Organizational Profile: Structure, Culture, and Leadership
Organizational Profile: Structure, Culture, and Leadership.
Weight Watchers transition from Momentum to PointsPlus.
Brittney L. Jones
Walden University
Dr. Fenton
March 27, 2011
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Organizational Profile: Structure, Culture, and Leadership 2
Abstract
An interview was conducted in order to analyze Weight Watcher’s structure, culture, and leadership style. The following essay will describe and analyze Weight Watcher’s function and structure. In addition, to enhance the organization’s success, the following essay will emphasize the leadership structure of the organization. Weight Watchers has primarily been a success due to its ability to provide communities with valuable leaders which inspire incorporating the program into others lives. Conclusively, all organizations go thru a change that either reaps a success or a loss. This essay will highlight the substantive change process that Weight Watchers went thru in the recent past.

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The Weight Watchers PointsPlus program replaced the Momentum program on
November 28, 2010 at the Salisbury, MD location. The descriptor for Weight Watchers did not change. It is still a fact that Weight Watchers is not a diet; it’s a lifestyle (Anonymous, personal communication, n.d.). Their purpose is to build a members knowledge and acquire tools they will need to lose weight and keep it off . Melissa, the leader of the Salisbury location, shared that the program’s formula for calculating points was the primary change the organization had underwent.
The program had shifted from being called Momentum to PointsPlus . The Momentum program used a formula for point values that were calculated based on calories, fiber, and fat.
The PointsPlus program uses a formula to calculate food based on fat, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. Melissa laughed at the fact that no one really knows the formula, other than the owner. However, Melissa was able to share how the formula is devised. Melissa was informed why Weight Watchers changed the point system. Regardless of the organizations prior success, the organization wanted to improve it’s motto of a “healthier lifestyle.” PointsPlus was created to elicit change from calculating food values based on calories to calculating food values based on micro-nutrients , what the calorie is made of (Melissa, personal communication, March 26,
2011). This new formula was researched for seven years before it was implemented to the public. Weight Watcher’s perspective was increased to more of a science based practice;
Melissa says, the research conducted had determined, “what makes the body tic?” (Melissa, personal communication, March 26, 2011).
CEO’s of Weight Watchers wanted the members to make the wisest of food choices. In the old program almost everything was given a point value. For example, a banana was two points. The realization was people were choosing to make poor choices in food selection since

Organizational Profile: Structure, Culture, and Leadership 4 the focus was points per calorie; a person may have chosen two Oreo cookies instead of a banana, since they share the same point value. The Momentum program enabled people to loose weight but compared to the seven year study for PointsPlus it did not have a positive correlation with reducing health issues like the PointsPlus program did. The current formula does not necessarily give everything a point value. A matter of fact, all fruits and vegetables are zero point foods. With less than a year on the market, the leader at the Salisbury location has witnessed her members having a reduced intake of medications; either due to arthritic pain, blood pressure, and diabetes; in addition to weight loss!
The planning and analysis prior to the change being implemented was effective.
Healthier results were documented in the studies conducted by the organization’s hire of nutritionists and dieticians. Now with the new program in motion, it is evident to the organization’s leaders and members this program has expanded its motto of a healthier lifestyle from not only external/physical results, but also, internal/medical results.
In addition to the successful change that Weight Watchers recently had undergone,
Melissa, also shared the basic structure of the organization and its members. The setting at a
Weight Watchers meeting is both formal and informal. For the staff, it is dire to appeal to the audience and there is a dress code to follow. The members on the other hand; tend to wear the lightest of clothes. Weigh-ins usually include article of clothing such as T-s, shorts, and no shoes! Members frequently come to a meeting after working out at a gym or prior to going to the gym; seeing members in sweats is a norm and is accepted; hence, the members’ attire is informal.
A Weight Watchers member knows they are on a journey to a healthier lifestyle; members/ non-members are aware that Weight Watcher’s belief and values are accessible with

Organizational Profile: Structure, Culture, and Leadership 5 support thru materials and meetings. In regards to leadership style, Melissa says, “I am more of a democratic leader; I allow my members to lead in discussions. I don’t want them to come and think they failed if they gained a pound. I want to guide members using motivational techniques.
I am trained not to tell people what to do, but to ask four questions that will lead them to the answers.” Melissa expressed that she was trained to turn a conflict into an opportunity. She was trained to ask four questions if a member approaches her for advice. Melissa calls this motivation tool, “O.M.M.s.” O.M.M.
is short for, “one minute motivation.” The four questions are; What is the conflict?, Why do you think you gained?, How can you fix that?, and Can you accomplish it? (Melissa, personal communication, March 26, 2011).
Melissa and other leaders are trained as Weight Watcher leaders primarily thru the use of effective communication using technology; e-mail, phone conferences, training sessions as groups, one on one; and are evaluated thru observations. Leader’s like Melissa work under territory managers and district leaders. As the chain of command increases the positions decease. She said the largest job opportunities are available thru lower hierarchy; receptionists make up the largest hired population in the organization. Receptionists are responsible for the weigh-ins, the marketing in weight watcher products, and enrollment. Melissa’s job description is motivational speaker ; she leads and is in charge of inspiring those who stay for the meetings held after weigh-in. Every leader is a weight watchers member and has success stories that give their position of leadership value.
Before the interview concluded; Melissa answered a universal question for change in an organization. Melissa was asked to identify resistance(s) encountered during the change process.
Comparing her answer to an answer of a leader in a different organization, her answer would more than likely appear universal as well. There were three types of members, embracers, in-

Organizational Profile: Structure, Culture, and Leadership 6 betweeners, and resistors (Melissa, personal communication, March 26, 2011). Prior research has shown there are 3 components in the politics of change, supporters, antagonists, and the undecided (McAllaster, 2004). Regardless of the descriptor for the three types of resistors, the organization must be prepared to implement a change that will be effective. An organization should not implement a change until research has been conducted; rather if it takes one year or up to ten years. In addition, an organization and its leaders must be adequately trained to promote the change, be informed about the resistances, and plan preventive maintenance
(Melissa, personal communication, March 26, 2011). Weight Watchers new PointsPlus program has been a huge success. Melissa’s word of advice for the veteran members is, embrace the new program; you will not be disappointed; it is the best program yet! (Melissa, personal communication, March 26, 2011).

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References
McAllaster, C. M. (2004). The 5 P’s of change: Leading change by effectively utilizing leverage points within an organization. Organizational Dynamics. 33(3), 318–328.
Weight Watchers Meetings. (n.d.) Retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/Weight_Watchers_Meetings/