Deep Management Behind The Adjustment: Nike Crisis From The Clean Door

It seems that internal rectification, which is not directly related to sales, means more for a giant enterprise.

Nike is currently CEO Mark Parker.

(photo source: Vision China)

In mid March, on the eve of the three quarter of fiscal year 2018, the management of Nike, a sports giant, broke out.

It has caused many suspicions in the industry.

Trevor Edwards, the president of Nike brand for 25 years, and Jamie Martin Jayme Martin (Trevor Edwards) have been left behind. Edwards was once regarded as the next class member of Nike CEO Mark Parker (Mark Parker).

In an email sent to employees, Mark Parker said he received some reports about the group's internal activities which were not in line with Nike's core values, but did not specify whether they were involved in the resignation of senior executives.

In addition to this email, Nike did not give much explanation to the two executives' abrupt resignation.

Trevor Edwards, regarded as a successor to CEO

Until April 1st, the Wall Street journal revealed more about the changes in Nike management.

According to people familiar with the matter, two senior executives have been dismissal, behind which is the internal crisis of gender discrimination and improper personnel management in Nike group.

From July 2017, David Al, the executive vice president of Nike global human resources (David Ayre), dismissed two executives including CEO successors in March this year. Mark Parker's determination is clear that the internal management of this giant company needs to match its business volume.

"We need to change." in March 20th, only 5 days after the announcement of management changes, hundreds of employees listened to the message conveyed by the company at Tiger Woods Center, Nike headquarters.

In this event, Nike has been advocacy for its male employees to maintain a more harmonious relationship with their female colleagues.

The reason is very simple, "Wall Street journal" said that Nike women workers not only enjoy the same pay for equal treatment, the two top executives leave an important reason is that they harbor discrimination against women.

The number of Nike employees continues to rise.

Source: Wall Street Journal

As of May 2017, Nike group has approximately 74 thousand employees worldwide, and the number of employees has been rising in the past 11 years.

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The majority of men occupy senior management and few women. The highest level female executives in the group are general counsel and human resources director, who was promoted only in July last year.

For this, some former Nike employees described the company culture as "Boys Club (men's Club)".

In addition to gender discrimination, some current or former employees mentioned that when they found the human resources department, they tried to find solutions to problems related to the working environment.

Elliot Hill (Elliott Hill), a veteran employee who worked for Nike for 30 years, was recently promoted to the president of consumer and market.

"I choose not because of the brand, not because of the athletes, nor because of the products, but also because of the people here," he said at the event.

He and another executive Michael Spillane (Michael Spillane) proposed to the company to create a better working environment for employees.

Even though Nike has become the world's best-selling sportswear manufacturer, business management has been troubling the company for many years.

At Nike, the highest ranking officer in charge of human resources and employee relations is an executive vice president who reports directly to CEO.

In 2007, Nike hired David Al (David Ayre) as the senior human resource manager of PepsiCo Inc and many other enterprises.

David Al (David Ayre)

A few years ago, Nike had received an internal complaint that David Al had devalued others.

He then agreed to seek psychological counseling and ask other executives for advice.

David Al once said to a group of colleagues, "I really need to change my behavior."

But in 2017, David Al again complained that it was creating a hostile working environment, triggering Nike's second survey of the human resources executive.

Until July 2017, when Mark Parker held an annual executive meeting in a resort in Oregon, he informed David Al that he could not stay in the company.

On the second day, Nike announced publicly that David Eyre was leaving and promoted Monique Matheson (Monique Matheson) to take up his post.

The latter has joined Nike for nearly 20 years, and has served as vice president and senior business partner of North American human resources. He is responsible for managing related products in the product design department of footwear, clothing and equipment department.

Like David Al, Trevor Edwards was dismissed because of improper management.

Edwards, 55, joined Nike in 1992 and became president of the brand in 2013. He is widely regarded as the next CEO successor.

Last year, he led Nike to carry out the restructuring and reform. The regional departments were adjusted from 6 to North America, EMEA, Greater China and the Asia Pacific region, 4 of the world's 2% jobs and 1/4 shoes were removed, and poor wholesalers were excluded.

The Wall Street journal quotes people familiar with the matter and bland claims that becoming a close friend of Trevor Edwards is a way to get an internal promotion.

At the same time, female employees were less promoted, and they were subjected to more rigorous scrutiny when they were promoted.

"If someone is promoted quickly, he will probably be FOT," said a former employee of Nike+, a company's digital platform. The company's employees use the abbreviation of "FOT" to point to "friend of Trevor (Trevor's friend)".

Nike's corporate culture is also reflected in other aspects.

In September 2002, the global sports marketing team held a few days' meeting in Florida.

Two people on the scene said that after dinner, a bus carrying dozens of employees came to a strip club.

At that time, Rolandana Lanza (Loredana Ranza), who worked in the team, claimed that only four people did not enter the strip club, including three women and one male colleague.

"You won't just say," this is too bad, "you would want to try to leave it," Rolandana Lanza said.

Later, she resigned from Nike Europe branch and moved to the German brand Puma.

In 2016, she even prosecuted Nike for accusing the company of gender and age discrimination. Nike did not comment on the matter.

Even more widely known is that in 2014, Nike design team's three key figures Marc Dolce, Mark Miner and Denis Dekovic collectively pferred to Adidas and were involved in the case of revealing Nike's internal secrets.

At present, Marc Dolce plays the role of vice president and creative director of Adidas.

After the incident, two Nike executives, Brian Zappitello and Dirk Hameren, had issued abusive remarks under the Instagram account of Marc Dolce.

Many incumbent and former employees said they were disappointed that Nike did not publicly condemn these remarks.

The two executives were still working at Nike, and in January this year, Dirk Hameren was promoted to chief marketing officer.

In 2017, some Nike female employees launched a private investigation into the management of the enterprise, and drafted relevant reports.

Informed sources said their aim was to collect information about the fairness of pay for men and women and to accuse the company of improper conduct.

In March this year, the report was sent to Nike boss Mark Parker's e-mail address, causing subsequent management changes.

Apart from Trevor Edwards, who left in the center of the vortex, his character, Nike's global general manager and vice president Jamie Martin, was also dismissed. The latter joined the company in 1997 and was also an elder statesman.

Jamie Martin (Jayme Martin)

Nike said that the company will continue to investigate the human resources system and complaint handling process and conduct mandatory manager training for the relevant employees.

"We find that problems will take action to let Nike build a more inclusive culture and behave in our management team," Mark Parker said in a public statement. He said he would reorganize management and strengthen the emphasis on corporate culture.

Meanwhile, as part of the management personnel adjustment, Mark Parker plans to extend the term of office of chairman and CEO until 2020.

In 2015, Nike won fifth of LinkedIn's 100 most popular Employers list. Such awards were not uncommon in previous years.

Monique Matheson, vice president of Nike in charge of human resources affairs, said, "Nike people are eager to learn, smart, resourceful, persistent, demanding, positive and cooperative, and everyone has first-class professional skills."

However, judging from the recent series of changes, Nike is clearly aware of this family.

The giants have not done enough in personnel and cultural management, which seems to have no direct connection with sales, but it means more for a giant enterprise.