Organizational Behavior Analysis of Verizon Wireless - Essay Example

Research Paper Verizon Wireless: Organizational Behavior Analysis Table of Contents Research Paper Verizon Wireless: Organizational Behavior Analysis 1 Abstract 3 Organizational overview 4 Purpose and mission of the organization 5 Stakeholders 7 Challenges & opportunities 9 Organizational behavior 11 Recommendation 13 Reference 14 Abstract Verizon is a well known name in the US wireless service sector having a large customer base in US. The company strives to offer highly innovative and reliable services to its client. The vision of the company is to develop an organizational culture that is based on mutual understanding and respect for each other. With time, market flux has posed certain challenges as a consequence of growing demand for bandwidth and better internet speed. Increasing competition can also make the management wary of its competitive position. However, the organizational behavior practice followed by the management has resulted in a workforce that possesses the required knowledge and skill to develop innovative products and services. Organizational overview Verizon Communications Inc. is one of the well known companies in wireless communication sector that offers services to mass market, government, business and wholesales customers. The company has its headquarters in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, USA. The customer base of Verizon is around 92 million which makes it one of the market leaders in America. The company also offers converged communication along with information and entertainment to highly advanced fiber-optic network. For its international customers, the company has several innovative seamless business solutions (Verizon-a, 2010). Verizon was established in June 03, 2000 and is a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group having a partnership ratio is 55:45. Later on, in January 09, 2009 Alltel Wireless acquired Verizon Wireless in a deal of $28.1 billion (Reardon, 2009). The total customer base of the company comprises 99.7 million customers with 175+ switching centers. Similar to the customer base, the number of employees working in the company is also large. As per the data revealed by the company, Verizon employees more than 79,000 workers. Verizon was the first company to introduce wide area wireless broadband network in US and also offered the first wireless 3G multimedia services to its customers. Later on, the mobile service offered by the company also attracted numerous customers which further boosted its competitive position in the industry (Verizon-b, 2010). With time, many new entrants entered this industry, taking the competition to an altogether new height. Spring Nextel, U.S. Cellular, AT & T, Leap Wireless are few of the companies that pose as major competitors of Verizon. To retain its competitive position along with the market share, Verizon is in the process of introducing 4G network technology to further increase the wireless data speed. The technology for machine to machine communication and smart devices will be launched soon in near future. The company is in the process of developing collaboration with partners like Qualcomm, Skype and Google to start a laboratory that will actively work towards innovation in wireless technology (Verizon Communications, 2009, p.3). Purpose and mission of the organization The core value of Verizon is “integrity and respect”; hence the company nurtures a strong commitment towards its corporate governance. Stakeholders are its first priority (both internal as well as external). In the Code of Conduct of the company reflects its values and commitments to society at large. Apart from integrity and respect, other components of the core value of Verizon are performance excellence through which customer’s experience can be further improved. Accountability is also a vital component of the company’s core value. The Code of Conduct developed by the board members is required to be followed by each and every person who is in some way or other related to the company. The code specifies that the supervisor should take additional responsibilities for developing an environment of trust and mutual respect. To develop a more open organizational culture the employees are motivated to express their view points. They have the freedom to raise voice against any unethical conduct taking place in the organization. Complain made by an employee is always kept confidential. His encourages the employees to speak out their mind without the fear of any untoward consequences (Verizon, 2010, p.1-3). The Code of Conduct has well defined policies that need to be followed while handling the customers. Like other companies, Verizon aims at maintaining a healthy relation with its customers and thus the policy specifies that customers should be treated with honesty and respect. Policies regarding pricing, advertising, marketing and service solution are also documented to avoid any kind of unfair practices in the market place (Verizon, 2010, p.18). “Policy on Executive Severance Agreements” aimed at human force includes the below given policies: Payments in connection with the termination of the executive’s employment; Payments for any consulting services; Payments to secure an agreement not to compete with Verizon; Payments to settle any litigation or claim; Payments or benefits that are not generally available to similarly situated management employees; Payments in excess of, or outside of, the terms of plan or policy; and Payments to offset tax liability in respect to any of the foregoing. (Verizon-c, 2010). Stakeholders Stakeholders are the ones who have a stake in the organization and thus in some way or the other are related to the organization. This broad definition of stakeholders often leads to confusion; hence a narrow definition was derived that explains “group who are vital for the organization or groups that help to define the organization, its mission, purpose and goals, and or are most affected by the activities of the organization” (Lebeer, 2002, p.181). Considering the above given definition, the stakeholders of the Verizon can be segregated as internal as well as external stakeholders. Everybody who works for the organization can be considered as the internal stakeholder (Banhegyi, 2009, p.395). The employees of Verizon are the internal stakeholders of the company; however the families of these employees are often considered to be a part of internal shareholders. The external stakeholders are the ones who are not a part of the organization but have interest in the company (McManus, 2005, p.147). In Verizon, the customers are considered as one of the most important external stakeholders. Apart from customers, the shareholders and the investors are also of great importance. Other external stakeholders are the government, public and the environment. According to stakeholders’ theory, the stakeholders should be identified and segregated into different groups depending upon the power and interest the exercise on the organization. This segregation is often called power grid. According to it, the stakeholders can be segregated into four different groups, these are: High power-High interest: These stakeholders have active interest in the day to day functioning of the firm, so they should actively participate in managing the organization. Interest coupled with power gives them the authority to take decision and set policies. Example: The management High interest-Low power: These stakeholders are interested in participating in the activities related to the organization but due to lack of power they cannot actively participate in the decision making process. The organization should keep them informed regarding the decision taken. Example: The employees High power-Low interest: The stakeholders who possess the power but are unwilling to participate in different organizational activities belong to this group. The management tries to appease this section of the stakeholders as far as possible. Example: Investors Lower interest-Low power: This set of stakeholder neither have the power to participate in the decision making activities nor do they have the interest to participate in any kind of activity related to the organization. Therefore, the organization should not pay much attention to them but their activities should be monitored on time to time basis. Example: Government, social interest groups, suppliers, etc. Figure 1: Power Grid (Source: Davies, 2007, p.36) Challenges & opportunities The recessionary phase of 2008-09 had adverse consequences on the company, though the revenue continued to grow, the profitability of the company declined. This phase was a witness to several changes in the market condition, which needs to be taken into consideration while developing the future strategy. The changes taking place in the technology, customer behavior and the degree of competition are the some of the major challenges that Verizon is facing today. In the last few years, a major change was noticed in the manner the customers use internet. People are using internet for sharing music and videos; thus the demand for enhanced bandwidth is increasing day by day. Soon the broadband offered by Verizon will fail to fulfill the demand thereby losing its competitive position in the market. Due to globalization, organizations have their units dispersed at different part of the world. To remain connected, these units rely more on communication services offered by global wireless service provides. In nearby future, higher dependency on internet will increase the risk associated with security and trustworthiness. Therefore, the security of data is also a growing challenge for Verizon. Apart from availability of space and security, speed is also a factor that can become a major concern for the company in the years to come. Most organizations have made themselves paperless where all the data are maintained in soft form. In future the concept of paperless business is expected to grow further and thus the number of internet user will also increase. This increased burden might slowdown the speed that will make the user frustrated and irritated. Therefore, Verizon needs to exercise caution and ensure that the quality of services is not compromised with even when the demand is high (Verizonbusiness, 2009, p.1).Growing competition in the wireless service sector is also a matter of concern. There exists cut throat competition among companies operating in this sector. Each tries hard to attract the customers with innovative set of products and service. However, many customers have complained about poor service quality and high change. According to them, the big players of the industry like Apple or iPhone enter agreements with service providers AT&T Inc. as a result of which the small companies operating in this sector have to bear an added pressure. There is a possibility that government might take some legal steps against actions that hinders the innovative and competitive environment of the industry (Reuters, 2009). The changing market dynamics will not just lead to challenges but it will also provide the company with a wide array of opportunities. The growing use of internet services in developing nations will provide new market to Verizon to expand its customer base. The degree of innovation offered by the company will assist it to retain sustainable competitive position in the market. Organizational behavior Organizational behavior can be stated as the study to understand what people think, feel and do within the organization. Therefore, the HR department resorts to organizational behavior to understand organizational culture while managing human resource and developing HR policies. Verizon is well aware of the fact that to have a high performing and committed workforce, the organization should motivate the employees. The employees should have faith in the management and in turn the company should also assure them that their welfare is taken care of. Such environment of mutual trust and respect is essential to motivate the employees to put their effort in achieving organizational goal. The board members of Verizon have introduced certain specific policies for the employees in the Code of Conduct so that one can be aware of the dos and don’ts. It also enhances the degree of transparency between the employees and the management. Figure 2: Organizational Behavior System (Source: Newstrom, 1977, p.26) The HR department should offer several training programs aimed at assisting the employees to acquire new skill and knowledge which can be implemented in the work place. In 2009, the company invested $330 million for training and development of the employees. Employees are also encouraged to strike a balance between work life and family life (Verizon-d, 2010). Recommendation Verizon is a respected name in the wireless service providing sector and it enjoys a healthy market share in US. After analyzing the company as well as the market condition, it appears that in future Verizon might face challenges due to increasing competitiveness and changing customer requirements. The company can retain its position in the market by catering to the customers’ requirements with more innovation and user friendly services. The company should make more investments in training and development programs of the employees. A well trained and highly motivated workforce will help the company to achieve the goal of attaining leadership position in the global wireless service sector. Reference Banhegyi, S. et al. (2009). Fresh Perspectives: MGI Custom Publication: Business Management. Pearson South Africa. Davies, E. (2007). The Training Managers Desktop Guide. Thorogood Publishing. Lebeer, G. (2002). Ethical function in hospital ethics committees. IOS Press. McManus, J. (2005). Managing stakeholders in software development projects. Butterworth-Heinemann. Reardon, M. (January 09, 2009). Verizon completes Alltel purchase. Cnet News. Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://news.cnet.com/verizon-completes-alltel-purchase/. Reuters. (June 17, 2009). U.S. wireless providers debate about competition. Retrieved on September 28, 2010 from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE55G6X020090617?pageNumber=2. Verizon. 2010. Your Code of Conduct. Verizon-a, (2010). Overview. Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://investor.verizon.com/profile/overview.aspx. Verizon-b, (2010). Facts-at-a-Glance. About Us. Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://aboutus.vzw.com/ataglance.html. Verizon-c. (2010). Policies. Retrieved on September 27, 2010 from http://investor.verizon.com/corp_gov/policies.aspx. Verizon-d. (2010). Workplace. Corporate Responsibility. Retrieved on September 28, 2010 from http://responsibility.verizon.com/home/results/workplace/. Verizonbusiness. (2009). New Challenges, New Opportunities. Retrieved on September 28, 2010 from http://www.verizonbusiness.com/resources/whitepapers/wp_boost-application-performance-new-challenges-new-opportunities_en_xg.pdf. Verizon Communications. (2009). 2009 Annual Report. Read More