Organizations that grow rapidly – particularly through acquisition – face significant challenges in standardizing policies and processes. This is especially true in a retail environment where the companies acquired are well-established stores with their “own way of doing things”. So how do you successfully implement corporate policies and processes in a fiercely-independent culture?

The approach needs to factor in not just the policies and processes themselves, but how to effectively change behavior. This includes:

• Identifying pain points that can benefit from clearer policies or simplified processes
• Designing policies and processes that allow for some flexibility
• Measuring progress towards compliance with the policies and processes
• Implementing meaningful sanctions for non-compliance. 

OpenRoad Auto Group recognized that a lack of standardization would greatly reduce their ability to identify and develop customer relationships across stores, optimize shared resources such as Accounting, Human Resources (HR) & Information Technology (IT), and provide employees with opportunities across stores. They undertook to standardize their policies and processes, first for HR and then for Accounting.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand the role culture plays in implementing policies and procedures
• To learn the importance of performance measurement
• To see how sanctions for policy non-compliance can affect behavior