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Facing a problematic environment at GMCT, Erik Peterson proved to be an ineffective leader in his role as general manager. To resolve this situation, Peterson should have encouraged open lines of communication with CelluComm and established clear goals and roles within GMCT. Peterson faced problems with: 1) the inconsistency of CelluComm’s organizational structure, 2) the political and cultural environment in GMCT, and 3) external forces that were complicating system design and construction.
In response to these problems, Peterson chose to tackle key issues on his own rather than delegate responsibility and repeatedly showed an inability to effectively mobilize his workforce or resources. The inconsistency of CelluComm’s organizational structure complicated management reporting and was detrimental to GMCT. The reporting hierarchy throughout CelluComm was unclear. For instance, when Peterson was first hired, he thought he would be directly reporting to Ric Jenkins, but then, without formal communication from upper management, he found himself reporting to Jeff Hardy.
Arbitrary assignment of personnel and shifting positions throughout CelluComm further confused company structure. Within eight months, the organizational structure at CelluComm changed four times, both at the upper management level and GMCT. This created confusion of reporting responsibilities, political tension, and reluctance to take responsibility and action. This reluctance may be also attributed to Ric Jenkins’ intimidating personality and reputation for firing poorly performing managers.
Furthermore, the great distance between headquarters and the regional office left Peterson without the autonomy required to make decisions in a start-up environment. CelluComm’s unwillingness to compromise on matters such as employee reassignment or to allow Peterson to make decisions on the fly led to a series of missed opportunities and complicated situations. Significant delays at the corporate level, like the decision to purchase dual-radios, also delayed GMCT’s turn-on date.
Left without direction or an experienced superior to give him guidance, Peterson was left to lead in a situation where he lacked both decision-making power and corporate support. Political and cultural environment at GMCT. The volatile political environment can be evidenced by Peterson’s relationship with Curt Andrews. From the start of his employment, Peterson had preconceptions about Curt that likely influenced his relationship with the chief engineer. He repeatedly tried to have Curt transferred and his attempts to help Curt were ineffective.
Peterson failed to mitigate several conflicts between Curt and other GMCT employees, namely Todd, Trevor, and Marissa. GMCT’s cultural environment was also a major factor in creating the conflicts. Considering his background, Curt did not understand the culture of GMCT or Hanover, characterized by new young hires with college educations and cold weather unlike his previous location of Tampa. Curt also had difficulty adjusting to a start-up culture as opposed to his previous vertically technical job in an established business.
Peterson tried but did not make much headway in resolving this issue. Peterson made poor hiring decisions. He employed and promoted several young and inexperienced subordinates, creating an unstable political environment within GMCT. One instance that caused internal instability was the employment of Trevor, a recent college graduate who was granted a greater salary than the more experienced Todd Jones, which created a rift between the two men.
This was again demonstrated when Peterson promoted Stevana to take on Curt’s construction coordinator responsibilities. Mike Delavo would have to report to her, but Peterson did not inform Mike of this change. Peterson also promised Marissa a higher salary than what CelluComm approved, which damaged Peterson’s credibility. External forces complicated system design and construction. This can be seen in GMCT’s relationship with local townships regarding cell tower construction.
In four of the townships, it was determined that CelluComm would have to use the public utility status for the construction of the towers, causing public dissatisfaction. To resolve this, Peterson promised free cell phone service to the local firemen, police, and emergency workers in exchange for putting a tower at a firehouse. However, he could not deliver on this promise because he neglected to first clear this deal with CelluComm, who rejected his requests. The process of negotiating landline access with the local telephone company proved to be another external difficulty.
This was an essential step in system construction, but Peterson had trouble getting the local telephone company to cooperate, causing considerable delays in Peterson’s project schedule. Peterson was an ineffective manager as he did not set clear objectives for his subordinates, define clear roles, or delegate tasks. His inability to mitigate conflicts appropriately, follow through with promises, and understand the politics of his organization demonstrated his lack of leadership.
This was further exaggerated by the structural problems already innate within CelluComm, the unstable political environment of GMCT, and external problems. Prior to meeting with Knight and Jenkins, Peterson should meet with his subordinates to set roles, establish a common goal to cultivate company culture, understand their entrenched interests, and discuss a cohesive plan to meet the turn-on-date. Peterson will then be well-positioned to communicate the conflict and negotiate with CelluComm to give him increased support and decision-making authority at GMCT.