This report is mainly focusing on two different companies named, Ajax Minerals and Perrier. This report tells that how and in what circumstances these companies had to bring certain changes in their working criteria and in doing such changes what resistance they had to face from both, workers and Management’s side. This report will focus on those resistances that became a kind of hurdle and then how the companies took decisions and how did they try to solve their matters out. Ajax Minerals is a U. S bases mining company that supplied Minerals to the whole USA.
On the other hand, Perrier, the French water company, is popularly known for the production of sparkling water. However in 1990, the finding of Benzene particle in one bottle caused a decline in the reputation of the company. Resistance in Ajax Minerals exercise Ajax mining company was doing its best with full capacity when it faced certain problem. The Management was seeing that within three to four years, the Pacific Rim companies would mine and ship the same Minerals to the U. S. and this thing would bring great competition for Ajax.
The Management wanted to do something on immediate basis but it faced certain challenges. – Since there was a communication gap between the management and the workers, so the workers really did not care about the current position of the company and the challenges that the management was facing. Only the leadership Management saw the threat and only they were aware of this. The supervisors and other workers of company who were working on hourly basis did not see this threat of competition and they were of the belief that the company was running in a good position and there was no difficulty being faced by the Management.
They could only see that the company’s work was going round the lock and it was making good money in the market. 2- The second problem that the company was facing at this problematic stage was poorer relations between Management and labor. There was a history in Ajax of poorly run changes. Negativity arouse among the working team and there was not support from any side to anyone. The situation got worse later on, that even when the Management decided to do something about it, the workers used to get suspicious about the Management’s decisions and they would start suspecting that the company was going to affect them badly either in terms of salary or in terms of other facilities.
On the basis of these problems, the Management knew that, whatever decision they take, at the end the workers would not prefer to work with the company and they would resign. The Management could overcome this difficulty only if the supervisors and workers would understand the situation. So the Ajax Management started building interaction among managers and supervisors by having interactive sessions involving both. In past, the Management took decisions without involving any one from the workers’ side.
So to avoid these previous mistakes and to build a confidence among its workers, they conducted these interactive sessions and within these sessions they discussed the stories of other different companies that had faced the same situations, and as a result were affected badly. They adopted an “ Open book” approach in which they gave access to the data of Ajax’s financial performance to employees. This became a regular practice where managers, supervisors and workers would meet weekly and share their performances. These practices built a new kind of cooperation with the workers of the company.
Resistance in Perrier Perrier Company took several decisions and Nestle bought Perrier. The new Management of Nestle took certain decisions and made some changes in the pattern of work to maintain the development of the company. There are certain points which played the role of resistance in the changes brought by the Perrier Company: 1- The new management of Nestle observed the current condition of the company and tried to stabilize the company. Since the management was completely different for the workers, there was lack of communication between the Management and the employees.
The Management brought lots of changes but they did not inform its employees about the changes in production and other changes. And its employees felt that those changes were not necessary for the growth of company and they were not ready to deliver the same performance as past. Most of its employees felt that these unnecessary changes in the production and other fields would increase their workload. The employees perceived the negative effects of these changes on various factors such as their status, rewards, salaries, opportunities etc.
The employees were concerned with the changes for themselves and how it was going to affect them, rather than with the effects for the success of business. 2- The second main resistance in the change was the close mindedness of company’s members that lacked development and cooperation. The frequent decision making from the management side affected the workers badly, that they started avoiding the risks to the company, and rather they got conscious about their own benefits and risks that were expected to them.
This thing affected the decision making criteria and it built a negative thinking among the employees against their management. There was a need for the Management to communicate with the workers and other members clearly about the changes that are being produced in the company. The solutions of the above mentioned resistances were brought by the company. The main solution was lying under the development of a transitional space between the workers and Management.
Since the Perrier company was now owned by Nestle and there was a gap between two Managements in terms of working criteria, culture, and countries, so these things have to be communicated among all the members so that there would be major focus on the development of a successful business. This thing helped the Management to know the importance of cultural differences that are not irrelevant and cannot be ignored. So the Management realized that diversity is therefore an important and crucial element in the development and success of their company even across the borders.
Comparison of both companies’ diagnosis The performance of both companies can be diagnosed as follows: Since the Management was completely changed in the case of Perrier company and there was a difficulty in building an interaction with the workers for Management, so the Management first took the decision to wipe out this communication gap. They tried to build up a strong relationship with the workers so that they were able to build confidence among them and get their 100% efficiency. On the other hand, Ajax Minerals went beyond their limits.
They knew that the relationship between the Management and the workers was not good so they also tried to build communication between their Management and workers by conducting weekly meetings with workers and supervisors. But they discussed some more information with their workers that normally no company does. They showed their financial performance data to their workers to make them easily understand their current position in the market. Both of the companies’ Managements took very effective decisions according to their situations and they tried to solve their current problems to come out of the difficulty.
But in my opinion, the Management of Ajax, did better in terms of decision making. The reason behind this is that the Management of Ajax built a long term relation with the supervisors and the workers. They took the whole team together in each and every decision making procedure and keep the whole team aware of the changes that they were going to make. They started conducting weekly meetings with the workers that is very necessary in building a strong communication with employees and by this, workers got to increase their confidence in Management.
They took their opinion and worked accordingly so there was no concept of negativity about the management. The second good thing that Ajax Management did was discussing financial performance with the workers. Although this is a bit risky but for gaining complete confidence of workers in difficult situation, these kinds of actions are mandatory. Side by side with these efforts, Ajax Management did one more effort in discussing the performance and strategies of other companies under such difficult situations so that the workers got to know about the expectations of the Management; and these were not hard to fulfill in the end.
Proposed adjustments as Consultant of Perrier Being a consultant with Perrier, I would propose these adjustments to improve the change strategy of the company: 1- Since Perrier is a company with completely different culture, having different working criteria and workers as compared to Nestle, I would have suggested that even after merging with Nestle, Perrier should keep the decision making power with itself.
Because Perrier’s own Management knows its workers and their mentality matches with each other, and being their own boss, the Management would not take any decision that would harm the benefits and the facilities that are given to its employees at the cost of company. On the other hand, the employee would also not have any kind of objection on the decisions taken by the Management, because they know that these are the decisions taken by their own Management and they would not provide their workers any harm.
As a result, the workers would not lose their interest in the work and Management and even they would be working with more interest and potential to bring the company out of this bad situation. Both, the Management and workers would build positive attitudes about each other and no negativity would affect the productivity and the development of the company. 2- The second major step that I would take as a consultant of the company, I would prefer taking each and every single decision about the company after the discussion and collective opinion from all the workers and Management members.
Since it is not possible to discuss each and every decision with all the workers, so for this the employees’ union in charge should be called and the Management should discuss the matter with him and his opinion should also be given preference. This thing will help the company to take efficient decisions and will build a confidence among its employees about its decisions of changes and they employees will be interested to work with complete confidence. Proposed adjustments as Consultant of Ajax Minerals
Being a consultant of Ajax Management, I would propose these adjustments to change strategy: 1- The major thing that creates problem is the lack of awareness of the problems of the company among the workers. And that is why the workers do not prefer to give extra work in any kinds of situations. I would prefer to keep the workers completely aware of all the situations that are faced by the company, not only with the problems but with some positive aspects of the company also. Side by side, they should be given information about each and every worker and their performances by conducting weekly meetings.
They should discuss the targets they want to achieve and for highest targets, they should be given higher rewards in terms of bonuses so that they will not have any complains with the Management. 2- The second adjustment that I want to propose is that, there should be friendly environment between the workers, supervisors and the Management. The reason for this is that, if there is a friendly environment between them, there would be no negative thinking about anyone and about the Management and its decisions.
The Management would feel free in taking decisions and the workers would feel free to raise any complain if they have any issue regarding the decisions of the Management, rather that handing over the resignation letter. Conclusion The following report shows how resistance can damage the decision making criteria of any company but how an efficient Management can solve all these Management issues. A good Management is the one which takes all the workers and Management members together and redirects all their efforts in a positive direction to develop the company and side by side the workers.
