Monsanto
Monsanto was established in 1901 as a chemical
giant. Monsanto was established in 1901
as a chemical giant. Starting from 1995, Monsanto transformed from
industrial chemical company to a biotech company, then to a seeds company,
and then to data science and service provider in addition to its traditional
chemicals, seeds and genetic traits operations.
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During 1995-97, it was undergoing a
transformation named
Core 32 to prepare itself for the twenty-first century and become
a life sciences company.
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Why Change Fails: 8 Common Errors
One of the areas of focus during this
transition period was on communicating and building the desired
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corporate culture
and
motivated
behaviors
through traditional means like videos and
newsletters as well as day-to-day conversations.
Robert Shapiro, the CEO of Monsanto, talks
about the personalized conversations as perhaps being more important to the
company's success than any other single factor: "Through a series of
formatted small group conversations (as opposed to traditional workshops),
employees are encouraged to discuss the transformation into a life sciences
company ‒ the nature of the strategic business opportunities, what it
requires for Monsanto to succeed, the desired culture, how to work together,
the personal transitions required, and so forth. The idea is to address the
issues at the personal level, and thus, create the desired sense of
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passion
in each employee." Further, Monsanto launched a quarterly videoconference in
which a panel of people selected from throughout the company, engage in a
dialogue with the CEO about where the company is going. All employees are
invited to submit questions.
Reward systems have been redesigned to focus
on growth and instill a sense of ownership in the company. In 1996,
Monsanto granted stock option to the 95% of employees who previously didn't
participate in a stock-option program. In 1997,
Economic Value Added
(EVA) was adopted as the primary measure of financial performance. Incentive
plans are tied to EVA, and employees eligible for management incentives have
had a portion of their incentive converted into option.
Wall-Mart
In his
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10 Rules for Building a Business Success,
Sam Walton, the Founder of Wall-Mart writes:
"Communicate everything you possibly can to
your partners. The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more
they understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping
them. If you don't trust your associates to know what's going on, they'll
know you really don't consider them partners. Information is power, and the
gain you get from
empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your
competitors."...
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Managerial Communication
Burson-Marsteller, a world's largest public
relations agency, created a company called "SynerGenics" that not only
helps a company define its
corporate culture but rolls up its sleeves with the company's executives
to help them implement an "employee involvement" program. According to
Geoffrey Nightingale, the former President of SynerGenics, "the central
problem in
employee involvement is communication. When
top
management says to us, `We want a company that behaves differently,' we
know the solution lies with communications." ...
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