Question

When Coca-Cola purchased first a part and then all of Honest Tea, what would have been appropriate ways to help this change be successful? Select all that apply. A: To the extent that Honest Tea began using Coca-Cola's payroll and expense reimbursement systems, train employees on these systems. B: Conduct team-building exercises to help groups of employees from Coca-Cola and Honest Tea communicate effectively and address conflict. C: Survey Honest Tea employees to identify sources of anxiety and conflict related to the acquisition. D: Use a change agent to freeze Honest Tea's very successful culture before Coca-Cola could have any impact.

Answer 1

Answer:

The most applicable choices in the order of importance are

C, B then A. Of course, they have to be applied at various stages of the acquisition.

Explanation:

C should have occurred (if possible) before the acquisition. Usually, when there is a major acquisition such as the one described above, it comes with good and bad tidings.

In some cases, especially one involving a large and efficient system like Coca-Cola, many positions become redundant.

In other cases, people are worried if their compensation will be affected. There are usually questions such as:

• Will my compensation be reviewed upwards or, downwards?
• Will my insurance or 401K be affected adversely? e.t.c.

Thus, executing a survey of Honest Teas' employees to identify such sources of anxiety and conflict related to the acquisition with the goal to address them constructively, will help the change to be successful.

Option B is one strategy that ought to have been executed upon the conclusion and official announcement of the acquisition exercise. This is the most crucial and maybe the most important part of the acquisition/takeover process.

This is true especially if there is going to be changes in management,  communication styles, and the culture.  Other benefits of team building excercises are, it increases and or improves:

• Productivity
• Morale
• Staff Motivation and
• Communication all of which are critical to the success of any organisation.

Option C: On the balance of probability, it is expected that when a bigger company like Coca-Cola acquires a smaller one, the process comes with a lot of benefits. One of such benefits is the payroll upgrade.

After all is said and done, it will serve to boost the motivation and morale of the staff if Honest Tea began to use Coca-Cola's payroll which is likely to be more robust.

Because Cocal-cola is an older, more experience and more global company, it is more likely to have more efficient reimbursement systems. If these are inculcated into the Honest Tea process, with adequate training on how to use it, it will also serve to ensure homogeneity of systems and operations which is critical to the success of an acquisition.

Cheers!