CASE STUDY ON ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
SUBMITTED TO:
SUBMITTED BY:
Prof. Navreet Kaur
Sneha Bhalla M.B.A. Retail # 13037
ATTITUDE Many organisations are very concerned with the attitudes of their employees. Attitudes are evaluative statements-either favourable or unfavourable-about objects, people or events. They reflect how we feel about something. When an employee says, I like my job, he is expressing his attitude about work. Attitudes are complex in nature. They typically have three components: A. Cognitive component : The aspect of an attitude that is a description of or belief in the way things are. B. Affective component : It is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude and can lead to behavioural outcomes. C. Behavioral component : It is an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
The following case study discusses the importance of employee attitudes and how bringing about a change in them can change the performance of an organisation as a whole.
ALBERTSONS WORKS ON EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES Albertsons is a huge grocery and drug company. It has more than 2400 supermarkets, and its Osco and Savon brands make it the fifth-largest drugstore company in the United states. In a typical year, shoppers will make 1.4 billion trips through its stores. Albertsons competes in tough businesses. Wal-Mart, in particular, has been eating away at its market share. With revenues flat and profits falling, the company hired Larry Johnston
to
turn
the
business
around.
Johnston came to Albertsons from General Electric. And it was while he was at GE that Johnston met a training specialist named Ed Foreman. Foreman endeared himself to Johnston when the latter hired Foreman to help him with a serious problem. At the time, Johnston had been sent to Paris to fix GE Medical Systems European division. The division made CT scanners. Over the previous decade, four executives had been brought in to turn the division around and try to make it profitable. All had failed. Johnston responded to the challenge by initiating some important changeshe made a number of acquisitions, he closed down inefficient plants, and he moved factories to Eastern European countries to take advantage of lower labour costs. Then he brought in E d Foreman to charge up the troops. After we got Ed in, says Johnston, people began to live their lives differently. They came to work with a spring in their step. In 3 years, the division was bringing in annual profits of 100$ million. Johnston gives a large part of the
credit
for
this
turnaround
to
Foreman.
What is Foremans secret? He provides motivation and attitude training. Heres an example of Foremans primary program-called the Successful Life Course. It lasts 3 days and begins each morning at 6 A.M. The first day begins with a chapter from an inspirational handout, followed by 12 minutes of yoga-like stretching. Then participants march up a hill, chanting, I know I can, I know I can. This is followed by breakfast and then a variety of lectures on attitude, diet, and exercise. But the primary focus of the program is on attitude. Says Foreman, Its your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude. Other parts of the program include group hugs, team activities,
and
mind-control
relaxation
exercises.
Johnston believes strongly in Foremans program. Positive attitude is the single biggest that can change a business, says Johnston. He sees Foremans program as being a critical bridge linking employees with customers: Were in the business of the maintenance and acquisition of customers. And with so many shoppers going through his stores, Johnston says this provides a lot of opportunities for customer service. Weve got to energize the associates. To prove hes willing to put his money where his mouth is, Johnston has committed 10$ million to this training. By year -end 2004, 10000managers had taken the course. They, in turn, are training all 190000 Albertsons associates,
with
the
help
of
tapes
and
books.
Foreman claims his program works. He cites success at companies like Allstate,
Milliken & Co., and Abbott Labs. The goal is to improve mental, physical, and emotional well-being, he says. We as individuals determine the success of our own lives. Positive thoughts create positive actions.
QUESTIONS : 1. Explain how Foremans 3-day course could positively influence the profitability of Albertsons. Foremans Primary program called the Successful Life Course this course positively influenced Albertsons profitability and Behaviour of its employees. This is a 3-day course that starts at 6am basically the impact of this course also is to train the employees to wake up early and their minds is fresh for a new learning experience, Followed by a 12 minutes of yoga-like stretching that makes the employees relax and energized for the start of the days activities, while marching up the hill, chanting I know I can, I know I can this will be tattooed on their minds in doing every work they know they can, and after this will foll ow breakfast and then variety of lectures in attitude, diet and exercise. But basically the primary focus of the program is on attitude and he stated that Its your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude. Other parts of the program include group hugs, team activities, and mind control relaxation exercise. This program will definitely boost the determination of each employee to be more productive on their work and that will be reflected on the companys profitability.
2. Johnston says, Positive attitude is the single biggest thing that can change a business. How valid and generalizable do you think this statement is? Positive attitude is the single best thing that can change a business says and believe by Johnston, I agree, to this saying and I think this was valid, because employees have positive attitude have a positive effect on their job, they will be more productive and competitive to their work and they know how to handle problems, and solve it not before its to late. Positive attitude makes a change in a business through its positive employees, a positive employee can handle pressure in work, can handle his or her emotion and could be or have a positive effect to his or her environment and co-employees.
3. If you were Johnston, what would you do to evaluate the effectiveness of your $10 million investment in Foremans training program? Evaluating the effectiveness of my $10-million investment in Foremans Training program could be if the profit of the company could increase, if the program is effective this will reflect to the profitability of the company, another could be an employee rating each
employee is rated accordingly to their productivity in work after and before taking the Foremans 3-day training program each employee is evaluated by their attitude on work, and another could be a customer care survey or a customer feedback survey that can help determine also the productivity of each employee and the relationship to the customers if the company could satisfy their needs and whether customers will be loyal to the company to know also where is the part of the company that needs improvements.
4. If you were an Albertsons employee, how would you feel about going through Foremans course? Explain your position. If I would be an Albertsons employee I would feel good in attending this said program and feels good also and thankful to the companys effort to improve my productivity. The effort of the company to improve its employees well being, attitude and productivity will definitely encourage each employee to give their best doing in return to the companys success. Being in this company is a good thing because the company is open for innovation and improving its employees well being not minding the cost or something in return but only minding the beneficial of a good productive employee.
