Winning Management and Leadership at Frito Lay Inc
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Winning Management and Leadership at Frito Lay Inc
Purpose Businesses in today's competitive world, demand leaders and managers to be a well rounded person and possess the necessary skills in order to attain organizational goals. It is essential to managers and leaders to have good communication skills in order to communicate to employees effectively, relay information correctly, and to keep business running smoothly as possible. Effective managers must be able to lead necessary organizational and cultural changes that are likely to take place in today's rapidly changing environment with dynamic improvements through emerging technologies and the impact of globalization. At Frito Lay, they have a "win win" leadership team and management. The success of Frito Lay is a tribute to two entrepreneurs' dreams. It all began in 1932, C.E. Doolin stop by in a small cafe' in San Antonio and purchase a bag of corn chips.
Ford F-350 photographed in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebe...
frito pie @ Lambert's Downtown Barbeque
English: Harvest Cheddar flavored SunChips. Manufa...Little did he dream that the savory chip would become on and of the nation's favorite snacks. Mr. Doolin learned that the manufacturer of the chips wanted to sell his small business, so he purchased it and start selling Fritos (Frito Lay, 2008). On the other side of the story, that the same year Mr. Herman Lay began his own potato chips business by delivering snack foods in Nashville. Not long after Mr. H. W. Lay purchased the manufacturer, and the H. W. Lay & Company was formed. Years later, in 1961, the Frito Company and the H. W. Lay Company merged to become Frito Lay Inc. Today, Frito Lay brands account for 59 percent of the U.S. snack food industry. These days, the founders' dream to be America's favorite snack food company continues to be fulfilled with more than 45,000 Frito Lay's employees in United States and Canada who make, sell, and deliver a wide variety of fun and environmentally friendly foods for everybody to enjoy (Frito Lay, 2008). In this paper, it will explore on how the leadership team in Frito Lay continue to derive excellence in making their employees to function to the fullest in attaining their organizational goals. The good qualities and excellent leadership skills that motivate employees to be efficient and effective in their assigned tasks, and how leadership persuade employees' to believe changes and maintain a healthy organizational culture. Management and Leadership The difference between management and leadership can be illustrated by considering what happens when you have one without the other (Teamtechnology, 2009). Leadership is setting a new direction or vision of the group that they follow. In Frito Lay, we have pre shift meeting everyday where in our resource discusses our direction for the day. He tells us how much money we are supposed to make, how many changeovers we have, the target time needs to be accomplished in order to save money, time, and effort. Our manager wrote the task on the white board on delegating his team members for change over from one product to another. Our goal is to hit the allotted time. Management on the other hand, controls or direct people and resources in the group according to principles or values that have already been established (Teamtechnology, 2009). At Frito Lay, our managers always make sure that we use our resources according to the usage set on our task. They do not want us to waste extra resource because we can save money by using only the recommended amount. Another example is management set standard for employees' attendance, if the employee has 3 consecutive late it is a one on one discussion between the employee and his/her manager. A verbal and written warning should be implemented during the discussion. Getting employees to want to do a great job is, in many respects, the best way to keep an organization under control. Leadership without management sets a direction to follow, without considering too much how the new direction is going to be achieved. At Frito Lay this situation happened when we have a new hire manager, he/she just keep assigning task to people; task after task and demand the time that the tasks should be done without considering what would be the outcome afterwards. Other people then have to work hard on the trail that is left behind, picking up the pieces and make it work. Meanwhile the management without leadership, controls resources to maintain the status quo or ensure things happens according to already established plan. For example in Frito Lay everyday processes are the same. So the manager will just manage to maintain the status quo but does not usually provide "leadership" because there is no new change, no new direction, the manager just controlling the process to ensure that the standards are being followed. Leadership combined with management does both. It both sets a new direction and manages the resources to achieve organizational goals (Teamtechnology, 2009). For example a manager leads employees' everyday to achieve their daily goals and manages resources to maintain stability of production status or quotas. Roles and Responsibility of Organizational Managers It is no doubt that organizational managers' play an important role everyday in creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture. Managers and leaders identify the relationship between them and the employees. They also must value the effort of their employees. Managers and leaders should have good listening skills to listen to their employees' suggestions of new ideas, resolving issues, and concerns; use this information to make good decision so as to improve the safety and healthy working conditions in the company. Managers and leaders must also ensure that the resources are applied to those activities that return the great benefit both the organization and to customers. In order for managers and leaders to achieve a successful organization, he/she should follow the following objectives; lead, change, create a shared need, shape a vision, mobilize a commitment, monitor progress and change systems and structures. Managers engage with employees to pursuit of joint goals of an organization as leaders give a specific action in a relationship of a mutual stimulation and elevation that raises the level of employee conduct. Managers must transform a mechanism that promotes a two way communication and the exchange of information and ideas. Leaders and managers must establish and make a commitment with fellow employees on an ongoing basis that leaders play the major role in maintaining and nurturing their relationship with employees by giving them their wants, needs and other motivations to create and maintain a healthy organizational culture (Smith, 2008). At Frito Lay leaders and managers are committed to providing the best of their knowledge to maintain good relationship between employees and managers. Leaders and mangers serves as a role model to all the employees, they are there any time employees' need them to explain any concerns and issues regarding the processes. They are very good in rewarding employees who go above and beyond. Impact of Globalization and Management across Borders Emerging information technologies and globalization are forcing dramatic changes to the way businesses are managed today. The term 'globalization' means integration of economies and societies through cross country flows of information, ideas, technologies, goods, services, capital, finance and people. Cross border integration can have several dimensions - cultural, social, political and economic. In fact, some people fear cultural and social integration even more than economic integration. Conducting business internationally in today's marketplace is as much of a defensive play as an offensive play. In examining the upside of going global, consider the sheer size of international markets as contrasted with the size of the domestic market and you will likely find that the majority of your potential customers live abroad (Smith, 2008). There are many outside forces affecting a company's operations; such as new emerging technologies, global business environments, State and Federal regulations, competition, and many others. The gradual lowering of barriers to free trade is making the world economy more integrated. This means that the modern manager operates in an environment that offers more opportunities but is also more complex and competitive than that faced by the manager of a generation ago. The causes for failure overseas extend beyond technical capability and include personal and social issues. Managers must be able to change their behavior to match the needs and customs of local cultures. Managers should not be in culture shock, he/she is prepared on what to expect on the customers across borders. Success purely depends on manager's core skills, such as having multidimensional perspective; having proficiency in line management and decision making; and having resourcefulness, cultural adaptability, sensitivity, team building skills, and mental maturity. Computer literacy, negotiating skills, strategic vision, and the ability to delegate are must to managers (Bateman, 2009, p459). Recommendation of Strategies Two strategies that I would like to recommend to all the managers and leaders of organizations are perceptive knowledge and superior talent and enhanced capabilities to continue facilitating processes toward attaining the ultimate objectives and success in the organization. According to Bateman, "outstanding leaders have vision," a vision is a mental image that goes beyond the ordinary and perhaps beyond what others thought possible. The vision provides the direction in which the leader wants the organization to move (2009). Effective leaders focus activities on their visions. At Frito Lay most of the frontline managers are managing assembly line workers who are performing repetitive functions which require a different style of management versus leading a team of financial planners. The type of business and the task being performed will help define the required leadership role. Managers at Frito Lay sometimes would fell into situational leadership based on my observations because most of the time they would adapt to his/her style to match the task at hand, depending on the situation, a manager should exhibit the correct management style to handle the problem such as delegation, participation, and the relay of command. Summary Leadership combined with management both sets new direction and manages the resources to achieve organizational goals. In today's rapidly changing environment, the roles of managers must also change to respond faster and make decisions quicker and more accurately. They need to communicate company requirements effectively throughout the organization and remain positive and confident. The leaders' role should be first and foremost in visioning, and motivating others. You can develop your own leadership skills not only by understanding what effective leadership is all about but also by seeking challenging developmental experiences. Effective managers must be able to lead necessary organizational and cultural changes that are likely to take place in today's rapidly changing environment with dynamic improvements.
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References (2009). Leadership. Team technology. Retrieved February 1, 2009, from http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/leadership-basics.html (2008). Frito Lay Inc North America. About us. Retrieved February 1, 2009, from http://www.fritolay.com/about-us/history.html Bateman, Thomas. (2009). Management: Leading and Collaborating in a Competitive World 8th ed. The McGraw Hills companies, chapter 12. Smith, Robert. (2008, May 24). Roles of Managers and Leaders. Management. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.articleclick.com/article/roles-of-managers-and- leaders/997151