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 up roughly one-sixth of Simmons’ sales. Despite the recent loss of these three major customers, the new CEO, Charlie Eitel is considering an enormous $7.2 million investment in training program whose outcome is “encouraging but not definitive”, at a time when the US economy was facing a downturn due to the effects of the 9/11 attacks. Simmons’ owners, Fenway Partners are not particularly