Problematic Environment at Gmct

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 star ...

The most serious underlying problem of Erik Peterson is his incompetency in handling his current

job. Peterson had no prior experience of constructing a cellular mobile telephone system that he

was assigned to manage, and yet he couldn't get along with many of his colleagues within the