Order custom Harvard Business Case Study Analysis & Solution. Starting just $19
Fern Fort University
THE MERCKS OF DARMSTADT: WHAT FAMILY CAN DO (A) Change Management Analysis & Solution
HBR Change Management Solutions
Leadership & Managing People Case Study | Benoit Leleux, Anne Catrin Glemser
Case Study Description
DARMSTADT, SEPTEMBER 2006. The Serono deal was long in the making; it had eluded the Merck Group, a 338-year-old German global pharmaceutical and chemical enterprise, for months. So much so that last March, the Merck Group and its family owners had hopped onto the Schering AG acquisition train to ensure the growth it needed to remain competitive in the cutthroat pharmaceutical business. When the a??14.6 billion hostile offer they made for Schering was rejected in favor of a friendly offer from Bayer, it was difficult not to feel despondent.For months, Jon Baumhauer, the Chairman of the Family Board and influential member of the Executive Board of E. Merck OHG, had sustained the commitment of the family owners to a transformational merger that would define the future of Merck. Maintaining such secrecy among the 120-plus family partners representing the 10th to the 12th generations of Merck family owners was no small feat, but the absence of a deal was starting to create tensions on all levels. The offer from Ernesto Bertarelli, the largest shareholder of Serono, a Swiss-listed, family-controlled biotechnology firm, was hardly a surprise. Ernesto, through the company's investment bankers, had peddled the firm for months to all major pharma companies in the world, but had found few takers. The surprise was the newfound willingness of Serono to consider a negotiated deal. Merck's Executive Board, the family and Merck's advisers had kept an eye on Serono throughout the year. The company was attractive for its family culture, strong R&D capabilities, significant US presence, a rich product pipeline and of course world-class biotechnology manufac-turing competencies. Its size would give Merck much needed critical mass, but the deal was not cheap. It required extensive leverage and new equity injections from the family, its risk profile was higher than Merck's and cultural differences ran deep. Now the deal was within reach. Was this the transformational opportunity the Merck family sought? It was time to put the "courage and pioneering spirit" of the family firm to the ultimate test. Learning objectives: Managing a family business for sustainability; sophisticated family and business governance structures; managing growth; technology innovation; maintaining the entrepreneurial spirit; multi-generation family business; critical size and growth issues in the pharma business; managing incentive systems for executives.
Change Management, Growth strategy, Mergers & acquisitions, Work-life balance , Case Study Solution, Term Papers
Order a THE MERCKS OF DARMSTADT: WHAT FAMILY CAN DO (A) case study solution now
What is Change Management Definition & Process? Why transformation efforts fail? What are the Change Management Issues in THE MERCKS OF DARMSTADT: WHAT FAMILY CAN DO (A) case study?
According to John P. Kotter – Change Management efforts are the major initiatives an organization undertakes to either boost productivity, increase product quality, improve the organizational culture, or reverse the present downward spiral that the company is going through.
Sooner or later every organization requires change management efforts because without reinventing itself organization tends to lose out in the competitive market environment. The competitors catch up with it in products and service delivery, disruptors take away the lucrative and niche market positioning, or management ends up sitting on its own laurels thus missing out on the new trends, opportunities and developments in the industry.
What are the John P. Kotter - 8 Steps of Change Management?
Eight Steps of Kotter's Change Management Execution are -
- 1. Establish a Sense of Urgency
- 2. Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
- 3. Create a Vision
- 4. Communicate the Vision
- 5. Empower Others to Act on the Vision
- 6. Plan for and Create Short Term Wins
- 7. Consolidate Improvements and Produce More Change
- 8. Institutionalize New Approaches
Are Change Management efforts easy to implement? What are the challenges in implementing change management processes?
According to authorlist Change management efforts are absolutely essential for the surviving and thriving of the organization but they are also extremely difficult to implement. Some of the biggest obstacles in implementing change efforts are –
- Change management efforts are made when the organization is in dire need and have fewer resources. This creates silos protection mentality within the organization.
- Change efforts are often made by new leaders because they are chosen by board to do so. These leaders often have less trust among the workforce compare to the people with whom they were already working with over the years.
- Change management is often a lengthy, time consuming, and resource consuming process. Managements try to avoid them because they reflect negatively on the short term financial balance sheet of the organization.
- Change efforts are often targeted at making fundamental aspects in the business – operations and culture. Change management disrupts are status quo thus face opposition from both within and outside the organization.
- Change efforts create an environment of uncertainty in the organization that impacts not only the productivity in the organization but also the level of trust in the organization.
How you can apply Change Management Principles to THE MERCKS OF DARMSTADT: WHAT FAMILY CAN DO (A) case study?
Leaders can implement Change Management efforts in the organization by following the “Eight Steps Method of Change Management” by John P. Kotter.
Step 1 - Establish a sense of urgency
What are areas that require urgent change management efforts in the “ THE MERCKS OF DARMSTADT: WHAT FAMILY CAN DO (A) “ case study. Some of the areas that require urgent changes are – organizing sales force to meet competitive realities, building new organizational structure to enter new markets or explore new opportunities. The leader needs to convince the managers that the status quo is far more dangerous than the change efforts.
Step 2 - Form a powerful guiding coalition
As mentioned earlier in the paper, most change efforts are undertaken by new management which has far less trust in the bank compare to the people with whom the organization staff has worked for long period of time. New leaders need to tap in the talent of the existing managers and integrate them in the change management efforts. This will for a powerful guiding coalition that not only understands the urgency of the situation but also has the trust of the employees in the organization. If the team able to explain at the grass roots level what went wrong, why organization need change, and what will be the outcomes of the change efforts then there will be a far more positive sentiment about change efforts among the rank and file.
Step 3 - Create a vision
The most critical role of the leader who is leading the change efforts is – creating and communicating a vision that can have a broader buy-in among employees throughout the organization. The vision should not only talk about broader objectives but also about how every little change can add up to the improvement in the overall organization.
Step 4 - Communicating the vision
Leaders need to use every vehicle to communicate the desired outcomes of the change efforts and how each employee impacted by it can contribute to achieve the desired change. Secondly the communication efforts need to answer a simple question for employees – “What it is in for the them”. If the vision doesn’t provide answer to this question then the change efforts are bound to fail because it won’t have buy-in from the required stakeholders of the organization.
Step 5 -Empower other to act on the vision
Once the vision is set and communicated, change management leadership should empower people at every level to take decisions regarding the change efforts. The empowerment should follow two key principles – it shouldn’t be too structured that it takes away improvisation capabilities of the managers who are working on the fronts. Secondly it shouldn’t be too loosely defined that people at the execution level can take it away from the desired vision and objectives.
THE MERCKS OF DARMSTADT: WHAT FAMILY CAN DO (A) PESTEL / PEST / STEP & Porter Five Forces Analysis
Step 6 - Plan for and create short term wins
Initially the change efforts will bring more disruption then positive change because it is transforming the status quo. For example new training to increase productivity initially will lead to decrease in level of current productivity because workers are learning new skills and way of doing things. It can demotivate the employees regarding change efforts. To overcome such scenarios the change management leadership should focus on short term wins within the long term transformation. They should carefully craft short term goals, reward employees for achieving short term wins, and provide a comprehensive understanding of how these short term wins fit into the overall vision and objectives of the change management efforts.
Step 7 - Consolidate improvements and produce more change
Short term wins lead to renewed enthusiasm among the employees to implement change efforts. Management should go ahead to put a framework where the improvements made so far are consolidated and more change efforts can be built on the top of the present change efforts.
Step 8 - Institutionalize new approaches
Once the improvements are consolidated, leadership needs to take steps to institutionalize the processes and changes that are made. It needs to stress how the change efforts have delivered success in the desired manner. It should highlight the connection between corporate success and new behaviour. Finally organization management needs to create organizational structure, leadership, and performance plans consistent with the new approach.
Is change management a process or event?
What many leaders and managers at the Family Merck fails to recognize is that – Change Management is a deliberate and detail oriented process rather than an event where the management declares that the changes it needs to make in the organization to thrive. Change management not only impact the operational processes of the organization but also the cultural and integral values of the organization.
MBA Admission help, MBA Assignment Help, MBA Case Study Help, Online Analytics Live Classes
Order Now
Previous Change Management Solution
- Michael Fernandes at Nicholas Piramal Change Management Solution
- Labour Dispute at Dr. Reddy's: Tip of the Iceberg in a Globalization Effort Change Management Solution
- The Game Plan for Aligning the Organization Change Management Solution
- Shar Matin (C) Change Management Solution
- Interview with Jerry Sanders, Managing Director of San Francisco Science, Video Change Management Solution
Next 5 Change Management Solution
- Martha Goldberg Aronson: Leadership Decisions at Mid-Career Change Management Solution
- Abbott and the AIDS Crisis (C): What Lies Ahead? Change Management Solution
- DR. REDDY'S: MEDICINE IS FOR PEOPLE, PROFITS FOLLOW Change Management Solution
- Digital Transformation at Novartis to Improve Customer Engagement Change Management Solution
- Cambridge Consulting Group: Bob Anderson Change Management Solution