Introduction: Facts Surrounding the Case

Introduction: Facts Surrounding the Case

Ben & Jerry’s is a Burlington, Vermont based independent ice cream producer. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, formed in 1978 by two childhood friends, had minimal experience in ice cream making, and initially borrowed 4000.00 USD and made 8,000.00 USD of their savings. Ben & Jerry’s has been gradually gaining market share right from their launch as a simple ice cream scoop store and is nowadays recognized as one of the leading companies in both New York City and Boston in the super-premium ice cream industry (XXX).

Ben & Jerry’s has more than eighty Ice Cream scoop stores and delivers the goods across the whole United States in addition to its inclusion in the super-premium Ice Cream market against Häagen-Dazs (operated by Pillsbury), Glädjé Frusen (managed by Kraft), and Steve’s Ice Cream (centered in Boston). The offices of Ben & Jerry and its production plant in Burlington became identified with Vermont State. They have been the country’s second-biggest tourist destination drawing more than 600,000 tourists annually (XXX).

Originally, Ben & Jerry’s corporate culture was structured to be very distinctive from any other company culture across the US. The conviction that a company arises from its surrounding community is one fundamental to the culture of Ben & Jerry. Due to this connection, to accept the help, the organization must offer something to the local population. Ben & Jerry only use Vermont-based milk products as their dairy suppliers to benefit their local people and have significant involvement with charitable organizations. Ben and Jerry had provided and sold company stock by moving the door to local Vermonter when it came time to grow their company rather than through risk capitalist funds. XXX believes that finding fun at work is another aspect of Ben and Jerry’s organizational culture, with the sentiments of household and social responsibility.

Key Issues Identification

Starting with two acquaintances just having a great time making ice cream, Ben & Jerry has now grown into a company with more than 350 employees. From 1984 to 1988, net sales of Ben & Jerry rose from just over US$ 4 million to more than US$ 47 million during the five years. The total sales increase also led to a gross profit margin of nearly $14 million. Such rises in revenue and gross profit are the true way of thinking of the board of directors to be updated. Ben and Jerry also announced that they want a company that is not only enjoyable but also works as a family. Through their effort to achieve this strong impression of a household, they forgot to bring the father or mother figure to the structure of the family. A family relationship does not function correctly in the company if nobody is responsible as a parent (XXX).

The lack of a direct message from the company board to the rest of the organization was also an issue. For instance, each board member had a different organization’s view of what Ben & Jerry is, and should be when they were asked for their opinions. The group also had significant problems with how they interacted. The leaders could not think about the issues that prevailed in the board itself frankly and freely. This led the board to conclude that all concerns within the whole organization, and not just its sphere, have been found. (XXX). Most workers had duties that exceeded their working experience. Experts in their current professional roles were supervisors and managers, but the majority had no functional knowledge in either administration or leadership roles. There was a lack of coordination between the various departments leading to a persistent drop in finished goods and a sense of organizational crisis, long working hours, intense pressurization, and high stress.

Even though the case study author felt that most management was intelligent and also had a clear idea of what the business was going to operate, nothing appeared to agree. There was no coordination, much less between executives, the managing director, and the committee, across each department. Each of the participants has, in a certain sense, been used to function in a more participatory way. Although this is a great way to run little mothers and pop stores, the management style in a more prominent company will need to be changed (XXX).

Potential Courses of Action

The very first solution to be explored is Team Building, the method adopted by the case study author. Team building applies typically to a variety of scheduled projects that help individuals achieve their assignments. This also helps community leaders to develop problem-solving and interpersonal skills while boosting team success (XXX). The writer of the case study agreed to start the team building project by making senior executives go for an off-site retreat and take part in team-building activities. Many OD practitioners prefer to take advantage of team-building practices from below rather than from above. One of the reasons by the author was due to the leadership inexperience within the company, beginning at the middle top of the organization before resolving the lower end issues. Unfamiliar members may be more reluctant about embracing the types of ideas or developments that may arise from team building activities in the lower classes.

Another alternative solution, which may have potential, is a third-party intervention. Third-party involvement appears, as described by XXX, to concentrate on any dispute between two or more individuals. A simple dispute resolution may be another way to arrive at this strategy. The method may not be an ideal choice for a big group, since it seems to stand on one side, but is more appropriate for smaller units. The case study by Ben & Jerry shows that interference from third parties may have been a useful resource for settling inevitable conflicts between the board members.

There seems to be this dispute primarily between Cohen Ben, one of the pioneers of the company, and Chico Fred Lager, the general manager of Ben & Jerry (XXX). It appears that Mr. Lager and Mr. Cohen’s disagreements have become infamous. The root of the fighting seems to have been; when it came to managing the company, every person had different interests. Mr. Cohen, for instance, appeared to advocate for better content, smoother taste, higher, funkier ads, and marketing techniques. Mr. Lager seemed instead to be more cautious as he called for a rational approach, looked at costs and discretionary spending more carefully, and served as an intermediary when conflicts arose. Both appeared to be the independent thinkers for the company with the polarizing issue. Although both seemed to take often the right decisions, neither manager of the lower level knew who produced the solution (XXX). This could be due to the breakdown in communication between the two guys, together with the reality that no member of the board had effective communication abilities that enabled them to transfer their experience and knowledge to the lower management level. This phenomenon also disclosed that nobody or board opposes the transfer of jurisdiction to its portfolio managers.

The effects of an effective intervention strategy by a third party may encourage the board members to consider their disagreements and adjust their attitudes and actions positively. This may be the start of a strategy of mutual support to settle the conflict and to create an equitable balance of power between the entities in dispute. This will enable more interdisciplinary approaches to start the uses of free, transparent, and truthful interaction by determining the differences between the dissenting parties. In effect, this will encourage pressure and discomfort to become meaningful productivity. Besides, that will focus more on solving the issue than on bringing down and out fighting at any board meeting (Kern, 2016).

The large-scale intervention strategy may be an additional possible alternative solution. This strategy is an option for all members of the company to engage actively. In the field of organizational growth, organization’s transformation, renovation, planning and management, strategy, clarifying beliefs and attitudes, enhanced processes, consumer/distributor relationships, global professional development, and the establishment of strategic partnerships, the large group initiatives have been successful (XXX). The benefits of this approach are that the overall vision is created by the participation of the organization as a whole, which creates the real capacity in the organization. Since it is community teamwork in its entirety, people feel and are responsible for the entire activities of the organization. The need for reform is unilateral, and the process is controlled independently. Furthermore, since the plan is formulated and conveyed in real-time, workers are not able to meet the priorities of the organization. However, Large-Group Intervention promotes contact between members of the entire company (XXX).

A large-group intervention puts together other representatives of the company at a place within the workplace. As pointed out by XXX, large-group interventions will continue for days as members cooperate to identify and address issues around the company. This is an equally perfect time for stakeholders to develop new strategies for organizational structure and leadership and formulate potential recommendations for the company (XXX). Furthermore, since each product created in a large-scale operation will receive the commitment of the company as a whole, it meets the demand of Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen that each employee feels part of a family.

Evaluation of Alternative Courses of Action

Organization planning approaches may be used as a way of enhancing the efficiency, procedures, problems, and objectives of an institution. The company planning professional would need first to create a strategy that would resolve the issues between the founders and leadership. XXX found that one of the leading challenges facing organizations, particularly senior members, is to persuade them that they need education and training (XXX). The OD practitioner must persuade managers and owners of why the organization needs to establish leadership and introduce the intercultural innovation. In tandem with a professional development approach, the implementation of an interpersonal intervention will allow all teams to work together towards a shared mission and objective while finding ways to solve their conflicts. Leadership learning will help management evaluate itself in issues with management skills deficiencies. The management and founders were then able to think about integrating and harmonizing the policies and philosophy of the organization to get all the same goals and mission.

Once the issues between the two groups are resolved, the next step would be to develop a clear communication path and work on coordination issues. This would allow for tasks to be completed promptly to ensure that productivity goals are met. Tasks also needed to be coordinated so that way management and employees are aware of who was doing what within the company so there would not be any pointing of fingers and management knew who they needed to speak to regarding uncompleted tasks. The quality check should be done to ensure that tasks are appropriately completed rather than no one taking responsibility for the tasks that they were assigned.

At this point, the founders and management of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream should have issues regarding the organization’s culture, business strategies, conflict, and goals resolved. The OD practitioner can then introduce the team building activities. This would allow management and employees to get together to build a relationship of trust and confidence. This will, in turn, create an environment where communication can be open.

Recommendations

The first suggestion would be to make sure that the board completely supports any planned program. The creator of the case study penned that some duties of the board, which the executives were to turn over, were still not fulfilled. Several board members tend to have trouble letting go. Any improvements suggested by the board must be completely committed. It must also be the organization that expresses to the rest of the company its dedication. If the board chooses to make any statements, the workers do not take the suggestions on board. Other than planned change failures, “buy-in” without this individual will also be much more likely to make some change (XXX).

The second suggestion is valid as the case study author has done-Team Building for management workers. I should also seek at the same time to introduce an action of the conflict only with the leaders of the board. And both parties solve their problems while using different methods. One is that we resolve the dispute between the board members and two. Rather than being the subject matter specialist, executives are trained to be leaders. Besides, the two groups will be better capable of communicating with each other, contributing to increased contact among every group. The management is thus in communication with the administrators, and the supervisors are in touch with the management. The ultimate proposal will be a large-group involvement by all of Ben & Jerry. The only caution is that large-group initiatives can and do include incorporating different strategies such as open systems analysis, active involvement, social engagement, and self-management and self-awareness. Ben & Jerry will be able to solve some of their existing administrative challenges before they face significant issues as a sizeable organizational group.