Saving the World

Symantec, one of the world’s leading network security software company is facing many managerial obstacles In today’s global market place, where customer expectation and continuously emerging global competitors have drastically shorted the product lifecycle. Symantec is facing over 20,000 virus samples each month, not all of which are unique, stand-alone viruses. On top of that, dealing with this critical and time sensitive challenges, requires exceptional talented employee’s that is Symantec’s divers response team spread out in outsourced groups all over the world.
Managers for a company such as Symantec needs to keep the professionals excited about work, even though it is a routine, standardized and chaotic environment they work within. To manage this, they need to use their technical, human and conceptual skills. Conceptual skill is the availability to visualize the organization as a whole. Symantec is spread out throughout the whole world, so the managers need to keep track of different time zones so that they have people working 24/7 in case unpredictable viruses would show up.
Symantec, as said before, is one of the world’s leading network security company and it is hard for the managers to motivate each employee, and make them feel special. That is where the human relation skills is necessary from the managers within the company. Since new viruses are popping up randomly without preparation, the managers should let the professional employee’s try to work as self-independent as possible, so that they don’t have any guide lines to keep track of since all virus cases are different.

In addition, the managers need technical skills. They need to be educated with the equipment that is being used within the company, so when distractions or problems show up, they are prepared and experienced with it, and can deal with it fast so not valuable time goes to waste. The operation manager Patrick Fitzgerald needs to play different kind of management roles in different kind of cases. When Mr. Fitzgerald has weekly security briefing conference calls with coworkers around the globe, he needs to play a so called Liaison Role.
This means that he will be a manager that serves as a connecting link between his coworkers and take in information he gets from coworkers on other location throughout the world. When he is assessed the feasibility of adding a new network security consulting service, He needs to be informed by the different possible outcomes, he needs to be prepared for what can go wrong. He needs to have information and be sure that it the intended effect of the new investment is profitable and not something wasteful. A management role such as leader is necessary when he needs to keep his employees focused on the company’s’ commitments to customer.
The leader is responsible for deligating tasks and making sure that each task is done properly and reported to the next person in the chain of management. The information of the Company Symantec we can find on their website, about its emphasis on customer service and innovation is that they are very determined to provide high security for the customers and their computers. They empower their employees by educating them so they can take more decisions on their own without having to go to a higher instance.
Conclusion Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help the customers. It is a global company with employees outsourced all over the world which makes the manager’s work even harder. In addition to that, it is a chaotic business with issues and problems popping up such as viruses without be able to prepare for it. Their main focus is to empower their professional employees to think on their own and work independent without take the issue to higher instances.