Introduction
Wine Lovers Enterprise is a private family business that deals with the production of wine packaging materials such as bottles, synthetic corks, and labels. The company is located in the Finger Lakes area of New York. The company has had a profitable streak so far and has maintained a fair share of the market in a competitive environment. The business climate is changing and there is an urgent need to implement changes in Wine Lovers Enterprise. The company is facing stiff competition from cheap china imports in the wine industry. Other players in the industry have adopted modern ways of doing business such as digitization of operations and the use of social media in advertising and personal relations activities. At the company level, there is a need for integration between the employers and the company’s management. The current stratification between the company leaders does not allow for complete maximization of employees’ potential due to the impersonal relations at the workplace. This is a case study of the leadership plan at Wine Lovers Enterprise. Focus is given to the company’s leadership culture and changes are proposed that need to be implemented to ensure competitiveness and maximum profitability in a dynamic market.
Wine Lovers Enterprise has been in operations for decades and has enjoyed continued profitability throughout the years despite fierce competition. In order for the company to stifle the competition and realize growth, change must first be implemented in the production process. It is important that the company maintains its current clientele base, but the most crucial thing is that the company needs to break into the mass production category. Doing so will help the company net in some of the large scale wine producers such as Chatauqua Winery. In the long run, Wine Lovers Enterprise faces the threat of being ousted by other industry leaders who capitalize on being able to produce cheaply due to economies of scale. It is the company’s intention to progressively increase production through continued investment in modern and cheaper production technologies.
Vision Statement
Wine Lovers Enterprise’s vision is to be the pacesetter in the wine bottling industry. The company aims at meeting all the packaging requirements of the local wine producers by supplying high quality products at competitive prices.
Mission Statement
Being the number one partner of choice for wine producers
Organizational structure
The current business climate demands a Democratic work environment as opposed to the old bureaucratic and aristocratic business models. The leading businesses in the world today, such as Google, have invested heavily on the employee. Wine Lovers Enterprise plans to follow the same path. A democratic organization structure is aimed at ensuring that the worker is fully comfortable and contented at the work place. A happy worker will devote all his energy and efforts into his job and give it his best (Daft, 2012). The leadership will effect changes with consultation with the employees and their input will be valued and taken into account.
A democratic structure at Wine Lovers Enterprise will create a family feeling among the employees and they will act as a unit. Employees will contribute to the running of the business through a popular vote provided they are in line with the objectives of the company. The management will float debatable ideas to the employees whereby they will be required to form an opinion. A vote will create a consensus that has been approved by the majority.
Employees will exercise freedom in the creation and production process. This is aimed at tapping the innovative potential of all employees at different capacities. Subscribing to the same ideas and conventions that were applied decades ago in the early stages of the company will deny the company the much needed dynamism. Young recruits will stand the chance of breathing life and freshness into the company (Harvard Business School, 2002).
Every employee has a valuable input to offer pertaining to their area of specialization. Nobody is in a better position to understand a process, whether it is management or production better than someone who has done it hundreds of times. Such an individual knows best the best improvement to be made to enhance savings on time and resources (Ray, Rinzler, & World Business Academy, 1993). Based on this premise, employees will liaise with the management to implement any improvement proposed or install changes.
The leadership will assume a supervisory role in the overall operations of the company. Managers in their respective departments will apply their expertise to weigh the tradeoffs between the cost and benefits likely to be accrued from an undertaking and advise their juniors accordingly. Leaders will not dictate terms or act from a position of power when handling a situation. A condescending attitude from the leadership runs the risk of alienating the employees, which results to resentment that is detrimental to the progress of the company.
The company will address the workers' complaints through this democratic model. A popular vote from the workers will dictate the course of action to be taken. The first issue to be handled under the democratic system will be the discontent on the distribution of the upper managerial positions. Instead of unionizing the workers, the company shall use the most efficient and quicker democratic system to elect more women into the upper management category. The company will address, gender equality in the management through voting on management categories. The women on the mid management level shall vote between themselves on whom they deem most fitting to join the upper management. The upper management shall also promote one of their own to a general manager position who shall report to the vice president of the company.
The president is the overall leader of the company. His role is a general supervision. He shall implement all major decisions and give directives on pertinent issues in the company. He will delegate work to the VP and the managers who report to him. The President will influence change in the company through the upper level managers who will act as his aides.
Organizational culture
At Wine Lovers Enterprise, the company will assume an adoptive culture and focus on employees and accord them the most conducive environment and conditions to do their job. A favorable working environment will motivate employees and give a deeper purpose to their jobs (Fullan, 2001). The company will avail a combination of factors that will act in synergy to maximize an employee’s output.
The first cultural change that Wine Lovers Enterprise shall implement is bridging the gap between the employees and the company’s leaders. Employees will have the freedom to approach the management on any issue that they deem important. The relations between employees will be relaxed and more informal contacts will be encouraged as long as they do not violate any workplace regulations.
The culture to be adopted at Wine Lovers Enterprise will be guided by the following premises:
- The company will avail the best support and environment to the employees, and in return they are expected to give the best to the clients.
- Each employee is an expert in their respective area of specialization and as such, should act as an autonomous unit in the application of their abilities, in the best interest of the client and the company.
- Employees are to act with a high degree of integrity and morality. Honesty and rectitude will be demanded in the workplace. Employees shall be fully committed to their jobs and any factor that is likely to undermine their efficiency such as laxity and negligence will be addressed accordingly.
Employees who serve customers act as the point of contact between the company and the outsiders. The image that a company projects is determined by the quality of customer service given to the customers (Dyer, 1986). Employees handling customers will be expected to act with utmost professionalism. Customer complaints and concerns will be a major determining factor in the formulation of future strategies and policies.
Employees will be expected to act intelligently with minimum supervision from the leaders. It's assumed that each employee who managed to get hired at Wine Lovers Enterprise Company possesses the efficacy to execute their duties with perfection. The company shall not interfere or stand in the way of an innovative employee, but shall instead offer guidance in accordance to technical and other limitations involved.
The current structure offers no interaction between the leaders and employees. This has created an impersonal relationship across the two divides. The new policy will incorporate a fun day such as a sports day involving both the management and the employees. Each team in an event will comprise of members from both categories as opposed to the two categories playing against each other. This will create cohesion in the workplace and foster friendship needed to create the required family scenario that the company is trying to achieve.
The current organizational system is not friendly to change. A lot of mechanism and attitude adjustments will be made for changes to be effectively implemented. All employees at different categories should brace themselves for change. Change is inevitable and the Wine Lovers Enterprise must accept change or lose out in the long run. The normal employees must be more aggressive and assertive in their roles as they are the main agents of change. Managers must relax their hold on employees and give them more freedom to exercise their innovativeness and ideas for the benefit of the company.
References
Daft, R.L. (2012). The Leadership Experience. Chapter 4. (5th edition,). Cengage Learning, Mason, Ohio"
Dyer, W. G. (1986). Cultural change in family firms: Anticipating and managing business and family transitions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Harvard Business School. (2002). Harvard business review on culture and change. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School.
Ray, M. L., Rinzler, A., & World Business Academy. (1993). The new paradigm in business: Emerging strategies for leadership and organizational change. New York, NY: J.P. Tarcher/Perigee.
