Your assignment is to assess the effects of the US food paradigm shift on the Kr

Question

Your assignment is to assess the effects of the US food paradigm shift on the Kroger Company and Kroger Company’s response to this shift from an Organizational Theory perspective.   

For this project issues to consider and discuss should include, but are not limited to, the following:

Describe Kroger’s environment.  

      General environment

      Task environment

      Simple/Complex

      Stable/unstable

Identify, describe, and draw Kroger’s organizational structure. Is this the correct structure for Kroger’s environment?

What is Kroger’s strategy? Explain how Kroger’s strategic direction does or does not embrace the paradigm shift in food?

How has the paradigm shift stimulated innovation and change at Kroger?

How has Kroger’s management evolved to accommodate the paradigm shift in food?

Assess Kroger’s supply chain relationships. Are there any resource dependent relationships? Do these relationships impact the nature of the paradigm shift in food?

Describe Kroger’s core technology. Is a service or manufacturing technology employed? Or, are both service and manufacturing technologies employed?

How is information technology used for control and coordination?

Explanation / Answer

Krogers strategy and key elements:

1. Expectations and involvement reflects the importance of operational safety, as demonstrated by actions of plant leadership. The key elements assessment (KEA) for this element examines the structure of the safety organization with special focus on the overall priority that safety receives with respect to other important priorities.

2. Goal setting and action planning recognizes the importance of setting numerical improvement targets and action plans that can deliver results that reduce injuries in a measurable way.

3. Safe practices establishes the need for the organization to have safe practices and work procedures in place that begin at the plant level, become more specific at the department level and become very specific at the job level.

4. Plant training systems establishes the minimum safety training required to do a job safely, whether the job is that of a plant manager or an equipment operator. Plants that earn the highest KEA score for this element have training that is specific and standardized.

5. The behavior observation system is a nondisciplinary procedure in which employees observe their peers at work and provide feedback on identified safe or at-risk behaviors. Kroger Manufacturing uses BST's integrated behavior-based safety process for this key element.

6. Performance tracking and incident investigation carries out two related functions. It measures organization progress against safety goals and standardizes the accident investigation system. Using total quality and behavior-based tools, Kroger personnel investigate each OSHA recordable accident in a standardized way to prevent recurrence by identifying and eliminating the root cause(s) of the accident.

At the time that Kroger implemented the Key Elements initiative, the company created the position of safety coordinator at each site, and wage roll personnel were recruited to fill those positions. The safety coordinator job is a rotating position. Personnel serve in that capacity for two to three years.

Their next step is not formalized. Some return to the production line; others take supervisory positions at their sites. There were several purposes behind creating the position. Kroger saw its nonsalaried personnel as an untapped safety resource. Internal consultant Sandy Harmon says that the position opened a liaison possibility at each site that could help personnel move beyond the "us vs. them" thinking at all levels.

A paradigm shift to speed up innovation:

Traditionally, societal challenges were tackled by working up along the value chain, starting from the providers of final consumer products, who are publicly visible as market leaders and innovators. Such a linear approach, although safe and conventional, has not delivered on its expectations in the past. To speed up innovation in Europe, this traditional method of working needs to be complemented with an approach that brings together and stimulates innovation at key stages of the value chain simultaneously, in order to create competition and breakthrough to comprehensive solutions.What we have ahead of us requires a speed change and a paradigm shift for public and private actors alike, in order to turn the vision of a sustainable, smart and inclusive Europe into reality.

The second trend involves paying attention to macro-economic patterns. The rise of value shoppers, millennials and health-and-wellness concerns are macro-economic trends that are starting to shape the digital transformation in retail, he said. But there's also the explosion of data, the emergence of platforms and the rise in mobility that is taking place across all industries.

Krogers decision making and contriling :

Feedback helps Kroger understand customer needs.

1. set strategic goals
2. establish metrics and standards of performance
3. compare metrics of actual performance to standards
4. take corrective action as needed
Quality control system of Krogers:

participation, benchmarking guidelines, Six Sigma goals; continuous
benchmarking- means the process of persistently measuring products, services, and practices against tough competitors or other organizations recognized as industry leaders
-six sigma- specifically means a highly ambitious quality standard that specifies a goal of no more than 3.4 defects from that meaning to refer to a whole set of control procedures that emphasize the relentless pursuit of higher quality and lower costs. (DMAIC)

ERP of Krogers:

collect, process, and provide information about a company's entire enterprise, including order processing, product design, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, distribution, human resources, receipt of payments, and forecasting of future demand.
-can be expensive and difficult to implement but when applied successfully can be the backbone for an organization by integrating and optimizing all the various business processes across the entire firm.
-erp weaves all systems together so people can see the big picture and act quickly, helping the organization be smarter and more effective.
-most recently incorporated tools for supply chain management so that coordination across organizational boundaries is strengthened as well.

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