Benchmarking Riordan
Benchmarking Worksheet: InterClean
Increased competition, startling breakthroughs in new products and development, and calls for greater corporate ethics are forcing companies to change the way they do business. Change is inevitable – it will always be a driving factor in the success or failure of any business. Companies that find they are blindly adhering to the same old routines because “it’s always been done that way” are often passed up by companies exercising innovative solutions for maximum results, but change is almost always met with resistance. InterClean has discovered an urgent need to implement a radical change initiative in response to the industry need for streamlined sanitation and environmental compliance. A primary movement to align the company to the new focus was to acquire Enviro-Tech, a leading competitor with InterClean. The change will focus business efforts on solutions and services rather than primarily on product sales. Internal resistance from top level management to sales floor personnel is threatening the success of the change initiative that could affect employee morale as cross company cultures clash and drive customers away.
Maintaining adequate employee motivation levels is very important during the acquisition period especially for InterClean’s management as the restructuring will ultimately have to take place. Executive management along with the CEO has taken note of the drop in employee morale and there is a concern about how the employees will perceive the staffing audit. “People need to be shown that changes to Human Resource Management (HRM) practices will ultimately work to their advantage. They need to believe that they will be effective in their work roles called for in the new organization and that being effective in these roles will lead to desired outcomes” (Dreher & Dougherty, 2001).
Interclean’s acquisition of Enviro-Tech introduces a wide-spread skill set throughout...
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