Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case

In:

Submitted By smverbryck1
Words 467
Pages 2
Chris Trusdell
MGMT 362
David Mull
11-23-2011

“A Novice Manager’s Tale of Woe”

Synopsis: A young woman, Tricia Monet, is quickly promoted from assistant store director to store director for a Personal Reflections retail store. She has no prior managerial experience and her only training was a two-week course for assistant store directors. Tricia's district manager hires three assistant store directors for the store and Tricia begins her managerial career by trying to build a team atmosphere. Tricia’s first day at the store was met with animosity by the store director, Heather Munson. Heather resented Tricia only because she was not part of the hiring phase. Anytime Tricia wanted to make changes for the betterment of the store she would run into a brick wall with Heather. This particular store had failed to meet its sales goals throughout the year. Tricia wanted to quit because of all of the animosity between herself and Heather. On the verge of quitting, Heather came in one day and told Tricia that she was having back problems and was going on disability leave. Tricia would now be the acting store director with only a month of experience. In September, the district manager told Tricia that Heather would not be returning back at store director. By October first, the district manager hired three assistant managers for the store. Tricia was officially offered the store director job by the end of October. All four of them seemed to get along in the first month. All four of them seemed to share many of the same ideas and goals. They even went to dinner one night a week after work. Tricia’s strategy as store director was to create an atmosphere where they were all equals. Tricia encourages the assistant store directors to participate in store decisions. Tricia also socializes with them. Tricia thought everything was running smoothly and believed she and the

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case Study 5

...Tanglewood Case Study 5 Disparate Impact Penny Ross HRM301-F1WW Jennifer Martin October 25, 2015 Tanglewood Case Study 5 Historical Hiring and Promotion Data: Applicant Flows Occupational category | | | Total | White* | Total Non-White | African-American* | Store Associates | External hires | Applicants | 18226 | 15436 | 2790 | 594 | | | Hires | 3832 | 3221 | 611 | 135 | | | Selection ratio | 21.02% | 20.87% | 21.90% 1.04 | 22.73%1.08 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Shift leader | External hires | Applicants | 392 | 320 | 72 | 17 |   |   | Hires | 61 | 54 | 7 | 2 |   |   | Selection ratio | 15.56% | 16.88% | 9.72% .61 | 11.76% .74 |   | Internal hires | Applicants | 864 | 712 | 152 | 30 |   |   | Hires | 280 | 241 | 39 | 6 |   |   | Selection ratio | 32.41% | 33.85% | 25.66% .80 | 20.00% .63 | | | | | | | | Department manager | External hires | Applicants | 1242 | 1074 | 168 | 44 | | | Hires | 94 | 82 | 12 | 3 | | | Selection ratio | 7.57% | 7.64% | 7.14%.89 | 6.82%.85 | | Internal hires | Applicants | 589 | 509 | 80 | 21 | | | Hires | 124 | 108 | 16 | 3 | | | Selection ratio | 21.05% | 21.22% | 20.00%.95 | 14.00%.67 | | | | | | | | Asst. store manager | External...

Words: 517 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Tanglewood Case

...Tanglewood Case 1 HR594: Staffing Strategic Instructor: Travis Deur November 6, 2011   Tanglewood Tanglewood is a chain of retail of stores that sells clothing, appliances, electronic and home accents. Tanglewood was originally founded in 1975 by Tanner Emerson and Thurston Wood. The original store opened in Spokane Washington and the named was TannerWood. TannerWood also sold outdoor clothing and equipment that Tanner and Thurston had designed themselves. According to the text “Tanner and Thurston financed their early store plans with credit cards and personal loans from friends and family. They had little money and put every penny they made back into the stores The first store was very successful due to the unique merchandise making them successful quite rapidly, which lead them to expand and add several more stores during the late 1970’s. Emerson and Wood rename their store chain Tanglewood in 1984. Tanglewood has a total of 243 stores in Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona. The business strategy and goals of Tanglewood is to find a specific niche that’s similar to Kohl’s and Target that would target to the middle and upper-income market at reasonable prices. Tanglewood also focuses on stocking quality products, providing customer service, and a more designer appearance than discount stores. This strategy is further supplemented by the company’s trademark “look” which involves an outdoors...

Words: 915 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Tanglewood Case 1

...Tanglewood Case One Rebecca Cassady With reference to Exhibit 1.7 in the textbook, I think that of the staffing quantity and staffing quality strategies listed; that developing talent, internal hiring, and exceptional workforce quality are the fundamental strategies to implement. By utilizing these differentiation strategies, Tanglewood would continue its strong culture. Tanglewood must differentiate themselves from their competition; companies like Target and Kohl’s. Tangelwood can accomplish this by having the best staff that delivers a positive experience their customers, thus, making their store standout from their competitors. These strategies will help maintain a positive work atmosphere and build a strong relationship among employees, which will lead to successful job performances. Hiring or retain overstaff or understaffed, and external or internal hiring: As we look at these three decisions for the staffing levels, hire or retain, over staffed or understaffed, and external or internal hiring method we will see that Tanglewood Company is over-staffed. The mangers are cooperative with the employees’ suggestions regarding the company's operations, which need to be decreased. By decreasing employees and increasing the responsibility; staffing and training of departments will make the working environment stronger, and job performance to be improved saving both time and money for the company. Tanglewood should focus on retaining their employees and improving...

Words: 1203 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case 3

...is a very important aspect of Tanglewood. All employees start out as store associates. Therefore, Tanglewood must attract the top talent at the store associate level so they can promote them to higher level positions. The best candidates for Tanglewood to target are high school seniors and college freshman. This is because then Tanglewood will be able to train and develop the talents which they wish these individuals to posses. This will also promote brand loyalty because the employees will feel a sense of loyalty to the company if the company has supported them as they received their education. Tanglewood currently uses five different types of recruitment strategies. The following paragraphs will discuss the different methods and who those methods are targeting. Tanglewood uses different media outlets to advertise their open positions. They use those outlets such as print, radio, and television coupled with individuals filling out a standardized job application. Tanglewood has also placed Kiosks in their store for candidates to fill out the standardized application. These media outlets and Kiosks are seen by a variety of different people in a variety of different locations. Tanglewood also uses referrals as a form of recruiting. Referrals are a more targeted approach to recruiting as opposed to media. Employees are cautious of their own personal reputation so they generally only refer those who have the adequate KSAO’s. This provides Tanglewood with a targeted approach to reach...

Words: 2034 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case 1

...1. Competitors. There are eight major competitors of Tanglewood: Dillard’s, J.C. Penny, Kohl’s, Macy’s, REI, Sears Holding Corp., Target and Walmart. On page 4 of casebook, it says “major concern for Tanglewood has been the westward expansion of companies like Kohl’s and Target”. Tanglewood has even more direct competition right now. It might be good to hire qualified staff to exceed the competition. Structure. Tanglewood is a retail business. It has clothing, jewelry, and non-clothing merchandise: sporting goods, bath, bedding and home décor. Company operates in the moderate price niche, targeting middle- and upper-income customers. Tanglewood is located in 12 geographical regions, with 20 stores per region. The breakdown of stores is: * Eastern Washington * Western Washington * Northern Oregon * Southern Oregon * Northern California * Idaho, Montana and Wyoming * Colorado * Utah * Nevada * New Mexico * Arizona Total number of stores is two hundred forty three. Employees. * Each store is managed by a single individual – store manager * He/she has three store managers working beneath him/her * The assistant managers for softlines, hardlines, and operations and human resources. * Department managers * Shift leaders * Associates Total: two hundred fifteen employees per store. Culture and values. * Tanglewood has emphasized employee participation and teams. * Vision for employee relations...

Words: 1133 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Case #1 Tanglewood

...Introduction Tanglewood is a chain of general retail stores featuring items such as clothing, appliances, electronics, and home decor. The company operates in the moderate price niche, targeting middle- and upper-income customers. Tanglewood’s strategic distinction is an “outdoors” theme, with a large camping and outdoor living section in every store. The store also distinguishes itself by its simple, elegant, and uncluttered design concepts for the store and their in-house products. It was founded by two best friends in 1975 by Tanner Emerson and Thurston Wood and later renamed their store chain to Tanglewood in 1984. Initially it operated as a single store and as years went by, as the business developed from 1975 to 1984, the business had grown substantially with a strong base of employee participation, customer satisfaction, and profitability. The company grew to other parts of America and today has a total of 243 stores open in the states of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona. As an external consultant for Staffing Services I have reviewed your Organizational Structure as it pertains to staffing your new stores and your stores that are already in business. In my report you will find that there are many things that I agree that your organization does, however there are some that I feel that you could change to benefit your strategic staffing levels and quality. The staffing strategy...

Words: 1944 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Tanglewood Case Two

...Tanglewood Case 2 Strategic Staffing (HR 594) Summer Session B comronf@gmail.com TANGLEWOOD CASE TWO ATT: Daryl Perrone After analyzing the data and performing an environmental scan it is clear that the demographics of Spokane, Washington will present you will problems filling vacancies based on the Equal Employment Opportunity requirements. Spokane is the second largest city in Washington and according to my research 84% of these people are white. The next largest minority group, Hispanic, is only at 5% and the third largest group is mixed races which is just 3.8%. As you can see Tacoma, Washington is not very diverse and finding the enough competent employees from minority groups may be difficult given the fact that there are not that many to begin with. According to the Census Bureau, Tacoma’s percentages of non-white employment in both the fields of retail salespersons and first line supervisors for retail are low in comparison with the available workforce. This tells me that it is not just Tanglewood that is failing to hire minorities; the whole city of Tacoma needs to do a better job of increasing their minority incumbency percentages. Incumbency is a term used to describe that a position is being held and is often used by the human resource department to determine where and how demographic shifts are needed. Although your minority incumbency percent is well above the required 80% for department managers finding more minorities for positions with higher volumes...

Words: 329 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Tanglewood Case 1

...Tanglewood Case 1 02/17/2015 Tanglewood is in need of an update to their human resource functions. As the company has grown, they have found that their human resource system may be archaic. Tanglewood is in need of a new plan that will be modern but will still match their mission statement that they set out to follow even in modern times. Tanglewood's mission is: “Tanglewood will be the best department store for customers seeking quality, durability, and value for all aspects of their lives.  We are committed as a company to providing maximum value to our customers, shareholders, and employees.  We will accomplish this goal by adhering to the core values of responsible financial management, clear and honest communication, and always keeping performance and customer service in the forefront.” By reading the case, Tanglewood strongly values customer service.  Tanglewood believes in the customer experience and face-to-face interactions.  Tanglewood believes that the online ordering portal is an extension of the brick-and mortar store not a replacement. The physical stores are their competitive advantage.  In-store sales build long-term relationships with customers. Tanglewood is likely to benefit from highly customer orientated individuals.  Tanglewood does not view their online sales as a competitive advantage.  Tanglewood believes that their store experience will continue to bring customers back on a continual basis.  In order for Tanglewood to uphold this philosophy, they...

Words: 1254 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case 1

...Tanglewood Case 1 Dear: Daryl Perrone, My name is Andreina Polanco I am an external consultant for staffing services. Below please find my recommendations of where Tanglewood should position itself along the continuum: 1. Acquire vs. Develop talent- In my opinion Developing talent is a better strategy for Tanglewood than acquiring talent for many reasons. First Acquiring talent from other companies costs more money. Employees who are new to working in retail can start fresh and learn everything and be molded in Tanglewood’s way. This can also help in any problems with workers about how things should be done, because they have learned it another way in retail store. Tanglewood encourages employees to give their suggestions or their ideas in how Tanglewood can become a better company.. 2. Hire yourself vs. Outsource- Tanglewood should not encourage outsource consultants because of their lack in actual experience with the company. Tanglewood needs employees who have knowledge of the company. Hiring within the company can be advantage because the person will be familiar with the company’s decision making. Even thou there are several advantages for hiring an out source, for a example a new person can bring a new plan, new technique or a new opinion that can improve the company. 3. External vs. Internal- Internal hiring is a better strategy for Tanglewood than external hiring. This allows everyone to start at the bottom as an associate and to work their way up in the company...

Words: 800 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case 1

...Talent Tanglewood will benefit from acquiring talent. The company is expanding yearly, opening new stores nationwide. Acquiring new talent for Tanglewood will speed up the process of expansion. Employees being hired will already possess the necessary KSAO’s to perform the job without new training. Another benefit is time constraints and investment in training. Training new employees can be costly, and take several weeks or months to develop an employee. Tanglewood department stores will hire employees that bring retail and management experience. These new employees will also have retail experience, to maintain the customer service philosophy that drives the company. * Hire Yourself or Outsource Tanglewood will benefit from outsourcing their hiring activities. The organization currently has a Human Resource team; however hiring practices have not remained consistent from location to location. With the expansion of new stores, more employees will need to hire to full available positions. Tanglewood as an organization wants to maintain their core philosophy. In order to maintain this philosophy, consistency needs to be present throughout the retail location as well as corporate level. Tanglewood involves their employees in decision making process; this encourages employees to be proactive to solving organizational problem. Tanglewood can work with the staffing agency to maintain their philosophy as the focus of their staffing practices. Communication between Tanglewood and the...

Words: 1098 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case 2

...Tyler Curto Professor S Effective Hiring 14 February 2016 Tanglewood Case 2 Analysis 1. Currently the organization expects that their forecast for labor requirements is essentially constant from the previous year. Based on this assumption complete the five stages of the planning process: a. Currently the organization expects that their forecast for labor requirements is essentially constant from the previous year. This means the forecast for next year will be taken as given. b. Fill in the empty cells in the forecast of labor availabilities in Table 1.1. Forecast of availabilities Next year (projected) 1 2 3 4 5 exit Current workforce Stores Associates 8500 4505 510 0 0 0 3485 Shift Leader 1200 0 600 192 0 0 408 Department Manager 850 0 0 493 102 0 255 Assistant Store Manager 150 0 0 9 69 12 60 Store Manager 50 0 0 0 0 33 17 c. Conduct an environmental scan. Based on the environmental data, what factors in the environment suggest Tanglewood might have difficulty filling their vacancies in the future? . After conducting an environmental scan, there are several factors that suggest Tanglewood might have difficulty filling their vacancies in the future. The first is that recent college graduates have little desire to work in retail. The long hours, low pay, and frequent conflict...

Words: 1224 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Tanglewood Case 1

...seems to be an inconsistency in management styles between the original Tanglewood stores and the newly purchased stores. The best way to find new talent will be to acquire it by hiring candidates that enjoy participating in teams. By acquiring new employees that already embody participation and teamwork, they will be able to “hit the ground running” and be at peak performance from the moment they arrive (Heneman II et. al. 2012). Hire Yourself or Outsource The decision of Hiring Yourself is pretty self-explanatory; it involves internal recruiters searching for candidates. Outsourcing, using outside organizations to recruit and select employees, is becoming a very popular form of acquiring new talent (Heneman II et. al. 2012). Since Tanglewood seems to be struggling with identifying candidates that fit the organization’s specific culture, an experienced outsourcing vendor would do much better. Tanglewood is a mid-sized company that is currently lacking an HR function; therefore they are the perfect candidate for outsourcing. With all of the new stores opening, Tanglewood may not be able to keep up with the labor shortages. Outsourcing vendors specialize in staffing and will be able to hire the employees needed for each new store in a short period of time. Lastly, outsourcing is the best choice because the vendor will be responsible for complying with EEOC requirements rather than Tanglewood having to maintain all of the procedures. External or Internal Hiring ...

Words: 1820 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case 1

...Jones Human Resources Consultant 1/24/2011 Case 1 Donald Penchiala Staffing Services Director Tanglewood Inc. Mr Penchiala, I am replying to your request to review Tanglewood’s current strategic staffing decisions. After researching the company’s history as well as Tanglewood’s current and potential competitors, I have broken down the 13 sections you asked me to review. Each section will be weighed differently based on the company’s mission and values: Acquire or Develop Talent While Tanglewood is primarily a general retail outlet with a large number of store associates, I recommend focusing on acquiring talent rather than developing it. Tanglewood encourages suggestions starting from the bottom of the company; if Tanglewood would work toward acquiring talent it could potentially take away employees from other companies who feel their good ideas are often ignored due to their position. A potential employee would have to match the KSAOs (Knowledge, Skill, Ability, and Other Characteristics) of the company and if you could find employees that already have the talent it would potentially lower your training costs. Of course any potential employee would need to have the same values of the company whether already having the required KSAOs or needing to be trained on them. Hire Yourself or Outsource Tanglewood already has a well established Human Resources structure. An outsourcing group would only be beneficial if Tanglewood did not have EEO (Equal Employment Opportunities)...

Words: 1219 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case 2

...Christian April 6, 2014 Wk 2 Dropbox Assignment TangleWood Case 2 Currently the organization expects that their forecast for labor requirements is essentially constant from the previous year. Based on this assumption complete the five stages of the planning process: Currently the organization expects that their forecast for labor requirements is essentially constant from the previous year. This means the forecast for next year will be taken as given. Fill in the empty cells in the forecast of labor availabilities in Table 1.1 Table 1.1 Markov Analysis Information Transition probability matrix Current year (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Exit Previous year (1) Store associate 0.53 0.06 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.41 (2) Shift leader 0.00 0.50 0.16 0.00 0.00 0.34 (3) Department manager 0.00 0.00 0.58 0.12 0.00 0.30 (4) Assistant store manager 0.00 0.00 0.06 0.46 0.08 0.40 (5) Store manager 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.66 0.34 Forecast of availabilities Next year (projected) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Exit Current Workforce Previous year (1) Store associate 8,500 4505 510 0 0 0 3485 (2) Shift leader 1,200 0 600 204 (3) Department manager 850 0 493 138.90 (4) Assistant store manager 150 0 69 27.6 (5) Store manager 50 0 49.34 15.75 Gap analysis Next year (projected) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Year end total (column sum) 4505 600 493 69 49.34 External hires needed (current workforce-total) 3995 600 357 81 0.66 Conduct an environmental scan....

Words: 1341 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Tanglewood Case

...State Job Service * Utilize employees for referrals and continue to offer incentives to motivate internal employees Staff members involved: * Vice President of Human Resources * Human Resources Recruiting Manager * Department Managers * Shift Leaders * Direct Reports Budget: $2,000-6000 2. Tanglewood possesses a 50% turnover rate therefore open recruitment works to the advantage of managers. Human resources provide a pool of candidates to interview allowing managers the opportunity to determine employees that will be a great fit for the department. Also considering the company possesses such high turn over rate more individuals need to be interviewed to ensure great applicants are hired increasing retainment and reducing the turnover rate, as Tanglewood would like to remain reputable within the customer service realm. Also considering there are no set qualifications to work as a Sales Associate open recruitment would be the best recruiting method. 3. After reviewing the data presented in Appendix B it looks as if all regions utilize media, referrals, and provides the kiosk for applicants to visit Tanglewood onsite completing their application. The only region offering all four...

Words: 481 - Pages: 2