Case Study – Survival Guide for Avon CEO Sherilyn McCoy and Other Change Agents
There’s no doubt that Avon Products must embrace change. Sherilyn McCoy was just named company CEO and will need to be the change agent. Her experience at Johnson & Johnson equips her to lead those changes, but the question is what she must do to survive.
Here’s the dirty little secret about heroes and change agents: most don’t survive to enjoy the changes they create. This goes all the way back to Hercules, who was poisoned on the way home. It continues today, epitomized by Steve Jobs’ first stint at Apple, kicked out of the very company he started.
The answer lies in how McCoy converges and evolves into the organization. She will fail if she tries to lead the changes all by herself. If she truly partners with others to achieve change, they can succeed together.
This is an organization in trouble. As laid out in the New York Times Dealbook,
- Net income has declined every year since 2008
- Its share price has fallen 16 percent
- It’s facing a “significant regulatory investigation” around possible bribes
Why Change Agents Fail
Cultures fight change. McCoy knows what to do. Her natural talents, training, and experience at Johnson & Johnson over the past three decades will enable her to figure out the right way forward, get the right strategies, right the operations and right the organization. The hard part for her will be wining over the people deep in the organization that will fight her changes tooth and nail every step of the way for as long as it takes.
McCoy has many changes to implement, and fast. These involve the development and launch of new products, major re-branding and marketing inititiatives and important changes to the organizational culture.
Using the 8 step change model, your team must develop a internal communication plan to announce the changes. This proposal should be no longer than 2 pages and should present the 5 key actions McCoy should focus on over the next 6-12 months in order to successfully lead the changes.
Instructions –This learning activity involves group work. You have received an automated email indicating who your team members will be for this case study. Each group contains 3-4 people. Once you have read the case study, begin formulating your ideas. Team members should get in contact with each other to plan a chat session or a group call (using your office communicator software) in approximately 1 week from now. You will work together to create your proposal. The final proposal must be submitted 2 weeks from the start of the course. To submit, please email the document to the course coordinator who will upload them on the intranet course page. Once all teams have submitted their proposals, please be ready to challenge other proposals and justify your own (using the comment section below).
This case study was based on the Forbes.com article “Survival Guide for Avon CEO Sherilyn McCoy and Other Change Agents” (but was modified to suit this learning activity)
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