Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Lotz of Food: The Perishable Team (B)

Davidson, Martin N...

Case

Lotz of Food: The Perishable Team (B)

Davidson, Martin N.; Munoz, Hazzen; Yemen, Gerry

OB-0874 | Published April 19, 2006 | 2 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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How do you facilitate changing a long-held mission into a new vision during an organizational restructuring? Ernesto Gomez, organizational development director for Lotz of Food, a leading grocery retailer headquartered in California, was asked to help the perishable team transition from a hierarchical and function-based business unit to one that would be more dynamic, versatile, and proactive. Expectations were high and came right from the top of the organization. The A case reveals the steps Gomez takes to understand the problems. Among the issues about team development, Gomez is conflicted over the lack of diversity among the organization's leadership and indeed on the entire team. What is more troubling is the organization's seemingly lack of recognition of this fact--so much that Gomez wonders whether his own background has made this a bigger issue than it really is. In the B case, Gomez becomes more concerned about what extent he thinks his own biases and past experiences are shaping the way he sees this situation.