CAROLINE REGIS AT EXCEL

SYSTEMS
PREFACE

The article “Caroline Regis at Excel Systems” is a part of subject “Organizational Behavior”
taught by Prof. Happy Paul in 1st Year of T. A. Pai Management Institute, year 2017.
The assignment fulfills the purpose of guiding us to a better understanding of how power and
politics are useful in an organization. It also explains and provides analogies of various
theoretical models to real life scenarios. The pros and cons of politics in an organization and the
need for shifting the bases on power based on situations can be clearly grasped from the
assignment.
We extend our respect and appreciation to Prof. Happy Paul for assigning this assignment to us.
Section 2, G2
Arun A R
Russa Saha
Anjali K
Manu Rishi Datta
Work, cooperation, teamwork, efficiency, collaboration and engagement is not the only side of an
organization. It goes parallel to conflicts, politics, disagreements, authority and power fights. The
balance between these leads to a successful organization and also a well-knit employee backup for the
company.

Excel was a NYC based smart home product company established in 2010. Whereas Gemini was a
Boston based company on the wearables sector. Excel had some really good quality products but Gemini
was more popular company in the market. Both the companies merged and the products were to be
marketed in the name of Gemini.

Within Excel, the idea behind the merger was to broaden “the product line and superior technology with
Gemini’s well-known name to accelerate its market penetration.” Ron Whitney, the owner of Excel,
became the Chairperson of the merger and Roger Dreanan, from Gemini became the new CEO. Caroline
Regis, the VP Manufacturing, a highly efficient and capable employee with major promotions in her
basket was the main player of the case and faced certain issues.

The problem started when the main strength of Excel, engineering and manufacturing was about to be
outsourced as per Gemini’s Supply chain VP, Margaret Ogilvie to China. Regis had a completely different
thought about it and wanted to convey that to Dreanan and team.

But, was really outsourcing the main issue?

For any merger and acquisition there are few key points to be addressed. Apart from the profitability
aspect the culture, people and other factors of the two organizations plays a major role.

 Cultural Clash: The mission and vision of two different organizations may be as different as chalk
and cheese. The social, political and religious values of a company relate to the values of the
employers. Merger of two organizations leads to the union of different values, attitudes, beliefs
and ideologies.

When Excel and Gemini merged, there was a strategic change which was implemented directly
without any proper formal engaging and enabling activities. There was no effort put to merge
the culture of the two companies and look forward to a common goal. There was a big change
but as such no transition phase. This created employee dissatisfaction and they were restricted
to accept the change as per normal human attitude and behavior, which in time led to
resignations and layoffs of many vital employees for the company.

 Authority Clash: A lot of disruptions are due to the fight for authority and power. The bad
relation between Whitney and Dreanan was the root cause of the problems created in the
company. Being the Chairman of the merged Gemini Excel, Whitney thought himself as an
authority without power to talk and take decisions about his own child, Excel. He wanted
“Power over” authority to control and stay in the position of the CEO instead of Dreanan. He
keeps on pointing out errors of Dreanan working style to the board.
 Politics in Organizations: Dreanan was from Gemini. He was highly professional and systematic
with great visions and capability to handle situations, just as was needed for the organization at
the present moment. He wants to cement his footprints by bringing the outsourcing idea and is
not really concerned about the trade-offs. Whereas Whitney opposed outsourcing but was more
concerned about his own professional goals than organizational betterment. The cold war and
politics played between the leads of the company brought in more and more confusion.

 Mental models: As Anderson was Regis’s boss in the former organization, he had a supportive
tendency towards her even after knowing Regis’s shortcomings. Similarly, Earl Warner had
grown a kind of mutual trust and understanding with Regis and her kind of work. Also, Dreanan
had known Ogilvie for quite a long time and did not really wanted to go against her ideas and
way of working. This shows the preference carried forward from the two organizations towards
their respective employees.

 Conflicts in perspectives: Regis put forward her plan and idea of not outsourcing manufacturing
to China as it was the main USP of Excel. Whereas Ogilvie had a complete opposite idea.
Caroline was habituated to acceptance of her ideas and was famous for her analytical thinking.

In spite of putting a lot of effort and hard work, her ideas were not responded to, which
eventually made her frustrated. She demanded authority of taking decisions as she was the VP
of that section. She was highly disappointed and thought of resigning just like other employees
when Spanner did not have confidence in her strategy.

The solution to the problem of this merged companies has to be started from a very base level
of their pyramid.

Majorly, there should be a confluence of the people of two organizations for a healthy work
culture. There should be inclusion from both the parties.

Dreanan and Whitney should understand their positions and have a clearer view and
understanding of the situation of the company. Whitney must be made to realize that he can
have authority with power from his current position and let Dreanan work as a CEO. Dreanan
should be given full credibility of his work and not threatened for his position.

Regis should improve on her communication skills for ease of work. She has a tendency of
considering herself right always and not being empathetic to others and their ideas or inputs.
She should be more flexible and cohesive in taking decisions and avoiding conflicts.