What problems are confronting Erik Peterson?

Within Organizational Factors:

1- Ambiguous reporting system or Lack of Communication: There was no proper framework for the

Peterson’s job, as instead of reporting Jenkins, Peterson was required to report Jeff Hardy. Peterson was

confused by his reporting structure and requirements of his job

2- Inadequate human capital: Petersen lacked specific technical experience for the cellular

industry and same situation was faced by his Boss

 Difficulty in getting along with the chief engineer due to technical acumen issue

 Lack of experience personnel in upper hierarchy

3- Lack of empowerment & delegation from leaders to subordinates: Petersen was given a lot of

responsibility but was not given authority to deal with it.

 Lack of inventory control and delays by subcontractors

4- Lack of confidence: Peterson was not confident enough to deal with his executives and ask them

about his reporting structure and job requirements

 Strained relations between employees leading to conflicts

5- Lack of organizational effectiveness: Employee’s salary issue and contradicting decisions of the

head quarter

Outside Organization Factors:

6- Lack of structured capital and Open system View: Zoning problems and Problems with the

local utility telephone lines. Petersen need to get 16 cells operational by the agreed date. Which

required timely delivery of equipment’s. Head quarter decision to include back up batteries further

aggravated the situation. While zoning problem was a challenge due to lack of support for his

decision by his Boss.

What are the underlying causes of these problems? Identify the 5-6 major management
Deficiencies/mistakes (what he does wrong and/or what he fails to do) of Erik Peterson in his role as
general manager.

Organizational Behavior:

The underlying cause of ineffective internal communication is organizational overall behavior, not

keeping each other informed. CelluComm and GMCT team took part in counterproductive work ethics

and behaviors that affected the overall productivity of organization.

Inadequate human capital:

Not only just Petersen but also his boss Hardy, Curt, Trevor and some other individuals possessed

insufficient human capital and technical acumen to deal with the technicalities of job.

Lack of High performance working Ethics and Practices:

The underlying cause of lack of good performing practices is lack of internal systems and structures

that would facilitate success of each employee. Clear lines of reporting were not established.

Procedures were not established to deal with critical information. Clear communication Template was

not available that how to deal with contractors for certain emergency and legal cases.

Lack of organizational effectiveness:

CelluComm and GMCT teams lacked on open systems perspective when it comes to interaction with

outside contractors and local exchange companies/communities.

Lack of Capital structure:

The underlying cause was putting people into wrong positions and asking for jobs for which they were

not trained or don’t have experience. All this wrong positioning lead to haphazard decisions about the

equipment ordering and scheduling. Communication lag was also contributed in capital structure lack.
Both readings provide some excellent insights about how Peterson could have been more successful in
solving inherited problems, and how he could have been more proactive on other fronts during his first
year.
Action plan Development:
Delays by sub-contractors and lack of inventory control were major operational lagging factors.

1. They could have been controlled by preparing a better action plan with target dates and

assigning responsibilities against each team member.

2. This action plan should have incorporated check points/milestones for progress and these

check points could have been revised according to actual real time progress. SMART model could have

been used for better goal setting.

3. Plan could have been made resulted oriented with some concrete steps with some

roadblocks/constraints.

Career Ladder Plan:

Employee’s salary issue, contradicting decision from head quarter and lack of experience in upper

hierarchy were major organizational management cases. They could have been solved by following

1. Making a salary payment plan according to age, designation, # of years of experience and

performance based promotion. Also, any special salary improvement or incentive must be

approved by board of directors rather than on local managers request

2. C-level executive and Major decision makers should be preferred who are home grown so that

he/she knows the basic culture of company and better understand dynamic needs of company for

keeping employees motivated. One of the basic factor in filling up any position should be about

technical and project experience he/she has in company.

Management of Teams:
Ambiguous reporting system and lack of confidence, strained relations with team member are due to

absence of a proper organogram in organization. They could be solved by following

1- Development of a better PERMANENT organogram/chart which will clearly show the hierarchy

of organization that how they report to each other rather than changing it every month/year. By

continuously changing organogram, it seems that company has not matured and still struggling. This

chart will also show every person the limits he/she can exercise in his power.

2- By properly delegating the task to each member as per his/her area of expertise

3- Clarify team roles and norms instead of tolerating games

4- Don’t be conflict avoidant but face it and solve it so that proper communication

channels/bridges can be built

5- Try to replace weak links in your team like underperforming individuals like hiring a

construction coordinator for Curt’s inability to plan jobs properly

6- Seek out advices from other team members or seniors that how can we make it efficient

Relationship Repair:
Difficulty in getting along with chief engineer Zoning and Problems with utility telephone lines could be

solved by following

1- Acknowledge lack of experience

2- Acknowledge that he may have understood the assignment

3- Talk about that take work seriously and want to do a good job

4- Ask if you can consult with him and get his advice – show want to work together

What actions, if any, should Peterson take to turn the situation around and prepare for his meeting
with Chip Knight?
Improve communication and Present Solution of Problems: In short term, Petersen needs to improve

communication with Chip on war foot basis and to always keep him in confidence. Petersen needs to

continuously update Chip about the ground conditions and seek his advice as he has a 3rd eye view and a

more experienced individual as well. Also, Petersen needs to make a concise agenda and a formal report

about the possible solution his team is facing with proper deadlines and current status. This formal report

needs to be prepared after discussing with all team members so that all team members are on board that

what we are going to communicate to upper management. Also, it is recommended to agree for monthly

meeting in order to monitor and update about progress.

In long term, Petersen needs to bring in a lot of improvements in overall organization structure to

smoothen out the problems he faced.

Based on personal introspection, what major insights can you learn from the Erik Peterson case?
I realized following characteristics about me that I need to improve on

1. Very Important to accommodate according to different management style

2. Smoothing over conflict is often just a temporary solution rather than focusing on more long-

term solutions.

3. To be proactive in seeking out expectations for your team members

4. To speak out clear and concise requirements from your team members with proper deadlines

5. Need to shape and create conditions for their success by working with team members and

upper level management

6. Not only need technical expertise, but also skills in working with people inside and outside of

the organization