The environment of the workplace in the 21^st century is constantly changing.  As new technological innovations enable companies to communicate around the globe and financial transactions are easily and securely completed over the internet, both American and foreign firms are taking part in the globalization effort.  Whereas a firm centralized all of its functions under one roof in the past, firms are now able to operate efficiently with offices around the world.  While this presents a great opportunity to create revenue and market share for the company, it also allows the company the opportunity to attract and recruit qualified employees from diverse backgrounds.  Creating a diverse culture within a firm is important to most companies as a firm who can effectively manage diversity has been identified as one of the five distinguishing features of organization that make it onto Fortune magazine’s list of 100 Best Companies

Though seen as a catalyst for improved organizational performance, this presents a challenge for human resource development professionals as organizations need to address racial, ethnic, and other prejudices that may persist, as well as cultural insensitively and language differences.  Although racial differences continue to dominate the discussion when anticipating questions concerning diversity, human resource development professionals are now confronted with concerns of a wider range of diverse populations.  These diverse populations include employees over the age of 55, GBLT, women, and the physically impaired.  Moreover, governed by the laws such as The Disability Act of 1990, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, affirmative action, and the EEOC, HRD professionals must develop programs that will ensure employees in these groups along with other employees can be successful as well as provide safeguards to prevent discrimination.

As stated above, diversity has become important to firms because of its impact on improved performance as well as the ability to hire from a greater talent pool.  However, performance and recruitment surely cannot be the only motivator of this strategy.  While diversity efforts have many benefits, it has an effect on the bottom line as it relates to targeting diverse groups.  Opponents of this position disagree and feel that diversity is not about a form of customer race matching where the workforce resembles the appearance of customers. 

Diversity in business can also include providing services to customers of varying business sizes as well.  It could be the difference between and small businesses doing $300 thousand a year or large companies having yearly revenue of $2 billion or more.  As a result, new challenges for HRD professionals in regards to diversity may include programs that provide skills for employees to effectively interact closer with customers such as teaching employees different languages and customs of market areas in which the company has an interest.

The challenge of diversity for HRD professionals centers around developing a population of people with varying backgrounds in such as way that they, despite their differences, come together to reach the overall goals of the firm.  To achieve this, HRD professionals must dedicate time to allow employees to learn about the diversity surrounding them while appreciating the differences, similarities, cultural celebrations, and significant life events of others.

As firms become more competitive and the need for high performance teams become a necessity, organizational leaders have come to understand the impact coaching has on employee performance as well as its impact on the results of the firm.  For this reason, firms have begun to include the ability to coach and develop others as a required competency of their managers.  In theory, as a result of performance coaching, these firms would become more efficient and able to compete at lower costs as employees take more responsibility for their performance while maintaining a personal concern for the success of the firm. 

Defined as a process used to encourage employees to accept responsibility for their own performance, enable them to achieve and sustain superior performance, and to treat them as partners in working toward organizational goals and effectiveness, coaching requires mangers to take an interest and interact with subordinates.  Unfortunately, with such limited time devoted to performance coaching, managers find it difficult to complete the process while some are simply reluctant to attempt performance coaching at all.  Factors leading up to the reluctance and difficulty of these managers may rest in their inability to utilize the elements essential to effective performance coaching; communication and interpersonal skills.     

If coaching is to be successful, managers must embrace the skills of communication.  Because coaching happens through conversations and human interaction, the skill of communication is vital to the learning process.  While it is easy for managers to lecture the employee about performance improvement, coaching requires an exchange of ideas and opinions between the coach and trainee.   Moreover, the coaching manager must have the ability to listen with the intent to understand a person’s thinking and motivation.  By learning a person’s thoughts and perspectives on various topics, managers can make the appropriate connection between the individual’s personality and to the desired performance the coaching process is aimed at improving.  In addition to active listening, being specific and descriptive in communicating with employees also enables the coaching process.  When managers are specific and descriptive, the greater the chance that an employee will understand what is expected and will offer less resistance to coaching.

Managers may also find coaching difficult because of the level of interpersonal skills required to be successful.  Often referred to as people skills or soft skills, interpersonal skills during performance coaching emphasize the need for managers to demonstrate a level of commitment and respect towards the employee.  Employees who believe their manager is genuinely interested in their successes and want to see them succeed is likely to seek out coaching and make an honest effort to improve. Coaching is most effective when it comes in a spirit of helpfulness instead of simply finding fault or correcting behaviors.    

Understanding that managers may not have developed the appropriate levels of interpersonal and communication skills to effectively engage in performance coaching, firms have developed training programs and activities to assist managers in unlocking the potential of their employees.  To help the coaching manager develop his or her communication skills, an approach called micro-skills communication training, is a program that gives managers and supervisors the necessary tools to effectively coach employees.  Involving the basic attending skills of feedback, paraphrasing, reflection of feeling, open and closed questioning, and focusing, the micro-skills training isolates the specific verbal and nonverbal skills that make up effective communications.  To improve interpersonal skills, training programs involving role playing, modeling films, and workbook exercises have been created by human resource development (HRD) professionals to assist managers with developing the appropriate interpersonal skills needed for effective coaching.  Performance coaching focuses on helping people learn in ways that allows that person to continue learning even after the coaching period has ended.

Over the past 3 years, the American economy has forced both corporations and small business alike to re-evaluate their cost structures with hopes of eliminating unnecessary spending.  While most companies simply reduced labor to adjust to consumer demand, other companies upgraded less efficient equipment thereby increasing productivity and reducing operating cost.  Regardless of the cost cutting approach, the two scenarios yielded the same results; Americans lost their jobs.  In an attempt to upgrade their job skills, receive career licensures, or qualify for a new career, newly unemployed Americans found themselves back in the classroom.  Unlike the classroom of fifteen years ago, the classroom of the adult learner is filled with technology, collaborative, flexible, objective, and in the case of online learning, can be accessed at anytime.  These differences are related to researchers who note that many instructional methods and principles of learning have been developed with and for children, and they argue that teaching adults requires a different set of techniques.  Consequently, the debate between pedagogy and andragogy methods of instructions began.           

Pedagogy is used to describe the instructional methods developed for teaching children.  Practiced by monks in monastery schools, this method of teaching was further adopted and reinforced with the spread of elementary schools throughout Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Having a rigid format accompanied by curriculum-centered rules, the pedagogical methods rest upon systematic instruction.  Adult learners found this type of instruction insufficient as they resisted core methods of pedagogy such as quizzes, memorization, and examinations. 

In contrast, andragogy is the adult learning approach to learning that is usually based on transaction.  Andragogy is based on four hypotheses.  The hypotheses assert that andragogy is self directed, the knowledge and experienced of adults can be tapped as a resource for learning, adults have a readiness to learn, and that adults are motivated to.  Within andragogy, adult learners are expected to be active as well as involved in the identification of their learning needs and the planning of how those needs are satisfied.

Though andragogy has more appeal than pedagogy, some argue that having two distinct learning processes makes little sense as learning is a continuous process.  While each learning approach contains elements which can become very effective in the classroom, it is important to note that in the classroom of the 21^st century, the two processes can coexist.  Though the structure of andragogy is described as being open, broad, responsive, and developmental, the rules, procedures, and laws of pedagogy enables the andragogical structure to be effective.   

The two learning processes working together can be seen as human resource development (HRD) professionals design training programs for corporations.  For example, a HRD professional designing a program for a firm to increase employee awareness of sexual harassment and how to deal with harassment complaints can use characteristic traits of both andragogy and pedagogy.  Principles used from pedagogy include subject/curriculum-centered, legal mechanisms, and the emphasizing of rationale.  Principles from andragogy include:  two-way communication, problem-centered, and collaborative. 

To support the relationship between these two processes, the principles can be applied to the scenario above.  Taking into account that sexual harassment is illegal, training would benefit by the pedagogical methods of a subject/curriculum-centered instruction including legal mechanisms.  Because andragogical learning is based on applying experience, the pedagogical process of learning the laws pertaining to sexual harassment would ensure each student has significant background to move on to the next section of the class.  With the knowledge of laws pertaining to sexual harassment and its complaints gathered from the pedagogical period of instruction, the second part of the class would utilize andragogical methods of two-way communication, problem-centered, and collaboration.  Integrating these principles in the class would involve placing class members into workable groups using role playing scenarios as method of solving problems surrounding the topic of sexual harassment.

With the emergence of unethical practices found within financial reporting, environmental abuse, and moral misconduct, the nation has become abundantly familiar with a wide range of improper activity within corporate America.  However, as unethical business practices gain exposure, the nation is seeing an emergence of what seems to be an ethical revolution within the corporate society.  Through human resource development programs, firms now mandate employees to participate in ethics and conflicts of interest training.  Moreover, a number of firms have dedicated resources towards employing ethics officers to ensure the company maintains ethical behavior.  Although this emergence of ethical responsibility is changing the way corporations do business, unfortunately, there continue to be firms that continue to engage in unethical practices.  As a result of public scrutiny of unethical practices of corporations, employees who feel their employer has done something that is wrong or harmful to the public, use their right to free speech to expose the practice.  Moreover, when an employee reports alleged organization misconduct to the media, government, or high-level company officials, whistle-blowing has occurred.

Once thought as a measure of loyalty towards a firm, employees no longer keep the unethical activities of firms to themselves. Within the last ten years, whistle-blowers have exposed some of the most egregious cases of corporate wrongdoing.  Whistle blowers act as a safety net when serious crime has gone undetected by the defenses of their company.   Although, speaking out against an employer can be risky; many whistle-blowers find their charges ignored or find themselves ostracized, demoted, or even fired for daring to go public with their criticisms.  However, as a result of the protection provided to whistle-blowers by The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the fear of employer retaliation has not discouraged employees from exposing unethical practices of their firm.     

Based on hundreds of unsubstantiated cases, opponents of whistle-blowing feel the process is dangerous to the company as it gives disgruntled workers a forum to discredit their employers.  Used as a gauge to justify whether or not whistle blowing is appropriate, three condition must be met.  Those conditions include the following:  the act would do harm to the public, the employee has reported the act to their immediate supervisor, and the employee has taking the concern through the chain of command of the firm.  If the unethical activity persists the whistle-blower should go public.

Perhaps the best example of when an employee should go public is demonstrated by C. Cooper, former vice president of internal auditing at WorldCom.  Realizing that several top executives engaged in unethical accounting practices, Cooper reported the activity to the chief financial officer who responded by ordering Cooper to delay the investigation.  Following the steps justifying whistle-blowing, Cooper reported the activity to the board of directors who took action to correct the unethical behavior.

Unfortunately, there are cases where whistle-blowing was not justified and appear to fraudulent.  After being discharged by Coca Cola, M. Whitley alleged that the company ordered trucks to drive away from the dock so the company could record phantom syrup sales as part of a scheme to inflate revenue.  Furthermore, Whitley demanded that Coca Cola pay a total 44.4 million dollars to keep the allegation quiet.  After Coke refused to pay the money, Whitley went to the press.  Though posing no harm to the public, according to the guidelines mentioned above, Whitley did not report this concern to the immediate supervisor.  Also, by demanding Coke pay 44.4 million to keep the secret quiet, moral concern is absent as Whitley seemed to be motivated by financial gain which is ironic as blackmail is unethical. 

With the globalization and the diversity of many corporations, ethical issues in business have become more complicated.  Moreover, multinational corporations operate in countries where bribery, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and lack of concern for the environment are neither illegal nor unethical or unusual.  As a result, firms must adhere to a clear code of business ethics.  This code will ensure business and moral conduct alike is consistent among all branches rewarding employees for brining all unethical behavior to their supervisors.

As Americans become more knowledgeable of the stock market and companies encourage 401k retirement programs boasting employee matching, the shareholder of today critique financial statements and scrutinize management decisions of the companies they own.  Moreover, with the recent government bailout of several large banking and automobile firms, the subject of executive compensation has began to gain attention as shareholders compare performance to the company against the compensation package of its executives.  As a result of the comparison, the public has become critical of exuberant compensation packages held by executives at failing companies.       

Though compensation of executives outside the U.S. are rising to meet levels of their American cohorts, by contrast, top executives in America earn much more than their foreign counterparts.   For example, CEO’s of large industrial companies in the United Kingdom was just 35 percent of that of their U.S. counterparts.  In France, it was 27 percent; in Japan 26 percent.  Although there is a disparity between the compensation packages of executives, compensation in the U.S. has begun to drop.  American executives earned $13 million in 2000 and $11 million in 2001.

Because compensation packages are often heavily weighted with stock options, the fluctuation of an executive’s total compensation is effected as the performance of the company declines.  While stock options proved to be a popular incentive program in the 1990’s, board of directors and compensation committees have begun to reconsider this form of compensation due to the examples of recent corporate scandals as seen by WorldCom.  Companies expressed concern that the danger was that unscrupulous executives might become so fixated on the value for their options that they would do anything to increase the stock price, even if it involved unethical accounting practices.

Consequently, because of the aforementioned scandal of WorldCom, accompanied by the unethical practices of Tyco, Enron, and others, executive compensation has began to gain attention as shareholders express distrust in U.S. corporations.  However, corporate scandal should not be confused with compensation packages of executives of a firm.  The salary of a top manager and the performance of the firm are two separate and distinct topics.  The focus should be set upon the alignment of incentives and performance.  Therefore, it is this author’s position that executive compensation is not too high but should be supplemented with incentive that are aligned with the desired performance of the firm in which they manage.  

As stated above, stock options were a popular addition within compensation packages.  In theory, stock options would reward managers for achieving a higher stock price; assuming performance of the firm and the stock price are in synch.  To explain further, options were seen as a way to align executives’ interests with those of shareholders.  While this tactic is rooted in the foundation of the shareholder theory, as proven by corporate scandals, managers became more concerned with increasing the stock rather than strengthening the performance of the firm.  In fact, putting aside the unethical practices, the managers of the companies mentioned above were motivated by the increase of the stock price.  The board of directors set the premise that performance equals a rise in the stock price; therefore, these companies were structured around a small base of their shareholder group.  The end result equaled corruption.

It is the board’s responsibility to structure executive incentive pay programs to be effective.  The incentive programs must be motivational and reward executives well for delivering strong performances.  Furthermore, the board should also include negative reinforcements to the incentive program which may include penalties for poor results and greater threat of dismissal for poor performance.  The board of directors must also ensure compensation programs satisfy shareholders by safeguarding against misaligned incentives, pay for failure and excessive risk-taking.  

Executives are important to the success of a company.  Top manager’s at large firms are responsible for managing billions of dollars while at the same time ensuring the day to day needs of the business are met.  Furthermore, they must protect the reputation and financial stability of the company.  The life of an executive is unrelenting and leaves little time for personal interests.  For this reason, the pay of executives is justified.  As stated above, the issue is not the pay but with the incentive programs.  As demonstrated by L Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, shareholders felt the $560 million paid over seven years was justified based on the results.  Furthermore, the company ensured the long term goals of the company were met as IBM remains a key manufacture of business machines today.  As opposed to compensation plans practiced by most companies, alignment of the firm’s performance to the incentives of top managers will ensure shareholders and managers share the burden of failure and the benefits of success.

Over the last ten years, the public has placed intense scrutiny on decisions made by large corporations.  In the wake of Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, consumer trust in institutions began to deteriorate.  In reviewing the failures of the companies stated above, it appears that the deterioration of public distrust is a direct result of management’s focus on share value of these companies rather than protecting the values of its stakeholders.  The compensation packages of the managers who are employeed by these companies were structured in such a way that it rewarded managers for increased share value rather than actually growing the business.  Ironically, among these stakeholders included employees and investors.  For this reason, managers should be considered as stakeholders of a company.

Stakeholders include anyone affected by the company’s decisions, policies, and operations.  A manager would fit into all three aspects of the stakeholder definition.  As a company employee, managers are affected by company policies as they must follow the company conduct rules.  Managers are impacted by operations as they must manage the processes.  Lastly, although they make the decisions, they must also lead by example by reinforcing the decisions made.  Though stakeholders and shareholders are similar and are closely related, the two are distinctly specific in how they each affect a company as well as the attention placed on each by members of management.  Furthermore, each having its own theory, when compared to each other, it is obvious that stakeholders cover a vast range of a company’s constituents whereas shareholders refer to only one aspect of a company.

While both shareholder and stakeholder are normative in social responsibilities dictating to managers what is right and wrong, there is often a debate between which one is right and which one is wrong.  Shareholder theory states a manager must use company funds only in ways approved by its shareholders.  This theory as stated above is important as it ensures managers are spending corporate funds correctly.  This theory presents a guideline in what is appropriate and what is not as it pertains to money management, however, it does not speak to all constituents of the company.  Furthermore, focusing only on this theory gives the managers the impression that shareholders have priority over stakeholders.

Stakeholder theory states that companies also have a responsibility to create value for society, professional development for employees, and innovative product for customers. Corporations also have a responsibility to enhance the company’s wealth creating capabilities and activities, limits the risks of the organization.  In the stakeholder theory, the manager must focus the general development and survival of the company rather than simply the share value. 

As a result, considering the manager as a stakeholder rather than simply a steward of the process of the organization will create ownership within the management ranks that will benefit the shareholder as well.  Managers make good decisions when they pay attention to the effects of their decisions on stakeholders.  Because they themselves are employed by the company who may also utilize company benefits, ensure the workplace is safe, and include enroll in company sponsored 401k, they like all other employees tie their livelihood around the success of the company.

Google’s entrance into the Chinese market has placed the leading internet search company into a position where they must decide if operating in China fits their business strategy.  Initially, the question of whether or not to operate in China seemed elementary.  The country had 110 billion internet users which presented a ripe opportunity for Google to introduce its services.  However, to do business in China, Google had to follow the censorship requests of the Chinese government.  With the launch of Google.cn, the Chinese population received the same censored results but instead of the Chinese government censoring data, it was censored by Google.  As a result, Google is faced with key problems in this situation.  These problems are associated with Google’s ability to adapt to the environment without compromising their principles.  These principles include the removal of applications and censoring its own search results.  

Google’s strategy in China as noted by Andrew Mclaughlin posted on a February 1, 2006 blog explained that doing business in China required Google to balance the issues of improved disclosure and targeted services.  While keeping in line with the demands of the Chinese government, this communication is merely used to explain the sacrificing of quality content allowing Chinese users to experience the true speed of the Google search engine; increasing market share and profits.  Additionally, the company did not offer Chinese users Gmail or Blogger.  A major reason Google removed these applications from their Google.cn site is because it would contain personal and confidential information which could be requested by the Chinese government.  Providing a clear message of why these services are not included, Mclaughlin details that such data is subject to the laws of the country in which it is stored and as a result chose not to offer those services in that market. 

These decisions provide a great example of adapting to the ever changing wave of the business environment.  Google saw a ripe market.  Moving into China was a good business decision.  However, the company’s principles were compromised.  In 2005, Google refused to provide information to the U.S. government in regards to the Child Online Protection Act citing the importance of user privacy.  It seems as though the principle of user privacy Google referenced in 2005 was not used when deciding to enter into China where user privacy and applications containing such information was either censored or removed.    

 Upon Google’s IPO release, it released a mission statement saying they believed in long term gains and would focus on things that would be better for the world and forgo short term gains.  This did not seem the case when Google entered China.  In January 2006, Google placed computers servers in China to speed up the service in that country thereby, officially entering the market and working with the Chinese government.   A company with an unofficial motto, “Don’t Be Evil”, was now itself censoring information to its users for no reason other than to simply take advantage of the internet market in China.  Although, the company became a target of intense criticism, Wall Street responded by increasing its share value by 3.6%.  Gaining market positioning in China was no surprise.  Google was a favorite in China and demand for a faster service was requested by Chinese users.  Google’s reputation in the United States began loose ground.  Co-Chairman of the human rights panel of the House of Representatives, Chris Smith stated, “By complying with China’s demand for censorship in order to enter the booming Chinese market, some of the top American Internet firms in essence have become “a megaphone for communist propaganda and a tool for controlling public opinion”.  Google entered into the Chinese market as a way to compete with its competitors for a share of the growing Chinese economy.  Unfortunately, the company realized the cost of aiding the censorship of materials and not staying consistent with its regards of user privacy.  Though motivated by the projection of huge profits, Google discovering the true costs of compromising its principles; a badly beaten reputation.

Since its creation in 1995, the employees at Westwood Publishing have experienced little change especially in regards to economic downsizing.  Although analysts suggested the company should consolidate with other publishers to remain viable, Westwood decided against layoffs and mergers utilized by its competitors opting to focus on keeping employees happy.  In a speech given in 2008 aligning the company philosophy toward employee turnover, Bosworth, the CEO, assured employees that they would never be asked to leave their jobs for economic reasons.  For these reasons, communicating change through an early retirement program at Westwood Publishing is likely to become difficult. 

The Importance of an Effective Change Communication Strategy

Many employees are functioning with a greater degree of cynicism or distrust of corporations and their senior managements in the post Enron era.  Consequently, if senior leadership of Westwood communicates the early retirement program without paving the way or preparing the employees for change, the loyalty and engagement of its employees will decline.  Furthermore, when communication of change is not executed efficiently in that it does not reach all of the company’s constituents, the customer experience will suffer having adverse effects on the business. 

If organizations do not manage their communications others will.  When communicating to employees, a company must ensure they are providing the workforce with information that is timely and complete thereby enabling a stronger sense of engagement and trust with employees.  Management teams that do not accomplish this give way to the media, the rumor-mill, and unions who are all too willing to assist when there is little or no communication from the company.

Proposed Communication Strategy

Considering the information above when creating a strategy for communicating change at Westwood Publishing, the change agent must possess a plan that customizes the message, set the appropriate tone, build in feedback, and ensure penetration.  As a result, the following change communication strategy should be implemented:

1. Communication needs to be implemented through face to face meetings, intranet, video conferencing, or newsletter. 
2. Prepare separate meetings for employees, stakeholders, as well as subscribers.
   1. Initiate employee meetings first including the timelines and any operations changes as a result of the change.
   2. Meet with stakeholders second with a focus on how the changes will impact future return on investments.
   3. Alert subscribers of any changes that may affect service or product offerings.
3. Communication must take place within a short period of time with respect to the order in point two.   
4. The message must come directly from the executive management staff including the CEO. 
   1. If the CEO cannot physically be in all business units during the communication period, a video message of the CEO must start every meeting.   
5.  Feedback meetings must be held with employees shortly after communication is given.
   1. Responses to questions from these meetings must be answered within the designated communication period. 
   2. Redefine the forward mission of Westwood Publishing to all constituents.
   3. Address how the change will enable the company to become more competitive.
   4.  Include any new business ventures the company is focused on. 

The communication strategy above outlines the methods of ensuring penetration through tools such as intranet, newsletters, and video.  It also includes employee engagement through feedback meetings in hopes to initiate an internal communication audit where Westwood can design the right program for the future.  With the above structure in place, the CEO must also have a clear understanding of what should be included in the message and what tone should the message have.  The message should focus on understanding.  The communication strategy must address following questions:  Who is the message intended for?  What is the skill level of the intended audience?  How will they respond to the news?  However, at the core of the message, the CEO must present the facts to the employees regardless of promises made in the past.

Emerging from bad press surrounding the departure of Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard’s former CEO, Hewlett-Packard finds itself confronted with another matter that may bring negative attention to the company.  The VP of corporate communication received reports that a weekly magazine was working on a story with details of how Patricia Dunn, HP’s new chairwomen, hired investigators to spy on board members and journalists in an effort to determine who leaked details of company strategy and in-fighting.  Although the method of pretexting was legal in 2006, Congress was introducing legislation to make the practice illegal.

In an article by M. Romano , he references Steve Menaugh as saying, “The only good way to deal with bad news is to communicate”.  With the responsibility to respond to this issue, and to ensure the company’s message is consistent and reaches all of its constituents, Mr. Nash would need to consult the leaders of media relations, investor relations, and government relations with a focus on crisis management. 

Media Relations

Media services such as internet, radio, television, newspapers, and magazines, enable information to be spread all over the world.  As a result, corporate communication departments can put their press releases out electronically or through the internet.  Though the media can also damage the reputation of company, a corporation with an effective media relations strategy can also use the media to transform public opinion towards the company.  In responding to the scandal, the communications department  can use the sub-function of media relations to utilize the various media services to release HP’s response to the world.

Investor Relations

Communications to shareholders do not only deal with the financial results and fiscal projections.  Shareholders invest in companies because of their business plan, transparency, avoidance of legal disputes, as well as their credibility.  However, information damaging a company’s reputation or inhibit their ability to make a profit can affect market share value.  It is a corporation’s responsibility to their customers, shareholders, and employees to set the tone for the future.  In a crisis, the corporate leader should make decisions looking beyond the crisis and into the future.

A strong communication plan keeps stakeholders focused on strategic messages and minimizes the risk of collateral damage.  Involving the investor relations department in the communications strategy would assist HP  in shaping a company response that will address the concerns of the shareholders and ensure their confidence in the company’s future.    

Government Relations  

While more important in some industries than others, companies use their government relations department to keep track of new or amended regulations and bills that might affect the company.  HP can benefit from this relations function as arguments concerning the investigative method of pretexting are currently being heard in Congress.  Though the practice is not yet illegal, information gathered from this area would allow HP a timeline to create the company’s response before legislation is passed. 

Crisis Management

Because inefficient management of crises may lead to solutions that may be as problematic as the original crisis itself, it is important that HP’s response is consistent and addresses all constituents groups.  Crisis communications should be coordinated by the corporate communication function, and communications professionals should be involved in crisis planning as well as the person speaking to the public.  As a result, the support of the 3 communication sub-functions listed above, HP can began communications planning and create a  crisis communication strategy.

One of the most difficult aspects of introducing and implementing Kaizen strategy is assuring its continuity.  When a company introduces something new, such as quality circles, or total quality management (TQM), it experiences some initial success, but soon such success disappear like fireworks on summer night and after a while nothing is left. Kaizen concentrates at improving the process rather than at achieving certain results. Such managerial attitudes and process thinking make a major difference in how an organization masters change and achieves improvements.  For this reason, when focusing on continuous improvement, there must be certain mechanisms in place.  For example, meetings discussing weekly progress, specific contributions by employees, furthermore, the overall goal should be included in the roll out process.        

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