The Key Problem of the Case Study
I agree with the opinion that the main problem is the change in organizational culture.
Sub-issues
- Abuse of power: Peter feels like he can fire anyone, regardless of whether they are valuable or not.
- Negligence in decision-making: when it becomes evident that new sweets not only cost too much but even are not in demand, instead of abandoning production of those candies, Peter decides to save on packaging.
- The lack of people-orientedness: no parties, presents, encouragements, and rewards.
- The exploitation of workers: seeing the energy and enthusiasm around him, Peter decides to demand even more from his employees.
- Cutting employees out of the decisions: the majority of employees do not participate in decision-making and are not aware of those decisions at all.
- Unfair dismissals: to solve financial problems, Peter decides to fire 40% of the employees, although those problems are the consequences of his own decisions and acts.
Relevant Theories
Mintzberg’s 10 Managerial Roles applied to Peter Meyers
Interpersonal Roles: Figurehead (-), Leader (-), Liaison (-).
Informational Roles: Monitor (+), Disseminator (-), Spokesperson (+).
Decisional Roles: Entrepreneur (+), Disturbance Handler (-), Resource Allocator (+), Negotiator (-).
After applying Mintzberg’s ten managerial roles to Peter Meyers, it can be concluded that he performs none of the interpersonal roles. As for informational roles, although he can find useful work-related information, he is unable to communicate this information to other people within the organization. Similarly, he can identify new work-related ideas and decide who gets which resources but is unable to resolve the conflicts between the workers and defend business interests.
Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s Leadership Continuum
Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s Leadership Continuum shows that Peter Meyers as a manager or a leader is much closer to the autocratic style. He takes all final decisions by himself and does not consult with the employees to make those. Moreover, the majority of workers are not aware of the decisions that Peter Meyers makes at all.
Blake’s and McCance’s Leadership Grid
When Peter succeeded his father, he never held Christmas parties, never gave gifts to his employees, and did not think about any rewards. Instead, seeing the enthusiasm that Jerry Meyers always tried to keep in his workers, Peter decided that he could demand more from the workers. That resulted in the exploitation of staff. When Peter faced financial problems, to solve them, he decided to fire 40% of the employees, although that was unfair since financial problems were mainly the consequences of his own decisions and acts.
With this in mind, it can be concluded that the CEO does not care about the employees and people relations within the firm at all, so he gets the lowest point for Concern for People on the grid. However, Peter was concerned about results since he introduced new ideas for business, tried to diversify the range of products, and strove to solve the problems when those arose. So, he gets the highest point here, and that leaves us with an authority-compliance management style.
Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Model of Leadership
Jerry Meyers gave the company to his son when the employees had already been at a high level of maturity. They did their work well and were willing to do it since they loved the place they worked in and the man they worked for. So, Peter could choose a delegating style. However, most commonly the preferred telling. He did not consider situational variables to decide how to lead his team, so he can not be called a situational leader at all.
The POLC Model of Management
The POLC model of management presents the management process as the balanced interaction of four factors: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Peter Meyers put most of his efforts into planning, decision making, and setting the organization’s goals. He also tried to control the working process, even though he did it inadequately. He poorly organized activities and allocated resources. Finally, he completely failed in leading: he did not motivate the employees to do their best to meet the requirements set for them. That explains why Peter Meyers did not succeed as the CEO.
A Range of Possible Solutions
The changes Peter Meyers has to implement should return people’s trust (both of the employees and the buyers), eliminate hierarchical decision-making and authoritarianism, providing people with an opportunity to participate in decision-making, and solve economic problems, which the organization currently has.
Some recommendations for Peter Meyers to consider:
- I strongly believe that the first thing Peter should do is to apologize publicly to the staff and employees and admit mistakes that have been made. He should also offer the working places for the employees he has fired and promise financial compensation for them.
- He should find people for management positions and resign from being the Director of Finance and Accounting since he is not able to cope with both the CEO and Director of Finance and Accounting positions.
- Peter should conduct a range of surveys, interviews, or questionnaires to find out what his employees would like to change in the organization and consider their responses.
- He should hold regular meetings and be aware of what managers and employees think about the current company’s strategies and what they can offer to improve those.
- In production, the values established by Jerry Meyers should be restored: high quality, an affordable price, colorful and eye-catching packaging. Candies that do not meet those demands or are not profitable should be taken out of production.
- The company should also make a public apology to the consumers since the quality of products has deeply disappointed people.
- Some surveys can be conducted to find out which candies are in the greatest demand. Since the company is in crisis, the production of candies should be limited to those products that people like most of all.
- Any exploitation of workers should be eliminated.
Indicative Timetable
Day one: Peter publicly apologizes to current staff and employees that have been fired and offers them to return to work.
Week one: Peter resigns from being the Director of Finance and Accounting. A range of surveys, interviews, or questionnaires is conducted to find out what employees would like to change in the organization. The results of the surveys are analyzed.
The first month: Peter finds people for management positions, tries to implement changes according to the results of the previous surveys. The regular meetings are held. The first steps to solving economic problems are taken.
Half-year: Peter publicly apologizes to consumers. Surveys among customers are conducted. The range of products is limited to those that are in the most demand. The values established by Jerry Meyers should be restored.
The first Christmas after changes: A traditional party with gifts for the employees is held.