Reference no: EM132971122

Questions:1) Identify the challenge (transition, activist, creative, development, maintenance or crisis challenge)

2) Explain why is this challenge?

Fictional Story:

Bubble Inc (BI) is a listed multinational corporation based in Germany, dealing with the production and export of sausages. BI relies on sources to supply their BI underwent extensive organizational reform five years ago, redesigning business operations while expanding throughout Asia. Singapore is the BI's Asean headquarters for both the production and export of sausages. Most of the raw supplies are sourced in Asia, and the production facility is situated in Johor Bahru, a causeway across the Straits of Johor connecting Singapore.

BI's vision is to have its brand to be in every household in the world. BI sustainability governance is centered on SDG 8, which seeks to promote long-term inclusiveness and economic growth, productive employment, and decent work for everyone ("SDGs", n.d.). BI is extremely proud of its values on diversity and inclusion, openness, and one-team mindset. During most of the town-hall gatherings, senior management regularly shares success stories relating to this set of core values.

John, a Singaporean, is BI Sales Director. John oversees a group of local sales teams responsible for the Southeast Asia Region. John reports to the Regional Director Holger, a young German stationed in Singapore. John has been in BI for seven years, while Holger has only been in his post for a little over a year. Holger's predecessors had changed hands three times due to the failure to meet the regional sales target in the last five years.

Holger was tasked to increase the sales revenue to meet the shareholders' expectations. With this urgency and the need to prove himself, Holger adopted an autocratic style in decision-making. The role of John and his team is to gather market intelligence. Holger will then direct the execution strategy. In some online meetings, the higher management and Holger will deliberately switch to the German language to finalize an action without consulting the local team to accelerate the go-to-market plan. John and his team are frustrated because they believe they can provide a better grasp of the local environment and make better decisions. John thinks they are only merely a means of generating revenue for the company.

Holger intended to reduce the cost of goods sold by finding a supplier that could offer a better purchase price. This will make its accounting book look better. He was able to find a wholesale supplier who was offering a 15% discount on their sell price. Ignoring the fact that John and his team had presented information indicating that this wholesale supplier may have supply chain labor standard violations, Holger decided to hire this wholesale supplier without consulting his team. The investigations were dated 2018, and it alleged that they discovered undocumented and underpaid workers, including children, working in unsafe conditions. When John learned of the decision and discussed the potential ramifications, Holger disregarded him as not being in line with the company's financial goals. Denying the reality that this is a clearly compromised decision that requires no thought, John and the team went forward with Holger's decision.

No senior management in Germany had ever visited the Asia region to meet the locals in the five years since restructuring. Holger never attends any social engagements with the local staff. During work encounters, Holger does not inquire about how John and his team are managing their workload or if they are experiencing any difficulties. It's all about discussing performance goals.

When there is a problem, Holger is always looking for who to fault and the why. Errors are rarely tolerated by him. In response to a recent customer complaint regarding late delivery, Holger asked for the responsible person to be identified and disciplined. As a result, in order to avoid Holger's disciplinary action, the sales, production, and logistics teams begin pointing fingers and defending themselves.

All these situations have caused a low rating in John's employee engagement scores.