Things Are Foul at This Chicken Farm – A Case Study
Key People and Groups
| Name / Group | Background | Role | Main Perspective / Conflict |
|---|---|---|---|
| David | 55-year-old Israeli from Tiberias | Owner of MBD Poultry Farm | Built the company over 35 years using personal relationships, flexibility, and trust. Wants to step back from daily management. |
| Alexandra | Immigrant from the former Soviet Union; PhD in Agricultural Science; former Soviet Army logistics officer | Operations Manager | Strong believer in discipline, punctuality, centralized authority, and strict systems. Claims the workforce lacks discipline and needs restructuring. |
| Igor | Ukrainian-born former supervisor | Former Supervisor | Feels humiliated after Alexandra removed his authority. Believes she understands technology but not people management. Personally connected to David’s family. |
| Inam | Arab female worker | Employee representative voice | Feels Alexandra does not understand local cultural norms and transportation realities affecting Arab workers. |
| Russian-speaking workers | Employees hired over the years | Production staff | Previously managed informally and flexibly under David. |
| Native Israeli workers | Israeli-born Jewish workers | Production staff | Frequently question authority and expect explanations rather than blind obedience. |
| Arab village workers | Workers commuting from nearby Arab villages | Production staff | Arrive very early due to village-organized transport and cultural/security arrangements. Previously treated flexibly by David. |
Background
On March 20, 2018, I visited MBD Poultry Farm, located near the Israeli-Syrian border. The temperature had already exceeded 100°F by 7:30 in the morning. Although the border itself appeared calm, the atmosphere inside the farm was anything but peaceful.
MBD is the largest poultry farm in northern Israel. Its owner, David, has spent 35 years building the business and is now trying to reduce his involvement in day-to-day operations. Most management responsibility has recently been transferred to Alexandra, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union who arrived in Israel in 1973.
Alexandra holds a PhD in Agricultural Science and previously served in food transport logistics in the Soviet Army. Since taking over as Operations Manager, the workplace climate has deteriorated sharply.
Problems Emerging at the Farm
Since Alexandra assumed control:
- Sick leave has increased significantly.
- The new time clock system has been sabotaged 23 times.
- Numerous maintenance problems have appeared.
- Employee morale has deteriorated.
At the same time:
- Production has increased by 75%.
- Market share has grown substantially.
- Shipment accuracy has improved dramatically.
David invited me to assess the situation and make recommendations.
Alexandra’s Management Approach
Alexandra believes David was too lenient with employees.
According to her:
- Russian-speaking workers became accustomed to arriving late, leaving early, and avoiding difficult work.
- Native Israeli workers constantly challenge authority by asking “lama?” (“why?”), instead of obeying instructions.
- Arab workers were improperly paid for arriving early and waiting before shifts began.
She stated bluntly:
“It will take a year, but I will whip them into a team.”
Alexandra insists David must completely withdraw from management so she can enforce discipline consistently.
Her approach emphasizes:
- strict schedules,
- formal accountability,
- obedience to authority,
- centralized control,
- measurable productivity.
Resistance From Employees
Igor’s Perspective
Igor, a former Ukrainian-born supervisor, criticized Alexandra’s leadership style.
He argued that she is technically competent but lacks people-management skills. Alexandra removed him from his supervisory role, causing embarrassment among his coworkers, who mock him for “taking orders from a babushka.”
Igor also has a personal connection to David: he is married to David’s cousin, and the two men regularly run together on weekends.
Inam’s Perspective
Inam, an Arab female worker, focused on issues of trust and cultural misunderstanding.
Under David’s leadership:
- employees operated largely on trust,
- problems were handled quietly,
- disputes were mediated informally by senior workers.
Alexandra introduced a formal time clock system and monitors attendance daily, which many workers view as humiliating and distrustful.
Inam also explained that Alexandra does not understand the transportation realities of Arab village workers. The women travel together in organized village transportation accompanied by a male escort, and the workers themselves do not control the truck’s timetable.
As Inam explained:
“We do not set the timetable of the village truck.”
Previous Intervention
David had previously hired a consultant who attempted to improve conditions through group discussions and outdoor team-building exercises. These efforts failed to create meaningful change.
Core Management Dilemma
The central issue at MBD is not productivity alone. Alexandra’s methods are producing measurable operational success, but at the cost of morale, trust, and workplace stability.
David now faces a difficult decision between two fundamentally different management philosophies:
| David’s Style | Alexandra’s Style |
|---|---|
| Relationship-based | System-based |
| Flexible | Rigid |
| Trust-oriented | Control-oriented |
| Informal problem-solving | Formal enforcement |
| Sensitive to cultural differences | Standardized expectations |
| High morale, lower efficiency | High efficiency, low morale |
The challenge for David is determining whether a multicultural workforce can be managed successfully through a single strict system, or whether different employee groups require different leadership approaches.
If you can’t bring the main parties together to work out a mutually agreeable solution then Alexandra must go. I am sure you already figured that one out.
Bring these parties together is the last thing which was possible. 🙂
Allon, I love your global OD stories.
By coincidence, I was driving along some backroads here in New Jersey yesterday and noticed some chicken farms. Not big ones like Perdue. Small scale, family farm type chicken farms. We have had such farms here in the Garden State for a long time. I remember meeting an OD Guy some years ago, who was also a chicken farmer. There is something real and humble about farming and raising chickens that nourishes the soul of OD. My mother was raised on such a farm and she has influenced me deeply.
(This news article is about the OD Guy mentioned above, and his family.) http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2013/01/vinelands_raab_family_continue.html
Thanks so much for link.
You’re welcome. I thought you might find it interesting. If you are ever in NJ (or the NY area), let me know. We could go for a drive.
i have witnessed two such circumstances: In one case « Alexandra » stuck with her plan and style as those who could not stand it gradually left. Sales went down for a period before they picked up. In the second case, I met individually with the key players followed by a group meeting where commonalities and differences were named around three distinctions:
The why = Intention = Be
The how = Strategy= Do
The what = Results = Have
The biggest challenge I had was with the owner when exploring the question: « What do you really really want? : Results he wanted to see (the have) and why (the intrntion in wanting to see those results (the be) i have found that much of O D is about answering this question followed by a reflexion on a second question: « How will he stop himself from achieving it. »
Now, David may have had a shadow side, and that was about being able to assert his own needs. Did he see that in Alexandra, in that she could get from others, what he found difficult to? David also has a ownership through financial investment. So he possibly does not see that his system is not only the land, its people and the context they represent, but also contextual knowledge about what makes them tick when they are on his farm. They possibly care for what’s on David’s farm, because of the way he showed up for them. They on their part never probably saw his options, financial or otherwise. From the narrative, the decision to divorce responsibility but not the accountability is what David needs to revisit. From the workers’ point of view, they’ve learned that their perceived autonomy has turned out to be rebellious for Alexandra. Allon can at best get Alexandra to see the workers’ mental models through David’s own expectation setting; and in a quid pro quo get David to see his own mental model of ownership coming in the way of outcomes through Alexandra’s presence. Perhaps, David may then decide how much he wants from the financial proceeds, and leave the chicken to tend to their barnyards. Letting go, is after all a touch call.
Excellent insights!!!!!!
Even chicken farm employees deserve answers to “why” questions. There may be more than one way to reach a goal.
David may well have been a “pushover.”
If the chicken farm’s employees can be poached by competitors or join a union, then their collective opinion can hurt the enterprise and Alexandra’s methods could backfire in the longer run.
It sounds like Alexandra depends too much on positional power. The best bosses, and she does need to be a boss, get subordinates to cooperate because of affective power and greater expertise.
Precisely why did productivity go up? Is there a less coercive way to maintain that productivity?
Given the increase in productivity, do the employees and Alexandria have different ideas on the proper stint?
How and why are the employees compensated the way that they are? Is there room for work teams and some incentive pay in running a chicken farm?