What needs to first be improved upon is the lack of ownership on the part of the unionized workers, yet even more systemic is the challenge that Perrier management has in how workers are accustomed to prosperity in an era of economic downturn. Gaining consensus with unions during a contraction of their business cycles is going to be difficult. What needs to first happen is that the Perrier and Nestle' management teams needs to first focus on being transparent and honest about the need to change, and taking pay cuts, reductions in bonuses and in generals being the champions of the needed change first (Brown, Cregan, 2008). This will help to increase their credibility with the union workers, and also show they are willing to make sacrifices they are calling on others to do as well. Second, Perrier and Nestle' management must focus on creating measures of progress that equally spread the responsibility for changing the company between management and the employees. This is essential to appease the union, which will...

Third, the Perrier and Nestle' management teams must back off from the symbolic gestures of bringing in competitors' products to amplify the competitive pressures the company is under. Instead, the management teams must concentrate on creating monthly all-employee meetings to share everything going on and to induce a high level of ownership in results. The bottom line is that Perrier and Nestle' need to become must more focused on how to create an atmosphere of trust over merely attempting to dominate its employees to force results.
References

Michelle Brown, Christina Cregan. (2008). Organizational change cynicism: The role of employee involvement. Human Resource Management, 47(4), 667.

Retrieved January 22, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1598548371).

Christina Passariello (2004, March 17). Nestle's Dispute With Perrier Could Be Coming to a Boil Soon. Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), p.…