Organisational Behaviour Assignment

Case Study Analysis: Charlotte Beers

1 Assessment Form

|Section One To be completed by the student |Please tick as appropriate | | | |
|Name (s) Patrick Stelzer | | | |MBA FT |□ MIB |□ Undergraduate |□ | |
|...............................................| | | | | | | | |
|............... | | | | | | | | |
|12 Parsons Green Lane | | | |MBA PT |x□ MSc |□ Diploma |□ Certificate |□ |
|...............................................| | | | | | | | |
|................ | | | | | | | | |
|London, SW6 4HS | | | | |Specialization................| | | | |
|........................| | | | |..............................| | | | |
|........................| | | | |..............................| | | | |
|........................| | | | |.. | | | | |
|..................................................................| | | | | |
|............................................ | | | | | |
|Subject | | | | | | |..................................Lond| |
|Marketing...............| | | | | | |on | |
|........................| | | | | | | | |
|........................| | | | | | | | |
|........................| | | | | | | | |
|........................| | | | | | | | |
|........................| | | | | | | | |
|....... | | | | | | | | |
|Assignment |x|Ora|□ |Exam |□ | | | |
| |□|l | | | | | | |
| | |Pre| | | | | | |
| | |sen| | | | | | |
| | |tat| | | | | | |
| | |ion| | | | | | |

I hereby declare that the attached assignment is my own work and understand that if I am suspected of plagiarism or other form of cheating; my work will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee which may result in my exclusion from the program.

Section Two To be completed by the Professor I lecturer

Note below your comments on content, structure and presentation. Comments on specific points should be written on the assignment. Enter grade out of 20 on the bottom of this page. Please indicate whether this is a first or a second grading.

□ First grading…□ Second grading

Professor's name ...........................................................................

Signature ........................................................................................

Datereceived Datereturnedtostudent 2
Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of the Charlotte Beer case study. The analysis is

provided in two sections; section one looks at how Charlotte Beers gained trust and

support at Ogilvy and Mather and section two looks at the concept of networking and

how Charlotte Beers derived and sustained power from it.

Diagrams are exhibited throughout the document to summarise key concepts and for

clarity on the application of relevant organisational behaviour theories.

The timeline below provides a contextual summary of the case study together with

key events that are relevant to the overall understanding of the issues and problems

within the case.

Timeline

|Pre 1980’s |1980’s |1990’s |

Foundation Growth Crisis Recovery

We Sell – Or Else! Economic Boom Adv. Industry Changes

Key Events 1991 1948 Asia Pacific O&G founded by 1965 Expansion David Ogilvy O&G merges with UK partners

1991 1950 Multiple A/c O&G’s Hathaway Shirts 1985 Fall 1992 losses Campaign launches 1975 Double Digit Growth 1992 WCS set up David Ogilvy Beers takes 1958 retires Over as CEO 1987 O&G’s Maxwell House Stock Market Crash Campaign launches

May 1992 Vienna Meeting 1960 1989 1993 O&G’s Amex O&G taken over by August1992 Welchester Meeting: Campaign launches WPP Group Chewton Glen Meeting New Vision Agreed

3
Section 1 – How did Charlotte Beers gain support and trust at Ogilvy and

Mather?

When Charlotte Beer was appointed as Ogilvy and Mather’s CEO in April 1992, she

inherited an organisation characterised by poor business performance, internal

politics and a complex organisational structure. The overall business performance

had reached such a low point that the media referred to the agency as

“beleaguered”.

It was Charlotte Beers’ task to remove this negativity from the agency and revive its

business. She faced two major issues in tackling this task:

1. She was recruited from a small agency in Chicago with no international

experience.

2. She was, in the agency’s terms, an “outsider”. Ogilvy & Mather has always

been led by internally developed talent.

Charlotte had to earn support and trust within the agency if she was to be successful

in her role which she achieved through:

• Setting a clear vision for the organisation

• Effective communication

• Using a combination of different leadership styles depending on the

situation she was faced with

• Functional empowerment

• Leading by example or “walk the talk”

4 • Positive personality traits

In her role, Charlotte not only had responsibility for leadership and infusing change,

but also managerial tasks and responsibilities as shown in exhibit 1.

Exhibit 1: Charlotte Beer’s Role as CEO

Tactical Strategic

Managerial Tasks: Strategic Tasks: Managerial Tasks: Strategic Tasks:

•making decisions •develop corporate vision Charlotte •use power •build agency’s capabilities Beer’s •excert leadership •build agency’s competetive Role •manage change advantage •develop growth strategy

New Org. Structure Activate The Assets Brand Stewarship Manage Politics Statement of Vision & Values Manage Clients Focus Groups

5
1.1 Setting a clear vision for the organisation

Charlotte’s task of creating a vision was of high complexity and certainly did not

happen over night. It was a lengthy process which started in April 1992 and

continued through until July 1993 as summarised in exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2: Creating a Vision

Welchester Meeting

Chewton glen Meeting

• theory into action

Vienna Meeting

• conflicting views: strategy vs. creative Core Team Selection • theoretical B-School approach • develop high level road map

Agency out of touch with

its core principles due to • 1-2-1’s with senior management to understand their

prolonged period of

motives, capabilities and appetite for change politics and internal Client & Investor Relations • assign random tasks & evaluate performance in conflicts / uncertain environment miscommunication

•proactive engagement with clients to understand issues and concerns •remove client’s negative views that were caused by internal politics Hello Video •get Wall Street buy-in through quirky, non-standard approach

“Hello Video”: message sent to all Ogilvy & Mather employees which had the following purpose: •introducing Charlotte’s own expectations and dreams and share them with employees •communicate appeal for help in shaping the agencies future •reiteration of the agencies core values as set out by David Ogilvy

|VIS|
|ION|

6

PDF to Word