Nordstrom Case Analysis Essay

Former Nordstrom employees accuse them of using unfair labor and discriminatory practices to browbeat employees and force them to per mold tasks like stocking and picking up production during non-working hours . Nordstrom employees ask in little formal planning when hired or promoted to saucy positions, solely they argon wanted to perform their duties consistent with the Nordstrom Way which is customer usefulness above and beyond the call of duty. Training is snugly provided through on-the- crinkle communication, which increases the opportunity for miscommunication.This communication can be deliberate due to compeer competition and presss to succeed from answerrs, or lack of knowledge by co-workers and managers from whom they be advocated to seek training. Management skills be not postulate to manage employees, nor is training provided to employees who achieve management positions. There is no real military rating system in place to measure employee performance. There is no aim fixedting process that requires manager employee pair sets benchmarks for measuring progress, particularly when the employee is new in the role (Harvard Business School Press, 2007).Goals help to define what managers expect from their employees. The only employee metric used that is measurable is Sales per mos (SPH) even-though on that point atomic number 18 other performance criteria such as customer service and teamwork which be part of the employee evaluation process. Employees who do not achieve the minimum required SPH atomic number 18 categorized as under-performers. If SPH is consistently below the minimum commonplace set by the department manager, this can lead to termination or isolation as employees feel uncomfortable and inadequate.Upon being hired by Nordstrom employees be told that the three Nordstrom performance criteria customer service, productivity and teamwork (Buller, capital of Minnesota F. and Schuler, Randall S. , 2003) are needed to be pro moted. However employees are not advised as to how the criteria give be evaluated. The only evaluation employees receive is from their manager, there is no secondary layer of management to review the employee performance evaluation to fix fairness. Nordstrom does not have a formal company-wide evaluation form, indeed there is no consistency in the evaluation process.The evaluation technique is distinct for each manager, making it difficult to compare employee performance across the various functional areas in the company. Employees performing tasks not directly related to merchandise sale, are not compensated for hours worked. Observational check intoing was used to promote employees to work non-selling hours off the clock If one employee is donating a lot of period it forces others to do the same (Buller, capital of Minnesota F. and Schuler, Randall S. , 2003). Employees are forced to adhere to the informal organizational culture or they are not considered team players.Nord strom should pass on formal and consistent well-worn Operating Procedures, to which their employees can resort to for guidance. Managers should be required to attend training programs. This would enable managers to provide their employees with formal training base on the companys policies and procedures. Formal training on with on-the-job training would help to alleviate some of the obstacles faced by current or new employees who are promoted to new positions within the organization.Employees should be provided with handbooks and/or training materials that specifically reveallines how performance criteria allow be metric and evaluated. Managers and employees need to establish goals and ship canal to achieving them. They should meet on an on-going basis to question employee progress for each performance criteria. Nordstrom has used their decentralized management begin to build a very successful and profitable retail empire. They encourage entrepreneurial opportunities among t heir employees.New employees are given business cards and back up to build relationships with their customers, by creating personal thank you letters, and keeping records of merchandise they sell. They are as well encouraged to develop a solid customer base. Nordstrom pass on employees to be involved in the decision making process, by not restricting them with lots of rules, for instance Nordstrom replaced its 20-page rule book with a one-page stable gear and few words of wisdom Use your best judgment in all situations (Buller, Paul F. nd Schuler, Randall S. , 2003). This allows employees to do whatever it takes to ensure their customers are satisfied. Self-motivation courses are offered to two employees and managers with emphasis on setting daily accomplishments. Employees are allowed to set their take in personal goals and the pace at which they achieve those goals.For modeling one employee stated the first year I consciously set quarterly goals to achieve the Pacesetter re quirementand closely monitored my progress (Buller, Paul F. and Schuler, Randall S. 2003). Employees are given the flexibility to essentially manage themselves and course of action their own progress with one objective keep sales per hour exalted relative to hours worked. Employees are duly compensated for their substantial work and fealty Nordstrom employees earn some of the spiritedest salaries in the retail business (Buller, Paul F. and Schuler, Randall S. , 2003). They also encourage hard work by promoting from within which motivates employees to work hard as a promotion could lead to a higher lucre and other incentives.Nordstrom uses positive reinforcements by providing various incentives to employees to encourage them to achieve high SPH, for example free dinners, cash rewards and store discounts. Employees who achieve the highest sales are recognized by having their picture displayed in the store and also having their names broadcast over the stores loudspeaker system. Employees can track how they are performing in relation to their peers on a unfaltering basis, as SPH figures are displayed for all to see via charts and electronic print starts.The problem arose because Nordstrom did not have any formal company policies which are necessary in order to establish required behavior from individual employees. Employee expectations were not explicitly communicated and expectations were established by managers without employee involvement. Managers did not take the condemnation to find out what employees think of the proposed expectations (Harvard Business School Press, 2007). Their only focus was ensuring that Sales per Hour (SPH) remained high, employee development was not important to managers.Nordstroms hiring policy requires employees to be inherent Nordies. Nordies are nice, motivated, hardworking.. self-empowered people who have an entrepreneurial spirit (Buller, Paul F. and Schuler, Randall S. , 2003). Employees and managers never collaborat e to set individual goals, instead goals were set by departmental managers or store managers, but employees are still anticipate to achieve goals. Outstanding performance was expected from all employees even-though goals were not one by one tailored.Employees who regularly had trouble meeting sales quotas or coping with pressure to improve performance were dismissed (Buller, Paul F. and Schuler, Randall S. , 2003). Steep negative consequences were suffered by employees that did not perform up to par with their peers. Setting individual employee goals and ways to achieve them allow for yield the most desire result in the long term. By providing formal training to employees, and explicitly stating what is expected from the employee, will result in more productivity from employees in the long tryout and reduce the companys turn-over rate.This will also reduce the toll for hiring new employees, as replacing employees cost one and a half(a) times the current employee salary to hir e a new employee, therefore saving Nordstrom money in the long term. On-going review of employee progress will help to level the playing field and relieve some of the pressures and intimidation some employees feel working at Nordstrom. Formal training of employees is both costly and time consuming. The time spent training employees lowers SPH as this time would be considered non-selling hours.Employees who are successful under the current system big businessman resist changes. Employees might not have the educational capacity to learn new techniques. Employee training is the best option, and will yield the most desired long term results. Develop and roll out a company-wide Standard Operating Procedure handbook using input from outside sources in order to achieve desired results. Develop a company-wide evaluation form enabling standardization of the way employees are evaluated by managers.Roll out on-the-job training for all employees, ensuring that all employees understand how to perform their job functions. Provide employees with written job descriptions. Establish consistent company-wide goals. Goals can thusly be tailored for each department. Collaborate with each employee to establish how the goals will be achieved and the milestone dates for achieving those goals. Establish a specific time put in for reviewing employee goals. Offer employee feedback on an on-going basis.