Managing Resistance to Change: Ajax Minerals and Perrier
This paper examines the factors that drove resistance to organizational change at two companies — Ajax Minerals and Perrier Company — and evaluates the strategies each used to address that resistance. For Ajax Minerals, poor management–employee relations, low trust, failed past initiatives, and inadequate communication created significant barriers to change. The paper assesses the interactive and transparency-based approach Ajax adopted and proposes additional consultant-level recommendations. For Perrier, it identifies job-security fears and a powerful union (CGT) as primary resistance forces, and recommends education, facilitation, and negotiation strategies. Together, the two cases illustrate how trust, communication, and employee engagement are central to successful change management.
- Introduction and Company Backgrounds: Overview of Ajax Minerals and Perrier Company contexts
- Factors That Resisted Change at Ajax Minerals: Trust, communication, and relationship failures at Ajax
- Ajax Minerals' Approach to Managing Change Resistance: Transparency and interactive strategies Ajax adopted
- Recommended Strategies for Ajax Minerals: Consultant proposals for effective change at Ajax
- Forces That Resisted Change at Perrier Company: Union power and job-security fears at Perrier
- Recommended Strategies for Perrier Company: Education, support, and negotiation recommendations for Perrier
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses a dual-case structure, allowing direct comparison of resistance factors and management responses across two distinct organizational contexts — a mining company and a consumer goods brand.
- It moves logically from diagnosis (factors resisting change) to evaluation (effectiveness of the approach taken) to prescription (consultant recommendations), giving the argument a clear practical arc.
- Specific organizational details — such as Perrier's 93% CGT union membership, the benzene contamination crisis, and Ajax's competitive threat from Pacific Rim companies — ground abstract change management concepts in concrete reality.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied case analysis: it takes established change management theory (trust, communication, employee engagement) and applies it systematically to real organizational situations. Rather than simply defining concepts, it shows how each factor manifested in a specific company context and uses that analysis to justify targeted recommendations — a technique central to business and management coursework.
Structure breakdown
The paper is divided into two main case sections. Each case follows an identical three-part structure: (1) background context, (2) analysis of resistance factors, and (3) recommended management approaches. This parallel structure makes the argument easy to follow and allows the reader to compare the two organizations directly. The Ajax section also includes an evaluation of the company's own attempted strategy, adding an extra layer of critical analysis absent from the Perrier section.
Introduction and Company Backgrounds
This paper examines resistance to change at two organizations — Perrier Company and Ajax Minerals. It discusses the factors that resisted change in each organization, analyzes the effectiveness of the approach adopted by Ajax Minerals to manage that resistance, and proposes ways through which these organizations can manage change more effectively.
Ajax Minerals is a mining company in the United States of America. Although the company operates at full capacity, it is not cost-efficient. It is expected that within three to four years, the Pacific Rim Companies — a competing group — will be able to mine and ship the same minerals to the United States at a cost lower than what Ajax Minerals incurs simply to extract those minerals from the ground.
Ajax Management had a poor history of change management, and the relationship between employees and management was also very weak. Employees did not trust management or its decisions regarding change, and resistance to change was consequently very strong within the organization.
The Perrier Company was established in 1898 when a French doctor, Louis-Eugène Perrier, purchased a mineral water source near Vergèze, France. The company grew steadily from its inception, but demand increased heavily during the 1980s when the brand became fashionable and attracted widespread attention, including from Wall Street professionals.
When the company was at its peak in 1989, it sold 1.2 billion bottles of mineral water, capturing approximately half of all mineral water consumers in the United States. Workers were satisfied and happy, as the company's substantial profits translated into good salaries, fringe benefits, and social benefits.
The golden period ended in 1990, when small traces of benzene were found in a bottle. This discovery severely damaged sales in the U.S., and by 1992 the company's output had decreased by 50%. The company came close to bankruptcy and was ultimately purchased by Nestlé for 2.7 billion dollars.
The Perrier Company is situated on a 234-acre site on the Mediterranean coastal plain near Nîmes. Workers follow a 35-hour workweek, and the average salary of approximately $32,000 exceeds the industry average. However, the average Perrier worker produces around 600,000 bottles per year — considerably lower than the 1.1 million bottles produced by an average worker at comparable international French water brands such as Vittel and Contrex, also owned by Nestlé.
References
Blackard, K. (2000). Managing Change in a Unionized Workplace: Countervailing Collaboration. Denver: Greenwood Press, p. 83.
Lunenburg, F. (2010). Forces for and resistance to organizational change. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, 27(4), p. 5.
Unknown. (2011). Change management: Resistance to change. Docstoc, pp. 11–13.
Unknown. (2011). How to Manage Change. London: Acas, pp. 1–16.
Yuh-Shy, C. (2010). Individual Resistance from Employees to Organizational Change. Taiwan: Ching Yun University, pp. 1–5.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.