KRAFT FOODS ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Nowadays companies need to have a paradigm shift, they need to have a new way of thinking of the nature of the businesses (Laudon, 2012). Many large organizations have implemented information system technologies into their organizations and started on their path to an organizational change. One of those companies is Kraft Foods. Kraft Foods has annual revenues of $48 billion. They specialize in snacks, confectionary and quick meals and is the second largest food company in the world in more than 160 countries. Kraft Foods’ main concern was trying to get their employees to understand the changes taking place in the company. They wanted to be certain that employees were moving in the right direction. Debra Pekin, Change Management Specialist at Kraft Foods mentioned “every employee has a part to play in the outcome, and everyone can and should contribute to value creation in whatever project, process or initiative they’re working on” (Paradigm Learning).

Change is becoming such a norm for many organizations that they realize the importance and also the necessity for employees to understand these changes. According to Kurt Lewin, if you wanted to change a large cube of ice into a cone of ice, you should first unfreeze, then change and then freeze again. He goes on to discuss the practical steps to each process as follows:

Unfreeze:

What has to be changed? Create an analysis of the current organization and understand why the proposed changes are necessary.

Make sure that the top tier management is in support of the changes and make sure that the issues in question are of importance to the entire organization.

Create a need for change through vision, strategies, supporting evidence and make sure everyone understands why those changes need to be implemented.

Stay open-minded to the concerns employees might have as to each change being implemented.

Change:

Communication frequently, through planning and implementing changes, illustrate benefits, be sure to explain how changes will benefit everyone in the company, and prepare.

Empower, by giving employees opportunity to become involved in the project.

Involve people in the entire process, negotiation with external stakeholders or other employee organizations as necessary.

Refreeze:

Get the changes into the culture of the organization through identifying what supports the change and discuss barriers.

How can the change be sustained, discuss leadership support, reward system and a feedback system as well as the organizational structure.

Provide support and training to keep each employee informed and supported on the changes.

Note: Taken from Lewin’s Change Model (see reference below)

We see how Lewin recognized the importance of employee feedback and training on the organizational changes taking place. Kraft Foods wanted their employees to understand and so they implemented an Information Systems team to train employees on the changes and how to facilitate these changes. They turned to an external source, Paradigm Learning who assisted them with a program called Right Turns: Change in Action. This program had various key elements, it was personal, simple, fun and energizing (Paradigm Learning, 2010).

Right Turns was a discovery learning approach which stated that when people are involved in their learning processes, they can learn it quickly and retain the information better as if they were in a lecture class. Right Turns consisted of small teams who worked together and in figuring out change issues on a journey, they were taught on how to recognize changes simply by pointing out what they saw on their colorful, visual journey with the use of activity cards. Paradigm Learning also created online learning tools for international countries that had Kraft Foods employees. The employees were not trained but instead, trained themselves (Paradigm Learning, 2010).

Of the organizational change rewards and risks, this particular information system change would fit into the rationalization section which is of low risks, although, it might also fit into a paradigm shift which is higher risks but better return. I think it might be a combination of both depending on how the changes are viewed. Kraft Foods were definitely rethinking the nature of the business (Laudon, 2012).

References:

Bronwyn, R. (2006). Lewin’s Change Model, accessed on April 24, 2012, http://www.consultpivotal.com/lewin's.htm

2010 How Kraft Foods Is Cooking Up a Change Management Culture. Paradigm Learning.Com. Accessed on April 25, 2012, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4489144.htm