Company History

Discuss about the Change Management Of General Mills Canada.

This assignment is subjected to General Mills Canada which is a food processing industry. James Ford Bell of Washburn Crosby founded General Mills on 22^nd June 1928. Rocky Mountain Elevator Company, Red Star Milling Company, Royal Milling Company, Washburn Crosby Company and Kalispell Flour Mills Company merged together to form General Mills. Its origin was back to 1866, until its incorporation in 1928[1]. It is headquartered in United States, Golden Valley and Minnesota. Bargaining for lower prices, growing scale of consumers and retailers were the issues Bell anticipated. His aim was to build a company with new operating way. Local miller C.A. Pillsbury and Minneapolis Milling Company joined together and formed the Minneapolis Milers Association in 1869. By increasing its product technique and innovative method, Minneapolis became flour milling centre of the country[2]. In 1877, Minneapolis Milling Association and Washburn entered into a partnership with John Crosby and renamed it as Washburn Crosby Company. James S. Bell succeeded as Washburn Crosby Company’s head over Washburn in 1888. Throughout the years, General Mills came into existence in 1928 with $123 million of annual sales and approximately 5800 employees. Softasilk cake flour, gold medal flour and Wheaties are its strongest products. It comes under one of the largest food companies in the world. In the below study, innovation and change management process, culture of innovation underpinned organisational structure, methods and process of innovation and, the recommendation and suggestion for applying innovation techniques are explained[3].

President of General Mills Canada, David P. Homer stated that enabling the employees to become more innovative will boost their performance. The look of Cheerios cereal brand was changed by the General Mills of Canada from the way it looked in the early 2000. Homer was promoted to president and senior vice-president at General Mills Canada in 2006 earlier been a managing director of Australasia. The sales growth generation was on single-digit at the time of Homer’s Canada arrival it is competing with the OutSpace categories. The General Mills and its parent company both had similar culture in the U.S. Midwest. In the General Mills of Canada the senior leadership team consisted of seven vice-presidents and Homer in the following departments: sales, finance, marketing, human resource, trade marketing, and supply chain and consumer insights. Reviewing the value chain was the first task assigned to Homer. As the company was performing well at that time, Homer’s aim was to find out the ways to build the strength. Homer not only made logistic changes; his team and Homer worked with sales and marketing; the rest of the organization- to improve primarily and forecasting. The results were positive, needs of retailers were treated with good response in General Mills Canada and issue of stock-out became less. Particularly the importance was given to numbers that drove inventory and sales on the part of managers and they increased their overall efficiency. By the end of 2010, Homer brought in swung and a disciplined structure and now planning to bring the new ways to build upon the better results[4]… The management process of General Mills Canada had changed since last four years, it renewed its focus on rigour and discipline. The changes regarding communication, choice of language, executive’s communication with each other, and how meetings will be managed were also made. “Ideas that work” had been the definition of innovation up to this point (putting the emphasis on ‘that work’ in the definition)

Culture of Innovation

The focus on innovation is explained in the following segment, and the focus had been laid on the same since past few months on the part of the company. The four innovation principals of General Mills Canada are fundamental leadership expectations, delivering outstanding results, energizing and developing people and, integrity and ethics[5]. The teams were physically organised on a level of assurance- marketing in one, finance in another, operation in yet another and so forth. There is always a positive and negative site of everything. Similarly applying innovation technique also has its positive as well as negative impact[6]. Innovation helps to improve the productivity and reduce cost. By increasing the flexibility or production capacity of the business, cost can be reduced and it will lead to increase in productivity. General Mills Canada increased the quality of its cereal Cheerois which not only helped to increase the productivity but also reduced the cost of the business. Innovation also helps in enhancing the quality of the business and its product. Taking the same product into consideration General Mills introduced a better version of the cereal; it increased the quality of the particular product. Innovation also helps in expansion or building a new product range in the organisation. The reason behind increase in sales and profit is broader range of products and also reduces the shareholders risk. Innovation also helps in environmental protection by reducing the waste and reducing the emission of carbon gases; the increased quality of the product helps in reducing the wastage of raw material used[7]. Along with it the few of the demerits of innovation are competition, availability of finance, uncertain commercial return. It will be favourable only when other competitors are not able to conquer the implemented idea in their own business. Sometimes financial crises in the organisation also bind the organisation to implement its innovative strategies[8].

Brad Taylor, human resource vice-president at General Mills Canada; grouped the organisational changes, ask, recognise and, enable being its three pillars. He started taking initiative to develop the “culture of innovation”. To do this, he first introduced the definition of culture of innovation: “developing the things to make the business better”. The major focus of the organisation from summer 2012 to the end of 2013 was on the new start up.

There are few factors which explain the culture of innovation at General Mills Canada. The first one is collaboration on the part of the employees which can help them to enhance their result and reward their performance. Collaboration among the employees generates plan initiatives, fresh ideas and, lead changes. Employee’s engagement and involvement and information sharing is encouraged in the organisation. The events are organised both offsite and onsite to help the expansion in the business and employees connect with each other. Women are encouraged across the organisation to support the development, to connect and retention of female employees. The next factor is community involvement which states that to volunteer or indulge in various communities, for which time, food and, money is devoted. Since 2008, General Mills Canada supported and championed holistic community development programme near its plant in the five villages at Nashik, Sinnar, including women empowerment, initiative in education and, environmental preservation. By involving in different communities it will help the organisation to develop the ideas regarding the requirement of the people and fulfilling the same. The third factor is open communication which plays an important role in any of the organisation. The essential part of any organisation is an open, honest and direct communication. Communication can be informal and casual or formal and systematic. To build a community, achieve business results and foster transparency culture both the ways of communication are valued. It holds quarterly meetings to share information to the employees regarding announcement of new initiatives and progress against site objectives. Regular meetings are organised with mangers to provide overviews of cross functional team, provide business updates and, discuss HR key initiatives. The open communication among the employees helps them to discuss the new ideas and thoughts thoroughly with each other and ensures the best one to pick up. The final factor is reward and recognition which states that it is difficult to analyse the performance of talented employees and its impact on the business. At General Mills the reward programme offers comprehensive and competitive benefits and compensation to the employees. As per the applicability, the employees are eligible for bonus payment, annual merit increases and, zone promotions according to their grade level. General Mills offers contribution to business and recognition of demonstration of values as its two annual formal programmes. At the functional, country, global and international levels; the championship awards are awarded to the employees in recognition of contributions and achievements consisted with values and outstanding demonstration leadership. This encourages the employees to think more for the benefit of the organisation which gives them indirect benefit[9].

Factors Enabling Innovation

The threats, obstacles and, challenges which are faced by the company are in the form of its competitors. Lobslaw companies, Safeway, Wal-Mart and, Sobeys Inc. are few of them. All these companies including General Mills have similar business line which serves as a threat to the General Mills Canada. As per the fortune global list of the year2017 Wal-Mart stands at 1^st position in the ranking which is a threat for the company to survive in the same market[10]. The factors which would enhance the innovation in the organisation are research and development, operational policies, training and development and, so on. Research and development helps the company to seek new ideas, enhance and design new products, services and, technologies. It also helps in increase new product lines and increase productivity. If policies and procedures are implemented properly they give benefits to the workforce regarding the clear understanding of responsibilities and understand individuals[11].

The process of innovation starts with mobilization and generation of ideas which states that it helps in generating the new ideas. The logical and physical movement of idea from one place to another place such as another department or different physical location leads to mobilization. According to innovation: policies and practices, management, innovation must be emphasised on right extent on the part of managers. Stability of jobs will depend upon emphasising the needs of the employees; not doing the same will decrease the idea generation and urgency. This will help the organisation to think about new ideas regarding products and marketing and application of new policies. This will definitely help the organisation to enhance their sales and profit margins. The next step is advocacy and screening of the ideas as all the ideas are not worth implementing. This can also be called as decision making process. Discussion and argument can be made on a potential idea to enhance it. In the study of innovation: policies and practices help the upper management to prepare an idea. It is not always possible that idea generators have the skills to advocate the ideas therefore, managers working can facilitate, support and encourage the idea generator. It will help General Mills Canada to refine its products and come out with a better product again and again which will provide satisfaction to customers. The next step is experimentation of the selected idea. According to researchers of innovation: the objective of experimentation is not testing the merits of the idea to the organisation. However it checks the suitability of the idea for the particular organisation. Experimentation needs adequate time to run by the individuals. This will help the General Mills Canada to test its product before the launch in the market. The fourth process is commercialization which determines the potential impact of the idea in the market. It defines the overall impact of the product from its packaging to the quality. The only idea can appropriately meet and target the needs of the audience once it is refined. The final step of innovation is diffusion and implementation of the idea. These are the two sides of same coins. The acceptance of the idea in the whole company leads to diffusion and for building the innovation implementation sets the grounds. The application or use of innovation should be verified by the end of this stage[12].

Positive and Negative Impacts of Innovation

The methods of innovation are brainstorming and empathy mapping. Brainstorming is based on Walt Disney’s three facets: realist, dreamer and, spoiler. Brainstorming is a problem solving approach with lateral thinking. It helps in generation of new ideas on the part of employees and workers as it is a group activity. Some ideas generate new ideas and some leads to creative solution of the problem. In brainstorming rewarding and criticizing of ideas should be avoided. This method will help General Mills Canada to generate effective ideas which will lead to generation of new products[13]. Empathy mapping is used to gain customer’s deeper insight. A group of users are represented by empathy mapping, such as a segment of customers. This will help the General Mills Canada to analyse the needs of the customers and satisfy them accordingly[14].

The company should generate and mobilize the ideas and put them into action which is giving benefit to not only the customers but the organisation. The ideas generated should always aim at customer satisfaction.

The screening of the idea should be done on the basis of its suitability to the business and customers. The best idea suitable to the business should only be adopted, which would generate good returns.

The experimentation made should not harm the person or thing the product has been experimented on. Experimentation done should ensure the best quality of the food product.

The impact of the product should be analysed by knowing the customer review about the particular product launched. There should be proper commercialization of the product regarding its marketing, packaging, and quality.

While implementing the idea or launching any product, one should ensure its impact and requirement in the market. Before launching the product emphasis should be laid on its demand in the market.

For generating new ideas through brainstorming, the company should have the manager with proper skills. 

Anthony, SD, The Little Black Book Of Innovation, With A New Preface (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017)

Culture (2018) Generalmills.co.in <https://www.generalmills.co.in/hi-IN/Company/GBS-India/Culture>

Drucker, Peter F, Innovation And Entrepreneurship (Routledge, 2014, 2014)

Fortune, Fortune 500 Companies 2018: Who Made The List (2018) Fortune <https://fortune.com/fortune500/>.

General Mills Canada: Since 1954 (2018) Generalmills.ca <https://www.generalmills.ca/en-CA/Company/Overview>

General Mills: Innovation (2018) Generalmills.com <https://www.generalmills.com/en/Company/Innovation.aspx>

Global Responsibility 2018 (2018) Globalresponsibility.generalmills.com <https://globalresponsibility.generalmills.com/images/General_Mills-Global_Responsibility_2018.pdf>

Hon, AHY, Bloom, M and Crant, JM ‘Overcoming Resistance To Change And Enhancing Creative Performance’ (2011) 40(3) Journal of Management

Imberg, K, This Week In Food History: The Creation Of General Mills (2015) Food Manufacturing <https://www.foodmanufacturing.com/blog/2015/06/week-food-history-creation-general-mills>

Ivey, GENERAL MILLS CANADA: BUILDING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION (A) (2014) Alertlogic <https://alertlogic-hb4e.hbsp.harvard.edu/api/courses/218116/items/W14003-PDF-ENG/sclinks/325e19f1170e5d153223df49f87b35ae>

Kinnear, S, Kate C and Peter V, Regional Advantage And Innovation (Physica, 2015)

Rawlinson, JG, Creative Thinking And Brainstorming (Routledge, 2017, 2nd ed, 2017)

 Santos, BS, Methanias CJ and Maria ASNN, ‘Approaches For Generating Empathy: A Systematic Mapping’ [2017] Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing

Thain, G, General Mills – History, Evolution, Present And The Future (2014) Slideshare.net <https://www.slideshare.net/GregThain/general-mills-history-evolution-present-and-the-future>