Analysis of Whole Foods Market using Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Performance of Whole Foods Market at the Organizational Level
Performance of Whole Foods Market at Group Level
Performance of Whole Foods Market at Individual Level
References

Introduction

Whole Foods Markets has been very successful, and the previous analysis has shown that this firm has the capacity to increase its productivity if it continues with its current positive trend. According to Coulter (2009), it is possible to determine if a firm is on the right path by analyzing its current strategies and future plans. It is apparent that Whole Foods Market has a management that has mastered the market trends.

This firm has shown a strong indication that it has a capacity to meet the expectations of the market in a special way, making it one of the most preferred firms in this industry. However, for ABC company to be sure that Whole Foods Market is a firm worth investing in, it must have a detailed analysis of the firm. It must go beyond a simple analysis of the current market share and productivity of the firm.

This is because there are cases where a firm may exaggerate its capacity in order to attract investors. In other cases, management would create a scenario where investors would believe that the firm has a large market share while in real sense that may not be true.

For this reason, it is always important to have a surety of the real capacity of the firm by using all possible tools. In this study, the researcher will continue analyzing Whole Foods Market using Nadler- Tushman Congruence Model. This tool will help in analyzing the output of this firm in the market and the congruence of different performance elements.

Performance of Whole Foods Market at the Organizational Level

According to Richardson (2006), when analyzing the performance of an organization, care should always be taken to determine some of the factors that are indicators of performance. For instance, an analysis of performance can be conducted to determine the output of a firm. The output can help determine the performance of an organization.

It is also possible to determine the profitability of the firm without putting emphasis on productivity. Others may also want to determine this performance by analyzing the productivity of factors of production. In this case, the analysis will be done on the output of the organization.

Whole Foods Market is one of the leading grocery outlets and has positioned itself as a provider of healthy foods. The main goal of this firm has been to provide its customers with food considered healthy at reasonable prices and to increase its market share in this niche in the United States and Europe. The management of this firm realized that with the emergent of many diseases associated with unhealthy eating, the middle and upper class members of the society are becoming conscious of what they eat.

These two groups, which make the main market share of this firm, have been looking for foods considered as healthy. This is what this firm has set to deliver in the market. Considering the productivity of this firm, it is true that there is high congruence between the output of this firm and the set goals.

According to Anderson (2012), Whole Foods Market is one of the supermarkets that are trusted in the United States to offer foodstuffs that are recommended by doctors for their health benefits. For instance, some of the leading supermarkets in the United States have been stocking genetically modified foods despite the controversy that surrounds such foods. Whole Foods Market has jeopardized its profitability by avoiding such foods in its stores in most of the states in this country.

For the states that have supported such foods, this supermarket has been keen to label its products in order to make its consumers aware of what it is providing. This has helped the firm develop a strong trust with the customers. It is an assurance that this firm cannot sell products considered harmful to its customers.

The congruency between the output and the goal of the firm can be attributed to the achieved congruency of its culture and structure. The management has created a culture where foods considered as unhealthy are shunned from the stores of this firm. It has made everyone to believe that stocking unhealthy foods is an equivalent to direct attack on their highly valued customers. This culture emphasizes on the long lasting relationship between the firm and its customers.

Selling to them food that may put them at risk would be like sending them away from the firm. This culture is highly congruent with the structure within the firm. The shelves at this firm do not stock food considered unhealthy as they have been struck off from the list of inventories.

The management has also set up a system where all the stocks are tested to determine if they are in the right condition for consumption. This has earned this firm a great admiration in the market because customers have come to believe that Whole Foods Market is not just focused on profit generation, but also on the well-being of its customers.

Performance of Whole Foods Market at Group Level

An analysis of Whole Foods Market can be done from a number of fronts. According to Nadler (1977), there are different groups that exist in an organization, and care should always be taken when selecting the groups. This scholar says that within an organization, the groups can be selected based on the managerial level. In this case, there will be three groups which include the top management, middle management and the junior employees.

Whole Foods Market has a clear structure of leadership which can be analyzed. Another approach can be on the basis of the departments within the organization. In this case, the departments can be finance, marketing, procurement and logistics, production, research and extension among other departments. For a firm with global coverage, the groups can be considered as the regions in which the firm operates. In the case of Whole Foods Market, this can be the United States and European markets.

In this case, the groups will be taken as the managerial units. As was mentioned earlier, this will give three groups, which are the top management, middle management and junior employees. It is important to analyze the output of these three groups and determine how congruent they are with the organizational goals.

The top management of this firm is responsible for making policies that help in running the organization. Besides making these policies, they have the responsibility to ensure that these policies are applied successfully within the firm in order to yield the desired result. The top management therefore, has the responsibility of making the middle managers understand these policies in order to make their implementation a reality.

The output of the top management can be considered to be highly congruent with the goals of the firm. This is because it has managed to develop policies that would ensure that Whole Foods Market continue to deliver quality healthy products in the market without overemphasizing on instant profitability.

This output is demonstrated in the continuous delivery of healthy food by this firm in a market where other firms are focused on quick profitability.

The second group of middle managers has also managed to give an output that is congruent with the goals of the firm. According to Nadler (1977), the middle managers are always very important in the implementation of policies. They are responsible for making non management employees implement policies that are formulated by the top management.

Their output has been congruent to the goals of this firm to the extent that this group has been able to influence actions of the junior employees towards achieving the objectives of the firm. The middle managers have worked closely with the top managers and junior employees to ensure that there is smooth information flow from top managers to the employees and from employees to the top management.

The third group has been the junior employees. These are the ambassador of Whole Foods Market. When a customer visits an outlet of this firm, it is the junior employees who will serve them. The customers and junior employees are always in constant contact and the impression given by these employees would be taken as a reflection of the entire firm. This group’s output has been marvelous. Junior employees have been working closely to ensure that they meet the set objectives of the firm.

They know that the firm is focused on delivering healthy food to the customers. To achieve this, the employees have been keen on inspecting the shelves to ensure that products stocked are in good shape. They have also been very active in various other assignments which have helped this firm attain a positive image in the market.

Performance of Whole Foods Market at Individual Level

The output at individual level within this firm has been congruent with the goals of this firm. The firm has employed performance contract at individual level in order to determine the output of the employees. The performance contract has been developed in line with the goals of this firm. This means that every individual within this firm must appreciate the need to achieve a particular goal in order to help the firm achieve its overall goal.

From the top management to the junior most employees, there is a clear task that is assigned to them, and an output set that should be realized after a given period. The performance is always determined at the end of the financial year. This has helped improve the overall performance of this firm because every individual works hard to achieve the set goals.

By developing specific output for every employee, it has become possible for this firm to align the objectives of individual employees to that of the entire organization. Achieving this congruency between goals of individual employees and that of the firm has helped Whole Foods Market meet its objectives in the market with a lot of ease.

References

Anderson, D. L. (2012). Organization development: The process of leading organizational change. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Coulter, M. (2009). Strategic Management in Action. New York: Pearson Higher Education.

Nadler, D. (1977). A congruence model for diagnosing organizational behavior. New York: Columbia University, Graduate School of Business.

Richardson, M. E. (2006). Organizational diagnosis: Using the congruence model as the theoretical framework in a complex organization. New York: Wiley & Sons.

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