Charlotte Beers At Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide: Case Study

The problem with Maples Leaf Shoes Ltd. was that the company did not have an experienced, qualified, skilled and knowledgeable manager to deal with the company’s day-to-day human resource activities like union negotiation and recruitment. A human resource manager plans strategies and handles the short and long-term challenges facing the company’s increasing global completion, increasing labor and production cost, managerial training and development for employees.

Upon review of the information provided, it is clear that a vision set forth by Upper management, President and CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr. had not been implemented and there is much work that needs to be completed to fulfill his legacy. Bronfman’s statement was clear and concise with a vision to be sought after no matter the cost. His vision, according to Jick & Peiperl, 2011 is for Seagram’s to be the “best managed beverage company” (p. 255). Bronfman had an idea/image of how he wanted Seagram’s to be viewed by the world and its employees. His vision offered a baseline for all employees to follow which in turn offers a one company initiative. Offering this baseline for the corporation leaves no chance for deviation from the cause. This company with deep roots in diversity and was losing ground due to changes in the new ideas of sobriety, increases in taxes on liquor, the 1990s recession, increased government regulation and social criticism (Jick & Peiperl, 2011). To define this project is to give direction and purpose to Bronfman’s word by backing them with actual progress towards his vision. This vision for Seagram’s is to not be confused with the need of the newly acquired MCA Corporation. This company should have its own visions and values.

Dillard’s is an excellent example of what can go wrong when a management model from yesteryear is applied to modern day advancement and technologies. They are not growing with consumer desires or employee needs, and they are becoming an outdated brand. Instead of stressing satisfaction rates, they stress the bottom line profits. While this formula has made the company successful and allowed national growth at the turn of the century, it is also dropping employee morale, which is known to drive down customer attraction and satisfaction rates.

Today’s companies are challenged by frequent changes in market demands and consumers’ desires for new products and services. Companies which fail to adapt to these changing conditions often find themselves struggling to survive. This is the situation for the Texas Plant, as described in the case study by Pryor, Humphreys, and Taneja (2011). The Vice President, Human Resources Director, and Organizational Development Manager find themselves not only facing the struggles of transforming the Texas Plant, but also the difficulties of working together to achieve it. The following paper describes these difficulties and examines how the actions of the leaders impacted the change process. Recommendations to assist the plant’s leadership in moving forward will be offered.

Colleen Barrett is one of the most influential women in the world of business and her efforts have paved the way for future female executives. According to Dierendonck and Patterson (2010), “For five years in a row, SWA is the only airline to win the Triple Crown, ranked first in most on-time flights, least lost baggage, and fewest Customer complaints”(p 135). Colleen Barrett is a rare example of a leader that rose from the ranks of an organization to the highest position of the company while never receiving a formal education in business management (Southwest Airlines ' Colleen Barrett on 'Servant Leadership, 2008). Her greatest achievement while at SWA was completely changing the leadership style and atmosphere of the organization. According to Dierendonck and Patterson (2010), her remodeling of the organization has kept SWA the leader in their industry by “setting and achieving incredible records of performance”(p 135). Leaders at SWA still practice her servant leadership style of managing employees even after she left the organization (Dierendonck & Patterson, 2010). Before a leader can achieve greatness they have to overcome challenges in their career fields.

Leadership is critical when executing a strategic change initiative. By differentiating leadership and management, leadership styles and the key factors of change we can better understand what should be done to successfully lead change. Success is not obtained through leadership alone but by developing a group of individuals from all levels of the organization who work together as a team. . (Leban and Stone, 2007)

The intent of the proposal is to address the case brought forward to our organization concerning “The Young Change Agents,” at Price Waterhouse (PW) who later merged with Coopers & Lybrand. It is my understanding that the platform to address the need for change in the organization plummeted with three young pioneers (Shaw, Middleburg and Sgaralgli) recognized a need for change. Prior to Shaw and Middleburg arrival to PWC, they had an opportunity to work in a well-known student organization AIESEC. In their tenure at AIESEC life was different, as Shaw recalled while operating as the president of the national organization in New Zealand division; he recognized that AIESEC focused on developing his leadership skills by focusing on such programs as skills, attitudes, values and cultural understanding. Furthermore, he noted that his transition to PwC led to a lower echelon, and it was difficult to transition from the president to a staff member. PwC also had a high spending budget for stationery compared to New Zealand AIESEC. Moreover, the technology was not up to par for such a large cooperation. (Jick & Peiperl, p. 463) Shaw and Middleburg later partnered with Sgaralgi to fight the deficiencies that they saw in PwC. They created a force that focused on overhauling the existing values at PwC. They approached each situation, manager and employee one step at a time. Expecting nothing in return, but only to share their message on the new

Beers quickly exploited her charisma by instituting a process that conformed to Beer, Eisenstat & Spector 's model for effective organizational change. First, Beers immediately mobilized commitment to change through her videotaped appeal to all 7,000 Ogilvy employees, as well as in one-on-one meetings with executives. In addition, Beers gained valuable perspective by meeting with 50 clients in 6 months. In each instance, Beers relied on her charisma to coax shared "expectations and dreams" from internal and external stakeholders. Clearly, by asking each group what they can accomplish together, Beers sought a shared vision of how Ogilvy could organize and manage for competitiveness. Her rallying point: Brand Stewardship.

Beers first course of action at O&M was to pick a small group of change thirsty individuals, regardless of their current positions, to help her orchestrate the needed change. She only wanted the “people that got it” to help her clarify the vision O&M needed to recapture lost and win new accounts. She knew that this vision must be brand focused, but which direction was still unknown. Beers called for a secret meeting of these “thirsty for change” individuals in which they agreed upon Brand Stewardship as the focus for O&M’s vision. Even though there was a consensus as to this direction, many were still unsure of how it was to be implemented. Even after reading this case, Brand Stewardship is still an ambiguous term and perhaps on purpose. Beers’ leadership in the past came from her ability to

Archie Norman was thirty-seven years old when he took over as chief executive of a supermarket chain, Asda. Before joining Asda, Norman had no previous experience in the grocery business. He had attended Harvard Business School MBA and had worked for the McKinsey consulting firm. When he took over Asda, it was in the brink of collapse. Asda had lost sight of its core customers, their competitors were gaining market share and Asda was nearly in $2 billion in debt. Norman was able to turn this struggling company around by exhorting an adaptive leadership. In the following paragraphs, I will analyze the five principles that leaders use to mobilize people to do adaptive work. I will share my own experience with a leader and how her leadership

Peter Browning’s job is to revitalize a mature business in the face of serious competitive threats, but without discouraging the loyalty and morale of a family style culture. Market share of plastic bottles was growing fast and White Cap is losing customers due to that, so a change is necessary. However, few managers or employees at White Cap acknowledged the need for change and were resistant to change. Employees have been accustomed to a culture of little change, and consisted of years of rituals, ceremonies and traditions set by the White family. They are extremely loyal due to their expectation of job security and generous benefits. Browning was asked by Continental to

Charlotte Beers immediate challenge is to refine her vision into a strategy. To establish goals and allocate resources in a comprehensive manner will require a more structured communication, the

Competitive imperatives of market forces and customer demands in today’s environment have led to the emergence of less hierarchical and more flexible organisations (Doyle, 2001). In working towards this paradigm shift, a distinction and clarification of the relationship between leadership and management in the change process needs to be addressed. According to Caldwell (2003), change leaders are executives or senior managers at the very top of the organisation who envision, initiate or sponsor strategic change of far-reaching or transformational nature by challenging the status quo, communicating a vision that employees believe in, and empowering them to act. In contrast, change managers are usually middle level managers and functional

4.Create and man a global brand stewardship coordination officer position to support Beers and enable her to focus on selling the vision to the clients.

This case explains the challenges of newly promoted Domestic Brand Director, Anne Regnante, as she explores different options to increasing profits by 10% for Stewart’s household product division. Regnante’s primary concern is generating growth for its outdated and stagnant product, Reliance Baking Soda (RBS).