Strayer University

Ajax Minerals and Perrier

HRM 560 Managing Organizational Change

By

Susan Rivera Richards

Submitted to Dr. Paul Jaikaran

Spring 2015

1. Identify two (2) sources of resistance to change in the Ajax Minerals exercise and describe how the organization dealt with each type of resistance.
Reaction to the Experience of Previous Change. It is based on previous experience of organizational change.
In the Ajax Mineral scenario, the Company had issues with management when it came to changes within the company. The company had the history of poor management (labor relations). When management asked employees to do things, the workers became very suspicious. They thought management was up to dishonesty.
Expressions of Resistance and Management Responses.
The Ajax management understood the situation, so they responded by planning an interactive sessions that consist of General Manager, Managers, and Employees. In the course, management used different stories of various companies. They faced similar cases suffered terribly due to the inability to respond to competitive forces.
2. Identify two (2) sources of resistance to change in the Perrier case study and describe how the organization dealt with each type of resistance.
Disagreement with the way the change is being managed and Discomfort with uncertainty.
The company was close to bankruptcy until a company called Nestles took over Perrier. The company started to struggle with profits. The relationship between the management

and employees started to fade. More than 1650 employees belong to a Union called CGT. Perrier wanted to cut fifteen percent (15%) of workers' jobs. When a new product called, Badoit Rouge was put in the employee's cafeteria. The workers were not happy with that decision and became extremely upset.
Management did that to show employees they do have a big part of the battle between the two companies.
3. Compare and contrast how management diagnosed and approached change at the two (2) businesses and indicate which company dealt with resistance to change in a more efficient manner. Justify the reasoning.
In the Ajax Minerals scenario managers realized there have been major issues with management and the employees in the past. The management decides they would relieve some of the concerns by instituting am interactive sessions involving all the managers and supervisors. They embrace "open book" approach to employees to assure the employees of the company's performance.
In the Perrier scenario, it seems like management was not proactive in their approach to the welfare of the company nor the employees. Their approach did not help the attitude that employees but instead made it worse.

4. Consider a situation as a consultant with Ajax Management. Propose two (2) adjustments that should be done to improve its change strategy and provide a justification as to why those modifications would improve the effectiveness of the approach.
The first strategy would have started the first sign of an issue and found out what caused the problem in the first place. Make sure the attack at the issue was appropriate. Speak with all parties involved and listen and emphasized in what the employees are telling you. Ask them what suggestions they may have and write them down. If employees feel that the importance of their opinion matters then it would take away a lot of Discomfort with Uncertainty away and let them know what they are feeling is common and management is