"We Are Market Basket" Case Study: Examining the Effects of Employee Protests on Stakeholders

Introduction

"We Are Market Basket" is a case study that presents the effects of employees protests for the return of the company's CEO, Arthur, T. The Board of Directors (BOD) fired the CEO, and employees came together to protest for their leader's reinstatement in the company's topmost position (Ton, Kochan, & Reavis, 2015). The decisions of the board had effects on all the stakeholders and the organization as a whole. The essay will examine the "We Are Market Basket" case study to establish what caused the success of the collective action of the employees, how the dispute garnered support from the public, the implications for business organizations today, potential downfalls for the company and impact to the stakeholders.

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The Success of the Collective Action by the Employees

The success of the collective action by the Market Basket employees was due to the loyalty they showed to the CEO by encouraging others to boycott and fundraising to help those affected by the boycott (Ton et al., 2015). The boycott led to the closure of Market Basket stores. The workers used the "Help us. Boycott us" sign in front of the Market Basket window to encourage others to stop doing business with the supermarket chain. The action increased the agitation of the other protestors who helped in causing more damage to the situation. The collective effort by the employees is a clear picture of how people's loyalty can influence business operations and performance.

How the Dispute Garnered Support from the Public

The dispute garnered support from the public, including customers, suppliers, and those represented by outside observers. Customers purchased their products from other stores, and suppliers stopped the shipment of goods to the Market Basket (Ton et al., 2015). Consumers also helped the employees in collecting money to help those affected by the boycott. The suppliers assisted the protestors by picketing along with associated and reporting the issue to lawmakers and newspapers. Unions, local businesses, individual leaders in the government and the media supported the dispute in different ways.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union supported the non-unionized workers in Market Basket by voicing their issue on requiring the board to reinstate Arthur T as the CEO of the company. The local businesses within Maine supported the workers with free food and discounted services (Ton et al., 2015). Individual leaders such as Niki Tsonga, the U.S. Representative of Lowell helped the Market Basket community by writing to the board and asked them to reinstate Arthur T as the CEO. Governors, including Maggie Hassan of the New Hampshire and Deval Patrick of the Massachusetts, expressed their concerns regarding the firing of Arthur and the need for a return to the company (Ton et al., 2015). The media invested heavily in airing the updates of what was happening in the protests. Traditional media such as newspapers, television and radio provided news daily regarding the employee protests. Outside observers heavily relied on social media, including Facebook as well as Twitter in disseminating their messages regarding the issue.

Implications for Business Organizations Today

The action of employees at Market Basket protesting for the return of Arthur T is an essential lesson for today's organizations. The board needs to rethink their decisions on how businesses are run, their duties and obligations. Even though they represent the shareholders, the BOD has a fiduciary duty to the company (Ton et al., 2015). The leaders of the supermarket chain failed to consider the customers, suppliers, associated and the entire community when deciding to lay off Arthur T. It is the duty for the BOD to protect the organization culture just as the Market Basket staff did to protect the interests of the business and all its stakeholders. In their study, Brian and Tracey (2018) revealed that BOD must make an effort to manage the business culture by promoting the drivers of appropriate conduct, values and expectations of the stakeholders. The actions of the employees at Marker Basket imply that people's loyalty to a business can lead them to form attachments that are strong and will do anything to reward the shared values of their company. Anit and Anat (2013) found out that the citizenship behavior of employees in an organization influences their level of strain to support the business and its values. Employees without leadership support strain more and incurring personal costs in their efforts to be engaged in decision-making roles.

The Potential Downfalls for the Organization

The potential downfalls for Market Basket include reduced competitiveness in the market, failure, and closure as a result of loses and debts. With angry employees at Market Basket, the company has a possibility of losing its customers to competitors. It will stop being among the top business in the supermarket industry. Currently, Market Basket competes with leading national chains such as Whole Foods and WalMart (Ton et al., 2015). Reduced customer base and sales will cause a decline in its ranking in the supermarket industry. Customer loyalty will be affected when the clients realize that the organization does not promote the fundamental values implemented by Arthur T. Market Basket will experience reduced profits as a result of low sales and no longer able to sustain its low prices on goods sold in the supermarket.

Impact on the All Stakeholders

The dispute between BOD and employees at Market Basket has an effect of the future of all the involved stakeholders. The workers may have a significant influence on the organization operations and culture. Sajida and Moeljadi (2018) denoted that job stressors are essential mediators of employee commitment to the organization and strategic leadership. Conflict plays a massive role in achieving the expected behavior in the business. The dispute will impact the future of leadership in the organization as the employees will determine the final decisions made by the BOD. According to Aw and Ayoko (2017), problem-solving techniques used by employees in the business have a positive effect on the behaviors of leaders. Based on the workers' successful demonstrations, it is anticipated that there will be a better relationship between the staff and leaders in Market Basket. There will also be an improved exchange between customers and employees, and this will enhance the performance of the organization in the long-run. Shareholders equity will also be impacted positively by the efforts made by employees for Arthur T to be reinstated back as the organization's CEO.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the disputes between employees and organization leaders adversely affect the performance and growth of a business. In the "We Are Market Basket" case study, it is evident that the demonstrations of employees due to the decisions of the BOD to retrench Arthur T raised great concern to all the stakeholders and impacted negatively on the business. The collective action of the employees obtained support from the public and succeeded in helping the reinstatement of the CEO. The "We Are Market Basket" case has implications to today's organizations and how the decisions made by leaders impact on the affected stakeholders.

References

Anit, S., & Anat, D. (2013). Organizational citizenship behaviour and employee's strain: Examining the buffering effects of leader support and participation in decision making. European Journal of Work & Organizational Psychology, 22(2), 138-149.

Aw, V., & Ayoko, O. (2017). The impact of followers' conflict behaviors on teams' transformational leadership, team member exchange and engagement. International Journal of Conflict, 28(4), 509-532.

Brian, C., & Tracey, K. (2018). Doing the right thing: Today's boards are taking a closer look at corporate culture. Internal Auditor, 75(6), 64-65.

Sajida, P., & Moeljadi, M. (2018). The effect of strategic leadership and role conflict to employee's commitments with work stress as mediation. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 16(3).

Ton, Z., Kochan, T., & Reavis, C. (2015). We are the Market Basket. Creative Commons. Retrieved from https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/CaseDocs/14.160.Market%20Basket.Ton.Kochan.FINAL.pdf