ConAgra – “Much Opportunity for Improvement”

Pros

There is a tremendous opportunity at the plants for improvement in terms of production efficiency improvement through capacity management and capital investment. As a manager those types of projects are how you cut your teeth and build a skill set including Change Management, Team Leadership, and Project Management. It is also very satisfying to participate in those types of changes and see the long-term impact of ROI in the bottom line.

The organization will be undergoing big change under the leadership of Gary Rodkin so in the next few years the whole company will be going through major change. Once the transformation is complete at Corporate, the impact will trickle down to the plant management.

At the subject plant in particular there are some very talented and dedicated individuals throughout all levels.

Cons

Same as the best reasons--that there's so much opportunity. If you can maintain your patience to deal with the frustration of seeing the opportunity and not being able to make change. There is a legacy in the middle management of pandering to the unions, inadequate documentation of quality/discipline issues, and cheating the very metrics intended to guide leadership.

Until upper management can weed out those who lack integrity and discipline, change will not happen.

Advice to Senior Management

Go after those individuals who will undermine the organization for their own personal gain with a vengeance. Focus on hiring practices such as personality profiling and behavioral interviews to improve your ability to get the "Cream of the Crop." Right now the HR groups are hiring by affinity only.