Managing Culture Through Major Change

Gintzler International manufactures specialty labels for a variety of industries, including pharmaceutical, health, beauty, food and beverage, automotive, and consumer goods.  It was established in 1916, changing ownership several times but maintaining its reputation for quality, service, and innovation.  In 2011, Bryan and Mary Scheible purchased the company, and, in the spring of 2017, they sold it to a private equity firm.   Today the company is currently led by Dan Rozanski who reports to the executive team for the parent company.

The history of Gintzler prior to the Scheible’ s purchase can be described as autocratic with relatively little focus on culture or employee involvement.  In 2011, the Scheibles brought a warmer, more benevolent approach to managing the workforce.  They also owned a label company in Texas and divided their time between both locations which created a challenge in developing a culture due to the distance and between both plants.  They managed the Gintzler culture they inherited through coaching, hiring general managers to run day to day operations, and increased employee involvement. During their ownership, the company grew in sales and profits.

The purchase of the company by a private equity company in 2017 was a major challenge for their new general manager, Dan Rozanski.   He knew the company would be accountable for continued growth and profits while going through organizational change dictated by the new owners.  He also needed to manage the anxiety of workers who were concerned about change, job security and maintaining benefits.  Adding to this challenge was the matrix organization the new owners instituted with 3 out of 5 members of his executive team, accounting, human resources and sales reporting directly to corporate vice presidents who worked out of the corporate office and were often times on the road visiting the 17 other sites.  To be successful, Rozanski realized he needed to foster a sense of teamwork with all members of his management team whether they reported to him or directly to corporate headquarters. 

There were other challenges.  Rozanski needed to develop his managers who had high potential but needed coaching and leadership development if they were to succeed, grow and better understand the new corporate structure.  Then there were his own challenges of communication with remote ownership, policy changes imposed by corporate, and alignment of Gintzler goals with corporate.  Some changes in benefits created anxiety among the employees.  These needed to be balanced by communicating changes that were also favorable in the long run.  It was a tightrope, balancing change and anxiety with optimism that workers were more secure in their jobs, wages and benefits and access to capital for future growth and stability.  To make all this happen, Rozanski made a commitment to encourage a shift in culture to one of greater employee involvement,  the development of core values to guide decision making, and to continue to promote fun, community service and social activities for workers to engage in. These activities included involvement in the greater community through support of local charities and services.  A culture committee was created to develop on going activities during the year for the entire company to participate in as well as promote the core values and culture.

In establishing core values., Rozanski asked his management team to create and define a list of values that either existed and needed to be further promoted or identify values that the organization should strive to achieve.   Five values were identified and defined:  respect, teamwork, integrity, accountability, and adaptability.  All of these are grounded in “Trust”, based on the concept that every interaction should begin and end with that key value.  These core values are communicated and reinforced by promoting a quarterly message to all employees. The package included examples of how each core value should be recognized, practiced and celebrated.

Like most successful change agents, Rozanski believes that the Gintzler culture is a work in progress. His investment in executive development is paying off in improved performance and communication, stronger teamwork, low employee turnover, and higher quality.  Several managers are thriving and growing by being empowered to make decisions for the betterment of the company and each other. This is being accomplished with improved communication and the guidance of its core values.  Even with all the changes under new ownership, the company has greatly improved its culture and increased its profits each year.

Realizing the importance of job security to workers, Gintzler avoids layoffs by being flexible and uses a combination of paid and non-paid time off during slowdowns.  This policy is being well received by workers. 

In the old culture, when an employee expresses a complaint about another employee, the expectation was for management to get involved to mediate the dispute.  In the current culture, employees are encouraged to “work it out” rather than triangulating through a third person.  This has led to fewer conflicts and more cooperation as contrasted with the high drama and politics that existed in the earlier culture. It is also consistent with the zero tolerance for deviation from cultural values.

An employee recognition program was created to promote core values.  Workers are encouraged to identify their peers when they do something that contributes to the overall good of the organization via teamwork, positive attitude, cost savings, efficiencies and good deeds.

The Gintzler experience offers important insights about culture.  One is the importance of maintaining a strong team to communicate and coordinate both core values and organizational goals.  The company was able to accomplish this while going through major changes and a matrix organizational structure.  Another insight is the need to integrate the policies and directives of the new private equity owners with the needs of the divisional workforce. Maintaining a heathy culture under these circumstances requires leadership that is constantly balancing corporate goals with worker needs.   

There is an important lesson here for private equity companies and corporate mergers.  Managing financials is not enough to assure the success of a business.  A healthy culture plays an integral role leading to financial success and strong leadership will be required to align organizational goals and worker needs.