Kellogg’s: A case study Introduction W.K. Kellogg and his brother, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, founded Kellogg’s in 1898. In 1906, he opened the “Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company” and recruited his first 44 employees. The company prospered, and in 1924, Kellogg has established the Kellogg Company of Great Britain. By the 1950s, the US Company had begun to develop cereals appealing to younger tastes. Kellogg embraced every opportunity to make a difference in peoples’ lives and was motivated by to help people improve their health. The company is the world’s leading producer of cereals and a market leader in health and nutrition. Kellogg’s was one of the first companies to print nutrition labels on its packaging and, in 2007, was amongst the first companies to print Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) on its products to inform the public about the food they are eating. Kellogg’s employs over 31,000 people worldwide. Its products are manufactured in18 countries and sold in over 180 countries. Kellogg’s has 37% market share of the value of the UK’s breakfast cereal market. Today, Kelloggs has a true global market. It has four main divisions covering North America, South & Central America, Asia Pacific, and finally Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The European Headquarters is in the UK, which along with Ireland has the highest per capita consumption in the world. Recruitment and selection of employees (Kellogg’s Global Employer Brand) Human Resource Management (HRM) at Kellogg’s is concerned with organizing and looking after people in the workplace. On a day-to-day basis this includes recruitment, selection, training and development and assessing staff performance. An important part of HRM is workforce planning. This involves getting the right people in the right place at the right time. It also involves identifying the numbers of people required to enable the business to operate at full efficiency. These people need to have the right skills to do the job. Part of workforce planning therefore involves planning development opportunities. Development increases the skills of the current workforce. Kellogg’s invests heavily in its employees and future employees. Kellogg’s global employer brand communicates the K-Values and the wide range of benefits that Kellogg’s employees receive. Kellogg’s refreshed company vision and purpose were a direct result of feedback from employees. A company’s vision and values must be ‘lived’ by its employees for them to incorporate them into their decisions and actions. Kellogg’s seeks to manage its employer brand in the same way that it manages its product brands. Just as the company uses market research to identify what its consumers want, it uses employee research to find out the needs and opinions of its employees through, for example, an employee survey. The 2012 survey involved 20,000 employees across the globe (with a 75% response rate). This information used to improve processes to engage employees. For example, employees requested to be able to communicate more openly. Accordingly, Kellogg’s has created a feedback-training program for all employees. In keeping with Kellogg’s K-Values, employees are encouraged to listen to and learn from each other. There are a range of ways that employees interact with each other, these include: 1-Monthly business huddles - the leadership team talks to the whole UK business about performance against business goals, employee development initiatives and new marketing campaigns. 2-Kellogg’s global intranet enables communication between employees across the globe, as well as celebrating employee achievements. 3-Quarterly team talk webcasts - global and European leaders talk to employees across Europe about the performance of the business via a webcast. The purpose of Kellogg’s HRM is to hire, train and develop staff and where necessary to discipline or dismiss them. Through effective training and development, employees at Kellogg’s achieve promotion within the company and reach their full potential. Kellogg’s HRM function not only manages existing staff, it also plans for changes that will affect its future staffing needs. For example: • The business may grow into new markets. • It may use new technology, which requires new skills. • Staff may retire or be promoted leaving gaps which need to be filled. • There may also be external changes in the labor market, meaning that there will be fewer skills available or too many in a particular area. Recruitment Kellogg’s has dedicated recruitment website to promote company to potential new recruits. The site also shows recent achievements and awards. Other communication channels include Face book, Twitter and LinkedIn sites, all showing current employment opportunities. Its graduate recruitment program involves mainly oral communication. Kellogg’s online recruitment process is an important part of its strategy. This improves the speed and efficiency of the application for both the company and the applicant. The website provides a registration function and lists available jobs. It also provides a lot of information about the Management Trainee role and the company culture and values. This allows applicants to get a good idea of whether Kellogg’s would suit them. New recruits can enter the business in different ways. Kellogg’s advertises its vacancies and opportunities across a wide range of media. This includes media such as newspapers, magazines and online. Selection Kellogg’s ensures to follow a selection process to identify the best candidate for the role in question. They look after candidates that have the correct set of skills and competencies required by the business. They seek competencies in its recruits both for an immediate job role and also for development over the longer term to support the business growth. HR managers often use standard documentation in order to match job roles with personal qualities and skills. These include: • The Job description and Person specification When recruiting new employees Kellogg’s sets out its skills requirements in two key documents. Together the person specification and the job description should contain enough information to attract appropriate people. Candidates are able to match their own skills and qualifications to what is specified. These documents also act as a checking device for the business, enabling recruiters to make sure which applicants with the right skills chosen for interview. A person specification highlights the characteristics a candidate needs for a post, as well as the desirable qualities the company is looking for. Kellogg’s selection process offers candidates several opportunities to show their best in different situations: • To screen candidates, Kellogg’s recruitment managers compare the online application forms (which reflect candidates CVs) to the skills and competencies the role needs. • Candidates then have an initial face-to-face interview with recruitment manager. Followed by an interview. From this, selected candidates are invited to an assessment day. • The assessment day is a standard part of recruitment process. Candidates take part in practical exercises, including role-play, as well as individual and group activities. Role-play is a valuable way of testing core skills like communication and customer service. Kellogg’s then assesses candidates performance by different methods and in different work related tasks. This makes the selection process fairer. Areas tested include customer service skills, flexibility, sales aptitude, work ethic, leadership and teamwork. The assessment day ends with another interview with a senior manager in order to make the final selection. • Different selection process parts help to identify qualities Kellogg’s looks for. For example: Kellogg’s offers a diverse range of career opportunities. They understand that employability is at the heart of an economically prosperous and vibrant society. The company actively engages with its communities by delivering a number of educational and vocational programs. These programs are aimed at improving the employability of young people and providing potential workforce talent. Building a better workplace through motivation People spend a considerable part of their lives at work, so it is not surprising that they expect to be rewarded and satisfied with the job that they do. Motivation is concerned with why people do things as well as what drives them to behave in a particular way. Understanding what motivates individuals is important in the workplace. Research suggests that motivated employees are happier at work. They get more satisfaction from their work, are absent less often, tend to be more loyal and work with more enthusiasm. This in turn encourages them to contribute more to the development of an organization. Kelloggs motivates its people using various motivational techniques that help to develop the business as a great place to work. Within Kelloggs, there is a variety of functions and work roles. These include engineering operatives in the manufacturing section. Others work in finance, marketing, sales, information technology or human resources. Keeping everybody motivated no matter what his or her role is not easy. Kelloggs was recently placed in the top 100 of the Best Companies to Work for list in the Sunday Times Values and motivation at Kellogg’s Kelloggs values and culture support its role as a good employer. Encouraging everyone to live by the K-Values throughout the whole business creates a culture of people that have ownership over their own projects and strive for continuous improvement and industry-leading results. These values influence the behavior of individuals within the workplace, making Kelloggs a positive place to work. Employees are encouraged to speak positively about each other when apart, focusing on their strengths. This involves listening to others and accepting their right to their own views regarding the workplace. The benefits of Kelloggs investing in people can best be illustrated by looking at the work of some of the theorists who have worked on motivation. Kelloggs commitment is to create a great place to work and is supported by these theories. Taylor Frederick Taylor was associated with what has become known as scientific management. Taylor believed that monetary reward was an important motivating factor. Pay could simply be used to increase rates of output. Taylor’s view of motivation applies to people who tend to work within narrow job confines such as on a production line. These are people who can be paid according to the amount of work that they do or units they produce. This is known as piece work. For many people pay is still a prime motivator. For example, within Kelloggs many employees are motivated by cash alternatives which include the opportunity to buy and sell their holiday days. Taylors theory breaks down jobs into components or specialist tasks through the division of labor. This especially applies to production processes within large companies like Kelloggs. These rewards can help to increase productivity and profitability. The danger with this is that individuals are simply focused on output to get rewards so quality might suffer as a result of employees rushing to do the job. Limitations of scientific management Scientific management is not a process that allows development of people. It limits their ability to take ownership of what they do. Kelloggs staff is encouraged to be creative and use their imagination to contribute towards change. Consequently, Taylors view of monetary reward for output is not appropriate for the motivation required for this type of workplace. Maslow Maslows theory relates motivation to a hierarchy of needs. At the bottom are essential physiological needs such as air, food, shelter and clothing. As individuals satisfy one level of need, their motivations change as they aspire to reach the higher order needs. Therefore, to motivate an individual Maslow suggests that it is necessary to know where within the hierarchy each employee is placed so that these factors can be taken into account. Within Kelloggs every employee is motivated to work through each of these levels. As they do so, this provides positive effects for each employee and the organization. For example: • Physiological needs – Kelloggs offers competitive salaries. This gives people the means to acquire the basic needs for living. The Kelloggs Corn flex flexible benefits program allows employees to choose those benefits that suit them. This includes childcare vouchers, cash alternatives to company cars and discounted life assurance schemes. These savings and competitive salaries help workers pay go further and so motivate them to be loyal to the company. • Safety needs – Kelloggs values the safety of all employees. The company is committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment to prevent accidents. Employees are however accountable - that means they have to take responsibility for observing the health and safety rules and practices. Kelloggs also offers employees a range of working patterns. Some may want to work part-time, others may want career breaks or undertake home working. This helps employees to choose the best option for a healthy work-life balance. • Social needs – These are associated with a feeling of belonging. Kellogg’s operates weekly group huddles. These provide informal opportunities for employees to receive and request information on any part of the business, including sales data and company products. This helps strengthen teams and enhances workers sense of belonging. Having an open approach to communication keeps everybody focused on the company’s aims helps individuals contribute to the companys K-Values. They include values such as being positive, seeing the best in people and recognizing diversity. Kelloggs positively recognizes and rewards staff achievements. • Self-actualization – Kelloggs provides employees with the opportunity to take on challenging and stimulating responsibilities. For example, the business provides the opportunity for individuals to take ownership of projects. This enables them to develop and improve. Laura Bryant joined Kelloggs straight after university in 2002. She joined the Field Sales team initially. This involved visiting five to ten supermarkets a day to develop relationships at a local level. After two years her hard work was rewarded and she was promoted to Customer Marketing Manager at Head Office. This helped to raise her profile, as she wanted to move into marketing. With support from her manager, Laura made the transition from Sales to Marketing as Assistant Brand Manager on Rice Krispies and Frosties. In 2009, she was promoted again to manage the marketing plan for Special K and she is now Brand Manager for Kelloggs Cornflakes. The company has helped motivate her to climb the hierarchy of needs and achieve her career ambitions. Mayo Elton Mayo was the founder of the Human Relations Movement. His experiments were conducted at the Hawthorne plant in the USA during the 1930s. His work showed that taking an interest in and caring for employees can have a positive effect on employee motivation and productivity. He showed that employees were best motivated if they worked in teams. They were also motivated if managers communicated and consulted with them more and took a greater interest in their views and wellbeing. Herzberg Herzberg felt that satisfied employees would be productive employees. Herzbergs theory sometimes called the two-factor theory. These factors are hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors are often referred to as dissatisfiers. These are elements in the workplace that could make employees unhappy, such as excessive company bureaucracy or an autocratic working environment. Herzberg motivators (sometimes called satisfiers) are aspects of any workplace that give individuals job satisfaction. These include, for example, the level of responsibility of the job, promotion or recognition for effort and performance. Herzberg believed that businesses needed to ensure hygiene factors were minimized in order to enable motivators to have their full effect. Kellogg’s motivating factors Kelloggs has developed a number of motivating factors. These are designed to ensure that Kellogg’s is perceived as a good place to work and a desirable employer of choice. For example, Kelloggs has a Fit for Life program offering employees access to fitness centers, free health checks and annual fitness assessments by healthcare specialists every spring. It also provides a summer hours program from May to September so if employees have worked a full weeks hours by noon on a Friday, they can finish work at that point. This means employees can adjust their working hours to balance their work against family or lifestyle commitments. Awareness of motivating factors helps Kelloggs to build a business that delivers consistently strong results. Other initiatives within the organization include: 1. Flexitime, home working, part-time working and job sharing 2. Career breaks, parental leave, time off for dependents and maternity / paternity leave 3. On-site gyms or subsidized access to local facilities Claire Duckworth works in the Consumer Insight team at Kelloggs. She takes part in Latin American ballroom dancing competitively with her partner. They are ranked 7th in England in the over-35 category. Flexible working at Kelloggs enables her to travel to events and provides her with the opportunity to pursue her hobby at a serious level. This opportunity to adjust her working life to accommodate her personal ambitions makes Claire feel respected and supported. Motivators within the Kelloggs company reflect the different personal aspirations of staff. The working environment provides the opportunity to move forward and take on responsibilities. There is clear recognition and reward for performance. For example, the Kelloggs sales team meets every Friday morning to share success stories of the week. Once a month it recognizes individuals that have worked beyond the K-Values. Winners receive a range of awards ranging from cash prizes, vouchers or holiday entitlements. Kellogg’s communication strategies The outside world, the process is best revealed through the Shannon-Weaver model (1947). People working within Kellogg’s try to reduce all the barriers or noise to make sure they communicate clearly. Although a message flows from the sender to receivers, there is no guarantee the receivers will either get or even understand it. This is because the process may involve communication difficulties. These problems are known as noise and they may weaken or destroy the message that is being sent. For example, noise would occur if a message was hard to understand or used badly chosen language. The role of employees at Kellogg’s is to take it forward and put it into action. It is through helpful contact, both internally and externally, that this is able to happen. Communications are at the very heart of all Kellogg’s business activities. So it is essential that people in a company assess such practices to ensure they are working well. Effective communications help to create a direction and basis for everyones activities. According to the communication theorist Wilbur Schramm (1955), communication is the process of establishing a commonness or oneness of thought between a sender and a receiver. In other words, it helps employees to work towards the same goals, giving them a similar direction and purpose. In doing so, effective communications help to create a direction and basis for everyones activities. Devising a communications plan Kellogg’s ensures to get and effective communication and that the message has been not only received but also clearly understood. This is relevant whether the communication is internal or external. This involves selecting an appropriate format or channel to deliver the message. Examples of media that may be used include a leaflet, a television advert and a personal letter. The feedback part of the process is vital, as this is how the sender knows if the message has been received correctly. For the message to be effective, barriers to communication (noise) need to be eliminated or reduced. For example, noise might include using language or jargon that the receiver will not understand or using a channel such as email or the internet when the receiver does not have a computer. Tailoring the message Kellogg’s communications plan uses the same principles of tailoring the message and the delivery channel for a target audience. A communications plan also sets out the overall objectives to be achieved and the means by which these will be measured. Businesses engage in both internal and external communication. Internal communication may involve transmitting messages to shareholders, senior managers and employees. Communication externally may be to a range of stakeholders including customers, suppliers, the media, government or the wider public. In each case, the nature of the message and the format used may be tailored to suit the audience. An effective internal communications plan can help to give clear direction within the organization and improve employee motivation. Externally, it can even change public opinion. Kelloggs keeps a two-way dialogue with employees through its communication programs. This helps to empower the workforce. For example, its open-plan lobby area with coffee bar accommodates as many as 200 people. It provides an informal venue for briefings and presentations. The WK Kellogg Values Awards program provides special recognition for what employees do and rewards them for how they perform. ‘Here at Kelloggs listening is a central premise of the way we work. We believe that our employees have some of the best ideas and that a successful company is one that listens to the grass roots feedback and acts on it. Any employee can raise an issue or a suggestion via their rep who will raise it at one of their monthly meetings.’ (Sue Platt, HR Director) Generating ideas at Kellogg’s The Kelloggs suggestion box scheme helps to generate ideas and improve productivity. Kelloggs has an initiative called Snap, Crackle and Save’ - an employee suggestion scheme to save costs within the supply chain. Hundreds of ideas have been put forward over the last couple of years. One idea suggested that the same thickness of cardboard could be used for packaging in all manufacturing plants in Europe. This saved around £250,000 per year. Kelloggs also shows its commitment to making its business a great place to work. It provides personal development planning for employees, which includes provisions such as secondments and study leave as part of staff development. This reinforces staff commitment and their sense of being treated well. Internal communication Kellogg’s uses a variety of internal communication methods to secure an efficient and effective: • Giving of information • Gathering of information • Transferring of information • Clarifying issues and points • Influencing action Internal communication takes place between employees within an organization, external communication occurs between those within the company and those in the outside world. There are many forms of internal communication. For example: 1- Workshops help people to become involved 2- Project groups at Kellogg’s look at issues and help to put policy into action 3- A key way in which Kellogg’s communicates internally is through its in-house magazine which is distributed to everybody working for Kellogg. The magazine includes articles on issues such as getting the balance of food and exercise right. It also highlights the work that Kelloggs has undertaken within sport and the community. To encourage its employees to do more walking, Kelloggs supplied each of its staff with a pedometer. Such activities have helped Kelloggs employees to understand the business objectives and why the business has created them. It also shows clearly what it has done to achieve them. These magazines also highlight a range of challenges and issues for staff. These include details about their new headquarters, facts about equal pay issues for Kellogg’s members and other news within the organization. 4- Some communications may be carried out by the use of e-mail, posters, staff briefings, documents or meetings. More information is on the intranet, which can only be accessed by staff and members. Internal stakeholders Internal stakeholders are those within an organization who have a key interest in the organization’s decisions. Kellogg’s key internal stakeholders include employees at all levels, all over the world, and shareholders. Both groups are integral to the success of the organization. Employees carry out the day-to-day activities, which enable the company to operate globally. Shareholders invest the capital that makes this possible. Kellogg’s seeks to make a profit to secure high returns for its shareholders. Shareholders invest money into the business in return for a stake in the company. If the company makes a profit, its shareholders receive a share of these profits in the form of dividends. At the same time shareholders take a keen interest in the company’s strategies and seek to influence decision making to safeguard their investment. As internal stakeholders, Kellogg’s put much effort to ensure an effective communication between them. The 2012 survey involved 20,000 employees across the globe (with a 75% response rate). This information was used to improve processes to engage employees. For example, employees requested to be able to communicate more openly so Kellogg’s created a feedback training program for all employees. In keeping with Kellogg’s K-Values, employees are encouraged to listen to and learn from each other. There are a range of ways that employees interact with each other, these include: A. Monthly business huddles - the leadership team talks to the whole UK business about performance against business goals, employee development initiatives and new marketing campaigns. B. Kellogg’s global intranet enables communication between employees across the globe, as well as celebrating employee achievements. C. Quarterly team talk webcasts - global and European leaders talk to employees across Europe about the performance of the business via a webcast. External stakeholders External stakeholders are ones who are outside of the organization. Kellogg’s key external stakeholders include customers, suppliers, communities and charities. Kellogg’s uses a variety of communications approaches to engage with its different external stakeholders. For example, regular case studies in The Times 100 help the company to engage with young people through educational materials that help to explain the values and goals of the organization. Kellogg’s engages with communities through its breakfast clubs. Independent research shows that children who have breakfast at the start of the day are able to concentrate for longer by maintaining their energy at school. Kellogg’s therefore supports, through donations of cereals and money, breakfast clubs in schools across the UK to make sure that all children have a healthy and nutritious breakfast. Kellogg’s strategies to overcome barriers to communication Kellogg’s seeks to eliminate barriers to its communication through its well thought-out communication strategies. Internally, The Hub reduced barriers to communication as it created one central point of access to announcements and information regarding the acquisition for all Kellogg’s employees. Through encouraging interaction and discussions on The Hub, the number Kellogg’s continually monitors the effectiveness of its communication strategies. It uses monthly telephone consumer satisfaction surveys. These allow Kellogg’s to rank branches based on the percentage of customers who were ‘completely satisfied’ with their last rental experience. These rankings of locations help to determine the rewards and advancement of employees. It also analyses the impact of press cuttings from mass media coverage to keep up-to-date with how the company brand is perceived and monitors social media activity talking about its brand. These all indicate how feedback enables effective communication to be practiced at Kellogg’s. Benefits of effective communication At Kellogg’s effective communication helped the company to give: 1. A direction for those involved in a dispute or issue 2. An understanding to the varying groups of what these issues involve 3. Help and support for those who need it 4. The ability to change opinion about a dispute in a way that leads to it being resolved 5. Company brand values and culture 6. Information to customers or potential customers about the company and its services 7. Communicating company news, procedures and processes to employees. 8. Awareness of the career opportunities available at Kellogg’s In relation to Working with Others the competency framework is set out follows: This framework is used as part of ongoing performance reviews to measure how well a person is performing in a particular job. The competencies are set at three levels according to the level of responsibility an individual has. This is illustrated by taking the example of the different levels an employee will achieve for Customer Focus. Kellogg’s management styles and leadership Kellogg’s employs more than 31000 employees. Kellogg’s four key business objectives: • Customer satisfaction • K-value • Employee development • Profitability These four business objectives link together. This leads to growth of the business and greater use for a range of management and leadership styles by Kellogg’s managers to support Kellogg’s attainment of these objectives. Kellogg’s adopts different management style to support the variety of job roles to ensure success. Managers at Kellogg’s work in different ways to achieve many diverse and often specific objectives. The managers in the higher levels have more seniority than those further down. Henri Fayol, an early theorist, said that management had the following elements: • Planning – looking ahead, consulting with others, setting objectives for staff • Organizing – arranging people and things so that objectives can be achieved • Commanding – giving instructions to workers • Coordinating – bringing activities together into a common approach • Controlling – measuring what is happening and adjusting activities to achieve goals The skills and aptitudes of Kellogg’s employees must be appropriate for their job roles at every level: • Technical and scientific skills are needed to manage equipment and processes • Human skills are needed in managing staff • Practical skills are needed in production operations, mechanical installation, plants marketing, maintenance and instrumentation and control systems Management styles Managers are human and they do not always operate according to set principles. Every manager has objectives to achieve. They must answer for the success or failure of his or her area of work. Kellogg’s out to supply its products with people of high skills and aptitudes. Managers can only achieve their objectives through their staff. As Fayol suggested, managers will need to instruct workers and organize resources to ensure objectives are met. It is therefore important that employees are well managed. Management involves control and organization to get something done. At Kellogg’s and in the course of business, managers use many different skills. They: • Plan and organize people and resources • Set and monitor budgets • Control operations or services in order to meet customers needs. The ability to manage is essential at all levels in the organization Kellogg’s adopts many different management styles that influence communication with employees. For example, Kellogg’s operates an open door policy. This enables everybody within the organization to have direct contact with senior managers. This might be through meetings or having lunch in the same dining area. This shows an informal style and a lack of hierarchy. Kellogg’s leaders put a high value on teamwork and open communication between employees at all levels. Kellogg’s employs motivated individuals with the potential to become good leaders. Managers at Kellogg’s choose their own preferred management style to fit the circumstances. Some prefer an autocratic style while others prefer a democratic style to help their team to discover solutions to problems for themselves. When recruiting, Kellogg’s looks for leadership qualities in candidates. It considers leadership to be a core competence. It recognizes that the skills and capabilities to lead others are essential for business growth. Recruits learn how to run parts of the business. Since the focus is on making decisions that improve customer service, general managers are empowered to make decisions covering a region. Kellogg’s brand managers have the authority to deliver good customer service locally. Each brand operates like a small business. Kellogg’s brand managers make decisions that support the needs of their customers. Front-line management trainees are encouraged to use the best management style to suit different customers. Autocratic style Autocratic management is where decisions are made at a higher level without consultation or input from below. An autocratic manager decides what is best and instructs others. In Kellogg’s industry, an autocratic style of management is sometimes necessary. This occurs especially when matters of safety and health are concerned. In order to deliver good customer service, managers instruct all staff to follow Kellogg’s guidelines for dealing with customers. However, Kellogg’s needs its employees to use their skills to deliver high levels of customer service. This means an autocratic management style is inappropriate in daily routines. A brand manager sets the standards for the team but encourages team members to be flexible and responsive to each customer. This ensures that customers get the service they expect. However, there are many examples of autocratic style in use at Kellogg’s. These relate to issues which affect the whole organization or which are central to the business. For example: • Andy Taylor insisted all branches use the customer satisfaction measure, because it met the business objective. In order to gain commitment to using the process, employees had the prospect of promotion when they achieved high scores. This was a big motivator for staff. • European operations at Kellogg’s decided on the company’s diversity program, employees were clear that this decision was compulsory and not an option. Democratic style Democratic management on the other hand tries to involve employees to find out their opinions before reaching a decision. Certain matters can be decided through discussion and consultation. As an example, there may be a complex decision to be made about shutting down a piece of equipment and the effect of this on other production systems. Here, a top down approach would be unwise. This is because other members of the team might have ideas - or specific information - that will assist in getting to the right decision. This ensures its work continues to be aligned to the changing or emerging needs of the workplace. In this, Kellogg’s uses a proactive democratic style by providing current and relevant information about the Kellogg’s work. It then uses a responsive democratic style by evaluating requirements for skills and training that will address the needs of the whole industry. In contrast to the autocratic style, Kellogg’s uses democratic decision taking in many parts of the business. Everyone has the opportunity to contribute ideas to the decision. There are two types of democratic decision-making at Kellogg’s: • Persuasive democratic management - here the leader managers makes the decision first and then persuades employees that he or she has made the right decision • Consultative democratic management - this involves the group contributing to the decision-making process, with the leader making the final decision Since the team is central to delivering good customer service. The consultative approach helps Kellogg’s achieve this business objective. Kellogg’s operates through an extensive network of local offices. Brand managers and their staff need to make decisions to meet the changing needs of customers in a fiercely competitive market. Each office operates with a large degree of autonomy. This means that, in many areas of operation, local offices have the power to govern themselves and make changes without referring to senior management. They use different management styles with customers on different occasions. This independent approach enables Kellogg’s employees to have ownership of many of their activities. This acts as a motivator for staff. Kellogg’s management is aware of the fact that when employees are empowered to make decisions, it improves their sense of worth and self-esteem. It also helps them to use creative skills within their role and motivates them to perform better. Furthermore, making decisions at a local level helps to meet customers needs and enables individuals to take a pride in their job Kellogg’s emphasis is on satisfying customers to grow the business. It also rewards hard work. To increase motivation, employees who achieve high levels of customer satisfaction have the opportunity of promotion. Paternalistic Sometimes managers need to adopt a paternalistic style. This means that they may make decisions without consultation or participation, but they have the employees’ best interests at heart. If the decision is presented in this way, although employees are not involved in making the decision, they are less likely to feel unhappy about it. In Kellogg’s it is important to create for every employee a well-rounded, safe, rewarding and challenging work environment. In this way employees will be motivated to work at their best and actively contribute to creating that safe working and living environment. Abraham Maslow claimed that all workers have a ‘hierarchy of needs’. After the basic and safety needs (for example, for food or accommodation) have been met, higher order needs for things like social interaction and self development, need to be addressed. For example, giving responsibility can increase motivation as it implies trust. Kellogg’s responds to the individual learning and development needs of employees, using at times a paternalistic management style. This helps all staff to develop and grow into competent, flexible and motivated people. In this scheme, suitable recruits are given a choice of career paths and are guided through training. The best young talent is selected based on an assessment of their practicality, open-mindedness, team working and vision. References:- businesscasestudies.co.uk/kelloggs/devising-a-communications-plan ttp://businesscasestudies.co.uk/kelloggs/devising-a-communications-plan/fitting-the-message-to-the-audience businesscasestudies.co.uk/kelloggs/building-a-better-workplace-through-motivation/ businesscasestudies.co.uk/kelloggs/stakeholder-engagement kelloggcareers/global/home.html kellogg managment/global/home.html -End of document-
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 10:10:57 +0000
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