HSE Assignment Management Communication Chiew Kean Loon Part A Speech to be delivered by Hap Parker, CEO of General Parkerlite

te Corporation (GPC) Dear colleagues, Today marks our organizations 75th year in serving our customers. We have come a long way in building and earning the trust of our customers as well as fellow colleagues. GPC Incorporated has grown from a company employing just over fifty employees to an eight thousand strong organization today. With your continued efforts and hard work, we have since become one of the largest producers of plastic raw materials in the country. Our products such as Parkerlite and Parkerlite XT have since become synonymous with the polymer industry. Besides our commercial success, we have also established a corporate culture that is based on core values of integrity, trust and respect. These, my fellow colleagues, are values that have defined GPC since our inception and values that I personally embrace; values that I would uphold under all circumstances, my fellow colleagues. My fellow colleagues, it took a great man to build a great company. You know well that I am referring to Hudson Parker, our founder and my grandfather. To those GPCers who had the privilege of knowing him, he was both a champion of innovation and a compassionate employer. To the business community, he was a well-respected business leader and philanthropist. Within the family, he was a doting grandfather and well loved by all his children and grandchildren. As my management team and I prepared for our grand event today, we had the privilege of reliving some of the history of our company through the eyes of our dear founder. If you would lend me your ears for the next 10 minutes or so, I would like to share this journey of discovery with you today which would result in the revelation of a very important life-changing finding.
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 Let me begin my story. My grandfather had a good friend during his student days at Princeton. His name was Karl Gintz. They studied chemistry together. Both Hud and Karl were star pupils who egged each other on in school. They were competitors in their studies and also best of buddies outside school. They even enlisted in the army together and were posted to the 94th Pursuit Group in France. Unfortunately, in August 1918, Karl was involved in an accident during an exercise, which took his life. My dear colleagues, as we were going through some old records and letters kept by my grandfather, I learnt a very important truth, which I would like to reveal to all of you today. I have in my hands record that that proves that the Parkerlite formula that brought us much success in the early years was actually the brainchild of Karl, my grandfathers good friend. It would be a lie if I said that I did not hesitate to reveal the truth to all of you given my grandfathers stature in all of our hearts. Although I was shocked to learn this truth, I was also compelled by my strongest believe in our core values of integrity, trust and respect to be upfront with all of you today and tell you the truth exactly as I have learnt it. Upon learning this truth, my management team and I have started a mission to find the aire to Karl Gintz with the aim of reparation, making good on what they have lost through the years. Though our efforts have been unsuccessful to date, we would continue with our search and our reparation endeavor. Also, I am hereby proposing that GPC set up a foundation to promote innovation under the name of Gintz Hudson Foundation for Innovation. I strongly believe this move would have the nod of both Karl and my grandfather. Some have argued that Karl would have eventually passed on the formula to my grandfather and that our companys success today was not solely due to Parkerlite, as GPC, through my grandfathers stewardship, had innovated and developed many more technologically advanced products after Parkerlite. All I can say is that credit should be given where credit is due and we cannot or I cannot just turn my head and pretend that GPC did not benefit from the success of Parkerlite. In its heydays, Parkerlite was being produced at a volume of over 200,000 tons per year, which was a sizeable volume for any company during those days!
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 My dear colleagues, Parkerlite was the seed of GPC and Karl was its originator. My grandfather had the privilege to plant and grow the seed to what it is today, a tree bearing fruits that all of us are able to enjoy this very day. He has also developed many other kinds of different seeds since then. In my opinion, both the seed-giver and the grower are just as important and it is very crucial that we recognize this fact in the history of GPC. Hence, it would be befitting that our history records would be amended to reflect this truth, paying equal tribute to both Karl Gintz and my grandfather, Hudson Parker, for our companys success. This, in my opinion, would be more significant than any form of monetary contribution that we can make to Karls aire or to the new foundation to be set up. My fellow colleagues, the fact that it took 75 years for us to discover this truth is not by chance. Deep in my heart, I have the strongest feeling that my grandfather wanted to honor the very principles that he endorsed all these years, which is to honor the trust that you have so given to him and to GPC. In so doing, I hope this would help to restore the integrity of GPC and also reiterate the respect that we have for all staff. All of you have a share in our companys success today and deserves to know the truth. My fellow colleagues, it is important that we refrain from being too judgmental in this situation, as we do not have the full knowledge of the circumstances under which the events happened and possibly never will. In my opinion, it is more important and also more worthwhile for us to be forward looking and take charge of what we can control to begin building a new future together. It is my hope that this episode would set the pace for a new beginning for our company, one that not only continues to uphold our core values of integrity, trust and respect but one that can also proudly say under all circumstances. Thank you.

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 Part B E-mail to Hap Parker, CEO of General Parkerlite Corporation (GPC) Dear Mr. Parker, Please find attached my proposal for the speech that you have asked me to prepare. I have taken the following concerns into consideration in preparing the speech:1. We are breaking a bad news to the organization; 2. We want the staff who is listening to the message to know the truth without jeopardizing our companys core values of integrity, trust and respect; 3. We want to persuade our staff to maintain a non-judgmental attitude in looking at the whole situation; Hence, I have decided to adopt the following strategy in constructing this message:1. We need to break the bad news gently. Hence, I have adopted a semi-circuitous message structure, i.e. one that does not disclose the bottom line at the beginning but tells the staff that we would be coming to the crux of the message in about 10 minutes or so. 2. Transparency without context is dangerous. We need to convey the background of the situation to allow the recipient of the information to process it on a rational basis. Hence, you would have observed that I did not go directly into the bottom line, i.e. what Hudson Parker did but instead focused on building the platform for subsequent revelation. I intentionally focused on the close relationship between Hudson Parker and Karl Gintz so that the listener would understand the context behind the events. In so doing, I believe they would be more forgiving when the truth is finally told.

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 3. Authenticity and passion is important. We want to persuade the listener to understand the situation from the speakers perspective without coming across as over-domineering or aggressive; 4. There should be a consistent message throughout the speech, i.e. we are standing firm on the core values of the company, Integrity, trust and respect. The speech itself is an embodiment of these values that the company embraces. I remain grateful to the company for sponsoring my MBA studies and trust that I am able to use what I have learnt for the advancement of the company. Please do not hesitate to get back to me if you have any questions. Thank you. Yours faithfully, Kean Loon Kean Loon Chiew

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