Organizational Change Management at Campbell Soup Essay

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Teams and Organizational Structure: Denise Morrison

Introduction

Organizational leadership is the determining factor when it comes to the success of an organization. In most cases, the leader is expected to come up with the strategic plan meant to take the company forward and ensure growth in every sector. The importance of leadership has in particular developed interest in the recent past as both employees and consumers are critical of the way the company is operated. For example, companies are expected to take their corporate social responsibility seriously or risk losing its market share. Consequently, leadership plays a major role in the management of employees and ensuring retention of the top talent in the organization. The leadership style adopted by the top management in an organization determines the relationship the organization has with its employees, which determines the motivational levels of the employees. Campbell Soup is a company operating in a highly competitive market, where employees and customer are of essence to its growth. For this reason, the leader has to forge a good organizational culture, communicate the vision to the employees, create working teams and engage in problem-solving and the management of conflicts in a manner that does not harm the organization.

Teams

The Executive Team

When Denise Morrison took the helm of the Campbell Soup organization, the famous American company was in a state of crisis due to changes in American dining habits. While building her executive team, Morrison offered a strong, articulate transformational vision that was necessary to shift the focus of the processed food icon. Morrison herself acknowledged, “It’s a 145-year-old company, so changing a culture is difficult” (Marcus, 2014, par. 4). Rather than viewing the canned soup as a commodity, as was traditionally the case throughout company history, Morrison called upon team members to instead focus on the nutritional and emotional value of food. The fact that she initially acknowledged the challenge that lies before her might be one of the many reasons she has proven to be so successful thus far in her ventures.

Americans are becoming more concerned about the nutritional content of their food. “Now as a company we’re talking more about what’s in our food and how it’s made,” noted Morrison, “And we have a philosophy that our brand should be something we’re proud to serve at our own tables” (Hurst, 2017, par.3). Although technical qualifications are important when establishing a leadership team and a strategic position, it is equally vital that the CEO set a general tone for the company regarding where it is headed and what consumer needs it is serving.

Organizational Structure

Morrison was unafraid to challenge the business model of the organization that had worked for so many years but was no longer serving the company’s needs. However, she did not do so out of her own need to exercise dominance; she strove to inspire courage in others in what had become a very stagnant organization: “The first thing I did was, add the value of courage to our core values. Moreover, in doing so, I encouraged people to take bolder moves and bigger risks” with the aim of better serving the consumer (Marcus, 2014, par. 4).

A critical leadership action undertaken by Morrison was a focus on fresh, versus reconstituted ingredients. “Under her leadership, the company has removed artificial ingredients and colors from their products” as well as disclosed on its which products contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (Hurst, 2017, par. 11). While most food companies have resisted transparency until compelled by the law, Campbell willingly launched a special component of its website for consumers to find out more information about nutritional data and sourcing of ingredients (Hurst 2017). Morrison launched a new ethical initiative called Healthy Communities to collaborate with underserved communities to support food pantries and school gardens; Campbell Soup has also acquired some smaller companies that either grows fresh produce or make freshly made organic and natural foods (Hurst 2017).

Morrison’s transformational leadership approach was thus a two-pronged initiative. First, she ensured that the company was focused on the consumer and the consumer’s needs, including consumer ethical preoccupations. “The consumer is our boss,” is Morrison’s philosophy, which means focusing on the needs of Millennials and building a new consumer base addressing current preoccupations (Marcus, 2014, par. 6). However, Morrison supported this vision with structural forms where risks and thinking outside of the box was rewarded. She encouraged cross-pollination of ideas. “Cross functional teams were created and an open, innovative mindset is encouraged with partners and customers. The leadership team was trained in effective decision making” (Marcus, 2014, par. 6). Organizational changes and strategic and visionary changes were linked.

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Denise Morrison thus stands as an example of a CEO who is capable of truly transforming a company. Campbell was mired in old ways of thinking that had worked in the past but no longer served it in the present. It also had not taken a close look at what consumers wanted from the food they put on their tables in recent years. Denise Morrison did not just change the profile of the target consumer; however, her leadership also changed the way in which Campbell Soup did business. Focusing on the consumer and the employees allowed the company to satisfy the needs of two most important assets in the firm. Transformational leadership ensures the leader motivates and coaches the employees on most of the things they are doing in the organization. Morrison was involved in different aspects, which helped her enhance organizational citizenship behavior among the employees. Her prowess in employee engagement is paramount to the success of the firm in retaining the top talent.

Organizational Vision and Organizational Structure

The current CEO of Campbell Soup Company Denise Morrison adopted two specific interventions to restructure the firm’s business processes. According to her, the company was performing dismally despite having a history of 140 years of providing its services in more than 60 markets. Therefore, it was essential that strategic interventions that focused on innovation and delivery of services that exceed the expectations of the customers were adopted in the company (Klassen, 2012). To do this, she selected the most-potential employees in the firm and engaged them in intensive research that aimed at identifying the actual and potential needs of the target customers. Disciplined creativity was fostered in the firm’s production process, which resulted in new products that did not only focus on boomers but also the millennials. Employees were also introduced to a new mindset where they were made to believe that they only work for their customers and not anyone else in the firm. Consequently, these efforts resulted in the birth of a new Campbell Soup Company that was focused on creativity, innovation, and service to customers.

Morison was aware that millennials had developed much awareness on the need to eat healthy foods. However, she wanted the employees to understand the customer more and in the process create products based on the recommendations of the customers. The impact of the move is increased market share brought by the increased demands for the company’s products. She was able to communicate her vision of innovation to the employees effectively and encouraged them to take up more risks in their attempt to satisfy or meet the expectations of the customer.

Leadership Actions Used by Denise Morrison to Structure Campbell Soup

Denise Morrison embraced the use of different leadership actions and approaches to create the above structure in her company. Firstly, she focused on encouraging teamwork in the identification of the actual and perceived needs of the consumers that were to be met by the firm. The most-potential employees were selected to participate in the study to identify these consumer needs and formulate strategic interventions that could be adopted in the firm to ensure excellence in service provision. Morrison also embraced the use of open communication to get her ideas done in the firm. She communicated the company’s intended actions and the expected outcomes to the employees and the behaviors that were expected of them. She also fostered the creation of an effective organizational culture that could facilitate the success of the new changes in the organization (Bio, 2014). By this, she strengthened the need for excellent service to the customers and equipped the employees with the behaviors that were needed for the realization of the set goals. Therefore, through these leadership actions, Morrison introduced the discipline of creativity and provision of excellent services to the customers in her company.

Examples of Best Practices for Leaders in Team Development

Achieving the best performance in a team depends highly on the practices embraced by the leaders. One of the ways of achieving it in a team is the establishment of an environment that fosters open communication between the team members. The members of a team should share their ideas freely. They should express themselves to the management without fear of intimidation. Through….....

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