Running head: CASE STUDY

Case Study

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation
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Case Study

Lots-O-Colors is a company operating in Arizona with 3 retail stores in the state. It has

decided to acquire a smaller competitor in Canada for expanding its target market in Canada. The

two organizations had different environments in the past. Therefore, the executives are looking

to create policies and strategies for developing an environment that both warehouses utilize to

progress in the future. Take a look at the following sections to understand the new initiatives that

the organization should take.

1. Training Program

Art Warehouse was previously having a low-cost business strategy with less emphasis on

customer management. The training program will involve workshops on customer service

management and its importance in the business sector (Muralidharan et al, 2017). For this

purpose, employees will be trained on CRM tools, communication, and problem-solving skills.

Moreover, the working operations of Lots-O-Colors are different from Canadian based Art

warehouse. The monitoring and evaluation of progress are done in a standard manner. Therefore,

the new employees of the organizations will require training on what is expected from them. It

will be done through the HR department of Lots-O-Colors.

The new employees after the acquisition may be in a state of confusion. It usually

happens after mergers and acquisitions. Therefore, it is quite necessary to get them incorporated

with the culture and values of Lots-O-Colors. It should be done through training programs, but

there needs to be some relaxation to get them self-adjusted. Similarly, every organization has to

show compliance with the industry standards and government policies or laws. For example,

there are ISO Standards that companies have incorporated towards hazards or environmental

management. As a larger company, Lots-O-Colors has much more legal compliance

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responsibilities than Canadian based Art Warehouse. So, the new employees will be trained to

get themselves in compliance with these new laws. With different environments, working styles

and behavior can be different. Therefore, it is planned to get all the employees from Lots-O-

Colors and Canadian based Art Warehouse adjusted with one another through HR pieces of

training.

2. Strategy for Motivation

The two Art Warehouse store employees will be motivated to perform better and

efficiently through using the Expectancy theory. According to this theory, people are expected to

perform better if they realize the consequences or results of their behavior. In other words,

employees decide to do depending upon the outcomes of their actions (Lloyd & Mertens, 2018).

For example, an employee would be ready to work long working hours wholeheartedly if he or

she is given bonuses or extra incentives for that. However, the incentives should be designed in a

way that attracts the employees towards them. Otherwise, the efforts can go in vain by the

management of the organization.

The expectancy theory will be incorporated in the Lots-O-Colors new Artware houses in

Canada through setting achievable goals and targets for employees. Employees and teams will be

given targets to achieve in order to get recognition and benefits. The advantages will not be in

the form of an only pay rise or expensive paid nights. Rather, other incentives such as awards,

annual holidays, and opportunities for progression will also be in the policy of Lots-O-Colors to

motivate its employees.

The major aim for the first year is to create an environment in two Art Warehouses to

produce high quality and personalized service. The employees will be trained as mentioned

earlier to improve their skills for this purpose. However, the motivation factor would play a
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critical role to make sure that employees perform according to the company’s expectations. For

this purpose, rewards and recognition strategy will be used by setting targets for individual

employees and teams to achieve within a specific period of time.

3. Strategies for Changing Employee Attitude

The employees in two Art Warehouses have no such experience of high-cost strategy

where customer service is a top priority. Therefore, their attitudes should be changed in a manner

that they show compliance with the vision of Lots-O-Colors. The management should be looking

forward to creating an atmosphere where the new employees feel safe and protected. The

organization needs to maintain a positive attitude towards the employees to generate feelings of

satisfaction. In this way, employees will be eager to adapt to a new approach to the company.

In the industry, employees always come across situations where they have to face

customer questions and problems which they cannot solve on their own. Therefore, an escalation

plan will be formalized and communicated to all the employees. The escalation plan will

comprise of details regarding the role of every employee. Hence, all of them will be well

informed if any issue is beyond their reach. It will be cleared to the staff on how valuable their

role is regarding the customer service. For this purpose, several monitoring tools will be utilized

to keep them in the notice. Moreover, the department heads will be given the responsibility to set

high standards to get the best out of the employees. Some of these standards which will be

incorporated into the team will be too supportive with others, being punctual, and stay positive in

meetings. The goal will be to provide clear expectations to the employees so they are able to

strategize and evaluate themselves in a better way.

4. Challenges
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Mergers and Acquisitions often initiate a number of challenges for the organization when

it comes to employee performance and motivation. Therefore, the progress of the companies is

not effective as it is expected to be. The major issue is with the staff attitude and working

behavior. In Lots-O-Colors, the two new Art Warehouses may be feeling demotivated due to the

change in company culture. The reason behind it is that they were forced to join the new vision

and goals of the company. This mostly happens after an acquisition where a larger company buys

the shares of a smaller one. Therefore, the most critical challenge for the Lots-O-Colors

management would be the low motivation of employees which impacts their work attitude and

behavior in a negative manner.

Acquisitions mostly result in uncertainties among employees. They might be having a

feeling that they can be terminated from the company (Shepherd, 2018). The two Art

Warehouses acquired by Lots-O-Colors may be having employees with similar challenges. In

this situation, where employees have job uncertainty, productivity can have question marks

written over it. Hence, the agenda to grasp the market in Canada by Lots-O-Colors would be

under threat due to the uncertain situation present in the company. Therefore, management needs

to take care of this issue otherwise the acquisition can result in failure.

As a smaller organization, two Art Warehouses may lack the skills required by the vision

of Lots-O-Colors. Employees were not hired according to the targets of Lots-O-Colors.

Therefore, there can be capacity issues at the end of the organization. This can be frustrating

after the work will kick off on an official basis. For example, customer handling and service is a

clear skill lacking in the employees of two warehouses. This can bring frustration not only in the

management of Lots-O-Colors but also towards the workforce of warehouses. They might be
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downhearted if there is regular feedback from the end of management. The challenge cannot be

overlooked within the organization by keeping an eye on its future goals.

5. Strategies to Overcome Challenges

The top strategy to overcome the above-mentioned challenges to get everyone on board

as soon as possible. For this purpose, the HR department will play the most effective role from

the Lots-O-Colors side. They need to ensure what issues are employees facing mentally,

physically, and financially. Employees will be taken care of on an individual basis so that they

feel protected and safe in the new environment.

The other strategy to overcome challenges would be to provide training and learning

resources for the employees in two warehouses. They should be guided by the senior team

members of Lots-O-Colors. It is recommended to the higher organization that there should be

some time-space for the new employees in Canada to get aligned with the company core values

and major goals. Besides this, it is already discussed that the organization would utilize incentive

and reward-based methodology to boost employee performance. Overall, the agenda for

overcoming the challenges of the organization would be in the hands of the HR department who

will report all the issues of the new warehouses in Canada.

In the end, the acquisition is an ambitious decision to expand the company’s target

market. However, it needs to be handled in an efficient manner otherwise, there can be a high

level of failure for the organization. The change in culture and goals for the new employees

should be managed in a planned manner. Overall, the future months are going to be full of hard

work for Lots-O-Colors employees both in the USA and Canada. For this purpose, the

management should take the employees in confidence with regard to future changes in the
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workflow of the organization. It is very important for keeping them motivated in order to achieve

the desired results and targets.

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References

Muralidharan, E., Wei, W., & Liu, X. (2017). Integration by emerging economy multinationals:

Perspectives from Chinese mergers and acquisitions. Thunderbird International Business

Review, 59(4), 503-518.

Shepherd, J. (2018). Consolidation and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: the role of

mergers and acquisitions in the current innovation ecosystem. J. Health Care L. & Pol'y,

21, 1.

Lloyd, R., & Mertens, D. (2018). Expecting more out of expectancy theory: History urges

inclusion of the social context. International Management Review, 14(1), 28-43.