Introduction
Hopworks Urban Brewery is a beer company located in Portland. The beer company was founded in the year 2007 and began producing beer to very many people. Hopworks’ position, according to the data provided by Pullman, is that of a long-term, local beer maker who caters to the interests of emerging consumers. According to research, many craft beer purchasers prefer beer from local breweries, and 38 percent of Americans examine business durability profiles when making purchasing selections. Hopeworks based its operations in or on satisfying these requirements in an efficient and long-term manner. The brewery produces up to 12,500 barrels per year, over eighteen times higher than the average art brewery output. Hopeworks was able to take the lead in the local market thanks to its significant production capabilities and ecologically responsible manufacturing methodology. Businesses must consistently expand their operations to acquire more critical businesses in the highly competitive art brewing industry. Hopworks may not continue financially viable for long if activities remain at their current level, as the risk of new traders and alternative items is considerable.
The sustainability issues
In Hopworks Urban Brewery, water is the most outstanding sustainability issue. Water is the major component in beer-making; hence may be at risk of reducing if beer companies do not take action. Hopworks is a sustainability-based company that produces organic beer. Most beers have 90 to 95 percent of water. Hopworks is a large company that uses a large amount of water in every gallon of beer it produces. Hopworks cannot exist without the presence of water (Ettinger, 2011). Even though Hopworks has minimized its water usage capacity, the company’s rate consumes water is very high.
The rate at which Hopworks Urban uses water might lead to a problem of less water in the society. After beer production, wastewater is produced, which ends up causing pollution in the environment. The problem of water consumption will affect the company and the people living around the brewery company (Linc & Pfister, 2012). Society might face a lot of water shortages and even pollution, which will affect their way of life. The company might also end up closed due to a lack of water to produce beer. The pollution caused by the wastewater disposal from the beer company will also affect the health of the people living around the company, leading to long-term and short-term complications. The company must think of change strategies to ensure a promising future for the company and society. If the company fails to address the issue with immediate effect, Portland is at the risk of not having enough clean water in the next few years.
Using water in the brewing of beer helps add flavor to beer (Palmer, 2016). Also, beer helps add the PH level of the beer, making it taste well. Hopworks Urban Brewery strives to inspire other brewing industries by ensuring that they deliver quality products to their customers. Since its inception in 2007, the company has prospered in a very competitive sector. By producing good quality beer, the company ends up motivating other beer producing companies to do better. The company’s current strategic goals are to quadruple revenue, locations, and brewing capacity, expand wholesale product distribution, and retain an environmentally conscious image. It will be challenging to achieve these goals within the 5-year plan’s timeframe; therefore, the organization must first assess its environment, market position, and capabilities.
Research shows that sustainability is more than making decisions that involve the ecosystem. The company came up with a slogan, “do what you can,” so that the employees and the company could work up to their capabilities (Ettinger, 2011). Social sustainability is also essential in setting the values of the company. One suitable method of reducing wastewater is through the use of anaerobic digestion. The anaerobic digestion in the beer-making industry helps prevent the emission of wastes.
Hopworks has gained a lot of awards due to its excellent performance, such as two gold medals at an American Festival. Also, Hopworks has received a trophy for being the most sustainable brewery with the most significant commitment to the workers. Hopworks has then set a goal to be a company tolerating zero-waste hence thinking of recycling strategies. Hopworks considers the impact of every decision they have made in the past years to have brought a change in the company. The decision process in Hopworks values sustainability; thus, the investments have evolved, and the management has learned new ways to use in decision making considering everybody in the company (Cameron & Grant-Smith, 2014). When Hopworks first started, the company was confronted with a variety of sustainability options that were more valuable than money. The company carefully assessed which option would generate the best environmental or social outcomes and provide the best payback on the beer investment.
Internal research has shown that a certain percentage of the company’s clients prefer doing business with Hopworks Urban Brewery since the company has a past of being sustainable. Sustainability is an essential element as it makes a company better in business in competitive markets. Hopworks Urban Brewery is a rigorous company that aims at making daily decisions about sustainability. Hopworks believe in speaking about matters which affect their company publicly for transparency with their clients (Ettinger, 2011). A good example is when Ettinger encouraged other brewers to make their beer using at least one or more organic beers as long as they are certified to enter the markets. Hopworks is not a big company hence focuses on building its brand name. A good brand name helps a company prosper in the market field. A lousy brand name ruins a company’s sales as nobody would want to purchase items from a company with a poor reputation.
Hopworks has a strong market position that allows it to continue to make money. Furthermore, due to their established presence in the market, the company is threatened by large, non-craft beer suppliers. Hopworks ensures that they stay ahead of other beer companies to be the best in the game and attract more customers. A good marketing strategy would help Hopwork urban Brewery sell its beer to more clients s compared to other companies. As a result, Hopworks’ existing method will not be sustainable in the long run. Hopworks’ best opportunity is to shift from on-site sales in brewpubs to wholesale, which they usually do.
Craft beer-making companies are innovative since they can employ both traditional and modern ways of making beer. Hopworks focuses on producing quality beer and also connecting with the local community. The stakeholders for the company to ensure that the issue of water is solved include the environment, people, and partnership (APM, 2021). The models of power, dependency, and responsibility can be used to justify the selection. Power is the degree to which a stakeholder can influence the firm (Ackermann & Eden 2011). The natural environment, people, and partnership will affect the survival and development of the Hopworks company. Enterprises need to pay attention to the interests of these stakeholders in the process of operation to ensure a good relationship. The consumption of resources leads to reducing water resources and environmental pollution, which affects people and health. Environment, people, and partnership all depend on Hopworks Urban Brewery to some extent. The environment needs the protection of the company, whereby Hopworks need to improve on how they dispose of their wastewater. Most partnership programs only want to make profits from the company. Water consumption will affect the environment, and water consumption will also affect the cost and profit of the company, thus affecting the cost and profits of the company. The cost caused by the responsibility model means so you have or might have legal, financial, and operations responsibility for the organization. The partnership is responsible for water consumption in Hopworks Urban Brewery and has the authority to ensure that the company measures to preserve water. People and the environment can significantly influence in decision-making of the Hopworks Urban Brewery.
Sustainability phase model
The sustainability phase model that is best for ensuring change in the usage of water is eco-efficiency. Hopworks Urban Brewery should ensure that they reduce damage to the ecosystem. Eco-efficiency will help Hopworks know the importance of preserving water to prevent drying of sources of water. Also, the company will be in a position to take care of the environment by proper waste disposal. Wastewater from the beer industry will have better ways of disposal that do not affect people or the environment. Eco-efficiency will ensure that the company is motivated to ensure that the environment is clean and that nothing in the company affects the environment or the people around in any way. Eco-efficiency will help reduce excess water usage in the brewery to ensure that people are safe from the lack of water in the future.
Change metamodel
Collaboration and consultation are the best metamodel change to implement in Hopworks (Idol & Nevin, 1995). Collaboration and consultation make it easy for Hopworks Urban Brewery to share ideas and make better decisions after consulting each other. The collaboration will help Hopworks Urban Brewery be able to partner with other organizations or companies. Partnering will help the company get new ideas from other companies and even learn from other organizations. It is also very easy to implement change with the help of another organization. The consultation will help the Hopworks management ask for ideas before implementing the company’s water consumption change (Idol & Nevin, 1995). The model of consultation emphasizes two-way communication to get advice. Enterprises and stakeholders can communicate openly, pay attention to their interests, and look at problems from their perspectives to resolve the ethical dimensions of stakeholder management. It might be hard to make entire big company decisions without engaging other people to help with critical thinking.
Change tool
The best change tool for Hopworks Urban Brewery company is the organizational development management tool. An organizational development tool is a good strategy as it will help the company grow as it values the needs of both the employers and employees. The Organization Development tool aims to create a planned change that involves the entire organization to ensure change is seen. Open communication between the company’s management and employees is also helpful when implementing change (Cameron & Green, 2019). Therefore, Hopworks need to emulate this OD tool in its change transformation to witness a complete transition.
Features of the Organisation Development (OD) tool
An organization development tool fosters a planned change; this concept brings forth a different version of change, making the company ready for the change process (Sinha, 2021). Hopworks should plan for this transition because they will face difficulties in their operation due to limited water supply, and they have to work with that. With the planned change, the employees and the management will gather all the required strengths to see the change process become a success.
Another feature of Organizational Development is that it encompasses the whole organization. For Hopworks to have a complete change, all stakeholders need to be involved in the change process. They all need to know and learn the balance of the business in maintaining a sustainable environment for its stakeholders and maintaining their profits. With OD, the change process will be smooth as a whole the personnel will be briefed on the water issue and the need to reduce water consumption.
Organization Development focuses on problem-solving. The tool is geared toward solving the problems rather than theoretical discussion of the problem. Therefore, Hopworks can implement this tool to address the issue of water because there are many factors at stake. The pollution and social impacts created by alcohols sold and the water issue create a huge imbalance. With OD, this can be organized so that the organization changes its strategy of brewing to encompass the use of less water and take measures in safeguarding the environment.
Another feature is collaborative management. Hopworks could use this kind of management where collaboration is important among levels, Unlike having management where orders are made from the top management and need to be implemented by those at the lower level (Sinha, 2021). With collaborative management, ideas flow through levels, and this helps in making informed decisions.
Strengths and weaknesses of the change tool
The organizational Development Management and Communication tool are critical as it ensures a good relationship between the employer and employees (Cameron, & Green, 2019). For the Hopworks Urban Brewery Company, the management will first inform the employees why they want to minimize water usage and the effects of lack of water in the company (Pullman et al., 2010). Employees can air their views and decisions, and the management also gets a chance to listen to the employees.
Secondly, the change tool helps create a good working environment in the company. When employers do not inform employees of the changes, the company is in chaos, with the employees not wanting to perform their duties due to poor communication. On the other hand, the Organization Development management and communication gives employers a chance to inform the employees about the changes before they even think of implementing them.
Change tools also have some limitations. One of the limitations includes a lack of support from the employees and society. The issue of water might not be as easy a task to deal with as it may seem. Most employers and employees use a lot of water in producing beer (Palmer, 2016). Telling the employees to minimize water usage is a challenging task as some of them might not think of it as a good idea hence may contradict what the company thinks. Failure to cooperate with the brewery company may lead to continuous wastewater disposal in the environment leading to water and air pollution. Most employees might not understand the importance of protecting the environment. Changing the mentality of people who were already used to doing something is a challenging task.
Also, the lack of enough resources to implement a good solution is another problem. The water usage problem is a severe factor that Hopworks Brewery needs to address. However, the company might lack an excellent solution to the problem. Lacking an alternative might make the company continue worsening the situation. The issue of water disposal is also a severe problem, and the company might lack other ways to dispose of the water due to the company’s location (Palmer, 2016). Lack of solutions can lead to a problem implementing the change tool as both the company and employees will not be able to do the right thing for a better future for the people and the company.
Ways of exploiting the strengths and limitations of the change approach
Hopworks brewery needs to focus on utilizing the strengths and addressing the limitations of the organization development management. People outside the company are likely to live in a clean environment, thus staying away from diseases associated with poor wastewater disposal. One day, exposing people to diseases would have ruined the beer company’s brand, thus getting closed or losing clients. Employees will also work in a homely environment, thus giving their best and producing quality products.
On the other hand, if the employees do not cooperate and accept change, the company will be on the verge of collapsing. The management should ensure that they inform employees to keep the environment clean, thus disposing of wastewater properly. Also, employees should know the importance of using water sparingly in the company (Domene & Saurí, 2006). The company should introduce strict measures on how employees should water to prevent exhausting water bodies. The people will not have a problem of water shortage hence the area will be a better place to live in even in the future years. Hopworks should urge its employees to be environmentally conscious and reward them for doing so. Around 67 percent of all employees communicate sustainably.
Conclusion
It’s only natural that one of the most important resources used in beer production is water. Anheuser-Busch recently embarked on a novel marketing campaign to encourage human beings to conserve water. Beer does not necessarily have to have a lot of water; hence, Hopworks should develop new methods of brewing using less water.
References
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