C h a n g e s a t M a tt e l Page |1

Emergent changes at Mattel

Emergent changes happen spontaneously and are unplanned and

unforeseen, leading to unexpected, lasting shifts in perspective and behavior

(Palmer et al., 2022; Holman et al., 2007). These changes may respond to

"sudden opening of new market opportunities, accidents, and failures, or

major geopolitical developments," states Palmer et al. (2022). There is

continual process experimentation and adaptation; the change process can

be messy because it is multi-level, cross-organizational, and inefficient. The

manager's encouragement of organizational culture to enhance good change

and management controlling behavior needs to give a chance to change,

Holman et al. express. Clevelandconsultinggroup.com (2022) emphasizes

that emergence change may be regarded as order out of chaos. When an

organization senses it is out of sync with itself, emergent change will be

required.

The unplanned changes highlighted at Mattel included turning the

toymaker into a media company. This thrust involved hiring leading role

players that were to stay instead of having a situation like that at Sony

where Amy Schumer dropped out when her services were needed. The "toy

box concept" was dropped as it was now running out of relevance with

prevailing trends. The recall of 5 million "Rock and Play Sleepers" meant a

sudden change of plans to rectify the anomaly. Emergent change results in

making informed decisions and a better understanding the entity's roles,

responsibilities, and realities. Dawson (1996) reiterates that "departments

and groups connect and strengthen interactions and interdependencies

creating powerful awareness and cultural shifts that positively influence

behavior."

Planned changes at Mattel

Planned change is also known as blueprint change and is driven by

management. In this change, there is a clear beginning, middle, and the

desired end state is known in advance. Clear plans are formulated in line

with the organizational vision. The blueprint is implemented by rolling it

out, monitoring the intervention, and correcting where necessary, suggests

Hayes (2014). However, clevelandconsultinggroup.com (2022) argues that it

is time-consuming, slow, and often resistant to implementation.

The planned changes at Mattel included linking technology with toys

in games in Rock ’Em Sock ‘Em Robots and Minecraft through a connected

360-degree play system and experience. Footprints would be found in

movies, television, games, music, and live events, Kreiz said. Kreiz intended

to keep the stock high. Global brands such as Barbie, Fisher-Price, and

American Girl were enhanced. Kreiz’s vision included diversification and

continuous innovation through incremental product improvement and his

specialism of content creation and intellectual property, not just traditional

toys.

Mattel lined up eight movie projects with well-known partners and

leading stars of Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie (Palmer et al.). The three-

inch strategy document was reduced to a single page with three priority

items of cost reduction, fixing broken brands, and enhancing the value of
 C h a n g e s a t M a tt e l Page |3

company intellectual property. In addition, the workforce was to be

streamlined by 22%, and 12 factories were to be sold out of 13. Mattel was

to maintain a low-cost strategy compared to its competitors like Hasbro

through economies of scale while “providing cultural relevance, societal

impact, and multi-generational appeal," says Kreiz in Mattel-2020 (2021).

Position of changes on the continuum

Using the Hofstede model of organizational culture and focusing on

value dimensions, one can assess the efficacy of the change process based

on two extremes of the best and the worst. Organizational culture gives

guidance to the employees through various ideologies, beliefs, and practices,

making it different from others. Organizational culture determines how

internal and external customers are treated to pursue organizational

objectives. According to Hofstede, five factors influence the workplace

culture: power distance, masculinity versus femininity, individualism,

uncertainty avoidance index, and a long-term orientation, without analyzing

Hofstede’s relevancy.

The vision statement of Mattel was brief and to the point. Harry (2020)

argues that the vision statement of an organization must be brief and

comprehensive, stating the importance of the business together with plans.

Harry further states that stakeholders need to understand the business

philosophy and strategy. According to Kreiz in Mattel-2020 (2021), the

Mattel vision and mission statements were “to empower the next generation

to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential, and create
 C h a n g e s a t M a tt e l Page |4

innovative products and experiences that inspire, entertain, and develop

children through play.”

The short term and mid-to-long term changes included improving

profitability and accelerating top-line growth in the short term. In the mid-

to-long term, there was capturing the total value of the intellectual property.

To improve profitability required optimization of operations. Streamlining

operations and reducing the strategy document to a single page to avoid

confusion was part of the optimization process. It was rapidly growing the

top-line hinged more on growing the power brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels,

American Girl, Fisher-Price, Mega, Uno, and Thomas & Friends, including

expanding the brand portfolio. Managing the franchises, online retailing,

movie making, and e-commerce was rooted in capturing the total value of

the intellectual property (Mattel-2020 (2021)).

Assessment of changes based on company challenges

On falling revenue, Mattel started posting profits, for the first time in

three years, by October of 2019 (Palmer et al. (2022)) demonstrating the

efficacy of the change process. The workforce was streamlined by 22%. 12

out of 13 factories were sold. Costs were also reduced by abandoning the

"toy box." The movie unit helped with brands' marketing, especially Barbie,

Hot Wheels, American Girl, and Magic 8 Ball. These profits continued in the

subsequent years, as Mattel-2020 (2021) showed.

For the falling stock price from $50 in 2014 to $10 at the end of 2018,

Kreiz told Jim Cramer of CNBC (December 2019) that its stock was relatively

high at 16.32% year to date. This improved statistic signified the successful

implementation of the change strategy.

American Girl dolls, Fisher-Price, Barbie, Monster High, Hot Wheels

used to be famous but had now been in decline. These brands had lost

relevance, and Mattel had to re-motivate the consumer to bring back the

interest. Mattel earned trust in its brand promise from its customers. Kreiz,

in Mattel-2020, said, "Our relationship with our people, consumers,

customers, business partners, and communities is built on their belief that

we will do the right thing and live up to our commitments.” Kreiz

emphasized that Mattel earned trust by operating with integrity and

transparency and being true to its mission and purpose. By October 2019,

Mattel had posted better than expected earnings making its shares jump

20% in extended trading. By strengthening the brands, sales increased, and

debt was reduced. By 2020 there were more than 150 countries where

Mattel products were sold at more than 470 000 stores and still growing.

Change management images illustrated.

The change at Mattel was both externally and internally motivated.

The dominant images exuded by Kreiz were director and navigator, though

caretaker and nurturer also had an influence. The director image mainly

emanated from the need to compensate the losses due to customers because

of a recall of "Rock and Play Sleepers." This was a result of the magnets in

the toys coming loose. Another concern was using paint on the toys, with
 C h a n g e s a t M a tt e l Page |6

lead as a component. A directive from the authority would require

compensation for the recalled sleepers and stoppage of using lead-based

paints on the toys as lead is a health hazard. "According to U.S. law, the

manufacturer or seller will be strictly liable for defects in the product,"

emphasizes Knowledge@Wharton (2020).

Palmer et al. (2022) state that the director image is used when urgent

change is needed. It is a survival technique. Navigator image is used when

the organization worries that its history, culture, context, and politics will

affect change plans. Changes that included streamlining the workforce and

selling the 12 factories affected Mattel's history, culture, and politics.

Caretaker image resulted from the overwhelming internal and external

environments that required Mattel products and services change. There was

a need to learn new ways like the movies T.V.s using modern technology and

develop innovative intellectual property, giving rise to nurturer image. These

images may not all be applied simultaneously, but an individual's

inclination towards a particular one can be more assertive in one or more of

them.

References
 C h a n g e s a t M a tt e l Page |7

Carnall, C. A. (2007). Managing change in organizations (5th ed.). Prentice-Hall.

Clevelandconsultinggroup. (2022). Emergent change.

https://clevelandconsultinggroup.com/services/emergent-change

Dawson, S. J. N. D. (1996). Analyzing organizations. MacMillan Education.

Harry. (2020). Organizational culture of Mattel. [Essay]. www.essay48.com

Hayes, J. (2014). The theory and practice of change management. (4th ed.). Palgrave

MacMillan.

Hofstede Insights. (2019). Organizational culture.

www.hofstede-insights.com/models/organisational-culture/

Knowledge-Wharton. (2007). Trouble in Toyland: New challenges for Mattel—And

'Made in China. www.knowledge-wharton.upenn.edu

Mattel. (2021). 2020 Citizen report: Purposeful play. Mattel Inc.

Mishra, A. (2021). Images of change managers. Managementweekly.Org.

https://managementweekly.org/images-of-change-managers

Palmer, I., Dunford, R., and Buchanan, D. A. (2022). Managing organizational

change: A multiple perspectives approach. (4th ed.). McGraw Hill.

Taherimashhadi, M. and Ribas, I. (2018). A model to align the organizational

culture to lean. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 11(2),

207–221. https://doi.org/10.3926/jiem.2511