Case Study > Kathy Fish at Proctor &Gamble Case Analysis_University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MKTG 60

downloaded from

Scholarfriends

https://scholarfriends.com Downloaded by: writerforacademic@gmail.com | https://scholarfriends.com/singlePaper/276938/case-study-kathy-fish-at-proctor-gamblecase-analysis-university-of-minnesota-twin-cities-mktg-60 Distribution of this document is illegal.

Kathy Fish at Proctor &Gamble Case Analysis

MGMT 6050

This study source was downloaded by 100000859607764 from CourseHero.com on 01-03-2023 06:53:09 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/134250533/Kathy-Fish-PG-Case-Analysis-docx/

MGMT 6050 Kathy Fish P&G Case Analysis

Kathy Fish at P&G case was one of the largest companies in their industry amassing billions in revenue in their time in business however, a change needed to be made fast.

Instead of their original business structure where they had employees who did their job and that was it, they needed each one of them to open their minds and create solutions and ideas to keep the company ahead of the competition. Fish implemented a new system called “Growthworks” which is a reward-based system that seeks to reward employees for their achievements. This ensures that the employees will be fully invested and strive to have the next game changing idea. Many companies have had ideas that have completely changed the landscape of how these items P&G sells such as dollar shave club. A monthly subscription fee that sends a new razor to your doorstep making it convenient to buy razors.

There are many other companies that have a similar business model, and this has taken a lot of customers away from P&G. P&G also struggled with knowing when to kill an idea. They would let it live on too long but would hold onto the idea until it was too late. With Growthworks the idea was to kill ideas quicker and not waste millions on an idea and rather spend $20,000 at a time until the research proved it was time to invest.

Thus, when Kathy Fish launched GrowthWorks, an initiative to bring lean innovation to scale at P&G, it was designed it to be business unit-led and corporately supported. Fish and her team tackled challenges as they emerged along the way, such as the need to adapt career systems. Fish took a 'pull' versus 'push' approach and it caught on like 'wildfire', eventually producing a portfolio of over 130 projects, and momentum that led P&G to headline the Consumer Electronics Show for the first time. While progress indicators were strong, the business units still struggled to incubate innovations, and Fish feared that unless P&G's overall innovation performance management and reward systems changed, the new approach to innovation would not take hold in a sustainable way. Fish grapples with whether to take a more 'push' approach and add innovation metrics to the business unit presidents' annual scorecards, which typically focused on short term deliverables.

Kathy Fish implemented a new train of though in the organization and as the article mentioned, she said they must “fall in love with the problem, not the solution”. Changing the mindset of the culture was critical in the efforts to shift into a new way of conducting business within all the business units. Adopting a culture of uncertainty can trigger more innovation and shifting the mindset allows the organization to build and foster ideation that can give them new ideas to increase their competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Kathy Fish changed the structure within the organization on how ideas are reviewed and processed. By changing the

This study source was downloaded by 100000859607764 from CourseHero.com on 01-03-2023 06:53:09 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/134250533/Kathy-Fish-PG-Case-Analysis-docx/

MGMT 6050 Kathy Fish P&G Case Analysis

hierarchy and encourage the GrowthWorks strategy throughout the organization has eliminated the “idea killing” barriers and encourage business units to created, cultivate, and collaborate on new ideas and processes to grow the business. The new system allows all stakeholders to be accountable in the innovation process but allowing employees to fail but encourage learning during the steps of bringing new ideas forward.

Kath Fish’s approach confirms a few points that was stated in the article, “The Hard Truth About Innovation Cultures”. The article states that innovation involves exploration of unknown and uncertain terrain while also a tolerance for failure is an important characteristic of innovation cultures. Fish’s GrowthWorks approach fosters a culture of exploration within Proctor and Gamble. The concept of the GrowthWorks business model is holistic approach to problem solving that encouraging brainstorming in each business unit.

The new approach also confirms the willingness to experiment but remain highly disciplined.

The shift to explore embraces the idea of comfort with uncertainty and ambiguity. Not having all the answers can be a source fuel to ignite creative and innovative thought processes. Fish did not create a strategy to allows an anything goes type of culture. There is a freedom to explore but in an organized matter that focuses on learning during the process even if the desired outcome is a failure. The new operating system has clear guidelines on how to operationalize innovation principles in the organization. The system has checks and balances on whether to move forward, kill or redirect innovation ideas.

Creating a formal process to explore new ideas further confirms Kathy Fish’s direction to foster an environment and willingness to experiment while allowing for learning during the process. Lastly, the new approach confirms “collaboration with individual accountability” from “The Hard Truth About Innovation Cultures” article. The article states that a wellfunctioning innovation system needs information input and integration of efforts from a variety of contributors throughout the organization. Kathy Fish’s approach creates a sense a collective responsibility within the business units. There is collaboration among the teams, but individual contributors are still held accountable for their decisions.

Collaboration and accountability can be complementary. It is also important to note that collaboration does not mean consensus in an organization, business units must hold individuals accountable. Being open to feedback while being encouraged to learn from other is a great way to involve multiple stakeholders to be involved in ideation and create an innovative eco-system that fosters forward thinking.

To conclude, Kathy Fish needs to continue to find ways to work different in the organization so that the adoption of the new culture happens in an organic manner and

This study source was downloaded by 100000859607764 from CourseHero.com on 01-03-2023 06:53:09 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/134250533/Kathy-Fish-PG-Case-Analysis-docx/

MGMT 6050 Kathy Fish P&G Case Analysis

employees are “buying in” to the new way to work. Continue with trainings at all levels of the organization and encourage reward systems for innovative accomplishments.

Identifying the barriers that create challenges in moving the process forward is critical.

Once the barriers are identified, solutions can be implemented to tackle how to improve shift to work differently. Fish should also find methods to work around P&G’s “consensus culture,” where one person with a big idea would often get shot down by others. Continue to encourage experimenting and finding out what P&G’s customer base desires but also leveraging the data to inform the organization how making better innovative business decisions.

This study source was downloaded by 100000859607764 from CourseHero.com on 01-03-2023 06:53:09 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/134250533/Kathy-Fish-PG-Case-Analysis-docx/ Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)