Western Union Case Study

Christina Gold Leading Change at Western Union

GM504.1

Organizational Excellence and Change

Christina Gold became president and CEO of Western Union in May 2002. At this time Western Union was deemed a predominantly domestic company with international markets. After joining Western Union, Gold decided that changes were necessary to the ongoing success of the organization. Under Gold’s leadership, Western Union decided to move forward with restructuring the company. The decision was made to decentralize the company and cover three main regions: the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and Asia/Pacific. Realizing this, Gold sought out a strategy that would keep operations uniform and consistent while tailoring the company’s presence based on which market the particular location is in. Gold explained it best when she said, “Currently, we have a domestic business and an international division. It doesn’t make sense for a global business the way it is now; whatever country you’re in is ‘domestic.’” (Konrad & Mitchell, 2005)

Gold decided on this change because she wanted to see her company keeping up with the trends of the current business world. As the business industry is becoming more and more globalized each day, globalization of companies tends to be vital to success. To achieve these changes, Gold developed what she referred to as the six core strategies which are to develop a global brand, enhance global network distribution, expand adjacent markets such as WesternUnion.com and Prepaid services, develop future business leaders within the organization, increase productivity and execute on service excellence. To align the company’s structure to these new six core strategies, in 2003 Gold began a reorganizing program.

Before the restructuring of Western Union, the company was structured very similarly to that of its parent company, First Data. First Data is a very traditional company and had both a...