Change Management, Business Culture and Quality Control System Report

Aroma is faced with several problems which are common to any company going through any transformation be it a merger, amalgamation or inquiry. The main issues are about employees and customers which have affected the sales of the cosmetics in the UK. The employees are dissatisfied with the new changes in the company while the customers are not pleased with the quality of the product and customer service. For Aroma to overcome these problems, there is need to change its business culture, the management, and the quality control system.

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Healthy organizational culture has a positive impact on the business. It produces a competitive edge from innovation and excellent customer service, efficient employee performance, and morale and team cohesiveness (Casson, 2018). Therefore, business culture is a critical component in managerial decisions and business operations for any company because it influences the strategic direction of the firm either directly or indirectly.

The new Aroma management seeks to implement changes which are to use a wider global variety of raw materials besides alcohol and flowers; increase the product variety of the cosmetics which are eco-friendly and cruelty-free. However, the changes are being hindered by the organizational cultures clash of Retro and Aroma. The conflict could be a result of poor communication, persistent behavior in the individual companies before the merging or the intergroup difference between the new and the old employees. Retro was initially a manufacturing company for cosmetics while Aroma was a multinational distributing company and apparently, the two entities had different ways of running the business. The new graduate managers need to know the rules and behaviors that are considered appropriate for Retro cosmetics and adapt to them to eliminate the possibility of being rejected by the old employees.

Theory Appraisal of the Problems

The Denison's organizational cultural model is a theory that best explains the phenomenon of the problems that Aroma is experiencing. The model is based on four traits, participation, mission, flexibility and consistency as factors that primarily influence an organization's performance (Tiernery, 2011). Participation: It is more likely that Retro empowered its employees by involving them in decision making that made them feel that they owned a part of the organization. Therefore the coming in of new management that does not include the factory employees could cause low morale thus the resignation and poor performance. For example, the employees in the marketing department were not involved in the change to commission based remuneration where they are only compensated on the merit of new customers and the number of sales. Mission: organizations with a clear purpose and value have a clear direction of what the organization should follow. Retro solely used flowers and alcohol from U.K and could be that was in their mission to use local raw materials to promote local growers and businesses. Therefore, the new initiative to outsource raw materials and diversification of products would be resisted by the old employees because it clashes with what they initially believed. Organizations with active cultures that are well rooted and integrated run well when all leaders and followers have a standard view, when this changes, it posses difficulty to the running of the business. For instance, the drop in sales could be factored by the change of management. The customers are infuriated by the inconsistency of the new administration which is evident with the late delivery of products, delivery of inferior product and poor quality (Tiernery, 2011). The above theory possibly explains the poor performance of Aroma cosmetic company after the merge.

However, a culture change is necessary to salvage the high employee resignation and lack of motivation. When one seeks to change the culture of an organization, they cannot be myopic about it. In any organization, management is tasked with planning, organizing, controlling and leading the operations. In this way, management is a short vision range skill of managing the employees to work towards the common objective, which is the success of the company (Deeks, 1993). Meanwhile, leadership is interpersonal where a leader influences the group to ensure achievement of the set objective willing thoroughly and devotedly and is foresighted. It implies that leadership focuses on the direction and purpose of a company while management focuses on the efficient use of resources. While leadership brings change, management brings stability and therefore, the two are inseparable. Aroma needs to incorporate the two concepts in implementing the changes. A better communication system should be one of aspect to be considered. Previously, the management has used suggestion boxes and product development meetings on the factory floor for employees to communicate their new ideas that would improve the company's products. These methods of communication did not sit well with the older production staff (Casson, 2018). The company could use other ways that are a bit personal and interactive such as employee survey and interviews. The methods would help the organization give due credit to the employees that come up with incredible new ideas and award them.

In creating the new culture, the factors to put into consideration will be; the vision of the company. The phrase will provide a guide and purpose for Aroma's intentions of having healthier products that are eco-friendly. The other factor will be the company's value that will dictate the behavior expected from each shareholder to achieve the vision. Third, will be the practices, the company should have an outline of methods that are favorable to the workforce and customers enshrined in their values. For example, if the company believes in flat hierarchy, all employees and more so the junior subordinate should be allowed to air their views without the fear of negative repercussions. Lastly, the company should be keen on the narrative and the people involved. The new culture should be set in such a way that the employees recruited share core values or willingness to embrace those of Aroma.

The top management should be in favor of the changes to implement the transition to the entire organization. Therefore, the administration has to execute inspirational leadership by marrying the two different cultures. Although people resist change, a leader must convince them that the pros will outweigh the cons. Therefore, the management should manage this through culture innovation followed by cultural maintenance. Cultural maintenance will focus on creating a new culture by considering the existing differences and formulation of realistic expectations for change by weakening and replacing the customs. The final process is cultural maintenance where the leader will integrate the new culture by reconciling the difference between the ancient cultures and the new one (Deeks, 1993). The method may involve training of all employees to help them understand the new system and expectations and smooth implementation of the new culture.

Stakeholders

The critical decelerators of any business are the stakeholders. It is essential to have the support of the stakeholders for the business venture to be successful. Hence, Aroma's management has to identify the interested parties and determine how much power they have on the success of the business. Building stable relationships with the stakeholders from the genesis of the venture makes the difference between the venture's success and failure. The company's management is responsible for all stakeholders in a changing environment. The company's management should conduct an analysis of the stakeholders, find out how they interests will be affected by their changes, what motivates them as well as what provokes them. They should determine the possibility of the conflict of interest among the stakeholders.

Thirdly, the management should understand each stakeholder's expectations. Four, the administration should keep all parties involved and informed of the business changes and operations. There are primary and secondary stakeholders (Watson,2013).The primary stakeholders are directly affected by the outcome of the business that is the customers, employees, investors, and directors. The employees should be informed of the parameters that will be used to measure their performance, clarification of direction and development of reporting schedule. The investors should have a clear understanding of what is expected regarding the scope, schedule, and resources needed for the transformation of the business. The management should provide cost overruns and give alternatives to remain on budget and save the investors money in every new business venture. The secondary stakeholders should be communicated to effectively to ensure that they are all working towards a common goal, lack of communication will cause a breakdown within the organization. The stakeholders appreciate an honest, reliable, accountable and confident management.

Proposed Quality System

The company needs to pay attention to the end user of their cosmetic products to maintain them. Customers are the most critical stakeholders in any successful business, and quality product and services mainly retain them (Deeks, 1993). Therefore, the company needs an improved quality control system to ensure production of quality and superior cosmetic products.

As much as Aroma has the liberty to choose the features and the qualities of the products, the quality control of the product are verified if the standard of these features is retainable through the shelf life of the product. This quality assurance will ensure that our products meet our company's values of producing products that are healthier that do not damage the skin of our clients.

We, therefore, need to design a quality system for our products since the one that we are currently using is producing inferior products. To achieve a successful quality system, we need first to meet the FDA's requirements for both manufacturing and distributing as we fulfill our desired business outcomes. The new system aims at encompassing appropriate testing to ensure product safety.

In the design, we propose the use of sensory analysis because it will ensure efficient evaluation on all attributes sensible by the five senses that are color, smell, texture, taste, and noise. The analysis is efficient because it will accommodate the analysis of a wide variety of the cosmetic products and will help us attain our objective of not texting products on animals. The laboratories will have to have five different sections: an office for the quality assurance manager, a conference room, sample room and an area located for the volunteers.

The volunteers in the sensorial panel will be able to give us crucial information about the smell, appearance, texture and other features that the end user will experience when using our product. The sensorial performance is important for a product to be acceptable to the consumers and hence attention should be paid to all details. The method is cost-effective as it eliminates the cost that could have been incurred in acquiring machines if they were to be used for the analysis. The sensorial features are largely correlated to the raw-materials and package (Chemistry and Technology of the Cosmetics and Toiletries Industry, 2014). The result cannot be measured by the consumer's first attitude but will be established if a consumer becomes a loyal customer. The sensorial analysis is a useful tool for a company like Aroma with the aim of maintaining good quality products that are competitive in th...