Press Release: Pride Enterprises CFO Resigns November 23, 2013 – Pride Enterprises, Inc. (Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, Inc.) a company that is “nationally recognized in inmate training operating general manufacturing and services facilities throughout the state of Florida” (Pride Enterprises, Inc., 2013). Today Pride is announcing the resignation for Bob Thompson, Chief Financial Officer effective immediately. Susan Sanchez, Finance Director will temporarily assume the duties of the chief financial officer for Pride Enterprises until a new chief financial officer has been appointed. At this time the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Pride Enterprises more will follow with the findings of the investigation.
About Pride Enterprises, Inc. “Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, Inc. doing business as Pride Enterprises, is a nationally recognized inmate training company operating Agriculture, Sewn Products, Graphics, Manufacturing, and Services facilities throughout the state of Florida. Pride Operates 41 training centers providing work and training to inmates in 29 state correctional facilities” (Pride Enterprises, Inc., 2013). General Information on Pride Enterprises can be obtained at the company’s website: http://www.pride-enterprises.org/. Contact:
Rose Rudder, Investor Relations 813-324-8700 [email protected] Memorandum To: Manager From:Christina Thurman Date:12/1/13 Re:PR Communication Due to the current situation with the resignation of Bob Thompson we must understand that under corporate social responsibility Pride is “responsible for the behavior of its members and may be held accountable for their misdeeds” (Seitel, 2011). We must do the following to abide by the laws: 1. Release to the public the resignation of Bob Thompson and the investigation from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – under SEC Rule 10b-5 “the SEC prohibits the dissemination of false or misleading information to investors” (Seitel, 2011). 2. We must provide all documents that the SEC is requesting regarding the investigation
We need good public communication regarding the resignation and investigation. Through our Press Release we need to create a public understanding of what is going on in order to avoid a crisis installing fear that Pride has been corrupted we need to gain the trust of the public and stakeholders.
We must show the public and the shareholders that we are doing the right thing by following our ethics. “Ethics are the values that guide a person, organization, or society – concepts such as right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, honesty and dishonesty” (Seitel, 2011). Pride Enterprises needs to do the right thing by letting the public to include the stakeholders know the situation. We do not need to hide anything or sugar coat it because it will only create a bad image of Pride Enterprises. It is now our job to assure the Stakeholders that we are doing everything we can during the investigation and that Pride Enterprises still has the integrity and honesty that they believed in when investing.
“Public opinion is a powerful force that can impact the earnings of corporations through such actions as product boycotts, union strikes and the misdeeds of key executives” (Seitel, 2011). Throughout the investigation and searching for a new CFO we must keep the public opinion on our side. Pride Enterprises is not only providing quality materials we are also helping the inmates train and start over upon release. If we fail to keep a good public opinion we could lose business and have to shut down industries causing us to help fewer inmates. References
Pride Enterprises, Inc.. (2013). About Pride. Retrieved from http://http://www.pride-enterprises.org/about/about.html Seitel, F. P. (2011). The Practice of Public Relations (11th ed.). Pearson Education.
Management Question
Pretend that you are cruising through Indeed.com and you run across the perfect job at the perfect company with the perfect salary, the perfect benefits, and the perfect location. There’s only one problem… the advertisement says that the ideal candidate must have “management potential.” What can you tell them about yourself to prove to them that you have management potential if you have never previously been in a managerial role?
In addition to the chapter reading, you might find the following post helpful in crafting your discussion: Managers should recalibrate to attract and retain top employees.
See the Discussion post examples before crafting your post and the attached discussion rubric. To receive full credit, your response to the question should be posted by January 27, 11:59 p.m. CST. Your peer response is due by January 30, 11:59 p.m. CST
Main post example
“Management potential” is a phrase I often see in job descriptions, and often I get thrown for a loop. What exactly is “management potential,” and do I have it? These are the questions I often asked before moving on to the next job listing. However, after reading Chapter 1 of our textbook and examining the article provided above, I have gotten a much better idea of what management potential is, and what I can do to prove I possess it.
One of the most important themes I have noticed while reading Chapter 1 were the interactions between the manager and his or her employees. As stated in Section 1-4 on pages 9 and 10 of our textbook, one of the three major roles managers must play are interpersonal roles. The textbook even further defines these roles in subroles, which outline various scenarios where the manager is interacting with his or her subordinates in some way or another. On page 9, the Section 1-4 even specifically states that “[m]ore than anything else, management jobs are people-intensive.” The interpersonal theme is also consistent throughout the other roles listed in Section 1-4, such as the releasing of information or your employees under informational roles on page 12 and the handling of disturbances in the workplace under decisional roles on page 13.
In the article above titled “Manager should recalibrate to attract and retain top employees” written by Dr. Gilbert, Dr. Gilbert included some statistics from a 2017 Workplace Bullying Institute study that stated that more than 60 million US workers suffer abusive behavior in the workplace, where bosses were the “… perpetrators in an approximately 2-1 ratio.” In response, Dr. Gilbert lists four different ways to create a more positive environment via interpersonal connections: establish an office of equals by creating a mutual environment, talk to your employees face-to-face rather than only email correspondence, give your employees a say when it comes to making certain decisions, and learn how to come across to your employees to avoid a unnecessarily negative office environment. In a world where, according to a Pew Research Center study, more than one third of the workforce is made of millennials, Gilbert states that older styles of more aggressive and exclusive management are being replaced with a more employee-friendly and mutual workplace environment that values positive interpersonal connections.
With this information provided through the textbook and Dr. Gilbert’s article, I have come to establish an idea of how to respond to the “management potential” question. While I have not had any previous managerial experience, I could prove my management potential through my human-to-human connection skills. I often find myself being able to sympathize with others well, while also not sacrificing the goals I must achieve.
For example, during my time volunteering at a local thrift store and food pantry, the all-women employee group often clashed over various things. Those things included who completes what task, how to organize different items, or what to bring out from storage to the storefront. So, I learned how to deescalate these situations throughout my time there. I would typically sit down with the opposing parties and discuss pros and cons on each of their ideas for the store. During this time, I typically kept a low voice and allowed the sides to do most of the talking. Usually, this ended up in some agreement on what decision needed to be made. Of course, there were times where it didn’t always work out, but through further suggestions and person-to-person conversations, we always made something work to keep the store running.
So in conclusion, I may have not had any previous managerial experience, but I could definitely prove to become a great manager in the future through genuine and positive interpersonal connections with my subordinates. As demonstrated in Chapter 1 in our textbook and the article written by Dr. Gilbert, these interpersonal connections are one of the most important aspects of any manager’s career. And from my past experiences and new knowledge on how to be a great yet efficient boss, I feel as if I could prove that I have “management potential.”
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Peer post example
Encouraging your workers and keeping them working ahead on company goals is definitely a great skill to have. This skill could fall under the leading function, as the textbook states that the leading function ” . . . involves inspiring and motivating workers to work hard to achieve organizational goals,” (6). Working with and encouraging your workers can also fall under interpersonal roles, or more specifically the leader role, in which ” . . . managers motivate and encourage workers to accomplish organizational objectives,” (11).
The book also mentions that the encouragement of workers and overall environment positivity is often a responsibility of top managers and first-line managers. Top managers are responsible for the development of ” . . . employees’ commitment to and ownership of the company’s performance,” (7). First-line managers take on the responsibility of ” . . . encourag[ing], monitor[ing], and reward[ing] the performance of their workers,” (9). If you put the emphasis of your ability to encourage your workers to be productive, then these two positions might best suit you.