Introduction
An assessment of the performance of a particular company involves the analysis of facts surrounding particular cases that affects its operations in the market in one way or the other.
In the case of Proctor & Gamble, a number of issues that have caused many challenges in its operations can be analyzed in order to understand where the management of the company went wrong, and seek alternative courses of actions.
These issues are mainly concerned with the leadership of the company, the culture and the rationality of the decisions made by the company’s management (Drury 2008).
It is important to note that the concept of globalization together with all the issues that define it convey strong aspects of the ideologies of a common pool in the company. This is to say that the concepts visualize a shrinking globe that is characterized by a dense network of interaction among all its parts.
People have to take into consideration the entire globe when making any kind of judgment. This is important even in situations where local solutions remain crucial to a particular issue. It is worth noting that globalization reflects the tragedy of the common people, the company and common situations.
It also transcends individual actors and this includes even the most powerful companies around the globe and even the most powerful nations (Shim & Siegel 1999).
Key issues
The issues involving globalization of Procter & Gamble (P & G) revolve mainly around the birth of its Purpose, Values, and Principles (PVP). Taking into account that P&G has been one of the oldest surviving companies in America, it can be deduced that this fact has made it globalize its operations.
One of the most important factors that have led to its prosperity is the organizational culture. The company’s organizational culture allowed it to operate in 23 countries by the year 1980. The company deals with household products and personal goods.
It also deals with laundry and foods. Initially, the company reproduced its brand management structure in line with its globalization. All its products were produced and developed in the U.S. R&D center. These products would later be produced by individual branches situated in other countries.
However, with improved models of operations in Europe, another R&D center was developed in Europe that enhanced the distribution of the products. This framework, according to the management of the company, would help its branches worldwide adapt to the technological input of the company.
For some reasons, the P&G Company caught the merger and acquisition wave. The company thus accelerated its globalization program. The acquisition of drink manufacturing companies, pharmaceutical companies as well as Richardson-Vicks (RVI), also made P&G a more globalized company.
Alternative courses of action
There are a number of alternative actions that can be taken by P&G in order to enhance its mission of globalization and improving its market efficiency. The company can use global strategies and local adaptations models to tackle some of the issues (Drury 2008).
The model can encompass factors such as increasing the market sensitivity. When a company becomes more market sensitive, it becomes more responsive to any modifications of the market forces. The company can undertake more frequent market analysis programs in all its branches worldwide.
This will enable it to keep abreast of developments in the market. The company can then initiate programs that may include rebranding of their products so as to gain a larger market share and increase the consumer choice of their products.
In addition, fact based decisions must be emphasized because it enhances logical reasoning. There are a number of management tools that can be used in such aspects. They include PERT and technical tests. In addition, force field analysis as well as optimization tests can prove to be very important in fact based decisions.
Other factors which are equally important in making fact based decisions are blind tests and concept and use tests. It is also important for the company to make periodic formal reports on how the management process operates in all its branches worldwide. The organizational culture helps a lot in this process especially in propagating the findings of the reports.
It is also important to note that customer-driven culture helps the company develop a competitive culture in which its products gain a larger market share.
This also improves the volume of the products in the market and hence enables the company to continue to exist and expand its operations. P&G branches must adhere to the marketing strategies of the entire company (Super Business 2011).
When P&G performed poorly in the stock market, the management embarked on a strategy to make it turn around. This strategy employed the idea of the PVP whereby the purpose, values and principles of the company were redefined. Under the leadership of Lafley, the company was able to make a major comeback into the stock market.
Its shares were among the most traded after Lafley distributed the ’10 things I believe’, to his colleagues. Thus, he explained how important the values of leadership, ownership, integrity, trust and passion for winning were in challenging times.
Therefore P&G was able to return to its principles whereby it respected individuals, valued differences, was strategically focused. The company also became more externally focused and developed a culture of mutual interdependence as a way of life. This shows how culture is important in any business organization.
During the period of the first five years in the millennium, P&G had to make some behavioral changes that would help the company to fulfill its purpose. There was a need for the company to adapt to the global market trend (Kanter & Bird 2009).
This process would require the company to become more collaborative in the market. It also required the company to be more externally focused. Hence, this was achieved through a global matrix framework. Strengthening of external partnership also came in handy in this process.
The company also needed a sort of innovation strategy to help it cope with the challenges in the market. Due to the poor performance of the company’s shares in the stock market, Lafley reminded his colleagues how important innovations were in improving the image of the company.
The employees had to collaborate better so that they become more responsive to local and international market changes. The company also needed to live its values and principles in order to create and then transfer product and practice innovations throughout the global organization.
The principles of PVP developed by the company’s management aimed at contributing to global sustainability. This is because the company’s external relations and sustainability initiatives evolved around the organizational transformation of the company. These principles also serve as a key strategic arm to global business operations (Super-business 2011).
Evaluation of alternative courses of action
The courses of actions in these issues require a closer investigation and analysis because they need not cause negative effects to the company. It is important to note that every alternative course of action has at least one or more point where the course begins.
This is why planning also involves the process of alternative courses of actions. Hence, a problem must be identified, data must be collected concerning the problem and the data must be analyzed. After the analysis, alternative courses of action can then be identified.
This is because the alternative courses become clearer when the data collected has been analyzed. After identifying with the alternative courses of action, the alternatives must be evaluated by looking at the cost and benefits of all the alternative courses of action.
The next step is to look at the best alternative and choose it. Thereafter, detailing the alternative, implementing and monitoring and controlling follow.
Rationality in any decision making process is aimed at reaching some goal that cannot be attained without an action. This means that a rational decision making process must have a clear comprehensive procedure that also seeks to analyze the alternative courses by which a goal can be reached under existing conditions (Kanter & Bird 2009).
Rational decisions must have the characteristics that will enable it to analyze and evaluate alternatives in the light of the goal that is being sought. The ability of a company’s management to develop alternative courses of actions is as important as the ability to select an alternative.
The management of a company therefore is faced with the challenge of helping in such kinds of situations. The management also needs to assist in choosing the best alternative that is found through the concept of limiting or strategic factors (Barret & Sexton 2008).
It is important recognize the presence of certain limiting factors because these factors stand in the way of accomplishing certain desired objectives. The recognition of these factors helps an organization to prepare and be responsive to any change of situation.
This also makes it possible to narrow down the search for alternatives to those that will overcome the limiting factors. This is guided by the principle of the limiting factor which states that by recognizing and overcoming those factors that stand critically in the way of a goal, the best alternative course of action can be selected.
In this situation, we shall look at the quantitative and qualitative factors. Quantitative factors can be measured in numerical terms such as time or various fixed operating costs. On the other hand, qualitative factors are those factors that are intangible.
They cannot be measured in numerical terms. This includes the quality of labor relations, the risk of technological change, or the international political climate (Barbara 2010).
The quantitative factors in the P&G Company include the time needed for implementation of a particular modification such as a rebranding project, innovations, and the market volume of the company’s products.
On the other hand, qualitative factors include the change of culture that will enhance innovations, the redefinition of PVP, and the extent to which these values are absorbed by the employees (Van de Ven, A. 1999).
The process of innovation requires a style of leadership that allows the management to give some sort of autonomy to the employees. Thus, the leaders must have good qualities of leadership that will enhance expansion of the business operations of this company.
Qualities of leadership do not change, despite the organizational changes through time. The only thing that changes is the structure of the management of the organization.
This is because throughout time, there has been loss of middle management. This comes as a result of flattening of company’s structure. These reasons prompt the current organization leadership to possess greater project management skills that improve its culture (Snell, a. 2009).
The leader must therefore be visionary and inspirational so that they may know what needs to be achieved and create an image of how things ought to be (Snell, b. 2009). An effective leader must also be aware and be influential. The awareness of a leader will make them understand the abilities of each individual.
A good leader must also understand their role in influencing the group that they lead. Hence an influential leader will use vision and employ the services of stakeholders in order to sway an opinion. This is what is needed at P&G in order to make the company more competitive in the market (Koontz & Weihrich 2006).
The other alternative course of action involves cultural aspects that will also enhance the global operations of the business. Corporate culture is the laid down structures within a business organization that allow clients with the perfect job to have a good experience in the organization.
This culture is the one that determines whether the working environment is good or not. A potential employee may shun a particular company simply because of the informal negative statements that are said of that organization (Drury 2008).
Another organization may have a good reputation that will encourage potential employees to apply for vacant positions. It is therefore important for a company to encourage their employees to keep the corporate culture in mind every time they interact with clients and other organizations.
For this reason the company has got to redefine its PVPs in a more succinct manner so that the employees can comprehend better, absorb the culture more and subsequently act as good ambassadors of the company in the market. This will result in the increase of market volume of the company’s product in the market.
Best alternative course of action
In all the alternative courses of action, the change of culture acts as an umbrella body because it is the most important. The entire organizational structure of the company is changed by a change of culture.
Thus the top management as well as the workers of the company embraces a new culture that will improve the quality of the PVPs of the company (Martin 2002). The company has to disentangle itself from the usual business as usual phenomena and embrace contemporary organizational rituals.
Organizational rituals are those rituals that can be used to maintain or develop a healthy working environment for efficient business operations.
In the business world, rituals should not be viewed as a signal of psychological problems. It is important for any organization that aims at globalizing its operations to use the knowledge of the past positively so as to maximize the chances of success in the future operations of the business.
Conclusion
In any situation analysis, a problem must be identified, data must be collected concerning the problem and the data must be analyzed. After the analysis, alternative courses of action can then be identified. This is because the alternative courses become clearer when the data collected has been analyzed.
After identifying with the alternative courses of action, the alternatives must be evaluated by looking at the cost and benefits of all the alternative courses of action. The next step is to look at the best alternative and choose it. Thereafter, detailing the alternative, implementing and monitoring and controlling follow.
Reference List
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