Leading Culture Change at Seagram - 1211 Words

NUS Business School, semester 2 2012/2013 Change Management Leading Culture Change at Seagram Why did Seagram need to Change? Why did it use a values based approach? In the mid-nineties, Seagram’s core market, the spirits and wine business, had stalled. At the same time its CEO, Edgar Bronfman Jr. (Bronfman) sold their 25% stake in the chemical giant DuPont. This was the payment from when Seagram’s in 1982 sold the oil company Conoco to DuPont. This stake in DuPont, by 1995, represented about 70% of Seagrams total earnings. The income from the sale fueled a further diversification of the company, but also a strengthening of its core business with purchases that gave access to new markets. Bronfman had anticipated the need†¦show more content†¦Seagram needed to change the very foundation of the mindset of both the existing organization and the new companies bought to strengthen the core business. Bronfman had already set the strategy and he knew he did not have the organizational culture to reach it. In order to change the culture based on silo thinking, risk aversion, hierarchy and limited communications over to respect, quality, teamwork, innovation and customer focus he needed to fundamentally change the beliefs and values of the people in the organization.. The best way to do that is to start with defining the behaviors Seagram would most value. How well has the change been accomplished? Based on the information from the case, it is too early to say if the change has been successful. However, Bronfman and the senior management have done a number of actions in line with management theory to facilitate a future success of the cultural change. First Bronfman analyzed the business and identified the need for cultural change in line with the new strategy of the company. He then set a stirring vision of being â€Å"the best managed beverage company†. He took a personal â€Å"hands on†, visible involvement in the process and everybody in the organization knew that the change had commitment from the very top. I believe the act of selling the company that made the most profit also can be viewed as an act of separating the past from the present. Doing this, he alsoShow MoreRelatedCase Analysis: Leading Culture Change at Seagram Essay2073 Words   |  9 PagesJoseph E. Seagram Sons, Inc., a major alcohol distilling company of its time encountered new business challenges in the 1990s; increased government regulation and taxation on liquor, the 90’s recession, decline in sales, criticism of spirits marketing, and an eroding core market as the business plateaued. 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