Question

Write a memo to the CEO of Pigs R Us  on the vision you have for the company's workplace.

In this memo you will address the following ideas:

- the degree of automation necessary to run the plant

- the organizational structure of the company (the types of jobs and the flow of power)

- the actual work environment (physical vs. virtual)

- the type of culture

- the challenges that would face implementation to make the change to the vision

Pigs R US Corporate Profile (is a company that produces ham)

Current Company Vision: Bringing quality meats to family tables everywhere.

Current Mission: We believe that family and tradition matter. Pigs R Us is a family too and because we believe that family matters, it our commitment to put only quality pork products on your kitchen table just as we would our own.

Current Business Philosophy

As one of the largest worldwide producers of pork products it is the goal of PRU to help improve its international sales. It will now look forward two years as change in business strategy is imperative to keep growing. The need for innovation and competitive edge ideas are the focus for the next two years. Sustainability both for profit and planet is foremost in the minds of the leadership. The development of "green" friendly international delivery strategies will be a main emphasis.  

Current Corporate Culture

PRU has always considered their employees to be like family. They value their input in the business and seek to empower them whenever they can. The current company culture is a hierarchical with a functional underpinning. The growth of the company and the need for structure and communication to keep the global deadlines has caused the Directors to move towards a collaborative culture. They hope that the family feel of the clan culture will not be lost hence the hybrid.

Organizational Structure:

This company has a functional division structure. However, within each division is a functional structure whose make up is dependent on its purpose. For instance, if the branch is a meat packing plant where slaughter takes place than its decision-making flow will follow the jobs that are part of the slaughter and packing processes. Communication and decision making still flows from top down.

Answer 1

PIG R Us is seeking a revamp into its vision- Now their focus area should not only be production of quality meats for family, but they strive to attain sustainability in terms of profit and complying to keep the planet green. Their aim is now to optimise the costs to minimum by using automation, they aim to reduce the time taken for decisions and bring in more collaboration in the culture.

Using automation can be helpful to meet the needs of pigs, people and employees. This not only improves the management of pigs but also caters to increased agility to demand. This is important role because it enables efficiency and effectiveness. Operations should involve automation at various stages while sorting, feeding and caring for pigs.

Automation should also be a part of packaging. Motion study should be used to eliminate the ineffective activities and hence operation effectiveness in terms of productivity can be increased.

The organisational structure of the Company should follow a customer centric approach. Internal customer relationship should be prioritised. e.g Packaging unit working in tandem with the sales and operations planning which in turn will work in tandem to the supply chain. Hence matrix type structure can be embedded with core focus on functional aspects of each division as well as cross functional requirements. The flow of power should follow the similar top down approach but horizontal handshake between internal stakeholders will be a key to success.

The work environment should be developed into a collaborative type where focus on team work and innovation as a team should be given weightage. Employee should be recognised and rewarded at regular intervals. Ergonomics criteria should be carefully revisited for all operations, health and safety of employees should be a prime area of focus. Virtual training programmes should be developed for all employees to better hand hold them during induction as well as refresher trainings for experienced employees.

The organisation culture should keep valuing the individual employee input in the business. A proper channel should be devised for the employees through which employee can have a say in the business be in terms of daily operations or needs of the employee.

Sustainability of business, but keeping a tap on its effects on the environment is essential. This can be a major risk and hence challenge in today’s scenario to cater to compliance requirementfor the use of green technology as this industry is a major source of green house gases. Similarly moving into a collaborative culture reduces the power gap, and hence ways to control mismanagement should be well thought.