...THE HOME DEPOT’S ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION Organization Communications Mgmt 305 Potomac College Abstract This paper will analyze the culture of The Home Depot and its communication practices. This will be accomplished by examining the dimensions of the organization’s structure. The Home Depot’s sociability, power distribution and job autonomy, degree of structure, achievement rewards, opportunities for growth, tolerance for risk and change, conflict tolerance, and emotional support will be used to determine if the organization has a Theory Y culture. Introduction Home Depot is considered to be one of the top ranking home improvement organizations. The mission statement of this organization was formulated around being “committed to maximizing long term shareholder value while supporting management in the business and operations of the company, observing the highest ethical standards and adhering to the laws of the jurisdictions within which the company operates” (Homer TLC INC, 2010). The Home Depot transformed the “home improvement industry” by providing a well round reputation for products, corporate governance and strong values within the community. The purpose of The Home Depot remains to build relationships, have social responsibility, and concrete ethics as an organization. Employees are respected, offered growth and reputable incentive plans. Public policy makers and Home Depot collaborates on ideas to assure prosperity in our society. Home Depot delivers...
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...BUS 610 – Organizational Behavior Prof. Murad Abel August 26, 2013 Throughout history, the organizational landscape has been highly competitive. Effective leadership aligned with the core corporate strategy can serve as a powerful lever to achieve success in a fast paced business environment. We have seen great leaders taking their businesses to new heights. They knew how to build great companies while treating their employees well, how to improve or change dysfunctional corporate cultures, reinvigorating tired brands and develop new strategic plans. Others proved themselves difficult to work for, stubborn and even out-of-touch. The following report analyzes the leadership of Robert Nardelli who is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chrysler. Robert L. Nardelli was born on May 17, 1948 in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. He completed his Schooling in the State of Illinois and earned Masters in Business Administration from University of Louisville. Nardelli started his professional career at GE where he worked for 27 years. Nardelli served as the head of GE's Canadian appliance unit. Later, he headed the transportation systems division. He thus rose to become one of the top four executives in GE. A lengthy succession plan ensued when Jack Welch was leaving GE and Nardelli was in the race towards becoming the CEO of the company. However, after losing the CEO spot to Jeff Immelt, he exited the company. Then, Nardelli took over as CEO of the home retailer...
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...Change Diagnosis Final Course Project HR587, May 2010 Session Table of Contents Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………….…………………… 2 Assessment/Diagnosis………………………………………….……………..………………….. 3 Analysis of the Change Strategy…………………………………………………………………………….…..………… 4 Results/Outcomes………………………………………….……………………,………………. 7 Evaluation of the Effort…………………………………………………………………………………….……….. 9 References………………………………………………………………………...…………….. 13 Appendix A……………………………...…………………………………………………………………. 14 Appendix B……………………………….……………………………………………….……………….. 15 Executive Summary Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. From the start, associates were able to offer the best customer service in the industry, guiding customers through projects such as laying tile, changing a fill valve or handling a power tool. Not only did store associates undergo rigorous product knowledge training, but they also began offering lessons so customers could learn how to do it themselves. Home Depot is still guided today by those values established by its founders, excellent customer service, taking care of people, entrepreneurial spirit, respect for all people, building strong relationships, doing the right thing, giving back to communities, and creating shareholder value. (Corporate Website, 2003). I will be concentrating on the Human Resource department of the organization. They restructured their HR department by cutting down their HR functions believing that it they could create...
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...Business Ethics Gabe Galbraith BUS 610 Organizational Behavior Dr. Leo Smith 04/15/2013 Business Ethics There are many different perspectives on what leadership is. Everyone who writes or talks about leadership tends to have his or her own personal definition of leadership. In an organizational context, leadership involves influencing the behaviors of individuals and groups to work toward predetermined goals (Baack, 2012). Some of the primary qualities associated with leadership are vision, enthusiasm, trust, courage, passion, coaching, developing others, and intensity. Many people discuss the similarities and differences of leadership and management. . John Kotter (1990) argues that management focuses on coping with complexity using the basic managerial functions of planning, organizing, and control. Robert House and R. J. Aditya (1997) link the concept of management with the use of formal authority that arises from a person's organizational rank. In a perfect world, all companies would most likely prefer to employ effective leaders. Leaders can establish direction by communicating a vision and inspiring their employees. These leaders influence behaviors in positive ways. With the great things positive leaders do there, unfortunately, some outcomes have had a negative rather than positive way. One potential example includes the failure of leadership Home Depot Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert Nardelli, whose termination...
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...HRM 532-Talent Management Discuss how the leadership at Home Depot intended to use its organizational talent to gain a competitive advantage in the Do It Yourself industry. The Home Depot is the second largest retailer in the world. With that title there is a need to employ a lot of employees. According to the case there are approximately 17,000 leaders into positions each year on average. This is a range from the front line supervisors to executive line supervisors. Unlike most company the Home Depot has more than 80 percent of leadership placements are internal promotions. With that high rate of internal promotion there has to be a seamless pipeline to develop that talent and still have the competitive advantage. That comes from their talent which they take very seriously. The key competitive differentiator in a company that built its reputation and case on knowledgeable associates, problem solving, and superior customer service (Silzer p 657) . The case also goes into detail and explains that the Home Depot was able to keep this focus was by doing the following: • Embedding the enduring importance of human capital to corporate success. • Internalizing the importance of engaged associates in creating a superior customer experience. • Acknowledging significant changes in workforce and consumers demographics. All of these factors help maintain the spot as the second largest retailer in the world. They put enfaces on the people and the service that they...
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...“How Home Depot could enter Indian Markets” Cohort 41 Justin Widener, Cole Lewis, Daniel Smith, Kacy Jackson, Pramod Sudhakar, Angela Lintz WMBA 6030: Global Strategy November 14, 2013 Executive Summary Home Depot tried and failed to enter China. In hindsight, the errors Home Depot made seem obvious and many. In the analyses below, we examine Home Depot from an Industrial, Resource, and Institutional perspective. Based on our extrapolation of the findings, we ask whether Home Depot can enter the Indian market, and describe our strategy for how Home Depot might successfully expand globally into India. We believe that Home Depot can gain great value from entering India following our strategy. Introduction and Background Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus. They originally started with two stores in the Atlanta area with about 60,000 square feet each. These stores dwarfed the competition in not only size but also in product offering and availability. They started off offering over 25,000 different SKU’s to customers in everything from power tools to simple easy to use items such as tape and glue (Home Depot). The goal was, as a company, to target and create a market for the “Do it Yourself” or “DIY” market. Until the arrival of Home Depot there was such a market but only local mom and pop shops competed. Home Depot provided a place where they could provide a one-stop shop for DIY and could also provide the “know-how” necessary...
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...Talent Practices at the Home Depot Sandra Brown Strayer University Hrm532- Talent Management April 21, 2011 Question: Discuss how the leadership at Home Depot intended to use its organizational talent to gain a competitive advantage in the Do It Yourself industry. The process that is utilized to prepare key talent in leadership positions for this corporation is one including world class development programs, comprehensive leadership curriculums, annual assessments and semiannual talent reviews according to Silzer & Dowell (2010). Talent management is quite significant to Home Depot’s mission because this company is the second largest retailer in world that places approximately 17,000 leaders each year along with tens of thousands of retail associates annually. This corporation acknowledged that talent was the differentiator for this company to remain competitive because it helped to build their reputation and business with a focus on having associates that are knowledgeable, possess problem solving skills and outstanding customer service skills. The business began growing quite fast with opening stores both stateside and outside of this country and it became necessary to increase its leadership pipeline to include diversity and maintain readiness necessary to stay ahead of the competitors. Multiple channels were created because a philosophy prevailed that lead them to believe that the greater the number of channels, it was more likely to find talented people...
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...giants like Bain & Co, Home Depot and Best buy. Now let us look at the facts and the answers to the questions asked. Facts Presented in the case: 1. Bain & co.’s CEO Steve Ellis hired people even during the recession. He added consultants in the hot-growth areas such as emerging markets and targeted experienced consultants who were left stranded during the hard financial times. 2. Home Depots chairman and chief executive Frank Blake set realistic goals to boost employee morale in spite of handing pink slips to some of the employees. This resulted in many employees getting high bonuses thus resulting in high employee morale. 3. Companies which took advantage of employees in the downturn were rewarded with many employees leaving the company. 4. Best buy found ways to boost employee morale by getting them involved in the organization. 5. JetBlue has cut back across the board and over the past year –delaying aircraft orders, trimming head count through voluntary unpaid leaves and even shedding the free pillows from its aircraft in order to cut costs. Identifying the Key issues: The key issues that can be observed from the above case are as follows. 1. Corporations all over the world are facing the effects of recession and the major concern for them is cutting of costs. 2. the most ideal way of cutting costs according to traditional managers is by lying off workers from all sectors. 3. In the modern theory of organizational behavior a need for employee...
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...extremely important role within a leader’s actions, the theories that make up that same leader tell a further story into the aspects of their leadership style. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator has been widely used and has helped a lot of people discover new things about themselves and others. This trait theory has been used in organizations all over the world to understand their employees better in an attempt to utilize their specialties and creativity. The trait theory explains the ability that leaders have to be able to leader across various industries with such skill. Robert Nardelli’s leadership style was very interesting. In some ways he was considered a mastermind the way he raised the company’s profits and brought more organizational structure. The problems became when begun when his leadership style stared rubbing shareholders, customers, and employees the wrong way. With his military style leadership, employees were uncomfortable and shareholder’s even more annual meetings. Every leader has room to grow in their leadership and become more compassionate towards their employees across various industries, but when there is a...
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...I agree with Fred’s decision to use a thrid party vendor to conduct the training for the hardware store. Training activities need to be aligned with the organization’s strategy to be effective (Blanchard & Thacker, 2010). Persons of leadership should determine the strategy but they should not rule out the input that could be beneficial from lower level employees. The management team met and discussed its strategic response and determined that the hardware store would focus on particular items and make personalized service the cornerstone of its effort (Blanchard & Thacker, 2010). Now that the target training areas are identified you can determine who will be doing the training and using what strategy. Fred decided to use an outsourcing strategy. This strategy employs outside training vendors for all, or almost all, training activities and provides a flexible way of meeting changing and diverse training needs with professionally developed and administered programs. (Blanchard & Thacker, 2010). It is imperative to isolate who needs to be trained and who will be doing the training. Key things when finding a trainer is to find out their background, work experience, clients, customers, etc. To be effective, the training process is not as easy as it comes across. There are many strategies and concepts at your disposal but the challenging part is deciding which one to use. In this case it was deciding the best training package to utilize. Before choosing a training package...
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...Q1: From your perspective, based on the video and articles for this activity, how did GE create a growth culture important and what are the keys to being an innovative organization? Please explain each. Ans: For an organization to continually grow, innovation must be embedded in its culture. Innovation is a behavior that is required to be a part of every employee’s job. This necessitates an organization to present its employees with platforms wherein they can express their ideas such as the LIG program, as in the case of General Electric, to deliberate organic growth day in and day out. Innovation is effectively advertized in an organization where managers individually and collectively lead by example by way of their behavior, their roles, and how they spend their time. The organizational keys to innovation are as follows: • Training: In creating and propagating this culture throughout, the organization should set off by training its top managers with new concepts that promote innovation and growth. The training facilitates a focus on the current market facts/figures, the competitive landscape and concrete future goals. It ought to address the inherent shortcomings that other traditional management education programs possess. • Overcoming barriers to change: The stated is of grave significance in promoting innovation. Contrary to popular belief, an age old rule may no longer be relevant and a novel approach may yield extraordinary results. Such an evolved...
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...THE HOME DEPOT, INC. Introduction 1. Identify the company’s mission, vision, and primary stake holders. 2. Identify the five forces of competition and how it impacts the company. 3. Create a SWOT analysis for the company identifying the major strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. 4. Based on the SWOT analysis, recommend how the company may capitalize on its strengths and opportunities, and minimize its weaknesses and threats. 5. Discuss the various levels and types of strategies the firm may use to maximize its competitiveness and profitability. 6. Determine the recent corporate governance issues that are currently affecting the company’s decisions and report how the company is or should be handling the issues. 7. Use 4-5 external sources as part of your assignment. Introduction Home Depot, Inc. is the world’s largest home improvement retailer with 2,246 retail stores in all 50 states in United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico, and lastly China. HD (Home Depot) provides employment to approximately 321,000 full time employees. HD stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:HD), is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index. This company sales a range of building materials, home improvement and lawn and garden. (Poor's, 2011) Home Depot was found by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, on June 29, 1978. Their vision was to create and...
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...Airways: Starting from Scratch In 1999, a group of experienced individuals in the airline industry came together to start a brand new company, JetBlue Airways. JetBlue decided that its strategy was going to be very similar to Southwest Airlines (low cost airline), but focus more on technology by providing the customer with a better experience and ensure more productivity from the aircraft. The company decided that its home base was going to be JFK, with a potential of 2.5 million passengers living within just 10 miles. JetBlue would start with a fleet of brand new Airbus A320s and have to recruit a whole support organization to run the operation. Key Factors for JetBlue to Be Successful The biggest key for JetBlue to be successful is developing a dominant culture. JetBlue accomplished this by defining their core values of safety, caring, integrity, fun, and passion. These are the ground work for the company because it represents “the bedrock for the development of human resource policy and practices and management style”. These values will influence how the rest of the business will be run as subcultures will eventually be defined by other parts of the organization. This could be from supervisors making day to day decision and HR in hiring decisions. As long as the company is aware of these values and ensures that this is part of the day to day business culture – they are off to a good start. JetBlue also needs to become an innovator and risk taker to carry through...
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...Introduction Whether you own your home or rent, chances are that at some point you will find yourself looking for something that will lead you to one of these two retail giants. The home improvement industry has evolved from small regional and locally owned hardware stores to these superstores. The top two in the industry are Home Depot and Lowe’s. Each has their eye on moving into international markets, each has superstores in all 50 states and each has evolved along different paths to reach their current positions. According to Fortune 500 Home Depot, Inc. is ranked at #25 and the second largest retailer in the US after Wal-Mart. Home Depot Inc. has its corporate headquarters in Atlanta Georgia. What began in 1979 as two 60,000-foot stores that resembled warehouses has grown to about 2,200 stores across North America, Puerto Rico, and China. Home Depot Inc. is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as NYSE:HD. At the end of 2008 Home Depot Inc. employed 331,000 people. Home Depot sales recorded and posted in 2009 are $71,288.0 mil. Home Depot Inc. is the number one home improvement retailer with Lowe’s coming in second place with sales posted in 2009 at $48, 230.0 mil.. Founded in 1946 Lowe’s went from a small hardware store to the ninth largest retailer in the US. Lowe’s went public in 1961 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange as NYSE:LOW in 1979. According to Fortune 500 Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is ranked at #47. Lowe’s Companies, Inc. are headquartered...
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...TAVIS COBURN Deep, lasting culture change requires an integrated approach that remodels a company’s social systems. The leadership team of Home Depot employed a remarkable set of tools to do that. by Ram Charan W hen Robert Nardelli arrived at Home Depot in December 2000, the deck seemed stacked against the new CEO. He had no retailing experience and, in fact, had spent an entire career in industrial, not consumer, businesses. His previous job was running General Electric’s power systems division, whose multimilliondollar generating plants for industry and governments were a far cry from $10 light switches for do-it-yourselfers. re tu ul C Change HOME DEPOT’S BLUEPRINT FOR april 2006 61 H o m e D e p o t’s B l u e p r i n t f o r C u l t u re C h a n g e Nardelli also was taking over what seemed to be a wildly successful company, with a 20-year record of growth that had outpaced even Wal-Mart’s – but with latent financial and operational problems that threatened its continued growth, and even its future, if they weren’t quickly addressed. To top it off, Nardelli’s exacting and tough-minded approach, which he learned at General Electric, set him on a collision course with the freewheeling yet famously close-knit culture fostered by his predecessors, Home Depot’s legendary cofounders, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. It was this culture that Nardelli had to reshape if he hoped to bring some big-company muscle to the cooled from the breakneck pace of the...
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