Globaltex-2014: Trying out an organizational change
This concise yet comprehensive case examines the implementation of a new strategy through organizational change. An apparel manufacturing group with a traditional management style (hierarchical, bureaucratic) needs to update its strategy to meet competitive challenges and become a benchmark supplier to leading fashion brands across Europe. To achieve this, the company creates the new position of plant general manager, which brings significant changes to the relationships between the functional directors at its headquarters, plant-level managers, and others. Several significant factors are impediments to success (ingrained habits, hidden preferences, lack of commitment, etc.). The discussion focuses on what the role of top management should be, what dotted-line relationships are and their implications within a structure evolving towards a matrix organization, and the actions the group’s industrial vice president and the new plant general manager should take to ensure the success of the change, among other issues.
Description
This concise yet comprehensive case examines the implementation of a new strategy through organizational change. An apparel manufacturing group with a traditional management style (hierarchical, bureaucratic) needs to update its strategy to meet competitive challenges and become a benchmark supplier to leading fashion brands across Europe. To achieve this, the company creates the new position of plant general manager, which brings significant changes to the relationships between the functional directors at its headquarters, plant-level managers, and others. Several significant factors are impediments to success (ingrained habits, hidden preferences, lack of commitment, etc.). The discussion focuses on what the role of top management should be, what dotted-line relationships are and their implications within a structure evolving towards a matrix organization, and the actions the group’s industrial vice president and the new plant general manager should take to ensure the success of the change, among other issues.
Learning Objective
The key issues in this case are:
- Alignment between strategy and organization; analysis of a structural change in light of the strategy being pursued.
- The role of top management in implementing an organizational change.
- How to gain the support of those adversely affected by a major organizational change.
- Use of management systems (performance-based compensation, career development, and others) to support a change of structure.
- Ways to reduce the confusion generated by changes in an organization’s operational processes.
- The meaning and implications of dotted-line relationships in a structure evolving toward a matrix organization.
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"Globaltex-2014: Trying out an organizational change"
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