Weymouth Steel Corporation

518 Words3 Pages
Synopsis: Strategic Issues and Problems Due to the cyclical business of steel industry, Weymouth Steel Corporation’s business is going to decrease, and it’s hard for the company to compete with other corporations. It needs to set up a new production system and satisfy environmental protection standards. Due to the cost-cutting effort, the company has closed some factories and cut unnecessary expenses. It plans to lay-off some employees. In addition, the company needs to increase salaries and improve benefits for some of the remaining employees. Therefore, the company is figuring out how to convey this good news and bad news to its workers. Analysis and Evaluation While Weymouth has to lay-off thousands of employees, it plans to increase salaries and improve benefits for others. On one hand, it’s necessary for the company to downsize to save the company in this tough time. On the other hand, offering a better policy for remaining workers may conflict with the cost-cutting effort, but satisfying workers can benefit company’s long-run business. Conveying these messages plays an important role in company’s success. If the company has a good solution, it can soften the anger of those who get fired, and make the remaining workers work effectively. However, an ineffective solution can depress people who are fired and worry the remaining employees, so it may create an ineffective working environment. Alternatives The company has at least two alternatives to deal with this problem. First, it should have face-to-face group meetings to convey the bad news, and email the good news to those whose salary and benefits are going to improve. The advantages of this alternative are showing sympathy with people getting fired, and saving time for sending the good news. The disadvantage is that people who get fired can get angry when they are in group. Second, the
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