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5) How would you evaluate Murphys efforts? What qualities are most critical to

becoming a successful change agent?

According to appendix 2, due to the death of the founder, Gareth Eastern, there was abig drop with the companys figure in Year 2000 as the death of the founder, Gareth

Eastern. The company had strong family values and it was a serious shock to the

company and employees, it was because . The company had strong family values.

Mmost ofthe employees have worked in the company foraround 20 years in average

and. Tthey are proud to workfor it and loyal to it there because the companyit cares

the about the staffs a lot. Due to the death of Gareth Eastern,At that time, the morale

of the company was affected. .Also, Tthe emotion, motivation and work performance

of employees was affected because of the uncertainty of the future. AlsoMoreover,

the consumerfelt was lack of confidence to the company as the top management was

changed and . Thus, the turnover was fallen and the business in Year 2000 was worst.

Although the son of the founder, Andrew Eastern, couldmanaged to stay on budget,

the turnover and the profit margin could returnedatto a positive figures in the next

yYear2001, a new Marketing Director was essential to hire to initiate change because

he was had lack of experience and without strategic planning which caused the

problems to the company of the company caused by a lack of strategic planning, new

marketing director was essential to hire to initiate change. When Richard Murphy

assumed took the position of marketing Marketing Ddirector, he evaluated the

problems ofthe sales and marketing departments with his experience and started the

change processes immediatelyrapidly. Appendix 2 shows that We found that he was

able to could keep the stability of thebusiness stable every year.

The company used to receive feedback from complaintsOne of the problems in the

company was, they ignored the feedback from the customers and it was from

complaints all the time. A. ndtThe relationship with the retail trade was not good and

the comments from retailers were negative. According to Appendix 3, customer

feedback based on an independent survey in 2003 (Appendix 3), it we foundshows

that most of the customers and retailers were tended to givehave positive feedback

afterMurphy carried out the change process. by Murphy andtThey appreciated with

the change of Biscuit & Co. However, there was still was much space for

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improvement, especially in the product promotion and development.

Since 1930, Biscuit & Co. had concentrated on its main products. and tTheir product

ranges wasere too narrow and. Tthey have tried to launch the new products at thattime, the change and implementation of new products lines pended because of . As

there was an unknown market at that time and the company was under-invested

induring the launchesd, the change and implementation of new products lines was

pended. In Year2004, Murphy launched a new health food snack to the market and.

Tthe turnover has increased, but the profit margin has fallen conversely. It was

because theproduction costing ofor the new production line was high and the

marketing investment for this launch wasexpenses for this launch werehighermore

than the profits of the sales.

In To evaluate conclusion, Murphys efforts, he hadwas success in to bringing a new

sense of confidence to Biscuit & Co and a , new approach to sales, also and to takeing

the company from a family-owned company to a giant-killer in a competitive

industry.

To become a successful change agent needs to be highly skilled and well-trained

political operator who has not only an in-depth knowledge of change processes and

tools, but also the personal qualities and experiences to use them both in the open, and

especially, behind the scene.

A successful change agent will carry out an effective change plan which based on the

following:-

Purposeful

The change agent must precisely consider what needs to be done and why has to do

that. The planned activities should be clearly linked to the change goals and

priorities.

Task specific

The activities that involved must be clearly identified rather than broadly generalized,

and it allows employees to understand what exactly they have to perform.

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Integrated

The discrete activities are following one by one which are related and linked.

Temporal

Events and activities are timetabled and set with deadline instead of having no end

date.

Adaptable

Things that are unexpected may happen all the time and not follow track. Be prepared

with contingency plans and ways of adapting to unanticipated opportunities and

problems.

Agreed

The smoothest way to initiate the change plan is to get the top management and other

key stakeholders agreement and permission in advance.

Cost-effective

Evaluate the cost of each step before taking into action can avoid unnecessary waste.