Essay Agency Issues In Client-Contractor Relationships & One Global Headquarters (OGHQ) – Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task

One Global Headquarters (OGHQ)

In 2015, after several large acquisitions transformed its businesses, Merck KGaA1 underwent  a re-branding into the single brand Merck. Merck is a diversified pharmaceutical, life sciences  and chemicals group founded in 1668 and ever since headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany.  The company employs approximately 52,000 people around the world, with 11,000 in North  America and about the same number in Germany (Merck, 2019). The company invested  US$ 565m in Capex world-wide in 2015, including a large number of construction projects  (Merck, 2016).  The new brand was designed to position the organization as an innovative science and  technology company as prior analysis suggested that its culture had to undergo a  transformative change. It was also recognized that architecture, in particular at the  headquarters, conveys a strong message to customers, partners, the community, and  employees and that the architecture needs to represent the transformative change as well.  

On this basis, the program One Global Headquarters (OGHQ) was initiated in 2014 with the  aim of completion by 2018, when the company celebrated its 350-year anniversary. The  program consisted of about 90 interdependent construction projects of various sizes, shapes  and forms at the headquarters in Darmstadt with a total investment of more than US$ 200m.  The program was led by two internal managers – Steven and Mark – who mainly focused on  strategy and governance issues and were supported by a program management team of  internal and external experts to oversee the high number of projects. External experts were  hired in all cases, in which internal resources were considered inadequate or insufficient to  stay in control of architectural quality, schedule and budget, all of which were non-negotiable.  At the heart of the program was the development of the Innovation Center and the adjacent  Employee Restaurant (Figure 1 and 2), which was described by its architects Henn as  follows (Henn, 2019):  
“The Innovation Center will be used to cooperate temporarily in interdisciplinary  teams and to communicate both internally and externally. While the newly developed  public square (…) orientates the company towards the city, the Innovation Center  opens it to the interior. There are three levels which are set back from one another so  that they are to a large extent visually linked. Levels can be changed using arched  ramps. These connections, like the bridges joining the segments at individual levels,  are highly frequented meeting places where the direct exchange of information  among knowledge holders is encouraged. In passing, building users can be inspired  by the work of their colleagues and prompted to engage in discussions. Different  demands on the workplaces – concentration, communication, cooperation – find  spatial expression in a flowing transition. Team communication takes place in the  spacious internal area on each floor. Single-person office cells along the façade  provide space for activities requiring concentration and intensive thought. The  company restaurant is connected to the Innovation Center on several levels. It will  assume essential functions on the currently decentralized staff canteens,