Ecolab Inc. is a Minnesota-based corporation, which focuses on providing cleaning and hygiene products as well as water purification and treatment products. It was founded in 1923 by M. J. Osborn, and the current CEO is Christophe Beck. It operates in the industry of infection prevention, food safety, water management, and chemical service sectors. It is important to note that the company directly employs more than 50000 people, making it a large corporate entity. The company culture is highly hierarchic and highly structured, where the management encourages accountability, efficiency, and precision through a transactional leadership style.
The fictitious company is FictComp LLC, which was established in 2010 by two Harvard students, and it manufactures water cleaning devices. It employs a small team of 20 people, and it was founded and currently operates in Minnesota as well. The organizational culture is fairly relaxed, innovative, effective, horizontal, and utilizes a transformational leadership style.
Steps for unification:
- Host a networking event
- Establish a common work language
- Host team building activities
- Assign a representative of Ecolab at FictComp LLC
- Conduct employee training sessions
- Establish a support team for FictComp LLC
- Build effective communication channels
- Preserve innovative and relaxed elements of FictComp’s culture
The networking event can be anything, which allows employees of both companies to network in order to learn about each other. Common work language will be predetermined, and it is needed to set boundaries of what language is acceptable. Team building activities will integrate key cultural elements of Ecolab into FictComp LLC. A representative manager of Ecolab at FictComp will ensure cultural integration monitoring, and employee training will address more formal elements of the merger. The support team will assist FictComp in situational or specific matters, and communication channels will allow employees to be closer to Ecolab. Preserving relaxed and innovative elements of the culture will eliminate the loss of company identity.