Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide

Résumé du document

Please elaborate a 1500-word report on issues of Human Resources, which can be traced and encountered in this case study. Try to understand what is the issue around the allocation of the resources and how Charlotte Beers can solve her dilemmas. In 1989, the hostile takeover by WPP Group plc announced the first period of instability that Ogilvy & Mather, an advertising firm, knew. The continuing loss of big accounts such as Campbell Soup, Roy Rogers or American Express definitely lowered the legitimacy of the company at the beginning of the 1990s. In 1992, Charlotte Beers took over the CEO seat of O&M after succeededing in several professional experiences within various companies. There are no doubts that the changing environment of O&M was not taken into consideration enough by former CEOs. And the main objective of Beers was to redesign the brand image and vision, reshape the corporate culture, reorganize the structure and motivate people in order to value the company internally and externally, all this in accordance with the new context.

Extraits

[...] Thus, repercussions on revenues and stock market entailed various problems on employees that never felt such unconfident and unmotivated by uncontrolled external factors. The resistance to changes was the simple consequence of a constant and inadequate human resources management based on historic continuity and unawareness that we can sum up as being blinkered. In this way, Charlotte Beers definitely challenged all encountered issues with a strong personality and a constant perseverance associated to a strategic awareness of human resources management. [...]

[...] Concerning work atmosphere, tensions, lack of trust and conflicts were the daily life of the company after several business failures or stock market crashes. Thus, confidence and efficiency at work were not emphasized at all, so that employees were not very eager to do their best to value the company internally and externally. Many voluntary resignations were the apparent signs of this incapacity to change and adapt processes to the internal and external environments. Undeniably, positive group dynamics slowed down due to a lethargic adaptation philosophy. [...]

[...] Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide In 1989, the hostile takeover by WPP Group plc announced the first period of instability that Ogilvy & Mather, an advertising firm, knew. The continuing loss of big accounts such as Campbell Soup, Roy Rogers or American Express definitely lowered the legitimacy of the company at the beginning of the 90's. In 1992, Charlotte Beers took over the CEO seat of O&M after she succeeded in several professional experiences within various companies. There are no doubts that the changing environment of O&M was not taken into consideration enough by former CEOs. [...]

[...] This could stimulate their curiosity and motivate them. We also can think about various kinds of rewards to encourage people if they implicate themselves in the company's development. Above all, Beers has to develop her leadership that is based on collaboration and charisma. Her good communication skills have to create passion among employees to move forward. She has to create a visionary view for the company in order to stimulate the belonging to a group and more precisely the O&M Company. [...]

[...] Thus, the difficulty was to re-energize human resources skills to stimulate creativity and innovation because O&M's employees were used to “just keep doing the same thing”, so that assets were not brought out enough. In terms of company's culture, most employees never knew another one than Ogilvy's that they believed and fitted in for years. The Phillips's CEO reign put an end to this belief and let lots of scares within employees. That is why, in 1991, the staff was disengaged and felt disappointed as well as totally demotivated. [...]