Organizational Communication &
Its Social Context students visit
Mars Chocolate UK in Slough, Spring 2009
On Wednesday April 22, 2009 a group of NYU in London students on the Organizational Communication & Its Social Context course visited the UK headquarters for the chocolate business of Mars Incorporated, located in Slough, UK.
NYUL students were given a tour of the chocolate production lines and an opportunity to meet with Mars executives. The visit at Mars concluded with a presentation of Mars corporate affairs. Dr Geraldine Cohen initiated and organized the visit and Robert Pinkerton, Senior Student Life Administrator at NYU in London accompanied the group.
The students had a great time experiencing chocolate manufacturing first hand and enjoying Mars’ impeccable hospitality while immersing into its friendly corporate culture:
“I thought the trip to [Mars in] Slough was very enlightening. The different perspectives of the employees we spoke [to] gave insight into how the cogs of the company worked. Of course the chocolate was wonderful, but I believe some important business regarding internal and external communications were learned.”
“I really enjoyed getting out on the production lines and seeing how the processes work. We often see or hear about the production side of business, but we rarely get to see it first hand. The tour guide, who was a Mars engineer and line manager was great and explained to us the development of the company, the product and the processes in extraordinary detail. It was informative and interesting. We were able to see the company’s core process (the production line), but also witnessed other corporate functions like corporate affairs. The Mars company provides a great model for our business studies.”
“I really enjoyed getting an idea of how a private company interacts with its stakeholders. Too often we get caught up in studying communication models of large public corporations, so it was very refreshing to look at communication from another point of view. Being able to interact with Mars’ company culture was very interesting. Observing in person the openness the corporate offices communicated, was something that I wouldn’t have been able to understand by reading about it.”
“I really enjoyed the intimate details we got concerning the corporate culture at Mars. They really emphasized the family atmosphere present at Mars and how employees are referred to as associates rather than employees or workers. This change in vocabulary translated into a stronger sense of engagement with the company – a sense of purpose. I admired the friendly work environment and how all the factory workers seemed to personally know each other. I wish we spent slightly longer learning about the company; I would have liked to know more about some of the advantages or disadvantages Mars faces in being a private versus public company. But overall, our visit to the Mars factory was a great opportunity and very insightful experience.”
