Leadership, Cultural and Performance Change at MeatPack

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: LEADERSHIP, CULTURAL AND PERFORMANCE CHANGE
AT MEATPACK 1
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: LEADERSHIP, CULTURAL AND PERFORMANCE
CHANGE AT MEATPACK
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INTRODUCTION
MeatPack is a food-processing company located in Sydney in Australia. It’s a family-owned
business with several processing plants in Queensland and New South Wales. It has dealt with
the processing of meat products and fresh soups for over 27 years now. Its customers mostly
include the food-service companies and the retail chains within Australia and in other countries.
Derek Bison is the Chief Executive Director (CEO) of the MeatPack company being the 4th
generation down the family line to lead the organization. The company has set various targets
that have to be met to become successful and grow to greater heights. The significant changes
that have been implemented include; cultural and performance shift as well as senior leadership
changes. The paper, therefore, focusses on the effectiveness of these changes, barriers to the

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: LEADERSHIP, CULTURAL AND PERFORMANCE CHANGE
AT MEATPACK 2
cultural change, as well as the best approach (either hands-on or hands-off) to carry out their
business.
A Hands-off or hands-on approach in the business management
Managing and leading a company is a task that requires to be taken with seriousness. How a
manager will lead the company will determine its failure or success in the long-run. Within an
organization there are various employees of a different culture, therefore, there many
disagreements that can arise, as such the manager has to find means through which he or she will
resolve those issues. Otherwise, failure of addressing such matters will affect the working
relationship of the employees and eventually the output will decrease (Algahtani, 2014). As a
manager, you need to select the best style and approach of dealing with situations that arise
within the organization. Currently, Bison employs the hands-on approach in dealing with the
junior staff and leaders. For instance, he inspires the line managers in taking a hands-on
approach, especially when hiring new personnel’s or when performing performance appraisals. I
believe Bison need to keep on using a more hands-on approach in the management of the
business has it involves direct interaction with the employees and day-to-day needs, activities,
and operations of the organization.
Hands-on leaders work to connect the world of management and leadership through the creation
of a vision as well as modeling behavior of the organization (Giessner and Wong, 2016). The
manager, however, does not detach himself from daily operations of the company. He involves
himself in the standard work that other employees are involved. Just like the way Bison engages
himself in training the employees on the vital business skills, a hands-on-approach encourages
managers to coach their team and invest heavily in their progress. According to the 21st VUCA

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: LEADERSHIP, CULTURAL AND PERFORMANCE CHANGE
AT MEATPACK 3
(Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) business model, the Leader-Manager
approach is usually preferred over the Manager-Leader approach (Nandram and Bindlish, 2017).
A manager having leadership skills as the principal role in the management of business
operations (leading rather than managing) can recognize future challenges that a company may
face and hence make significant changes and shifts. In a hands-on approach, the manager
interacts directly with the junior staff and takes part in the ongoing projects. Employee
mentoring is crucial, and the line of communication from upwards or downwards is always open
(Saleh and Watson, 2017). The employees can ask the manager and other top managers any
question and get clarification immediately. Such kind of interaction is vital in creating a
conducive environment for employees to work smoothly. The culture of the organization will be
family-oriented making every worker to feel accommodated and hence increase their
productivity (Ward, 2016).
If Bison keeps on using the hands-on approach in managing the MeatPark company, there is a
guarantee they will reach their set target of 1 billion dollars by the year 2020. Due to this, the
manager can obtain diverse ideas from the employees on how to run the company. The
relationship between the employees and the manager is open such that they can tell him their
problems, areas that need improvement, and what can be done for the company to be more
productive. As a manager also, you get to have a deeper understanding of the business at large
from all the corners (Samovar et al., 2015). It is easy as such for a hands-on manager to
understand areas that need improvement in the organization and implement the appropriate
techniques that can overcome those challenges. Since the employees more focused due to the
manager’s active role in the participation of the daily activities, there are high chances for the
continued growth of the company.

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: LEADERSHIP, CULTURAL AND PERFORMANCE CHANGE
AT MEATPACK 4
On the contrary, a hands-off manager leaves all the operations and running of the business in the
hands of the employees and their team leaders. As such, he has limited command on the way the
business activities are carried out. He has little knowledge on the ongoing operations of the
business as well as the details. He is not much involved in the projects neither does he make
much effort to ask employees to keep him in the loop (Nisbet, 2018). He also does not invest
much time in listening to the employees or following the agreements made. Much of the work is
left to the employees. Such kind of approach is risky as the manager may fail to foresee a threat
and hence crumble the business as at once. Also, it’s only a few employees who will work under
minimum supervision while the rest will not thereby affect the quality of their output. Therefore,
Bison should keep on using the hands-on approach in carrying out the activities of the MeatPark
company.
The effectiveness of the senior leadership changes at MeatPark company
Some of the leadership changes that Bison implemented in the organization is the development
of leadership competencies, particularly for the senior strategy team. He also shifted the structure
of the business from a hierarchical organization to a horizontal one, thereby giving the front-line
workers and the rest a more responsibility and accountability regarding their performance
(Williams, 2014). Other changes include; development program for the leaders, coaching
consultation for every member of the senior strategy team, and change in the set-up of the
company’s human resource department. These changes have been effective so far as Bison has
seen tremendous changes and improvement in the company concerning productivity and growth.
In particular, the senior strategy team experienced a positive dynamism through the changes
introduced. The open dialogue fostered between the manager and other employees, for instance,
has encouraged free conversation between the employees as well as with the manager (Williams,