Vetements Ltee
Case 5.1
Vetements Ltee

1. There are many symptoms in this case that suggest that something has gone wrong. The performance of the sales staff started to decline and senior management started to receive complaints from store managers. Store staff began to bombard customers and argue over ownership of clientele. They also began to neglect other store duties such as restocking inventory and completing order forms in a timely manner. Because of these actions there have been stock shortages and store sales have suffered. Staff has began to feel resentment and morale has declined. Store managers have begun to threaten sales staff with dismissal in order to make staff perform their duties correctly. The trust between employees and managers has also suffered in that employees do not correctly do their jobs once the manager leaves. All of these examples suggest that something has gone wrong at Vetements Ltee.
2. In this case Vetements Ltee was using money as a motivator for the managers and staff. Reinforcement theory tells us that people alter their behavior in order to maximize positive consequences or minimize adverse consequences. The staff was being positively reinforced with money when they made sales. The employees therefore continued to try to make sales (at the cost of not fulfilling other duties) in order to continue making money. The problem for the company became that though employees were making bonuses, they were not giving good service to the customer or company. Everyone is driven by something. The Four-Drive Theory of Motivation says that each person is motivated by four drives: the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to learn, and the drive to defend. The staff at Vetements Ltee was being motivated by the drive to acquire, which in this case is to acquire money. The drive to acquire is said to be the foundation of competition, which is proven by the fact that the staff was competing for customers.
3. In order to...