Running head: CONSULTING PROPOSAL #1 1
Consulting Proposal #1
Samuel Onwujiobi
Liberty University
BMAL 504 - Leading Organizational Change
CONSULTING PROPOSAL #1 2
Consulting Proposal #1
Definition of Project:
Comprehending Joseph E. Seagram Sons, Inc. (Seagram Company/Seagram)
vision towards becoming, developing and maintaining a leading reputation within the industry
entails looking at the company's growth as articulated by president and CEO Edgar Bronfman ,
Jr., “Performance is not fine right now; otherwise we would already be growing 15% a
year”(Center for Executive Development, 1996, p. 257).To achieve the vision, 1200 top
managers in the company need to share the goal of the firm and embrace all the objectives of the
company with 14,000 employees. A top managed beverage company is expected to be efficient,
customer-centered and recognize employees. Seagram’s biggest challenges include an old culture
of individualism, authority, functional pride, personal relationships and entrepreneurship; the
organization needs to use a modern vision to replace the old model which is based on a decades-
old vision to help the company remain well-known and among the top companies (Center for
Executive Development, 1996). Also, the increased liquor taxes, sobriety campaigns, social
criticism of liquor marketing and our diversification outside of our core business means we need
to start paying attention to our corporate values in general and the consumer in particular.
Embracing a new vision will put the organization on a path to higher customer brand loyalty and
profitability. In times of increasingly unsure and volatile markets, corporate prudence is
becoming a relevant contributor to the long-term strategy of companies, particularly
multinational ones (Darkow, 2015).
Diagnosis of the Current Situation:
The change and transformation that need to take place are the primary concerns where
there is a new corporate values model with potential new ground. Currently, Seagram recognizes
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a need for a shift to meet new demands, preferences, and attitudes due to economic, cultural, and
corporate social responsibility (CSR) shifts. Therefore, there is a need to recognize
organizational change by the company to increase profits, influence reputability, and retain the
best people. The change needs to be done in the work process, training and rewarding
employee’s value culture with procedure to implement values while considering revenue output.
Till date, the Seagram’s culture change process has not been well instituted because of the
“business as usual” mindset driven by functional pride. After globally diversifying, Seagram
suffered eroding core untapped markets (Center for Executive Development, 1996).
Individualism is part of culture in the Seagram Company (Center for Executive
Development, 1996), and the benefits of a collaborative working environment while doing
business need to be embraced if Seagram is to rise from the inefficiencies of it’s individualistic
past. The prosperity, workflow, and organizational boost experienced at Seagram’s will have to
be enhanced by great relationship revitalization, and a makeover. The old vision which was
disheveled and inadequate, displays factors that are no longer useful in meeting the profit
objectives of the organization. Today, companies rely on the competencies and expertise of a
large number of employees who are tasked with addressing customer needs in market segments,
value chain processes or specific planning activities (Darkow, 2015). Therefore, creating a new
vision will help to achieve the intended goals. The current situation requires overhauling these
practices and shifting to a goal-oriented one to make the company excel in the beverage industry.
Recommendations:
The Seagram Company needs a strategic anticipatory change initiative to usher in
modifications, which can spark off successful and effective outcomes. Reorientation made with
anticipated external events involve redirection efforts that highlight continuity with values of the
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past, so as to create major change without sharp excision from present organizational frame
(Nadler & Tushman, 1989). That being said, several factors need to be adjusted to enable
examination of trial measures for effectiveness and success. The brand of the company, market
diversification, revenue generation, employee culture, customer relations, and product should be
focused to go in line with the product of the company.
For the sake of familiarity, existing products should remain so that they maintain control
of market share they already occupy. Familiarity is one of the most significant drivers of
preference for food products, because it reduces product uncertainty and leads to a more likely
match between consumer expectations and product characteristics (Borgogno, Favotto, Corazzin,
Cardello, & Piasentier, 2015). Moreover, familiarity is strongly linked to consumers past
experience with a product, and many consumers use their past behavior as a heuristic for later
decisions (Giacalone & Jaeger, 2016).
New products need to be explored and given trials in other markets that we diversify
into. Unlike Seagram did in the mid to late 20th century, we have to diversify into markets where
our core products are not out of place – Hospitality industry versus oil industry. Various methods
can be used to boost product demand, such as mass advertising campaigns and sampling. Testing
of the new products in current markets will help to gauge their likability to our customers. This
process can be contracted out to a professional data market research firm that will pinpoint with
surgical accuracy what income levels, retail stores, locations, and many social, religious and
geographical demographics details our customers possess. Customers are the backbone of our
business should be our ultimate focus and managed to effect organizational profitability.
Seagram needs to change to achieve its goals in its social posture. It can be done through
a communal culture enhancement. By removing barriers to community involvement, events
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sponsorship, academic innovation support, and openly supporting responsible product use,
Seagram’s leadership through its managers and staff will reaffirm commitment to CSR and
positively influence customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, trust, and corporate reputation and
also intervene in their relationships (Sindhu & Arif, 2017).
The success of an organization requires the services of middle managers. These managers
are crucial in the business since they help in the interpretation of management vision to the
employees. They are also crucial because they pass relevant information to the management team
from the deck plate. The middle management may seem to be overlooked, but it is vital to ensure
that the managers and the subordinates work in conjunction to achieve the goal of the firm.
Therefore, Seagram’s middle managers should be recognized as the organization's real change
agents. These changes in the organization will improve the performance of the company.
Recognition of the employee’s performance to build a collective culture of cooperation
and collaboration must be central to our values. Using regular staff performance evaluations and
mid term counseling meetings will help in this regard; Counseling can be held informally
monthly or as often as needed. Evaluations will be required formally with documentation
annually and formal counseling 6 months prior to annual performance evaluation. This is the
format used in the United States Navy and is a time tested format. During such meetings, the
employee should be given opportunity to openly express their views, concerns, or propositions to
the management or supervisor. This will make them feel valued as part of the organization, and
ultimately, lead to the success of the company.
The entire culture of individualism at Seagram can be improved by establishing a positive
ethical value based culture. In connection with that, the relationships with the general public and
markets should be worked on. Ethical relations help to earn the trust of the stakeholders and the
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workforce. Ethical relationships follow from a Christian world view and values that you “Do to
others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31, New International Version). Biblical
values are seldom practiced in many business organizations and for this reason organizations that
display Christian values are viewed favorably by the public. In 2014, Chick-fil-A ranked as the
eighth largest restaurant franchise with revenue of $5.7 billion, $1.5 billion more than No. 11
KFC, which Chick-fil-A accomplished with 1,837 stores, fewer than half of KFC's 4,164, and in
only six days of selling per week (Waldon, 2016).
Implementation Plan:
Changes need to be made to ensure that the organization deepens the new values culture
and get it institutionalized. For instance, various processes and products need to be reexamined,
eliminated or improved, and introduced for new values to gain footing. Products that are
preferred by the customers need to be retained and their market share increased over a phased
period to allow buildup of new product lines. During this period, Seagram should manufacture
sample size bottles of new product flavors and offer them with purchases. Placement of products
should be done at strategic locations and evaluated regularly to track profitability and customer
preferences of new products.
The motivation of employees is essential in an organization. For this reason, it is vital for
Seagram to know what motivates her employees. Increasing rewards packages for their hard
work would make the employees feel acknowledged and improve their performance. Monetary
compensation serves as motivation of towards attaining organizational objectives. For instance, a
genuine dialogue between the employees and the management helps them to obtain relevant
information, which is useful to solve problems that may affect them. After the discussion,
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evaluations of the workers may be conducted to gauge their performance. During the
implementation of changes, values and culture of the business are put to the test.
Senior management must ensure that all the stages of implementing the strategy are well-
planned to achieve the Seagram Company’s objectives. Middle managers in the organization will
be running small groups and checking regularly to ensure timely progress towards the intended
goals. Involvement of middle managers is in line with the hypothesis that greater strategic
consensus leads to improved implementation and that middle management involvement leads to
improved decision-making and superior strategies (Darkow, 2015). Lastly, the company will also
hold meetings throughout the year to discuss all progress made.
Summary:
The Seagram Company has to take some steps for it to become the top company it desires
to be. This goal can be realized when concrete value ideas are implemented, and indicators of
growth are observed. For this reason, there is a need for the company to challenge itself by
setting up smaller steps to reach these objectives. Seagram should begin with assessing the
viability of the plans to be implemented. Just like the steps in the cycle of the nursing process,
assessment must be the first step and repeats after the last step of evaluation. The nursing process
is the philosophy of work of the hospital nursing professionals (Adamy, Zocche, & Almeida,
2020). Acknowledging world biblical views on the treatment of others will help the company to
bring workers together to achieve its targets. After implementing new ideas, the possible
outcomes have to be checked to ensure that they do not affect the company negatively.
Finally, assuming I was one of Seagram’s executives faced with the five challenges at the
end of the case, I would: 1- Review and act upon the various recommendations garnered. 2-
Create opportunity for training and remediation that will be provided for Seagram’s values
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violations to staff before punitive administrative actions are considered. 3- Champions of the
organizations’ values will be recommended for advancement ahead of peers and compensated
financially based on company profitability. 4- Assimilate the staff acquired from
MCA/Universal, in addition with a reorientation of all 15,000 employees to our new values
strategy. 5- Utilize middle managers to be my hands-on-deck to ensure our staffs are
institutionalized deeper into the Seagram’s values.
As a Naval leader, the most effective technique I have used and observed to effect culture
change other than explicit statements of naval command mission, vision and values, is personally
modeling the value change in my own daily work life. I walk the walk, and do not just talk the
talk.
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References
Adamy, E., Zocche, D., & Almeida, M. (2020). Contribution of the nursing process for the
construction of the identity of nursing professionals. Revista Gaúcha de Enfermagem,
41(spe), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1590/1983-1447.2020.20190143
Borgogno, M., Favotto, S., Corazzin, M., Cardello, A. V., & Piasentier, E. (2015). The role of
product familiarity and consumer involvement on liking and perceptions of fresh meat.
Food Quality and Preference, 44, 139-147.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2015.04.010
Center for Executive Development. (1996). Leading culture change at Seagram. In T. D. Jick & M.
A. Peiperl (Eds.), Managing change: Cases and concepts (3rd ed., pp. 255-264). New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Darkow, I. (2015). The involvement of middle management in strategy development -
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Forecasting and Social Change, 101, 10-24.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.12.002
Giacalone, D., & Jaeger, S. R. (2016). Better the devil you know? How product familiarity affects
usage versatility of foods and beverages. Journal of Economic Psychology, 55, 120-138.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2016.02.005
Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1989). Organizational frame bending. In T. D. Jick & M. A.
Peiperl (Eds.), Managing change: Cases and concepts (3rd ed., pp. 239-255). New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.
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Sindhu, M. I., & Arif, M. (2017). Corporate social responsibility and loyalty: Intervening influence
of customer satisfaction and trust. Cogent Business & Management, 4(1), 1-10.
https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2017.1396655
Waldon, G. (2016, May 30). Fowler foods cheers Colonel’s return: KFC seeks to rebuild brand as
it confronts Chick-fil-A challenge. Arkansas Business, 33(22), 20. Retrieved from
https://bi-gale-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/global/article/GALE%7CA455093695?
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