What Problem of Motivation Did Archie Norman Discover at Asda? - Essay
1.What problem of motivation did Archie Norman discover at ASDA?
ASDA was one of the most successful retail businesses in the United Kingdom. It had a competitive advantage due to its unique superstore structure and its low price leadership in the market. Everything changed all of a sudden as ASDA found itself with demoralized employees, slow growth in sales, and declining profits in 1991 due to many years of lack of interest from previous managers. It had been a 1 billion pounds cash surplus supermarket chain in 1987, and by 1991 it had a debt of over 1 billion pounds. This was the situation that Archie Norman encountered at ASDA when appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The main reasons of the problems that ASDA and Archie Norman had to face were due to complex organizational inefficiencies. The employees had lost the ability to act independently and got used to be told what to do after many years of controlling management. ASDA had become a bureaucratic and hierarchical institution and as a direct result of this rigid functioning structure in the company any kind of innovation was stopped from being encouraged or implemented. Without any innovation ASDA was unable to keep its competitive advantages in the retail market in the United Kingdom. So ASDA and Archie Norman had to face the challenge of transforming the superstore in relation to its management style of doing things as well as implementing a sense of culture based on the core values of ASDA. Management and leadership had to change significantly in order to create a new productive and efficient organization.
2. What do you think Archie Norman should have done on his first day on the job?
Norman was clear about the fact that beyond the immediate financial crisis there were also dangerous threats of strategic, organizational and cultural nature that had to be faced as soon as possible. When he met on his first day at ASDA with the Management Team he told them right away that “incremental change is
ASDA was one of the most successful retail businesses in the United Kingdom. It had a competitive advantage due to its unique superstore structure and its low price leadership in the market. Everything changed all of a sudden as ASDA found itself with demoralized employees, slow growth in sales, and declining profits in 1991 due to many years of lack of interest from previous managers. It had been a 1 billion pounds cash surplus supermarket chain in 1987, and by 1991 it had a debt of over 1 billion pounds. This was the situation that Archie Norman encountered at ASDA when appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The main reasons of the problems that ASDA and Archie Norman had to face were due to complex organizational inefficiencies. The employees had lost the ability to act independently and got used to be told what to do after many years of controlling management. ASDA had become a bureaucratic and hierarchical institution and as a direct result of this rigid functioning structure in the company any kind of innovation was stopped from being encouraged or implemented. Without any innovation ASDA was unable to keep its competitive advantages in the retail market in the United Kingdom. So ASDA and Archie Norman had to face the challenge of transforming the superstore in relation to its management style of doing things as well as implementing a sense of culture based on the core values of ASDA. Management and leadership had to change significantly in order to create a new productive and efficient organization.
2. What do you think Archie Norman should have done on his first day on the job?
Norman was clear about the fact that beyond the immediate financial crisis there were also dangerous threats of strategic, organizational and cultural nature that had to be faced as soon as possible. When he met on his first day at ASDA with the Management Team he told them right away that “incremental change is