Case study
James is a project management Consultant at TL Consulting Limited. James is a very principled guy – he has high standards and sticks to them, he is always ready to defend someone who has been unfairly maligned and believes in fairness and equity in the workplace. However, sometimes this philosophy gets him in to trouble.
A couple of months ago, James believed his manager was ‘bullying’ another staff member called Ruth who is 20 years old. James came to her aid, helped her to seek assistance from the union and informed management of this bullying situation. It seems that management were aware that this manager had in the past bullied her staff but had chosen to take no action. Although most employees were pleased that James had become involved in Ruth’s situation, some were not. These staff preferred not to ‘rock the boat’ and tried to avoid involvement in any potentially confrontational situations. Some members of management were also unhappy with James’ involvement in what they viewed was a ‘staff issue’. They saw James as a troublemaker and believed that in the past James had been overtly critical of management decisions.
This management dissatisfaction with James’ involvement in the ‘Ruth issue’ led to many emails being sent back and forth between management and James. Of course, James wanted everyone in the company to know what management were up to and always provided a copy of the emails to all employees. This further upset management, but things eventually settled down and work carried on as usual.
However, last week James heard about another ‘bullying’ incident between the same manager and another young new employee. He confronted management about it and they told him to mind his own business. James decided to write to the local newspaper outlining the situation. The letter James sent to the local newspaper was published last Thursday.
The management are now aware of the letter and want to take actions.
They have hired you as an advisor to help with the current situation.
Introduction
As a project management consultant at organization, named TL Consulting Limited, James works in a hardworking manner to attain higher quality standards and abide by them. Unfair malignancy is always attended and defended by him and he has belief in being fair and workplace equitable. Sometimes, however, this causes a complicated situation for him. Just some months before, James realized that one of his manager was being bullied by another members of the organization younger to him. James decided to blow the whistle and let the top management know about the bullying scenario. It was evident to James that the management knew about this scenario but chose not to react. Even though the employees were proud of this whistleblowing done by James but others were against this. James was seen as a troublemaker as most top management believed this to be a staff issue and James shouldn’t get involved here. This led them to believe that in previous situations also, James must have been highly critical in taking decisions related to management. Furthermore, another incident of bullying came forward for the organization. James kept everyone in the loop and wanted all the employees to acknowledge what the management was doing. The top management told James to mind his personal business. This made James to the local newspaper about the critical situation.
It seems evident from the case study that the top management does not understand the importance of whistleblowing and the harmful effects of bullying practices in the workplace. Bullying is an act by which a person is assaulted merely without a reason either because he or she is new or because he or she is taken to be different from the rest. From the case study, it is evident that the issue lies in the conflict between the management and James who has published an article against the company. James should have further consulted or taken some legal support in order to advocate against the company. Furthermore, it was evident that even though the employees were proud of this whistleblowing done by James but others were against this. James was seen as a troublemaker as most top management believed this to be a staff issue and James shouldn’t get involved here. This led them to believe that in previous situations also, James must have been highly critical in taking decisions related to management. Furthermore, another incident of bullying came forward for the organization. James kept everyone in the loop and wanted all the employees to acknowledge what the management was doing. This situation has caused immense damage to the reputation of the organization and its members as well.
Also, in this situation the top management also is at fault because they did not appropriately explain James the consequences of such hasty steps. There also does not exist a whistle blower policy at the work place which provides the whistle blower with basic rights and responsibilities to follow. James has taken hasty steps and the management was in conflict with him due to the emergent actions that James was taking.
In the case of workplace bullying however, TL consulting Limited is at fault and is also unethical. However, working to improve the situation will resolve the issue. The issue also lies in the fact that is workplace bullying still ongoing at TL consulting? The answer should be yes because not much is done by the company to go against the issue.
As the issues kept piling up, money and time ended up running out. With respect to this, the management team of the organization realized that it had been facing two difficult choices. It could end up winding down in a painful way and disappear in an eventual manner because James has blown the whistle and now the newspaper authorities know of this situation Or, it could be making a strong bet over the situation by proving that no workplace bullying was done and that internally the top management ensured the practice is subsided. The next choice was to work in the presence of security related to stability in the position of finance for the absorption of these mistakes. With respect to this, there had been less scope of error involved in this (Swartz, 2009). The structure of the business organization plays a significant role as well. This choice will be highly dependent on the culture and size of the organization. As the organization is of mid- size, it may not be making sense for setting up a different function of risk, there is not much that can be done about it. The risk lies in the reputation of the company at stake. In addition to this, there is a significant need for the involvement of dedicated resources where there is clarity in the objectives set for individual for being executed in the actual setting (Allen, 2003). There must be some authority holding the charge for all of the organization for supporting and ensuring visibility in the entire business organization for getting things done in terms of workplace bullying.
The board and team of management should further consider turning up to James and asking him to take such words back. James does require his job in the company and he is well aware that if he might lost it as he has gone against the company. Incidences such as this will keep enhancing day by day and therefore it is a priority for the organization to formulate a workplace bullying policy and whistle blower policy. This should consider creating a focus immediately in order to understand the risks being inherited in the second option as discussed above. This is important to make sure that they all had been in agreement regarding what was required for being done and on which grounds has James made such claims (Dahlquist, 2000).
Under various whistle blower laws, the objection has to be made in written but objecting to employer’s policies breach is commonly not a protected way to blow whistle. Retaliation of employers such as in this situation will make James be fired and this will only cause significant loss to James. From this perspective steps need to be taken by the organization in order to inform regarding its whistle blowing policies and workplace bullying justifications because only this will help the organization to enhance its reputation.
According to the research on whistleblowing it has been suggested that there are various conditions which are important for effective management of whistleblowing. The employees first need to be informed of the necessary steps that will be taken to communicate the ethical dilemma arisen internally. Federal government based employees related studies have indicated that exists an important relationship between the knowledge of employees in appropriate channels internally and the perceived wrongdoings reports. Secondly, the employees need to believe that their problems are seriously catered to and that whoever has a problem should first report the incident rather than involving other members of the staff. James should have also been away from the incidences because nothing was done wrongly with him. Thirdly, employees need to be made confident that their individual roles and responsibilities will be maintained so they should keep calm in such scenarios and follow legal guidelines. Furthermore, according to the studies of whistleblowing employees need to understand that retaliation of management is common and it is better if whistleblowing is done by consulting with the members of the organization.
Conclusion
Workplace bullying and whistle blowing are both important considerations that the management should consider. With respect to this, the management team of the organization realized that it had been facing two difficult choices. It could end up winding down in a painful way and disappear in an eventual manner because James has blown the whistle on local newspaper or the organization can strengthen its policies to protect against the scenario. The organization had been competing against its own employees and the power to keep or let go off that employee is also with the company only (Lam, 2003). But with an evolution of the technology, these insignificant organizations ended up becoming extremely formidable competitive organizations, and an organization leading the market ended up suffering several competitive erosions. Hence, the organization will be successful in management of this risk by strengthening its work place policies regarding whistleblowing, retaliation and bullying. The board and team of management should consider creating a focus immediately in order to understand the risks being inherited in the second option (Mesler, 2004). This is important to make sure that they all had been in agreement regarding what was required for being done.
The operational activities of an insurance organization having headquarter in Zurich, Switzerland, in United States of America has been having a long tradition to embed management of risk in its culture. This is being done in order to ensure that Enterprise Risk Management contributes in informing all of the aspects related to management of capital and finance (Aven 2008). This has been considered as a significant part of business processes on daily basis. This case study will be analysing the issues faced by the insurance organization of Switzerland in managing their risks in the operations being conducted in United States.
The main issue involved in the management of risk at the branch of United States is that there is a significant need for having an iterative process established to evaluate exceptional situations and establishing plans of action for the achievement of compliance. This is due to the fact that there is no possibility for coming up with an individual policy that can be applied in a number of different cases (Stevens, 2009). There is a need for having a group and combined policy that can be applied in a significant manner across the entire organization in United States. However, it has been identified that the most significant issue is involved in having a policy of “one- size- fits- all”. Thus, there is a need for policy in order to deal with certain exceptional situations as one- offs for making sure that adequate factors are being considered in a significant manner. When there is an involvement of an exceptional situation in the management of risk, it has to be considered and revisited on regular basis (Mesman 2008). As there are changes in the environment of operations and the area of market, the revision of policy for management of risk must be done in accordance with this. However, this agreements should be made in accordance with the committee of risk related to the board. The organization at United States should consider developing their structure of governance in a well manner for successfully managing the risks at the enterprise. The team at headquarter of Switzerland must consider making a move to support the business units spread across the United States in order to maintain success (Bergstedt 2008). There is a significant need for the reinforcement of culture at the organization in United States. Even though the staff of sales had been aware about the rise of threat in the context of new technology after considering the views customers who had been considering the transition of the new technology. There was diluting of the message and this ended up changing as it increased in organization in a significant manner. Worse for the scenario, as the products had been the leaders in the market traditionally, the organization did not need the input in the staff of sale. Thus, this overlooked the well- developed loop in the feedback from the team of sales with respect to the emergence of competitors. As there had been a decline in the amount of sales, the absence of accountability with accountability resulted in prompting a number of questions (Aven 2008). Was it the problem in the force of sales as they failed in the management of relationships? Was it the team of marketing to fail in keeping the boost of share? Or was there a default in the development and research in order to fail in anticipation of the newly involved technology? In total, the process for the management of risk in the organization was extremely piecemeal for being effective in a significant manner.
There was a need for a system in order to manage risks at the enterprise that held the capability of managing the capital in a significant manner. The main focus of the system had not been intact for the protection of the capital base at the organization. There was instability in the finance due to the lack of capability in order to deliver effectiveness and efficiency in the services being provided (AZ/NZS 2004). There had been less objectivity in the process and there was a need for being analytical but contributed in the incorporation of specific considerations of quality.
Considering the approach of governance, the organization must consider aligning it with the management strategies of the business that will contribute in the reinforcement of culture. This should be done by the defence model having three lines. The three lines of this model are as follows (Stevens, 2009):
1. The initial line in this particular model is the management of business that include the decisions being taken by the people on daily basis in the business such as the decisions to underwrite
2. The next line is management of risk and compliance. Compliance is known to be looking at the concerns of regulation that is to play in accordance with the rules in a number of different nations, provinces and states in which activities of business are being conducted
3. The last line is referred to as the independent function for conducting internal audit
As a significant solution, the organization must consider availing support from the top- most level. It is crucially relevant that majority of the levels in the organization should be supporting and communicating the program for management of risk in the enterprise. If leadership is not considered by the organization to support the process and to actively engage within the process, they will not be going ahead for thinking it is relevant. There are a number of other organizations that fail in management of risk within the enterprise as they take decisions for implementation of program in the management of risk in enterprise (Mesman 2008). The CEO must consider assigning responsibilities to the CFO who will be assigning it to the Cashier who will then be considering the risks involved in finance.
There is a cycle of life involved for the implementation of these programs. For ensuring that support is achieved from the top- most level, it can be considered as a strong point for getting started. The team at headquarter of Switzerland must consider making a move to support the business units spread across the United States in order to maintain success. There is a significant need for the reinforcement of culture at the organization in United States (Bartram 2005).
The structure of the business organization plays a significant role as well. This choice will be highly dependent on the culture and size of the organization. As the organization is of mid- size, it may not be making sense for setting up a different function of risk, there is not much that can be done about it. In addition to this, there is a significant need for the involvement of dedicated resources where there is clarity in the objectives set for individual for being executed in the actual setting (SVGW 2003). There must be some authority holding the charge for all of the organization for supporting and ensuring visibility in the entire business organization for getting things done. In addition to this, it is important to note that there is a need for using the capital of risk in an appropriate manner that contributes in satisfying the needs and requirements of the organization. This will help the organization in improving its system for management of risk. The final step is to set up a process of governance that contributes in explicitly recognizing the risks. There should be an involvement of committees for dealing with the risks at all of the significant levels in the entire business organization. There must be clarity in the responsibilities and processes in order to engage with risks involved in the organization of business (Niewersch 2010).
People should be having an understanding as to what they should expect from the area of risk. There is a significant need for maintaining robustness in the policy of risk being adopted and must be considered and modified on regular basis. Facing the issues mentioned above, the team of management considered the development of an understanding related to the risks and how there was a close interrelation, and developing intelligence regarding the risk in the organization on the basis of experience in knowledge about the industry, risks involved, and business in relation with these types of risks. The team of management also started looking at the strategic goals and evaluating the threats, how these threats are related to the risks that had been identified, and what was the level of tolerance with respect to these types of risks (Papírník 2008).
Conclusion
There is a need for having a group and combined policy that can be applied in a significant manner across the entire organization in United States. As there are changes in the environment of operations and the area of market, the revision of policy for management of risk must be done in accordance with this. However, this agreements should be made in accordance with the committee of risk related to the board. The organization at United States should consider developing their structure of governance in a well manner for successfully managing the risks at the enterprise with better success (Bergstedt 2008). If leadership is not considered by the organization to support the process and to actively engage within the process, they will not be going ahead for thinking it is relevant.
References
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Stevens, M. (2009). Water safety plan manual: step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers, World Health Organization, Geneva.
Mesman G. (2008). Risk assessment case study – Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Report no. D 4.1.5c, TECHNEAU.
Bartram J. (2005). Water Safety Plans. Managing drinking-water quality from catchment to consumer. (WHO/SDE/WSH/05.06). WHO, Geneva.
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Techneau (2005). Technology enabled universal access to safe water: Annex I – “Description of Work”, Proposal/Contract no. 018320-02.
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Allen, S.L., (2003) Financial Risk Management: A Practitioner’s Guide to Managing Market and Credit Risk, (Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley).
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