Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: a Merger Proposal Case Study
Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal Case Study
William Bailey
As Chairman of the Board of the Utah Opera, William Bailey has a pivotal role in the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera merger proposal. Mr. Bailey seemed to understand the financial and operational differences of the two organizations. As he stated, “the opera had a reserve fund and was financially stable and because of the business model could be flexible and adjust the size of the opera or eliminate projects that had not reached their fund-raising goals. The symphony on the other hand, was a 52-week orchestra with no flexibility.” The merger may devastate the financial stability that Utah Opera currently enjoys. With the current financial state of the Utah Symphony, very close to being in a deficit situation, the merger will bring about a reallocation of funding from Utah Opera. For the employees, supporters, and members of the Utah Opera, this is a case of inequity. The business models of the Utah Opera and Utah Symphony are also opposites. Utah Opera has flexibility with regards to staging a show while Utah Symphony has a year-long timetable. William Bailey’s other concern is while the symphony would become a tier-one arts organization, this will be at the expense of the opera losing its identity. This is again an instance that will cause a feeling of inequity with the members and supporters of the opera. William Bailey could use Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation to oppose the merger. “Feelings of inequity revolve around a person’s evaluation of whether he or she receives adequate rewards to compensate for his or her contributive inputs” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010). Based on this, William Bailey should oppose the merger considering how the opera employees, members, and supporters would perceive the outcome to be unfair. Members and supporters of the opera may result to reducing efforts and becoming disgruntled, difficult, unmanageable or even troublesome.
This merger, its
William Bailey
As Chairman of the Board of the Utah Opera, William Bailey has a pivotal role in the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera merger proposal. Mr. Bailey seemed to understand the financial and operational differences of the two organizations. As he stated, “the opera had a reserve fund and was financially stable and because of the business model could be flexible and adjust the size of the opera or eliminate projects that had not reached their fund-raising goals. The symphony on the other hand, was a 52-week orchestra with no flexibility.” The merger may devastate the financial stability that Utah Opera currently enjoys. With the current financial state of the Utah Symphony, very close to being in a deficit situation, the merger will bring about a reallocation of funding from Utah Opera. For the employees, supporters, and members of the Utah Opera, this is a case of inequity. The business models of the Utah Opera and Utah Symphony are also opposites. Utah Opera has flexibility with regards to staging a show while Utah Symphony has a year-long timetable. William Bailey’s other concern is while the symphony would become a tier-one arts organization, this will be at the expense of the opera losing its identity. This is again an instance that will cause a feeling of inequity with the members and supporters of the opera. William Bailey could use Adam’s Equity Theory of Motivation to oppose the merger. “Feelings of inequity revolve around a person’s evaluation of whether he or she receives adequate rewards to compensate for his or her contributive inputs” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010). Based on this, William Bailey should oppose the merger considering how the opera employees, members, and supporters would perceive the outcome to be unfair. Members and supporters of the opera may result to reducing efforts and becoming disgruntled, difficult, unmanageable or even troublesome.
This merger, its
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