Description
Team Crisis Within the Gates
Axis Global is a giant oil and gas company that owns nine refineries worldwide and is headquartered in Paris,
France. Axis Globals refineries convert crude oil into gasoline, jet fuel, and other products, and each refinery has
an IT (information technology) team located within the refinery gates that reports to the refinerys
management team. Each IT team is responsible for the operation and maintenance of computers and applications
that are critical to the safe and efficient operation of its refinery.
In addition to refineries, Axis Global also owns and operates oil wells, pipelines, chemical plants, and gas stations
across the globe. As a result, some IT operations are standardized across the company, and a centralized team
located in Paris makes those decisions for all the IT teams in the company. Recently, the centralized IT
organization concluded that IT services company-wide should be outsourced to a third party. Outsourcing means
most of the companys IT personnel are no longer employed by Axis Global, and the third party will decide
which, if any, of Axis Globals IT employees it will retain, replace, or terminate.
Axis Global has recently notified the Tappan Refinery in Pennsylvania of the global decision to outsource all IT
teams. Top executives at the Tappan Refinery are unhappy with the decision because they were not consulted
before the decision was made and few details were provided to Tappans executives on how the outsourcing
would be implemented. In addition, these executives are worried that the decision will negatively affect essential
tasks performed by Tappans IT team and result in increased costs. The management at Tappan Refinery is
opposed to changing its current IT operations.
Russ Saffold manages IT at the Tappan Refinery and has three members on his team: Alejandro Salis, Samantha
Umbia, and Todd Greengold. The IT team is well respected by everyone in the refinery, and their interpersonal
relationships are solid. All four team members are officially employees of Axis Global and physically work within
the refinery gates at Tappan. Because refineries are frequently bought and sold among oil companies, the
refineries prefer to operate as self-contained organizations (i.e., within the gates). They have a bunker mentality
vis-à-vis the larger organization and often see that relationship between a refinery and the parent organization as
us versus them. Employee loyalty is to the refinery, not to Axis Global.
The outsourcing news creates a crisis within Russ Saffolds IT team. Although Russ will remain an employee of
Axis, the other three team members will not. The three team members are now unsure of their futures and find it
difficult to focus on their work tasks. Alejandro Salis (age 43) is fairly confident that he will be hired by the
outsourcing company as he is the star on the team. Samantha Umbia (age 31) fears she will be terminated as
she is unable to relocate to the outsourcing companys location. Todd Greengold (age 62) is worried that he will
lose his stock options and pension if he is terminated or transferred to the outsourcing company. And the entire
team orries about how they will be treated by their new employer. Morale of the team members sinks, and with
the likelihood of fewer positions, competition among them begins to emerge. Russ finds himself in the middle of
implementing a decision that is unclear, is opposed by his bosses at Tappan Refinery, and is creating personal
issues with his staff. He wonders how he will establish a working relationship with the outsourcing company.
—-300 words
– i want the answer as soon as possible
– it will be between 200 too 300