Debate Essay on Leadership Change at Booster Juice

This debate essay analyzes a leadership transition at Booster Juice, focusing on the perspectives of both the new owner Ian Henson and the existing employees. From Ian's viewpoint, the shift involves adapting to a different industry from his previous role managing restaurant Hoodoos, requiring him to embrace additional responsibilities and ensure a smooth transition while maintaining organizational culture. His approach includes adopting transformational leadership strategies for effective goal alignment and communication, aiming to meet high employee expectations. On the other hand, employees face a change in their familiar work environment as they adapt to new policies under Ian's leadership. The essay emphasizes collaboration between Ian and the team to embrace changes constructively while upholding organizational values despite the absence of previous leader Natalie Peace.

Debate Essay
There is nothing so constant as change

Booster Juice 1
Group A: Perspective of the new owner
Change is one of the most constant things that we come across. From the lens of Ian Henson,
there is a new and different life ahead of him filled with various challenges and learnings. The
industry of operation is slightly different from restaurant Hoodoos that he was managing as yet.
The demography of the employees involved will be drastically changed as well. Moreover, the
new role comes with various additional responsibilities.
His goal must be to ensure a smooth transition of leadership, make the employees feel
comfortable and cut costs incurred in the business. The value system shared by Ian and Natalie is
similar and hence it appears that the culture would remain supporting and motivating.
Ian must take courses on leadership and devote extra hours to fulfill this responsibility as well as
his predecessor. Ian must also work out strategies to cut costs and ensure that there is effecting
communication and feedback system in place. Ian should work towards maintaining and
blending with the existing culture of the organization. He must also communicate the new
policies and procedures of the business to the employees in an effective manner (Men, 2014).
Transformational leadership strategy can be adopted in order to align the goals of employees
with the organizational goals and bring about this change in a smooth fashion. It is imperative
that he makes a solid mark and lives up to the high expectations held by the employees.
Group B: Perspective of Booster Juice employees
Booster juice employees have a median age of 18 and 70% of the employees are women. Most of
the employees have just stepped onto their first jobs and have only seen one leader, Natalie
Peace. A leadership change is sure to impact their work life, culture and levels of motivation.
They had a comfortable equation with Natalie and looked up to her for inspiration.
However difficult it may be, as current employees of the firm, they must put their best efforts to
accept the changes that the organization is going through (Hechanova, 2013). One cannot clap
with a single hand and hence efforts to ensure the peace and harmony is the organization must be
put by both Ian as well as the current employee. In fact, they must make sure that the new leader
is welcomed and feels a part of the organization.

Booster Juice 2
The new rules, policies and procedures must be respected and in case of any grievances, issues
must be communicated in a professional manner. They must also give sufficient time to Ian to
understand the company culture and blend in the same. Employees must also help each other in
adhering to understanding the changes happening around them and actively take part in the
organizational activities initiated by Ian. Lastly, employees of the company must make sure that
despite the absence of their previous leader, the values with which the organization is running
has to be maintained (Burke, 2017).
References
Burke, W. W. (2017). Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
Hechanova, R. M., & Cementina-Olpoc, R. (2013). Transformational leadership, change
management, and commitment to change: A comparison of academic and business
organizations. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 22(1), 11-19.
Men, L. R., & Stacks, D. (2014). The effects of authentic leadership on strategic internal
communication and employee-organization relationships. Journal of Public Relations
Research, 26(4), 301-324.