Workplace Fraud at George Weston Foods - Case Study Example

MАNАGЕMЕNT СОMMUNIСАTIОN ЕSSАY Student’s Name: Course Code: Tutor’s Name: Date of Submission Workplace fraud at George Weston Foods Introduction Many businesses across the world experience some abnormal incidences which may affect the business negatively. Some of these incidences may be in form of fraud which the business must apply some theoretical mechanisms to deal with and resume with normal business operations (Conrad and Newberry 2011). A good example is a fraud case that happened in 2016 in George Weston Foods Company where a thirty six years old woman obtained $ 1.3 million fraudulently (Ford 2016). The company used business communication mechanisms and theories to unearth the fraud and later prosecute the woman. George Weston Foods Company is Australia’s largest manufacturers of food and it has employed more than 6, 500 individuals all over Australia and New Zealand (Ford 2016). Business communication can be used to solve business incidences as was used by George Weston Foods Company. After suspecting the fraud, the company applied communication strategies with the aim of getting down to the problem and continue with normal business operations. This essay will analyze how the company applied the different communication strategies to face the incidence. It will also provide an analysis of the way the company handled the issue drawing on the various theories within business communication. They used some steps in dealing with the issue that affected the company. According to McLean (2005), employees in any business organization forms a group and team work must be enhances for better solution of solutions. It must take steps since the identification of the problem to coming with a solution. Any problem solving process starts with definition of the problem (Young & Murphy 2003). Through team work, other colleagues of the woman in the organization identified that there were some transactions that were taking place in the business which needed some investigations because they seemed suspicious (The Australian 2016). Conrad and Newberry (2011) say that problem identification forms the basis of solving any incident that may affect the business negatively. This allows the group of workers and other stakeholders to come up with boundaries of the incident. This helps the business to formalize a process of solving the problem. It will help the organization in knowing the size, scope as well the challenge that the group will face in solving the problem (McLean 2005). This involved gathering some information from George Weston Foods Company transactions for them to understand how and where the money has been spent. It was clear that there was a problem because some money was missing and the information that the colleague employees gathered showed that it was not spent in the company and this attracted thorough investigation to unearth the root of the problem (The Australian 2016). The second to take in any incident that involves an incident in a business organization is the analysis of the problem (McLean 2005). The workers must employ effective communication strategies to analyze the root of the problem. They must communicate vertically and horizontally within the organization for them to understand the incident better (Young & Murphy 2003). This will include gathering the relevant information relating to the problem to understand its root causes as well as the associated consequences so as to know the best strategies that can be employed to end the problem. Conrad and Newberry (2011) argue that depending with the magnitude of the problem; the stakeholders will require different types of expertise that must be put into place to deal with the issue at hand. George Weston Foods Company understood the problem was big as a huge amount of money was realized to be lost from the company mysteriously (The Australian 2016). They gathered enough information and understood that the money has been missing in the company’s accounts bits by bits. It was revealed that the suspected woman was transferring money ranging from $ 1, 000 upwards (Ford, 2016). They came to understand that the largest amount to be transferred was $264,626 and it was done some day in March 2016 (Ford 2016). They also came to know that the money was transferred to accounts that were operated by the woman, Lauren Reddie who was thirty six years old (The Australian 2016). It was also clear from the analysis that the woman was transferring some money to another account operated by a thirty two years old man by the name Scott Linen (Ford 2016). In this step, they came to know that the man was the woman’s fiancé from Britain but they lived together in Australia. The next step that should be taken by any organization in dealing with a problem or a suspicious incident is to establish criteria. Here information from diverse perspectives must be attracted (McLean 2005). Teamwork must be well enhanced here because views from different stakeholders may overlap and cause other problems in the business operations. The business may attract views from external stakeholders who may have prior experience concerning the problem at hand (Conrad and Newberry 2011). The established criteria must have the goals and objectives of solving the issue at hand and prevent other problems from arising (Young & Murphy 2003). The group in George Weston Foods Company came up with criteria that would involve external investigators who would help the company in solving the incident amicably. They attracted views from the police as well as the other employees so as s to come up with a long term problem solution (The Australian 2016). Some of the workers had the view that the suspects should be approached and be convinced to return the money. Others suggested prosecution with the aim of preventing others who may have such plans. In this step all methods of dealing with the problem were welcomed from different stakeholders (McLean 2005). The fourth step in any solution of problems will be to the possible solutions to the problem at hand. After thorough consultations from the previous steps, proper listening of the available paths to follow for the problem to be solved; the concerned must come up with the possible methods to face the challenge (McLean 2005). The resources required to solve the incident must be put into consideration in this step. Young & Murphy (2003) Say that the team responsible for solving the problem must understand the various alternatives from other stakeholders, effective listening and interpretation of the problem at hand must be put into consideration at this step for the organization to make the best choice from the various alternatives (Young & Murphy 2003). George Weston Foods Company for example had to listen from the employees, senior management as well as external investigators. Consultations in this step among all the stakeholders must be result oriented (McLean 2005). The concerned group of employees had to weigh all the views from all the sources. Some suggested that the company should sue the suspects. Others were for the view that more investigations must be put into place to unearth all possible solutions. The determining team here should consider the various factors that will affect their decisions such as the time factor, resources needed as well as the human resources required (Young & Murphy 2003). From the different views and suggestions from the concerned parties, the company has to come up with the way forward. They have to incorporate one option of solving the problem from the available alternatives. The chosen alternative may come from one stakeholder or even a combination of views from the various options that are available (Young & Murphy 2003). The best alternative will also draw from cost benefit analysis framework in the company (McLean 2005). This will make sure that the alternative taken is the best regarding the timeframe as well as the needed resources. All the options must be analyzed with their benefits as well as costs. George Weston Foods Company had some suggestions from the different stakeholders. Some were for the view that more investigations should be done to unearth other stakeholders or workers who would otherwise be involved in the scam (Ford 2016). Others like the top management of the company were for immediate prosecution of the culprits. After weighing the available alternatives, the company decided on prosecuting the suspects as they involve the Fraud and Cybercrime Squad's Corporate Corruption Team for more investigations (The Australian 2016). As the prosecution was taking place, other employees in the company were working hand in hand with the investigating team to get more information regarding the scam (Ford 2016). After choosing the best alternative, the business has to implement the chosen alternative. This will involve the stakeholders as well other external authorities as required. Implementation step is very crucial in that it will shape the problem and also aim to prevent such an incident in the future (Conrad and Newberry 2011). It has to be done thoroughly with strategic management aspects being incorporated as well as communicating effectively. George Weston Foods Company started implementing the prosecution of the suspects in March 2016 (Ford 2016). This is when the two suspects were arrested by police and aligned in court. Reddie was charged with fourteen counts of money laundering and sixty five counts of fraud. Linnen was charged with fourteen counts of money laundering in Downing Centre Local Court (The Australian 2016). It is still in the implementation step that the company hired lawyers who would help the company in legal affecting the fraud incident. The two suspects were released on bail and their passports were seized by the authorities to prevent them from moving out of the country (Ford 2016). They were also prevented to making any communication whatsoever with the company’s employees because this would have tampered with the evidence. This showed a good implementation as there was effective communication among the said stakeholders (The Australian 2016). The final step in any problem solving process is to follow up the solution. This is enhanced by all the concerned stakeholders either internal or external to the company. It requires inputs from all the concerned parties since there must be effective monitoring of the progress. Monitoring should be conducted with the help of the goals and objectives that were set by the company at the beginning of solving the problem (McLean 2005). The involved individuals should assess how best the strategies they have put into place are working during this follow up step. George Weston Foods Company used its different stakeholders in following up the process of investigation as well as prosecution of the suspects (Ford 2016). The employees in the company continued to help the police with more investigations regarding the fraud incident. The management continued with attending court proceedings to know the progress of the case against the suspects. They were continuously engaging their lawyers as well as the investigating team on any information they felt relevant to the case for effective implementation to be realized in the company (The Australian 2016). Team work is equally important in this stage if dealing with any incident that may affect the business. Workers, management, as well as the investigating team in this case were working together for the objective of getting the suspects unearthed to be realized (Conrad and Newberry 2011). This was equally enabled by effective communication amongst the group members. Conclusion In conclusion the process of dealing with any incident in a business, proper strategies must be put in place. There are seven steps that were taken by George Weston Foods Company to unearth the fraud incident that took place in the year 2016 concerning one of the employees. Firstly the company had to identify the problem which was well identified with the help of the woman’s colleagues. They later analyzed the incident thoroughly where they came to know that the incident was real and more than $ 1 million dollars was fraudulently transferred from the company’s to the woman’s accounts together with those of her fiancé. The company did come up criteria of dealing with the issue after thorough analysis. Different solutions strategies were identified but the company after more consultations settled on prosecuting the suspects. Investigations were conducted and the suspects were alighted in court as the other employees helped in more investigations. Team work helped in all these steps and the final one where the company was to follow up the implementation progress. The whole process was facilitated by effective communication and team work among the concerned stakeholders in the company. References Conrad, D. and Newberry, R., 2011, 24 Business Communication Skills: Attitudes of Human Resource Managers versus Business Educators, American communication journal, Vol 13, No.1, pp. 5-23. Ford, M., 2016 April 15, Sydney woman accused of defrauding employer of $1.3 million. ABC news, retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-15/sydney-woman-faces-court-on-65- McLean, S., 2005, The basics of interpersonal communication. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Sydney woman accused of stealing $1.3m., 2016, April 14, The Australian. Retrieved May 6, 2017, from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/sydney-woman-accused-of-steali Young, M. & Murphy, W., 2003, Integrating communications skills into the marketing curriculum: A case study. Journal of Marketing Education, Vol.25, No.1, pp. 57-70. Read More