...Leading Change at Simmons (A): The Challenges of Leadership in Managing Cultural Change in Large-Scale Organisations Introduction This case study examines the challenges of leadership and how they manage change in large-scale organisations. This particular case examines Simmons, a 130-year-old manufacturer and distributor of mattresses; it highlights the challenges faced by the newly employed CEO, Charlie Eitel, who has been hired by major shareholders, Fenway Partners to overhaul the organisation’s operation and initiate a turn-around in Simmons’ performance (Casciaro et al., 2005). Based on his experience at turning companies around to improve their operational and financial performances, Charlie Eitel introduced a number of changes on starting to work at Simmons, and his two main objectives were: “...to create a kind of company where everyone want to get up and come to work in the morning”, and “...to create the kind of company that other companies want to do business with.” Apart from change management, the case covers various management issues such as leadership, staff motivation, employee training, employee empowerment, team management, organisational change and adaptation, resistance to change, and organisational culture. All of these issues combine together to affect the performance of Simmons such that the organisation faced its toughest period ever since it was established. Another major challenge was the loss of three major customers due to bankruptcy, which make...
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...Introduction About Simmons: Simmons, founded by Zalmon Gilbert Simmons, is a family-run company. In 1875, Simmons decided to change their business from wood products to woven wire mattresses, which contributed great profits to the company. During 1920s, Simmons had been an international firm with factories in Mexico City, London, and Paris, unusual for the era. But in 1978, Simmons ceased to be a family-run business. Following this switch came a succession of many owners, leaving Simmons unstable and without a long-term vision. In late 1999, Fenway Partners, who bought Simmons from Investcorp in 1998, decided to pick Charlie Eitel as the CEO of Simmons. Now headquartered in Atlanta, Simmons has 18 bedding manufacturing facilities that made mattresses across the U.S. The Simmons Situation Charlie Eitel, the fairly new CEO of Simmons, has a lot on his plate. His company is struggling, and he needs to rebound. There are many contributing factors that could lead to the demise of Simmons. These factors mostly branch off of the country wide economic struggle following 9/11. In addition to 9/11 backlash, he is also faced with the recall of a product from a supplier. While these issues are quite harmful, they are external characteristics and he can do very little to affect them. What he can effect is his within his organization, specifically, the workers. When analyzing the company he has noticed that there is a large divide in production coming from certain plants, and...
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...Eitel at one of their homes, in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 2008. Mr. Eitel ran Simmons for several of its private equity owners. By JULIE CRESWELL Published: October 4, 2009 TWITTER New employees at the headquarters of the Simmons Bedding Company got a little book containing 84 sayings of their boss, Charlie Eitel. Saying No. 1: “In order to create a viable vision you must answer one very fundamental question, ‘What do you really want?’ ” LINKEDIN SIGN IN TO EMAIL PRINT REPRINTS SHARE Related Profits for Buyout Firms as Company Debt Soared (October 5, 2009) Mr. Eitel, former colleagues said, really wanted to bring some sizzle to the ho-hum mattress business. He was paid millions of dollars to run Simmons for several private equity investment companies, first Fenway, then Thomas H. Lee Partners. Like those firms, he fared well, even though Simmons plans to file for bankruptcy. Mr. Eitel’s vision for Simmons was shaped by a corporate philosophy called the Great Game of Life,which is supposed to turn a company into a team. He once had the company hire an artist to paint a mural representing the river of life for a strategy meeting at a resort. “Everybody put their boat on the river, and it represented that you were floating down the river of your dreams,” recalled Greg Moore, who worked in Simmons’s human resources department from 2002 until 2007 and supported Mr. Eitel’s approach. But while Simmons now faces an uncertain future, Mr. Eitel was a winner in The Great Game...
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...more difficult to catch up. This case is all about implementing new management techniques like empowering employees and engaging in adaptive organizational culture. Culture leads to predictable behaviors and attitudes that set one company apart from others. Strong agreement to the values, beliefs and norms that constitute culture results in strong relationship to behavior. When culture is well match to strategy, it become the most powerful strategy implementation tool available This case study mainly concentrates on the challenges faced by Simmons in implementing the change program. There is a resistance to change from both individuals and organization. On top of the resistance to change dominant organizational culture exists in Simmons. Leaders can reinforce desirable behavior and discourage undesirable behavior. Culture can be a major asset or liability to an organization depending on whether or not culture leads to desired behaviors. Simmons had the competitive advantage over competitors for almost a century. But due to dysfunctional organizational culture in the...
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...Simmons Case (A) Review They say there are only two things constant in life: death and taxes, the rest of the time we are faced with change. Since 1875 the Simmons Company has seen many changes in product lines and technology; however by 2001 they were facing out dated leadership techniques and economic challenges that needed to be addressed in order for the company to survive. Eitel, Simmons CEO, found division between manufacturing plants and low morale throughout many of the factories. In order to instill new life into Simmons, Eitel knew that the company had to make some drastic changes to its culture. One of these changes up for debate was the Great Game of Life (GGOL). The Great Game of Life (GGOL) program uses key psychological and sociological behaviors to bring a group of people together and build bonds of trust and cohesiveness that transforms them from a collection of individuals into a team. The program is designed to break down social barriers and create situations where the only way people can be successful is to rely upon each other. This allows them to see the importance of building working relationships in a positive way at work and helps them “envision [a] success together and have trust established” (Casciaro & Edmondson, 2007). It seems that GGOL is based on the inside-out growth method by starting first with the person and then the team. Ultimately the program was designed to “help people make better choices in order to live a better life through...
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...Simmons Case Study In the year 2001, the Simmons Bedding Company was experiencing economic difficulties, which needed to be addressed for the company to maintain operation. Charlie Eitel, CEO of Simmons made the decision that the company had to make changes to its culture. A major change Charles Eitel contemplated was implementing the Great Game of Life (GGOL) program into the company. Introducing the GGOL program into the company will bring about positive changes to the company that will boost employee morale, employee performance, and subsequently improve the Simmons’ company. Simmons Background The Simmons Bedding Company is one of the biggest mattress and bed related products manufacturer in the United States. Simmons was founded in 1870, when Zalmon G. Simmons opened his first factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The company’s ability to mass produce beds since 1875 enabled the company to grow into one of the biggest companies in the United States (Casciaro & Edmonson, 2007). In the year 2001, The Simmons Company was facing hard times. It had lost three major customers, the US economy was suffering, and Simmons had to get rid of foam using for bed cushioning because it was bad inventory. In addition, Charles Eitel the CEO had discovered that there was friction between manufacturing plants and low morale throughout many of the company factories. Charles Eitel wanted to make significant changes to the culture of the Simmons Company. One of changes that has been debated is whether...
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...risks, have confidence in their ability to succeed, a desire for immediate feedback, a high level of energy, skill at organizing, and value of achievement over money. There are many reasons why someone may take this path but the bottom-line is this person has a strong will and determination to succeed. The leading entrepreneurs I have chosen are Mary Kay Ash and Russell Simmons. Russell Simmons is a business mogul, activist, best-selling author and he is owner and founder of RUSH Communications. RUSH Communications is a leading multi-faceted holding company with investments in well-known and respected brands in three industry segments: entertainment and media; fashion and lifestyle; and empowerment. RUSH Communications, Inc. includes a management company, the hip-hop record label Def Jam, and the sneaker company Run Athletics. He is also the founder of the clothing lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and American Classics. Some of Simmons other ventures include a film and television production company, Simmons Lathan Media Group, Unirush Financial Services, Simmons Jewelry Company, and GlobalGrind.com. Rush Communications is currently worth approximately $340 million. Simmons leads in a situational approach style. His style adapts to the situation and he is able to use different leadership styles to get many different jobs done. He uses his democratic style to receive input from his employees on what they feel consumers want and need. He uses this information to make sound business...
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...Question 1. The revised case, originally written by Alex Bavelas, portrays a story of Bob Knowlton, an employee who acts as project head at Simmons Securities. Throughout the short case, Bavelas narrates about Knowlton and his computer simulation project, the ‘Millennium derivative’, in addition to how the introduction of fellow employee Simon Fester affected him personally, and the organisation and group he was associated with (Bavelas). Bob Knowlton, prior to the introduction of Simon Fester, was a project manager. He was leader of his group who had been tasked with designing and adapting this derivative. In relation to the Homan’s model, personal systems and external status came into the equation when Fester, a seemingly bright and switched on character, was hired to be a part of Knowlton’s team. These factors influenced the required systems of the organisations culture. Required systems in an organisation features three parts; activities, interaction, and attitudes. Fester’s introduction to Knowlton’s team changed the dynamic of the group’s mentality, organisation, and operational style. The activities to be undertaken remained the same, however, interaction changed (for the worse), as well as the communication and attitudes of members within the group. Fester is a telling type of leader, whereas Knowlton is more of a participating type leader (Quick, Wright, Adams, & Nelson, 2012). As time wore on, Fester’s superior intelligence slowly moved him up the ranks within...
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...Case Analysis – Leading Change at Simmons 1. The reinforcement theory heavily emphasizes on the concept of motivation, which is comprised of the idea of producing a positive result and countering a negative result. There is a striking difference in the Simmons plant culture in terms of motivation techniques of the worker in the typical manufacturing plant and the Janesville plant. In regards to the typical manufacturing plant’s culture, there was no particular sense of motivation. These plants did not adhere to the company’s values of empowerment, support and fostering growth and development in others. Apart from the Janesville plant, the rest of the manufacturing plants were competitive rather than collaborative with one another and employee morale was low. Within these plants, negative reinforcement was practiced. For instance, the leadership at the plant in Charlotte was “motivation through intimidation” which demonstrates the use of negative reinforcement through punishment and extinction. With the Janesville plant, there was a positive working environment where the associates were participants in every aspect of the plant such as making decisions and holding plant meetings. Tony Saliture’s leadership style positively reinforced the associates at the plant by motivating them and fostering great performance and productivity in return for desirable rewards. 2. Simmons owners, the Fenway Partners are leaning towards opposing the $7 million investment in the Great...
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...marketing associations related to the sponsor-sponsee relationship, as the aim is to create awareness and positive attitudes amongst the public (Tench and Yeomans, 2009). Table 1: Graphic illustration of the basic process of sponsorship (Source: Sanghak, 2010). Associations tied to sponsorship come down to the match between a sponsor and the sponsored event (Jagre et al. (2001). This connection can either be obvious or less obvious, and the degree of how logical this link is, is referred to as fit (Gwinner et al., 2009). This perception is important because it can influence and predict a number of sponsorship outcomes, and researchers (Cornwell et al. 2006, Olson and Thjømøe 2011, Olson 2010, Weeks et al. 2008, Becker-Olsen and Simmons 2002) highlight a number of favourable outcomes such as positive attitude towards the brand and ease of recognition. According to Weeks et al. (2008), this is...
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...LS-03 Introduction to Law and the Legal Profession Unit 6: Criminal Law: Summary What constitutes discipline? What constitutes abuse? Different cultures – different cultural connotations – difficult to universalize Punishment in Schools: 31 states do not allow corporal punishment in schools; southern states allow teachers to discipline children. Now there is a tremendous emphasis in our culture on abuse/neglect of children. Death Penalty: there are many cases where people are exonerated after many years. At least they can get out and have freedom. They got rid of Apartheid – people who took a stand, i.e. Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela “committed” civil disobedience – yet were the catalyst for new/better laws to evolve. Bullies in school is a problem – if teachers hit a child, it adds to corporal punishment. Does corporal punishment in schools have a positive affect? The evidence shows that countries an states that do not have a death penalty – murder rates are lower. Criminologists believe that having a death penalty in place – creates a cycle of violence. Are the shootings in the schools a result of corporal punishment? We must look at Colorado to explore this question. Identifying Criminal Law: Elements of a Crime – criminal law is straight forward. Every crime has 3 elements: GUILTY MIND: to punish intentionally wrong conduct OJ Simpson case – he was charged with murdering his wife and waiter on Goldman. The prosecutor had the burden of proof. OJs attorneys...
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...Industry Overview Our group evaluated the ice cream industry from a Porter’s Five Forces perspective to determine the attractiveness of the market. Next, we observed Amy’s Ice Creams’ strategy through interviews and class concepts to see how Amy’s competes. Then, we assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s strategy to offer recommendations for Amy’s Ice Creams going forward. Production and Sales The biggest activities in the ice cream industry consist of production and sales. In 2011, U.S. manufacturers produced 1.53 billion gallons of ice cream, a 6.5 percent increase from 2009. In addition, U.S. ice cream sellers sold 25.4 billion servings of ice cream and other frozen desserts. This represents a 2.4 percent increase from the previous year, a slight increase after two year of stagnant sales (New Hope 360). There are two channels for ice cream sales. The first channel is food service where customers visit an ice cream parlor and pay a premium for the product. The second channel is retail where customers purchase their favorite brand of ice cream from a retail chain like Wal-Mart. Food services constitute a larger portion of the two channels accounting for 57 percent of overall ice cream sales (New Hope 360). Products The products in the ice cream industry include premium ice creams and novelties. Premium ice creams include sorbet, sherbet, and fruity flavored ice products packaged by the pint or quart. Novelties are separately packaged ice cream...
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...specialists worked in teams and reflected that it was not easy to evaluate the recent project carried out for mattress manufacturer Simmons. Dayton was a design engineer and head of IDEO’s Boston office. IDEO was a design and innovation firm known for the extraordinary range of products it had designed and its innovative approach to the design process. For the Simmons project, IDEO had embarked on a service that was not intended to result in a tangible product, at least not right away. Whereas a typical design project progressed through four phases designed to “do the thing right,” this service, known as “Phase 0,” was intended to help a client “do the right thing.” Rather than design a new product based on pre-specified needs, Simmons had asked IDEO to help it “look for unmet needs that exist and to identify new product opportunities.” The project proposal, entitled “Understand and Innovate,” described Phase 0 services as helping clients understand the world in a new way and innovate accordingly. At first glance, mattresses were not exciting territory for the firm, but as the team researched mattress consumers— conducting literature reviews, site visits, and interviews with customers and salespersons—they grew intrigued. One later recalled, “The more we looked, the more we found.” No tC Now two months after their final presentation to Simmons executives in Atlanta, Georgia, the team was still buzzing from the client’s enthusiastic response to the Phase 0 project’s...
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...9 9 (24/1) Performance Management at Vitality* 5,11 An uneasy look at Performance Appraisal 8 10 (29/1) Gentleman’s three 11 (8/2) Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley (A) 6,12 When workers rate the boss 7 12 (11/2) Sales force training at Arrow Electronics 13,1 Breakthrough in on-the-job training 6 13 (16/2) Alex Montana at ESH 2,8 How to hang on to your high potential The talent innovation imperative All Groups 14 (19/2) Zensar 3,7 How to cultivate engaged employees 5 15 (22/2) When Salaries aren’t secret 4 16 (26/2) 17 (28/2) WrapItup: Developing a new compensation plan 4,9 Why incentive plans cannot work 3 18 (4/3) Workers strike thrice in five months 5,10 Discipline without punishment 2 19 (8/3) Leading Change at Simmons 6,11,12 Change for Change’s sake 1 20 (12/3) Student led...
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...Workplace Diversity: Communication between Management and Employees Workplace challenges come in many forms. One of those challenges is communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, between co-workers or between management and employees. Businesses currently are being affected by communication issues that are hindering production, satisfaction, and employee retention (Salahuddin, 2010). Communication is a vital key to effective and good management. Face-to-face communication is always the best way to talk to your employees but that may not always be possible, so a combination of verbal and nonverbal communication may be the best practice for your company (Chazanof, 1998). Too many companies rely solely on newsletters, bulletins, and flyers to communicate with their employees, making them feel less important to the company. Written communication is good but companies should also use face-to-face communication as well, use a combination of both. Written communication in the form of newsletters or flyers is a great tool when communicating with employees (Chazanof, 1998). Having your company put together a newsletter filled with company events, statistics, news, etc. Getting your employees involved, asking for volunteers to contribute information can help bridge that communication gap. Newsletters help inform your employees of company events as well as keep them connected and make them feel involved, all good ways to keep the communication waves flowing within your organization...
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