C&S Wholesale

Grocers: Self-Managed
Teams

Group 10
Arin Chakrobarty
Karthik T
Nikhil Mathur
Pragya Madar
Sachin Pal
Utkarsh Shah
Yojit Grover
 Introduction
This case is about a 70 year old warehousing and
distribution company by the name of C&S
Wholesale Grocers.
Rick Cohen, the President & CEO of the company
is concerned that whether the company would
be able to meet the needs of all its customers
and maintain high level of customer satisfaction
for which the company was known throughout
New England.
 Statement of Problem

Considering the precarious position at hand,

Rick Cohen is trying to decide whether and how
to implement the concept of Self Managed
Teams in the company’s warehouse.
 C&S: Company Background
• Founded by Israel Cohen and Abraham Siegel
in 1918
• Innovation and attention to customer service-
cornerstones of C&S’s success
• Professional in client dealings
• Forged relationships with over 2 dozen
military bases by 1988
 A&P
• Single large customer of C&S
• Sales of C&S increased by 35%
• Warehouse moved to a new location,
Brattleboro
• C&S’s business got doubled in Northeast
 Challenges faced by C&S
• Rising operational costs
• Shrinking margins
• Quality control
• Customer relationship management
 Problems galore at Brattleboro
• Hired new employees- Who did not have much knowledge
& supervisors had to train them which meant lower
efficiencies due to loss of time
• No coordination among the workforce.
• Hired more supervisors to improve coordination
• No accountability
• Overcrowded workspace due to increase in workforce
• Increased work hours led to physical exhaustion, hence
morale of employees dropped
• High turnover rate- approaching 90%
• Rise in soft costs
• Increased paper work
 Rick Cohen
• Raised in Worcester, Massachusetts
• Completed undergraduate studies at the Wharton
school
• In 1987, became President & CEO of C&S when his
father, Lester retired
• Proactive personality- is testified by his
 Action of moving the warehousing facility to
Brattleboro
 Was aware of the need to win a large supermarket
location quickly immediately after relocation
• Big 5 personality traits

 Extraversion- Convinced his father to move out the

warehouse from Worcester to Brattleboro
 Agreeableness- He was in agreement with Harris on the
possibility of implementing self-managed teams concept in
C&S
 Conscientiousness- He was well-organized, responsible,
careful in his approach for the progress of the organization
 Emotional Stability- He was calm and composed even
though the festive season was arriving which would test the
warehouse to its limits
 Openness To Experience- Unlike competitors he was ready
to implement self- managed teams
• According to MBTI model
N-type- He intuitively believed that increased
employee involvement leads to improved
performance
P-type- He was open minded in his approach
to explore new options which other
competitors did not do
• McGregor theory Y- He believed
The team should be self selecting rather than
assigned
Should be paid bonuses for accuracy and
receive deductions for errors
He believed in employee involvement which
would lead to higher satisfaction levels
• Implementation of Herzbrg’s two factor
theory:

 Hygiene factors-
 Since salary is not the only satisfier, he linked it with
performance
 He wanted to improve the working conditions as employee
turnover rate was very high

 Motivators
 He wanted to empower the teams which would make them
more responsible and accountable
 He linked salary to performance, inculcating a growth
oriented approach in the employees
 Culture At C&S As Envisioned
• As per Hofstede’s theory
 Collectivism- He wished to form teams which
would be handling a particular no of cases per
shift
 High Uncertainty Avoidance- Rick was aware of
the ground realities and wanted to transform
operations to be profitable in the long run
 Long-term orientation- He wanted the same
legacy to continue which was developed by his
grandfather
• As per the EVLN model Rick wants to
turnaround the prevalent attitude adopted by
employees, i.e., to exit, instead they should
voice their opinions and the incentive system
would ensure to a certain extent that they
would remain loyal towards the organization