Reference no: EM133203793 , Length: 4 pages.

Assignment: Organizational Behavior

Section 1: Case Study

Case Study: A culture of fear at Mission Bean

England's fastest growing canned artisanal coffee manufacturer, Mission Bean, has parachuted in a woman to become the first ever chair of its board as it tries to draw a line under allegations of a 'culture of fear' at the firm. The firm appointed Jacqui O'Neill, managing director of MMS Consumer Capital, which has a stake in the business, and a board director since 2018.

In an internal email to staff addressing allegations of 'sexism, harassment, bullying, and even physical violence', Mission Bean co-founder Matthew Yates said: 'We have appointed Jacqui O'Neill as our first ever chairperson to lead our board. We are delighted that Jacqui will lead our business at board level. This is effective immediately.' In the same email, Yates apologised to former employees who accused the company and its co-founders of fostering an organisational culture in which workers were ‘treated like objects'.

In an open letter circulated on Twitter, 58 former workers alleged that the company's rapid growth had involved cutting corners on health and safety, espousing values it did not live by, controversial and provocative media stunts, and creating a macho culture that left staff suffering from stress and resulting in increased absence.

‘Growth, at all costs, has always been perceived as the number one focus for the company,' the letter alleges. ‘Being treated like a human being was sadly not always a given for those working at Mission Bean.'

The co-founders, Matthew Yates and Dan Apsley, were school friends, who prided themselves on challenging traditional societal beliefs. They built the business from personal savings and part time work while at university. There had been a team of just seven people for the first five years, until Mission Bean secured their first supply contract with a national supermarket chain. The last five years had seen rapid growth, with a global corporate customer base, a UK-wide footprint of six speciality cafes, and an E-commerce business.

The staff team expanded to nearly 210 people, with more than 150 at the factory's main site in Manchester.

In Jacqui's first month, she brought in Fatima Patel - a mediation coach and psychologist - to assist in undertaking 1:1 conversations with senior managers and to plan for several group consultations, with the intention to involve all staff and even former employees.

Fatima's first task was to read through some of the notes taken from exit interviews and staff grievances conducted by the head of HR, Joyce Omfo-Parry, who had recently resigned after taking three months absence due to stress. There were rumours of a possible constructive dismissal case that Joyce might bring against Matthew and Dan - Dan in particular. Joyce had been careful to anonymise the notes, but some of the incidents were so specific that it was hard not to deduce who might have been involved in these situations.

There were several incidents about ‘induction practices' and pranks targeted at new hires, circulating inappropriate or embarrassing photos or videos via WhatsApp. There were reports about ‘cloakroom banter' style comments about some of the women who worked at the company, and other comments about the lifestyles, appearance, family, or cultures of minority ethnic British staff, and ‘Brexit banter' towards staff from Poland, Ireland, and Hungary.

Jacqui and Fatima planned to conduct 1:1 conversations with six members of the management team, whom they also hoped would participate in a mediated dialogue session:

Matthew ‘Matty' Yates - Mission Bean Co-founder
Dan Apsley - Mission Bean Co-founder
Perminder Singh - acting Chief Financial Officer
FinbarO'Dwyer - Health &SafetyManager
Joyce Omfo-Parry - former Head of HR
Karmen Nagy - Marketing Manager

The first meeting was with Joyce. A veteran of the beverages industry, and with nearly 15 years in senior HR roles, Joyce had been headhunted by Matty, and offered an attractive salary package. But within six months Joyce had left, and it was assumed she would not be replaced.

In the first few days, a conflict had arisen between Joyce and Dan when two members of the warehouse team told Joyce that Dan and Matty would give staff ‘on the spot' pay rises of £1,000 during the peak shipping periods to those who could load the pallets of canned coffee onto distribution trucks the quickest. What began as harmless fun and some motivation to work quickly had become dangerously competitive. An example was warehouse operative pushed a colleague out of the forklift truck they were manoeuvring. On another occasion, three warehouse staff were locked in a storeroom so that they could not loads the trucks. The two female staff members in the warehouse were told they were excluded from playing at all because they'd ‘just end up crying'. One operative was now on a salary 25% higher than the rest of theircolleagues.

When Joyce raised this issue with Dan and Matty, they blamed her for the dissatisfaction, saying that she had encouraged the warehouse staff to claim that the ‘game' they had all signed up for was unfair. Undeterred by this conflict, Joyce asked to have a conversation with Dan and Matty about organisational structure, performance, and rewards systems.

Mission Bean had grown from 10 staff to more than 200 in less than five years, but the structure was out of date and no longer fit for purpose. While the firm had distinct functions, these had not been formalised into an appropriate organisational structure. Some managers were not sure if they had line management responsibility for their staff, and Matty and Dan would frequently involve themselves in workforce issues. Joyce had wanted to use her expertise to advise on appropriate performance and reward systems rather than the ad hoc and inconsistent practices that no longer worked. Unable to make any difference at a structural or personal level, and feeling undermined by the denied access to information, consultation, or resources, she went off sick before resigning.

The next meeting was with FinbarO'Dwyer. Another industry veteran, Finbar had worked in coffee roasting for 20 years and had been with Mission Bean for the last three years. In that time, Matty and Dan had not provided any funding or support for health and safety training or compliance. Two serious incidents that happened before Finbar arrived were not reported to the Health and Safety Executive, despite a legal obligation to do so. Finbar had taken on the training responsibility despite not being qualified to do so. Things are worse now than they've ever been, he told Fatima. There were not enough health and safety skills and qualifications to go around, with a culture of the blind leading theblind.

"I've seen loads of small operations started up by artisan roasters and young guys making a business out of their hobby, just like Matty and Dan. Competition is fierce, and health and safety is the last thing on their minds - they just plough on, thinking they'll get away with it. I'm all for their enthusiasm but the bottom line is, you have to produce your product safely."

When Fatima met Perminder, her first question was why he was still ‘acting' CFO after nearly 18 months in the post. Perminder replied that despite being in post and successfully performing the role, Matty did not think Perminder was suitably qualified or experienced to be formally appointed. Nor did Matty think this an issue, despite Joyce and Perminder suggesting otherwise. This was one of several ways that Perminder was made to feel ‘not quite' part of the management team. He had experienced gossip and inuendo because he refused to go to nightclubs for ‘team building', despite being one of a sizeable number of male and female colleagues across all age groups within Mission Bean to decline. Dan repeatedly reminded Perminder of what he thought were past errors or mistakes, such as when Perminder had challenged financial information being leaked to the press intended to boost investor interest. He also cited an incident at a managers' meeting on inclusion and psychological safety that Joyce had organised. Dan said that they needed to stop making excuses and ‘integrate better'. Perminder claimed the co-founders showed no interest in addressing the issues and their part in it.

The final person Fatima met was Karmen. Originally from Hungary, she had joined Mission Bean as a marketing intern two years ago. When the previous marketing manager had left, Karmen was appointed to the role, which had caused upset with older, more experienced, and more senior staff in the marketing team. Despite this, Karmen had invested heavily in building strong relationships with her team, asking one colleague to mentor her in the role. Her management style was different to others at the firm - she took a more facilitative and collaborative approach, acknowledging the contributions of the whole team. Fatima heard that Karmen was becoming more respected by her marketing colleagues, she worked hard, with long hours, and was not afraid to admit to being out of her depth. Where Karmen lacked confidence and effectiveness was in managing the expectations and demands from Dan and Matty. They frequently established unrealistic timelines for marketing campaigns and stunts, frequently shortening deadlines and extending the scope of campaigns and fixed budgets.

Much of the creative work was done by external agencies, but Karmen discovered that Matty would often call the account directors himself, overruling Karmen's instructions, or changing plans, without involving Karmen or anyone else in the marketing team in the process. She was constantly playing catch up each morning as to what Matty had agreed the night before. She was exhausted, confused, and becoming short tempered.

Dan and Matty declined to meet Fatima, saying they fully supported the work Jacqui had sanctioned and looked forward to the recommendations, which they were committed to acting on.

Task

I. Using your understanding of OB concepts and theories, what are the four or five key people issues affecting MissionBean?

II. What immediate and short-term recommendations should Fatima Patel make to Jacqui O'Neill in response to issues identified above? Discuss your proposals with reference to relevant OB theories andconcepts.

Section 2: Essay

Task

I. Your organisation has just completed a downsizing and de-layering exercise and is now ready to begin changing the way that the work is organisedthrough the use of teams. Your boss is an experienced team leader but has not been involved with teams that are self- directed in nature. What would you advise your boss about the differences between traditional teams and self-directed ones and how the latter would be more effective?

II. Explain your understanding of content theories of motivation. What implications do these theories of motivation have for managers?