ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

HRM 5002

ASSIGNMENT 4
Submitted to:
Prof. Happy Paul

By: FAS Group K1 (Section 3)

Abhiroop Datta (17F301)
Abraham Joby (17F303)
Illa Sharma (17F316)
Parth Sharma (17F328)
Sharanya Paul (17F343)
Sumeet Balani(17F347)

10th December 2017

INTRODUCTION:
Ron Whitney was a high-profile serial entrepreneur, who founded the Excel Systems in 2010 in New
York with an idea of that custom hardware could integrate with web applications and use the data
for analytics to create useful information for consumers. Excel was regarded as a classical tech start-
up, with strong engineering but weaker administration and operations. Excel’s first product, the
Integra, was launched in 2013 to positive reviews but even then their sales were behind the
numbers forecasted in company’s financial plan. On top of that, competitors had introduced similar
products around the same time. Then, in February 2014, Excel announced that it had acquired
Gemini. Gemini, led by Roger Dreanan as its CEO, was a small player in the market of simple bracelet
that tracked running performance. However, Gemini had a far more widely recognized name
because of its effective marketing and promotion and was also considered very professional and
organized business. The rationale behind the merger was Excel’s branding its broader product line
and superior technology using Gemini’s well known name to accelerate its market penetration. After
the merger, Whitney became the chairman, Dreanan became the CEO. Excel’s CFO Earl Warner, COO
Steve Spanner, Executive Vice-President (Manufacturing) Joel Anderson, Vice-President
(Manufacturing) Caroline Regis, and Vice-President (Engineering) Glen Houston retained their old
positions. Gemini’s Vice Presidents for Sales and Marketing took over their responsibilities in Excel
and some of Excel’s old employees were let go or resigned, also came along with Gemini’s
management was Vice-President of Supply Chain, Margaret Ogilvie.

PROBLEM ANALYSIS:
Due to structural change in the organization there was a lack of clear vision and strategy, because
Whitney wanted to concentrate on engineering and product development and was indifferent about
outsourcing of manufacturing the products, whereas Dreanan was more inclined towards
professionalizing the company. There were also speculations and inhibitions within both the
companies regarding how newly combined operations would function. There was no proper
guidance from the management. Employees didn’t have clarity of goals and Regis also felt insecure
about her role in the company. Since, there were a lot of layoffs and the company’s old staff and
employees were let go and many resigned we know that the employees were change resistant.
Outsourcing was just collateral of a bigger problem that was the interpersonal conflict between
Whitney and Dreanan, while the latter wanted full control but the former undercuts him in every
move. Regis thinks that it’s a well played political game by Dreanan and Ogilvie, but if she chooses to
stand by her decision she might as well lose her job.

UNDERLYING FORCES CREATING THE PROBLEMS:

Change and Uncertainties: The employees were confused because of the structural change, due to
the merger of the two organizations. There was lack of clarity of objectives and a lot of unplanned
decisions resulted in various uncertainties in the minds of the employees.

Lack of Integrity, Transparency and Equality: There was no transparency in decision making, and as
a result integrity and equality was not maintained in organization.

Power: With great power come great responsibilities. When two organizations came together the
power structure of the organization changed. Here one of the reasons why problems occurred was
because of power blocks created after the merger of Excel and Gemini, to exercise power in their
own way. Dreanan had expert power in professionalism and well-organized approach to manage
people whereas Whitney had legitimate power, since he was the owner of Excel.

Culture: There was cultural clash between the two organizations because they had work culture
differences. Excel was a creative and entrepreneurial company whereas Gemini was more
professional and planned.

Interpersonal Conflicts: differences in the approach of working brought about conflicts between
Dreanan and Whitney.

Control: Lack of control of Whitney in the company’s board paved a way for Dreanan to exercise full
control of the merged company and issued rules as per his interests.

Low motivation: the employees were low on motivation and that’s the reason why they were
resigning and this also discouraged the other existing employees.

Forming and storming stages: They should try resolving the problems in this group stages to further
move in the next stages.

OUR RECCOMMENDATIONS:
Persuasion: Regis should try and persuade Dreanan and Ogilvie to consider not outsourcing the
manufacturing unit because it’s one of the key capabilities of Excel and it adds a lot of value to the
company. She should establish credibility and frame a common ground for a win-win of both the
sides.

Compromise: Regis can also go with the flow and keep her job, outsource some of the
manufacturing parts and keep the rest in-house.

Resignation: Regis should avoid resigning from her post because she was very attached to her work
and later might regret her decision, and this decision would also damage her relationship with the
company.

Mediation and Negotiation: There should be a mediator to resolve the conflicts, i.e., an ombudsman
should be appointed to regulate the use of power.

Leadership Style: Team oriented leadership and participation leadership style should be
incorporated which will encourage transparency in decision-making.