Employee Relations

Employee Relations - MGMT-6088

Case Study

PROFESSOR LIANNE GALLIE

GROUP MEMBERS
1. GURSIMRAN KAUR 0818358
2. MARIO BARBOTO 0815121
3. VIGNESH VENKATACHALAM 0820180
4. ADITHYA YAJAMAN ANANTHA 082410
 SITUATION SUMMARY

General Mills Inc is a packaged food firm headquartered in Mississauga. It won the coveted Eagle
Award even in the backdrop of a global recession, fierce competition and complex customer dynamics.
The culture of the company is quite conservative and risk averse. Employees were afraid to commit
failures as any risk could cost them their job. Also, the corporate promotions relied on three years of
their consistent results. Due to all of this the employees and management was not performing to the
level they were capable of. Though innovation was always one of the four Fundamental Leadership
Expectations of the company, everyone in the company had different perspective regarding it. The
changes were not welcomed and appreciated in corporate values.

The president of General Mills Inc, David P Homer wanted to build a strong culture of innovation in
the company which is well perceived by everyone in the company from senior management to the
employees. His main focus was on the new ideas and innovation at work. Also, the changes that would
happen at the workplace due to the implementation of these ideas was his main concern. His focus was
also on how this transition is accepted well by the employees.

.
 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

What steps should Mr Holmer and senior leadership take in order to build a culture of innovation in
the face of uncertainty to improve the performance of the company?
 ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

1. Foster Generativity and follow the process-

The managers should be equipped and trained to connect, mentor and coach the employees.
Their thinking, behaviour and strategy should be constructively challenged to grow a culture of
innovation. A well designed channel for the employees could be set up so that they can bring forward
their innovative ideas There are some employees who might be hesitant to share their ideas upfront.
This platform would help them to speak up and present themselves to the senior management.
It is the responsibility of the management to ensure that everyone in the company understands
the process on how each idea will be accessed. Also, a timely and constructive feedback to the
employees for their stated idea is a good approach. This gives them a positive message that they are
being heard and their effort is appreciated.

2. Group like minded employees together

It is always a good idea to work with people who share similar interests, work styles, goals and
passion for work. Grouping people who are excited to improve the product together would in long run
bring profits to the company.

3. Encourage diversity at workplace

Another alternative could be to group employees with different backgrounds, interests and capabilities
together. This would help to get different approaches to problem solving and variety of ideas to better
the product.

4. Effective training for the employees/associates

The employees could be offered training to inspire new thoughts, approaches and strategies to the
product or business as a whole. The idea here is to not only provide training to the employees but
access them as well once the it is completed. This would help the senior management to ensure that
employees have good understanding of what they have learnt. It will also help to figure out the scope
of any extra training if required.

5. Create new opportunities

Development of cross functional teams to brainstorm new ideas and encourage new initiates can help
the company to create new business or improve on the on-going one. Regular job swaps also help the
employees to gain extra experience.

6. Setting up of short term targets or quarterly targets

Such targets help the senior management to access the performance of the employees along the
growth of the company's business. It could also help the management to access if there is a
requirement of specific training. The well performing associates can be cross trained in multiple
process so as to bring out the best from them.
 7. Rewards and Recognitions

It plays an important role in motivating the employees to work and give out their best at work.
Rewarding with cash bonus and increasing the payroll compensation for the associates who are
performing well would motivate the associates to perform better in the next quarter. Recognising
the excellent performing employees with titles like Employee of the month could also help to
boost their confidence and motivate others as well to give their best

REFERENCE

http://www.business.vic.gov.au/marketing-sales-and-online/growth-innovation-and-
measurement/improving-business-innovation-and-examples

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FFPU9_1FLgZ3QMMFpLGeLHBsFMUcoc0reXzih1TE1-
M/edit