global manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc. encounters several problems resulting from the failure of the HS Holdings system, a crucial client, as well as the inability of his team to quickly respond in resolving the issue. Greg then tries to investigate the situation to fix the problems involving the customers, but only to find out that the corporation was also having management problems as well as problems that compounded the entire team It was paramount for these issues to be solved straightaway to attain the anticipated outcomes.
Greg's team and management challenges
Greg is faced with a challenging task of bringing harmony in this team. Given that the team comprised of 45 members from various cultures all living in different time zones, he was braced for a hectic task. The modern society tries to preach diversity that ensures the embracement of different cultures, but it is not easy. However, Greg James struggled to manage the team, conducting conference calls on a weekly basis to dwell on different issues. As such, the lack of in-person meetings is disadvantageous since the manager found it hard to comprehend the various sub-teams' working aspects thus preventing the imminent realization of arising problems. For instance, the UAE feels neglected, the Indian members feel undervalued, and compensation mismatches that cause the members to conflict with one another. Most of the members believed that the US team was favored. The length of the conference calls does not suit most of them. In general, the team was not managed in an appropriate manner.
HS holding crisis and its causes
The HS holding crisis is a collective responsibility that has to be shared with all parties involved. The team in India failed to address the issue on time, while the leadership failed to offer sufficient guidance on the same. There were enormous miscommunications and misunderstandings among the sub-teams that barred them from attaining the best solution to assist the client. Evidently, it all starts with leadership. When the leaders fail, it is most likely the entire company will fall. With effective leadership, it is easier to combat the challenges that may arise in the workplace. In this case, the leadership was the main party to blame. Additionally, a lack of employee engagement propelled the crisis.
Communication challenges and the "Open Work"
The team consisted of members from all over the globe with different time zones. Therefore, communication was bound to be a problem. Nonetheless, the "Open Work" alleviated the communication issues thus allowing the employees to work using combined tools, technologies, and support processes that allowed the employees to work from the comfort of their desired environments. It offers flexibility, and the workers do not have to be tied to one particular location. However, it had its own repercussions since direct interactions were limited. In that regard, constructing strong relations were even harder.
Diversity and its impact
Diversity is an inevitable aspect of the contemporary global business. Any company that yearns to achieve globalization ought to embrace diversity. Sun Microsystems, Inc. brings different elements that differ from the domestic approaches. Since different cultures have their own distinctive way of managing businesses, discrepancies are bound to arise across the different branches of the company. For instance, the French sub-team claims the "compensation mismatch" is unfair yet all the members underwent similar training. However, Greg elucidates on the same via the France's local economy. Apart from having more vacation time, the French have the highest tax rates at 43 percent, which affects their income. Diversity is illustrated by the various conflicts arising due to various cultures. On the positive side, diversity allowed Greg to identify talent across the globe to work for the corporation. It also allows a 24-hour operation criterion due to the different time zones.
Greg's strategies for team harmony
Greg James has an enormous task to achieve harmony within this group; hence, ensure the success of the projects. As such, his first task is to solve the communication problem. Conference meetings are not sufficient enough to strengthen a team working on a similar project. Therefore, one of his short-term targets would be to ensure more face-to-face interactions between the members. Apart from that, he ought to make frequent visits to the different locations of the team members. During the visits, he should alternate the tasks to assess the most appropriate tasks to particular teams. Ensuring meetings and cultural awareness programs would also boost teamwork as well as limit conflicts. In the long-term, Greg should create a conflict resolution strategy that would help in alleviating the conflict issues. After embracing each culture, it would be easier for the team to work in harmony. He should also make the meetings a routine by including them in the company's calendar. For instance, the team may meet twice a year in a teambuilding process. Perhaps, he could implement a system whereby the members change zones to experience a new place. In other words, the French to work in the UAE for some period among other changes.
Greg's leadership style
Greg James is an affiliative leader. As typified by this case, conflicts are abundant in different regions that affect the overall productivity of the employees. As an affiliative leader, Greg listens to the various issues compounding the individuals from the different regions before he offers guidance on the same. For example, after the French complained about the compensation mismatches, Greg explained the reason. He was also interested in building strong relations among the team members to ensure there are no bad feelings among the group. Greg does not command his workforce; instead, he listens and tries to find an appropriate solution.
