Reference no: EM133249889

Assignment - Flavours Enterprises Limited (FEL) was started by Brian Jefferson and his wife Phyllis Jefferson in 1975, who serves as Managing Director and CEO respectively. Flavours specializes in flavoured bottled water and has a strong distribution network in all parishes of Jamaica. Over the years, they have formed alliances with many countries in the Eastern Caribbean and as such has a fairly good export market. In the early 80's, FEL was considered an Employer of Choice for sales representatives as FEL was known for providing a basic salary along with a premium commission. Notwithstanding these benefits, the job function was considered a tedious one, but the reps in this era were able to consistently meet their sales targets and gave years of their service to the organization.

Since 2015, there has been a number of new sales reps on board and the trend thus far, is that they stay a maximum of three (3) years with the company. The feedback from exit interviews is that the culture is not one in which they are comfortable. Many comments have indicated that the leadership is disrespectful and there is little care for their well-being especially when executing functions on the road. A review of the company's financials in the last few seven (7) years revealed that there has been a consistent decrease in sales, year over year and this has caused great concern for the owners who were considering retirement at the end of 2022. The owners hired an Operations Manager with the objective of training him to take over, however with the decline in sales, Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson have held on to the reins of the organization.

Out of a matter of concern, the owners hired a Project Manager to work with the sales team on new sales techniques and initiatives, with an objective of increasing sales. This initiative was ineffective and as such the owners called a meeting with the sales representatives to advise them that they have three (3) months to significantly increase sales or they will have no other choice but to terminate their services. This meeting sent a wave of frenzy through the entire organization with the different department leaders and support services objecting to the manner in which the matter was dealt with.

Questions -

1. As a student of Organization Development, what are some of your concerns arising from the case?

2. How would you assess the culture of Flavors Enterprises Limited?

3. What are some of the factors that will affect corporate renewal at Flavors Enterprises Limited?

4. What approach to change would you recommend and why?

5. "Organizations are classified as a system," explore this statement.