Question

THE MORGAN COMPANY Senior managers at The Morgan Company had developed a new and inspiring mission statement—one that set a new direction for the company with ambitious strategic goals. Management continually emphasized the new strategy and asked employees what they needed to do to achieve the new goals. Although some employees didn’t want to embrace the new strategic direction, most were excited to participate in and support the new strategy. The employees began to make suggestions for improving the organization and identifying the necessary changes. Many of their ideas pointed to a significant change in the culture of the organization. And that was when the wheels fell off. Employees were told to step back; management didn’t want to make any radical changes. Employees were told that they could only change one or two items and then only to a very small degree. No money could be spent, and the actions of senior management implied that employees’ ideas really didn’t matter. People became disillusioned and disgruntled. At least two people left every month for other positions during the last 18 months of the 24-month "transformation" process. The best people left because they had no voice and no ability to change a broken organization.

How did management fail in its strategic planning?

Answer 1

Management at The Morgan Company failed in its strategic planning by not genuinely committing to a Theory Y management style, resisting significant culture change, and inadequately allocating resources. A disconnect between stated goals and actions led to high turnover and employee dissatisfaction.

Step-by-step explanation:

Management at The Morgan Company failed in its strategic planning process due to several key factors. First, there was a clear disconnect between the new mission statement's ambitious goals and the actual willingness of management to implement the necessary changes suggested by employees. This is indicative of a lack of genuine commitment to the Theory Y approach to management, which encourages employee participation and values their input in achieving organizational goals.

Another issue was the management's reluctance to initiate significant changes that would reshape the company's culture, effectively stifling innovation and discouragement. This resistance to change led to a cycle of mutual disappointment, correlating with the notion introduced by Cebollero (2019) where workers reject company values and potentially leave or be fired. Lastly, insufficient resource allocation to support the implementation of new strategies demonstrated a lack of foresight, contributing to the stressful environment for employees who were already dealing with competing priorities.

Overall, a combination of lack of commitment to culture change, insufficient resource allocation, and ignoring the principles of Theory Y management as characterized by McGregor (1960), underpin the management's strategic planning failures. The company's senior managers failed to understand the importance of integrating employees into the organizational culture and did not create an environment that encouraged meaningful participation or recognized employee contributions, leading to high turnover and dissatisfaction.