Yongwen du
Simin cheng
Article overview:
This article illuminates how QuikTrip invests in their employees and at the meantime offer low prices. QuikTrip is using operational efficiencies and standardization to reduce complexity to create higher employee productivity and fewer errors, reduce labor cost and increase customers satisfaction. By giving employees an opportunity to engage in process improvement and giving them more responsibility, QuikTrip motivates the productivity and passion for work of employees.
Key learning parts: 1. If you say the managers are the heart of organization, and employees are at the soul of organization, we couldn’t in order to decrease the cost but ignore the investment in employees. They can provide their skills and responsibility and invest in the development of the company. QuickTrip let its employees enjoy the good wage and material benefits can encourage them work harder, this is like a human resource strategy. 2. Customers are one of the most key factors affect operation. It is important to satisfy what customers want and need. For QuickTrip, through providing by-store stuff and fast, friendly service, it earn double profit of the top quartile of competitors. 3. The importance of work system is a basically factor for any organization’s on human efforts to reach its goals. The company’s focus on promoting from within presents a dilemma of sorts, actually is to provide an opportunity for employees to grow and succeed. 4. QuikTrip Standardize layout and limited product variety in stores, it leads to higher employee productivity and fewer errors. 5. Because of the standardization on stores and product, it provides the flexibility to transfer employees among different stores. 6. QuikTrip invests in “relief employees” which ensure the stores are never understaffed. 7. Trust as Motivation: Employees are trusted to complete the work at their pace. When managers trust employees, there is greater tendency to give employees added responsibilities. When employees trust managers, they are more likely to respond positively. 8. Job design as Teams: Employees are team-based, mutually accountable approach to their work. 9. By giving opportunity to employees to engage in process improvement and speak out freely their idea, it is increasing employees’ responsibility.

Application:
1. The employees of QuickTrip enjoy good wage and material benefits show that managers not only should focus on the low cost but also should pay attention to the potential value. Developing and training the ability of employees can earn more value. It is a long lines, but it can reach the company’s mission in the end.
2. Customers’ satisfaction is one of the most important points of service sector. As the article mentions, QuickTrip made double profit because easy-to-navigate stores provide organized shelves and other by-store stuffs, and with fast, friendly service. That means when working in service sector, manager should try his best to satisfy the customer. Quick and friendly is the service what the customers want.
3. Layout is important in the areas of system design, QuickTrip use the same store layout everywhere in order to avoid higher employee productivity and fewer errors. So when making a decision of layout, manager should thinking about long-term commitments and significant impact on the cost and how to save the cost.
4. As the article mention, the costs of understaffing are not easily quantifiable. As a retail store, understaffing could happen anytime, therefore, if I were a retail manager, I would invest in relief employees who can flexible fill in for workers who are absent. This would immensely reduce the costs of understaffing.
5. As a manager, I will get my employees together and learn from them who see problems and have great ideas for improvement. I think giving them an opportunity to speak out loud their mind would make them more responsibility to their job and motivate them. Besides, it also helps to process improvement.