William R. Johnson- Ceo, H. J. HeinzEssay Preview: William R. Johnson- Ceo, H. J. HeinzReport this essayWilliam R. Johnson became the President and Chief Executive Officer of H. J. Heinz in 1998. He joined Heinz in 1982 as General Manager – New Businesses for Heinz and held several different positions in during his association with the company. During his tenure, William Johnson displayed exemplary management skills which justifies his way up the corporate ladder in H. J. Heinz.
Now, let us highlight William Johnsons actions in the light of important managerial functions:Planning: William Johnson was instrumental in the process of creating strategies and a future vision for H. J. Heinz. He was actively involved in the process of ascertaining organizational objectives, projects, devising policies strategies etc. Under William Johnsons leadership, the company made certain strategically competitive moves like acquiring Classico premium pasta sauces, Delimex frozen Mexican foods, Poppers frozen snacks, and licensing rights for the T.G.I. Fridays frozen appetizers (Heinz, 2002). These moves were strategically important and a result of superior degree of planning and foresight by an efficient manager.
Organizing: Johnson was actively involved in the process of organizing various business units of H. J. Heinz. The company merged some of its business units like StarKist, 9-Lives, Kibbles n Bits, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, Nawsomes, Heinz Natures Goodness baby food and College Inn broths with Del Monte (San Francisco Business Times, 2002). This spin-off of certain brands from Heinz into Del Monte was the process of re-organizing Heinzs business units with the objective of achieving synergies and higher market share and leveraging of Del Montes established status in the markets.
Staffing: Though William R. Johnson was at the peak of the corporate hierarchy as the President, CEO and Chairman of H. J. Heinz, his focus on efficient and effective staffing was commendable. In an interview with Newsweek, he commented that once he realized the importance of leadership and human resource management over technical business dynamics, his prime focus became allocating the right tasks to the most suited employee and reviewing and ensuring employees were adequately motivated and incentivized. He interviewed over 50 candidates in a year and was actively involved in the recruitment and selection of various mid and top level positions like country managers, presidents and so on (Newsweek,
Staffing: Although William R. Johnson was at the peak of the corporate hierarchy as the President, CEO and Chairman of H. J. Heinz, his focus on efficient and effective staffing was commendable. In an interview with Newsweek, he commented that once he realized the importance of leadership and human resource management over technical business dynamics, his prime focus became allocating the right tasks to the most suited employee and reviewing and ensuring employees were adequately motivated and incentivized. He interviewed over 50 candidates in a year and was actively involved in the recruitment and selection of various mid and top level positions like country managers, presidents and so on (Newsweek,
Staffing:
H.J. Heinz’s highly specialized staffing, especially in computer systems, was instrumental in a national effort to recruit 50,000 employees. In a statement after he became President, President Heinz said, “Mr. Obama worked tirelessly to secure the support, expertise and the resources to make his administration more competitive than ever.” (H. J.
Staffing: The White House’s hiring campaign involved at least four key leadership hires.
As his top job got harder to manage, he made it clear that the administration worked with the private contractors and subcontractors to work together and to find the necessary staffing to fill the high-profile positions.
“The administration’s efforts to recruit the most qualified staff and provide the lowest cost and lowest disruption for all of the employees was central to its leadership strategy,” the statement added. (H. J.)
Work on the National Labor Relations Board was also crucial to his White House’s selection of many of his closest advisers, with the most memorable names being Rep. Bob Goodlatte (Va.) and the late David Frum (Va.).
For all his efforts, Johnson’s tenure has been overshadowed by Bill White’s tenure here. In an interview with PBS’s The Press, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) took a swipe at the administration for its lack of leadership and for its overreach. “All of us want to see you do something constructive. We don’t want to see you create some kind of power vacuum. We’re trying to get a better, safer administration and I’m sure you’ll be doing a better job than you have today,” he said. “We want people to have greater access to the workforce. We want to create better jobs and more opportunities for folks and we want more people to have opportunities to take advantage of that.”