Carlos Ghosn Talk Conflict Related Case Study Carlos Ghosn Focus Discussing Reasons Confli Q35534517

what did Carlos Ghosn talk about conflict???

how this related to case study (CarlosGhosn)

I will focus on discussing the reasons why conflictoccurs, types of conflict and possible ways to resolveit.

1-Conflict is the disagreement between the persons when theirviews, opinions do not match then it creates conflict between them.Conflict is serious disagreement and argument about somethingimportant. If two people or groups are in conflict, theyhave had a serious disagreement or argument and have not yetreached agreement.

2- No, all conflict cannot be said bad because Conflict, whileoften avoided, is not necessarily bad. In fact, conflict can begood for organizations because it encourages open-mindedness andhelps avoid the tendency toward group think that many organizationsfall prey to. The key is learning how to manage conflicteffectively so that it can serve as a catalyst, rather than ahindrance, to organizational improvement. Conflict Encourages NewThinking, Conflict Opens Minds, Conflicts Beats Stagnation. so, wecannot say that all conflicts are bad.

3- There are some causes of conflict like people in power likeauthorities may use their power to force down people at lower levelwhich can cause conflict. For example- Top management thinks thatuse of robot would be good for company, but employees think that Iwould remove them from job which turns into conflict.

Other major causes of conflict in the workplace include:

• Personality clashes – the ‘personality mix’within a team can be upset when a new member of staff joins or iftwo colleagues suddenly fall out. Individuals may also respond todifficult or challenging situations in an unhelpful or unproductiveway.
• Unrealistic needs and expectations – conflictat work can often be caused when employers ignore the needs ofemployees or set unrealistic expectations. For example, arranginghours that make it difficult for employees to carry out childcareresponsibilities.
• Business values – most people have very clearideas about what they think is fair, and your organisation’sprocedures and policies must reflect this. For example, givingsomeone a fair hearing or explaining the reasoning behind adecision.
• Unresolved workplace issues – for example, anemployee might ask to be moved to another team because of theirmanager’s ‘aggressive’ leadership style. However, the employee mayhave other reasons – for example, they may blame their manager fora lack of training or career progression.
• Increase in workload – sometimes workplaceconflict is caused because people feel they are being pushed toohard and resentment sets in if they feel their workload isunmanageable.

4- Conflicts can be solved with effective communication inorganization and hear all the views of both sides with open mind sothat each member would think that what is causing conflict and howthey can solve that in calm and professional manner.

5- When conflicts are not solved then it leads to poormanagement, demotivated employees, increase defects and errors inbusiness and increase the cost to organization which reduces theprofit of business.

CASE STUDY

Case study ( Carlos Ghosn )

The rapid fall from grace of automotive legend Carlos Ghosn isreverberating throughout the industry and casts a shadow over thefuture of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, the largestautomotive group in the world that he created and led. It also setsup a standoff between Japanese and French authorities.

Last week, Ghosn was arrested in Japan for allegedlyunderreporting his pay as chairman of Nissan and using companyassets for personal purposes. He reportedly has denied theallegations. Ghosn was ousted from both Nissan and Mitsubishi,where he was also chairman, but he retains his job as chairman andCEO of Renault. Meanwhile, French authorities said they are waitingto see evidence of the executive’s alleged improprieties. Ghosn isa French citizen and the French government holds a 15% stake inRenault, which owns 43% of Nissan. Nissan has a 15% non-votingstake in Renault and owns 34% of Mitsubishi.

Ghosn is an industry icon who led the turnaround at both Nissanand Renault. He is also the first person in the world to run twoFortune 500 companies at the same time. In an industry that hasseen failed mergers such as Daimler-Chrysler, he is credited withsuccessfully managing the automotive alliance, which by somemeasures became the world’s largest seller of vehicles in 2017, forthe first time. With Ghosn’s future in doubt, a key lesson forcorporations is the risk of concentrating too much power in asingle executive.

Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffiesaid he was“shocked and amazed” by the downfall of Ghosn. MacDuffie is thedirector of the Program on Vehicle and Mobility Innovation atWharton’s Mack Institute for Innovation Management. “I know some ofthe tensions in the alliance but also many of its strengths,” hesaid. “None of that gave me any inkling of this personal scandal[involving] Ghosn.”

MacDuffie happened to arrive in Japan the night before Ghosn’sarrest, and got a ringside view of the unusually strong impact ithad on Nissan. In a news conference after the arrest, Nissan’s CEO,a protégé of Ghosn, was “unusually personal and candid for aJapanese senior executive, talking about his shock and sorrow andanger over that,” MacDuffie recalled.

Richard Dasher, director of the U.S.-Asia Technology ManagementCenter at Stanford University, suggested that Ghosn perhaps hadtrouble brewing for him for a while. He described Ghosn as “anautocratic leader” in the style of a Steve Jobs at Apple, and that“[he] was not particularly liked, although he had to berespected.”

“This looks a little bit like a setup job by the new leadershipin Nissan,” added Dasher. “It sounds like they got him onsomething. Executive compensation packages are very complicated.”But he noted that Ghosn has not been accused of a brazen act liketaking unethical cash payments. “It seems that this had to do withthe company buying four luxury overseas properties and providingthem for the use of Mr. Ghosn. And he did not count what thecompany paid for these properties as part of his own income, whichthey are required to state.”

“This looks a little bit like a setup job by the newleadership in Nissan. It sounds like they got him onsomething.”–Richard Dasher

Many people view Ghosn “as one of the saviors of the autoindustry” and the accusations against him are upsetting, accordingto Tim Hubbard, assistant professor of management the University ofNotre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. “When news like thishappens where it’s a personal issue at a company, it’s verydisappointing,” he said. “It’s one of those situations where youhope if a CEO or a chairman is going to lose their job, it’s over aperformance issue, and that it’s not over something where they’vechosen to benefit personally from the firm in a way that is illegalto the point that the Japanese officials have arrested him.”

MacDuffie, Dasher and Hubbard discussed the takeaways from theGhosn scandal on the Knowledge@Wharton radio show on SiriusXM.(Listen to the podcast at the top of this page.)

Coup or Misconduct?

Ghosn earned compensation of $8.4 million from Renault and $6.5million from Nissan in fiscal 2017, according to CNBC, not countingpay from Mitsubishi. However, he allegedly reported to the TokyoStock Exchange only about half the roughly $89 million in hiscompensation over five years, according to a Reuters report.

Transparency over pay is critical, especially for an executiveof Ghosn’s standing, according to Hubbard. “This is one of thosecases where we really expect the board of directors and the publicto know exactly what a chief executive officer is being paid,” hesaid. “And when there’s a discrepancy of this amount, it’s[because] there wasn’t this transparency.”

According to Hubbard, that apparent shortcoming in transparencyoccurred against a backdrop of discomfort in France and Japan overCEO pay. “He made more four times more than Toyota’s CEO and so hewas already making a lot of money,” Hubbard said. “In this case, hewas able to make more and hide that in the [regulatory filings] andkeep it out of the public eye.” Ghosn’s case represents “an unusualsituation, because he has to balance the corporate governancerequirements and the expectations of Japanese companies, at thesame time as [those of] French companies.”

However, because of Ghosn’s success in managing theRenault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, “I’m sure that his demands forhigh pay were probably accepted pretty quickly,” MacDuffie said.Dasher added that although Ghosn’s pay “is rather high, it’scomparable” to what Mary Barra, chairman at General Motors, and JimHackett, CEO of Ford Motors earned last year (reportedly $22million and $16.3 million in 2017, respectively).

According to MacDuffie, much of the grudging over Ghosn’s paywas because of “the unusual governance arrangements where he is thesingle person at the apex of all three of those companies, andtherefore claiming CEO-level pay from all three of thosecompanies.” He attributed that factor to having “pushed thetension” over his pay to a high level. “The tension would still bethere in the absence of the alleged personal abuse of those funds.I can see why people are wondering if it’s a palace coup or ifthere’s something that’s suspicious in the timing of [Ghosn’sarrest]. I guess we’ll learn more as the full story comes out.”

“I can see why people are wondering if it’s a palacecoup or if there’s something that’s suspicious in the timing of[Ghosn’s arrest].”–John Paul MacDuffie

Too Much Power?

Did Ghosn have far too much control at the three companies?Apparently yes, noted MacDuffie, pointing to a Nissan director’scomments at a news conference where “he was critical of how muchpower is centralized in one person” in the alliance. Ghosn, 64, isapproaching retirement and had already announced his plans to exitall roles in the alliance by 2020. “If he hadn’t emerged as such ahero from the early stages of this turnaround [at Nissan andRenault], many people would have said it’s a little risky toconcentrate that much power in one person.”

“There’s too much power in this case,” added Hubbard. “The boardof directors of each of those companies is embedded with [Ghosn],and over 20 years he’s been involved in all three of thesecompanies — Mitsubishi Motors a little bit less. But in that amountof time, he’s been able to solidify his power in relation to otherdirectors, and I think that’s [helped] remove some of themonitoring capabilities that we would expect from a board ofdirectors. … Oversight from the board of directors is there toprevent these types of things from happening.”

Dasher saw the clash over Ghosn’s power coming to a head. “I’m alittle concerned that what we’re seeing is old style Japaneseconsensus management trying to replace or get rid of the foreign,autocratic style of management,” he said. Based on remarks at theNissan press conference about one person having too much power, headded, “This makes me suspect that you’ve got a group of directorsand other senior executives who would like to go back to the waythings were in Japan.”

MacDuffie noted that Ghosn has been criticized for not doingenough with succession planning. “But I can’t think of anothersituation like it in the world — to have one person be the chairmanof three different auto companies, and the CEO of two of them,” hesaid. “On the other hand, this alliance from the start has had anunusual form of corporate governance, and some people think it’sthe reason for its success — it was not a merger or an acquisition.At least the rhetoric has been that the [alliance companies] areequal parties to all decisions.” He added, though, that the Frenchgovernment might have a “disproportionate influence” on the runningof the alliance because of cross-holdings.

“Ghosn might be the glue that’s holding [the alliance] togetherand making it work,” said Hubbard, noting that each of thecompanies is run independently and they share models and technologyamong them, which is helped by the quality of coordination aroundthe three companies. “That might actually be the reason for [thealliance’s] success — that there is a powerful leader who is ableto take charge in each of the three. It could be that without himin there, there might be issues with the alliance goingforward.”

“Ghosn might be the glue that’s holding [the alliance]together and what’s making it work.”–Tim Hubbard

Even those who want Ghosn removed give him grudging respect.Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko does not think one person could fillGhosn’s roles at the three companies. “I don’t think there isanyone else on earth like Ghosn who could run Renault, Nissan andMitsubishi,” he said, according to The Guardian. Nissan,too, has credited Ghosn for its turnaround: “Mr. Ghosn was the leadarchitect of the Nissan Revival Plan, which transformed the companyfrom near-bankruptcy to profitability within two years.” Thecompany added that under his leadership, it has had “higher profitmargins than many rivals and has expanded geographically.”