Changing Embracement Towards Sustainability

The paper explores the change management process of Procter & Gamble towards sustainability using Lewin’s change management model and Ohio Model of leadership. The study analyses the Head & Shoulder Beach Plastic Bottle project launched by P&G to collect shampoo bottles discarded on the beaches and from the landfills to recycle them to reuse them to market its flagship shampoo brand namely, H&S. The paper evaluates the change management strategy which P&G took to align sustainability and profitability.

Running head: CHANGING EMBRACEMENT TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY
Change Embracement Towards Sustainability
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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CHANGING EMBRACEMENT TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY
Introduction:
The pressing need to embrace sustainability and profitability simultaneously has
necessitated the multinational business organisations to undergo drastic changes in their
operational methods. Epstein (2018) mentions that business organisations in order to achieve
sustainability changes and retain their global positions are required to implement change models
to manage the entire organisational changes efficiently. Multinational companies have realised
that sustainability is a way to earn higher profits because the former leads to strengthening of
goodwill in the global market. Further, embracing sustainability can pave ways for carrying out
innovations to infuse sustainability into their product lines and aligning them with their corporate
social responsibility goals. The paper would delve the change management process of one of the
leading companies in the world namely, Procter & Gamble to integrate sustainability with its
profit making goals. I have chosen to analyse the change process using Lewin’s change
management model and Ohio Model of leadership to explore P&G’s leadership in integrating
sustainability with profitability. I have also chosen the article titled ‘Why Collaboration Is Key
To Brand Innovation and Impact: A P&G Case Study’ published in the Forbes to give the
study a strong base (Forbes.com, 2019).
Analysis:
I can reflect that Procter & Gamble in order to embrace the pressing need to
integrate sustainability with profitability adopted to change its packaging strategy which
forms a very important part of its product strategy. The global leader in fast moving
consumer goods market launched Head & Shoulder Beach Plastic Bottle project to collect
shampoo bottles discarded on the beaches and from the landfills to recycle them to reuse them to
market its flagship shampoo brand namely, H&S (Headandshoulders.com, 2019). I was a part

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of the project and can reflect from my experience that the project strengthened the issue of
sustainability which the consumer companies like P&G are facing. The entire change process
which Procter & Gamble wanted to embrace could be divided into two parts, namely internal
operational change and external operational changes. P&G in order to accelerate this
sustainability project acquired plant to process recycled plastic to package H&S shampoo. The
company in persuit of strengthening this sustainability strategy expanded the recycled bottles
project to include Pantene and Aussie as well (Us.pg.com. 2019). The marketing department
along with the apex management adopted the product strategy to manufacture a billion shampoo
bottles among which at least a quarter of the bottles would be made from recycled plastic into the
European market by 2018. The apex management at the initial stage targeted France and
Germany as the markets to assess the success of the project (Kolk, 2016).
The second leg of the Head & Shoulder Beach Plastic Bottle project launched by
P&G required the company to bring about changes in its external operations to support
the internal changes. The external change management was again divided into two parts
namely, at the supply and manufacturing level and at the distribution level. Kennedy, Whiteman
and Van den Ende (2017) point out that embracing operational changes towards sustainability
requires immense amount of innovation which put strain on the resources of multinational
companies. I can have learnt that Unilever in order to introduce at the supply and manufacturing
levels collaborated with TerraCycle based in the United States and Suez SA, a water treatment
company based in France. The two companies ground plastic from landfills and beaches into
small plastic particles which H&S can use to manufacture shampoo bottles for its flagship
shampoo products. I can opine that this external collaboration actually strengthened the internal
change management strategy of P&G (Forbes.com, 2019). I have realised that in order to

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integrate sustainability with profitability, companies have to spread their sustainability change
management projects to downstream supply chain or distribution channel. I have learnt from the
article that P&G collaborated with Carrefour and Rewe, both retailers in France and Germany to
sell shampoo packed in recycled beach plastic bottles. I can also point that the support of the
apex management in this sustainability change by P&G was certified by the reflection which
Lisa Jennings, Global VP, H&S gave while speaking to the spokesperson of the Forbes. Thus, I
can infer that change management to embrace sustainability is a complex and strategic process
which requires alignment of both internal operations and external operations backed by the apex
management (Bocken, 2015).
I can interpret the events which P&G undertook to embrace sustainability strengthened
the company in several ways. I saw in the article that P&G planned to adopt the strategy of using
recycled plastic bottle to package its flagship shampoo products. Cameron and Green (2015)
opined that change management requires alignment of internal and external operations. The
company incorporated use of recycled plastic to pack its products and aimed to market shampoo
packaged in recycled plastic in France and Germany. The statement of the Jennings actually
showed the leadership and support of the apex management towards the change. I can point out
from my insight that this step of the management of P&G actually corresponds to the
‘unfreezing’ stage of the change model by Lewin (Appendix 3). The stage requires the
management to lead the employees towards embracing the change by forming appropriate
change management strategies (Hussain et al., 2018). The management of P&G instead merely
setting target of selling billions of recycled shampoo bottles in France and Germany as per its
sales target in 2018, collaborated with TerraCycle and Suez SA to collect discarded bottles from
landfills as well as beaches. I can hypothetically consider this collaboration of P&G enabled the

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company introduce the change in a more successful ways. I have learnt from the article that the
companies were supposed to provide P&G with granulated plastic which the company would
channelize to manufacture shampoo bottles. Thus the company was able to sources superior
quality plastic which enabled the plastic bottles manufacturing units to manufacture more easily.
I can point out from my new insight that this support must have enabled the management of
P&G to reduce resentment among manufacturing employees who had to manufacture billions of
bottles as per the sales target the company set for 2018. I can also connect this strategy of P&G
to the stakeholder theory in which the employees are the internal stakeholders and the business
partners are the external stakeholders. According to my feelings this gaining of support of both
internal and external stakeholders must have aided the company implement the change towards
marketing shampoo packaged is recycled plastic bottles more effectively. This can also mean
that P&G was able to adopt the sustainability changes into its core business which is evident
from increase in net sales to $ 66.8 billion for the financial year ended on June 30, 2018
compared to $ 65.1 billion and 65.3 billion earned in the two previous years (Pginvestor.com,
2019)(Appendix).
I can evaluate the change management strategy which P&G took to align sustainability
and profitability. I can judge from the observations of mine in the article in connection to the
change management model proposed by Lewin to point out that it was useful and effective from
the company. According to my opinion the change which P&G experienced and managed
successfully shows clearly application of Ohio leadership style. Binci, Cerruti and Braganza
(2016) point out that the Ohio leadership stands on two main pillars namely, initiating structure
behaviour and consideration behaviour (Appendix 2). I can reflect that the involvement of
Jennings in the process showed positive structural behaviour of P&G towards sustainability right

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from the apical level of the organisational structure. The initiative to reuse plastic to manufacture
shampoo bottles showed that company’s consideration for environmental improvement (Lozano,
2015). I think that study has contributed to my experience as a leader in a valuable way. I have
learnt that every multinational company should integrate sustainability with their core business
strategies to reap prolonged profitability.
I can reflect that this experience is of great value to me and would serve me in more than
one ways in management course, program, future as well as life in general. I would certain
transfer my new knowledge as well as insights while working as a professional. I would ensure
that every strategy I make would be aimed at not only achievement of targets but also towards
attainment of sustainability. I would dispose shampoo bottles in landfills so that they could
collected and reused by P&G. I would encourage sustainable operations by ensuring that the
effluents from the manufacturing products are recycled to the extent possible for further use. I
would also use more environment friendly products to contribute towards reduction of
environmental degeneration.
Conclusion:
I can conclude that sustainability has become the need of the hour to ensure
environmental conservation. I can really opine that the initiative of P&G in reducing
environmental wastes is laudable. However, I can also point out that support the apex
management and collaboration with external organisation strengthen sustainability initiatives. I
can vouch on the fact that sustainability promotes profitability which is evident from the annual
reports of P&G for the period ended June 30, 2018. However, I can point that the company
should collaborate with customers as well to obtain bottles and containers of P&G products after
use. This initiative would strengthen the Head & Shoulder Beach Plastic Bottle project.

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Appendices:
Appendix 1: Financial reports of P&G for the period ended June 30, 2018.
Appendix 2: Ohio leadership model:

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Unfreeze (P&G adopts sales target of selling shampoos in recycled
bottles, Apex management supports, P&G partners with TerraCycle and
Suez SA
Implementation of Change (Forms the Head & Shoulder Beach
Plastic Bottle project)
Refreeze (P&G adopts the changes in core business strategies
including production and marketing)
Appendix 3: Lewin’s change model:

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References:
Binci, D., Cerruti, C., & Braganza, A. (2016). Do vertical and shared leadership need each other
in change management?. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 37(5), 558-
578.
Bocken, N. M. (2015). Sustainable venture capital–catalyst for sustainable start-up
success?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 647-658.
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2015). Making sense of change management: A complete guide to
the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. Kogan Page Publishers.
Epstein, M. J. (2018). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring
corporate social, environmental and economic impacts. Routledge.
Forbes.com. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmainwaring/2017/12/09/why-collaboration-is-key-to-
brand-innovation-and-impact-a-pg-case-study/#483d673052bc
Headandshoulders.com. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.headandshoulders.com/en-us/
Hussain, S. T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M. J., Hussain, S. H., & Ali, M. (2018). Kurt Lewin's
change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement in
organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), 123-127.
Kennedy, S., Whiteman, G., & Van den Ende, J. (2017). Radical innovation for sustainability:
The power of strategy and open innovation. Long Range Planning, 50(6), 712-725.

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Kolk, A., 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1),
pp.23-34.
Lozano, R. (2015). A holistic perspective on corporate sustainability drivers. Corporate Social
Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22(1), 32-44.
Pginvestor.com. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.pginvestor.com/Cache/1001242072.PDF?
O=PDF&T=&Y=&D=&FID=1001242072&iid=4004124
Us.pg.com. (2019). Retrieved from https://us.pg.com/brands/#hair