Cherlyways-Agilent

Problem Definition

The purpose of this paper is to provide a case analysis of case study: Cheryl Ways and Agilent (Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G., Managing organizational change: a multiple perspective approach, (2nd ed.), p.314, New York, NY, McGraw-Hill Irwin). Agilent Technologies was a technology and electronics manufacturer that had been spun off from Hewlett Packard Corporation. But due to sluggish sales and loss of market share and a move of its semi-conductor plant from California to Colorado, the company downsized some 15,000 people from 2001 to 2004. The primary question is did Agilent communicate the downsizing effectively? Could they have avoided downsizing?

Justification for the Problem Definition

Agilent was spun off from Hewlett Packard in 1999. In 2000 it had been listed as number thirty one on Fortune’s “100 best companies to work for”. The company prided itself on treating their employees honestly and maintaining an open style of communication. But Agilent had suffered a twenty three percent decline in sales, a fall in orders and a decline in market share. Agilent had tried to cut costs by “reducing external consultants and hiring’s, calling on staff to limit travel and other discretionary spending. ; however, there were no clear guidelines on how to do this and how much savings was needed” (Palmer, I., et al., 2009). The staff felt hopeful that things would turn around, but they never did. In September of 2002, the company decided to move its semi-conductor factory in California to Colorado. Staff was told that they would lose their jobs within one year. The new caused a dropped in production initially, but as time went on, there was hope by that the move would not take place. The CEO’s philosophy was to communicate clear and consistently to unit managers who would then filter it to the rest of the organization. “First, we decided the key messages we want to communicate each quarter about what went right or wrong and the call to...