Richard Murphy and the Biscuit Company (A) - Case Study

1. Murphy was a visionary, he had a future outlook. His ideas were completely different from the
others. He understood that marketing was the integral part of the business. He had the idea of
transforming the company in a modern approach. But the steps taken by him were not liked by
any inside the company including the managing director, Mr. Andrew Eastern.

There was a series of problem in the company with his presence. Actually theses problem
surfaced when Murphy wanted to bring change in the company and for that he had to bring some
alterations within the internal as well as the external environment of the company, but these
changes were opposed by the management as well as the employees of the company. Thus there
was a actually a war going on between Murphy on one side with his ideas of changes and on the
other side it was Andrew Eastern with high traditional values and a team loyal to him. The whole
situation of the company was in a mess. The problem or the quandary of Murphy was that he
wanted to bring radical change to the company in a more profitable way but neither his team nor
the management especially his boss, Eastern was supportive of him.

To add to the problem the company was considered to have a traditional background. People had
a more sentimental value with the company than a professional approach. So changes brought by
Murphy in the process of modernising it and making it more market oriented did not come along
well within the employees of the company and they were rather suspicious of the motive of
Murphy. Actually they thought the changes made were actually a threat to their job and therefore
did not support Murphy. But Murphy was very worried about the marketing of the products and
thus, created a team of younger employees who he thought would be better for the sales job. A
kind of a cold war was fought between the older employees and the younger ones including
Murphy.
Another greater problem that Murphy had was to deal with his personal preferences. Before
joining the company he had several ideas of how to bring about change in the company and how
to place the company in a more profitable position. For that he made several sacrifices like
repositioning himself with his wife in the new remote location of England. But after joining the
company his dreams were shattered as he was not able to do anything freely or if he did, he was
answerable to Andrew, who did not like his advances. This made the situation very much
difficult for Murphy to operate in that environment and more over the threats given by Andrew
to him regarding the termination added fire to the fuel.

Therefore there were a several problems that Murphy had to face at Biscuit & Co. But he had no
other opportunity than to face it calmly.
2. Murphy wanted to bring about various changes in Biscuit & Co. Primarily he was not at all
happy with the condition of marketing and sales, therefore he wanted to make sudden changes to
the marketing and sales department and also revise the strategies followed by the company. He
had several ideas regarding the strategies to be followed basically in the marketing section.

The changes brought by Murphy were very much needed in the competitive environment but the
change was abrupt. Murphy was in a hurry to bring about change in the organisation which made
the whole situation troublesome. It was very much required by Murphy to first understand the
environment in which he was going to operate; it is evident from the case that he had least
connectivity with the employees and even with his immediate boss to whom he was answerable
for his decisions. So the changes made needed a more careful approach to eliminate disturbances
and differences within the organisation.

Murphy forced the change and was right in direction but the implementation was wrong. The
report suggests that the marketing change was totally required in the company otherwise the
company could have sustainability issues. First and foremost what Murphy needed to do was to
make cordial relations with the employees of the company. It is very important for any leader to
have a team of trustworthy and devoted followers. It is evident from the report that he put major
focus on only marketing which was headed by him and did not concentrate on the other
departments. Thus there was no synchronisation within the organisation. The main focus he
should put was to unify all the departments and should make them understand the situation of the
company and what are his plans to bring about change in the organisation. Communication is
very important in an organisation whether it is lateral or upward-downward communication. In
this case the communication was totally missing in the organisation.

Another problem which needs to be addressed by Murphy was the case of lobbying. As a
marketing director it was the core responsibility of Murphy to have cordial relations with other
members in other departments. Moreover, the company never experienced such a change, so it
was very difficult for them to fit in the change. The company had rather traditional values which
may have been hampered by the modernistic and goal oriented view of Murphy which posed as a
problem for all.

But the most important problem was that he faced severe obstacles from his boss. Again in this
case, communication could have helped a lot so that Murphy could make Andrew understand
that whatever he is doing is for the betterment of the company and to bring about much needed
profits in the company. It is very important to have healthy relation with the superiors otherwise
it is very difficult to bring about change in an organisation.

Only if he could be on the better side of his employees and his boss, then it would be very easy
for him to bring about the change in the organisation. So, it would be very practical for him to
first bring about change in the relation with his employees and his boss. So that he can carry on
with the much needed change in the marketing strategy.
3. The major problem that surfaced was between the operation and the sales team. The main
problem that was behind such a tension was the difference in views and opinions. Another reason
could be the composition of the work force. In the operation team there were generally people
who have been working in the company for many years and they were more emotionally
attached with the company than professionally. Whereas Murphy after joining the company
replaced the old sales team with fresh new people suitable for marketing. They were more
energetic and had more professional orientation than the others.

Other important reason that could have brought such a tension would be conflict of interests. The
operation people were more concerned with the operations while the marketing people had major
concerns with the sales. Thus there were functional differences between the both groups which
lead to such a situation. Even the hiring of new people resulted in the retrenchment of people
who were serving the company for a long time. This fact was not received well with the rest of
the workers because they were more emotionally attached with the company and they thought
the new recruitments to be threat to their jobs.

Various other factors added to the situation of the cold war between the old and the new. It was
rather a very difficult situation for Murphy to handle it. It was a wrong step taken by Murphy to
replace most of the old workers with the new. The strategy he had implemented could have
worked with the old workers too. Thus it ignited the whole situation. Another mistake he made
by appointing young people in marketing jobs was the discrimination of old and young which
was rather unwanted in the company. To address the situation and to make the environment
rather light it would have been best if he could have a informal meeting with the people of both
the department and talk to them on issues relating to the company and also explain to them his
views. An effective communication could have solved the entire matter.

It is rather difficult to initiate change when there is tension among the departments but with
proper communication it can be solved. There are hard times which make situation worse but if
the decisions are not properly communicated, it turns worst. Each and every department
contributes to make an organisation. One department can never function well without proper
support from other departments. Mutual transfers with in department for a short span of time can
be one such step towards bringing about harmony in the departments. So it is truly necessary to
keep making efforts in the right direction otherwise the goal can never be achieved. It is very
important to have a goal in mind and it is also very important to communicate that goal to each
and every employees of the company irrespective of the departments, so that the employees can
think in line with their boss.

4. It is very important in an organisation to have the favourable side of the boss. The authority in
the hands of boss makes him much more powerful. The relationship with the boss undermines
the fate of the actions undertaken in an organisation. The support of the boss is very much
required for making any decision or bringing about any change in the organisation or its
strategies.

In relation to this case it is clearly evident that Andrews, who was the boss of Murphy, did not
like the advances of him and his strategies. Moreover which added to the problem was the fact
that Andrew was more inexperienced compared to that of Murphy who had brought about
changes in lots of companies favourably. The apprehensive nature of Andrew made it more
difficult for Murphy to work independently in the organisation and take decisions. Even here to
there were differences in opinion which is bound be in case of different individual but in the
context of an organisation individual differences would only hamper the environment and the
functioning of the organisation. Andrew in one hand was more traditionally oriented only
concerned with that of production and operation whereas on the other hand Murphy was more
result oriented and was more focussed on marketing than other related issues. This difference did
not allow them to think in the same line. The absence of any particular goal also added to the
problematic situation. The relationship hampered and it became so worse that Andrew threatened
Murphy of firing him from his job.
It is true to the sense that an individual has different ideologies relating to the job and want to
work according to it. But the fact remains that when he is working in an organisation he has to
work in a group and can not think about bringing in radical change in the organisation single
handed, for that he needs support from his fellow workers, employees and from his boss. It is
very important to understand and adapt to the situation of the organisation and to be in the
favourable books of the boss.

It is very difficult to operate in an environment when the boss is a saboteur, but still efforts can
be made to amend things. To do this it is very important to understand the psyche of the boss,
what does he want from him and what are his limitations. In many cases it is because of the
personal prejudice of the boss that the employee is targeted in certain situations it is very hard to
gain the confidence of the boss. In such cases it is very important to do actions as expected by
the boss and never to cross the line. Mingling with the boss is a very tough job, but still diligent
efforts would help easing the situation or at least proper steps can be taken to make relations
better both professionally and personally.