Question

Shop Til you drop: Corporate in the real world

To understand more about corporate culture, visit two retail stores and compare them according to various factors. Go to one discount or low-end store such as Kmart, or Walmart, and to one high-end store, such as Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom. Do not interview any employees, but instead be an observer or a shopper. After your visits, fill out the following table for each store. Spend at least two hours in each store on a busy day and be very observant.

Culture Item	Discount Store	High-End Department Store
1. Mission of store: What is it? and is it clear to employees?
2. Individual initiative: Is it encouraged? If so, provide an example.
3. Reward system: What are employees rewarded for?
4. Teamwork: Do people within one department or across departments work together or talk with each other? If so, provide an example.
5. Company loyalty: Is there evidence of loyalty or of enthusiasm to be working there? If so, provide an example.
6. Dress: Are there uniforms? Is there a dress code? How strong is it? How do you rate employees' personal appearance in general?
7. Diversity or commonality of employees: is there diversity or commonality in age, education, race, personality, and so on? If so, provide an example.
8. Service orientation: Is the customer valued or tolerated?Provide an example to support your statement.
9. Human resource development: Is there opportunity for growth and advancement? If so, provide an example.

Answer 1

Culture Item	Discount Store	High-End Department Store
1. Mission of store: What is it? and is it clear to employees?	To maximize number of purchases. The business runs on volumes which is reflected in the company culture and customer handling policies.	To maximize customer satisfaction. The business is more oriented towards customer experience which comes at a premium on the price tag.
2. Individual initiative: Is it encouraged? If so, provide an example.	Operational policies seem to be rigid and the volume of work per employee seems to be greater which would discourage Individual Initiative. Employees might not be incentivized to come up with their initiatives as compared to High end stores. Example: Stacking shelf is more important to employee than addressing customers.	Operational polices can be tailored according to the store location and demography. Since customer feedback is more important it would need staff to be observant and be more encouraging to individual initiative as compared to discount stores. Example: Employee would be willing to engage with customers over usual work.
3. Reward system: What are employees rewarded for?	Employees seem to be rewarded for completing their tasks effectively and quickly without any lag or loss.	Apart from their work, Customer engagement and feedback are an important part of the reward system.
4. Teamwork: Do people within one department or across departments work together or talk with each other? If so, provide an example.	Conversation between departments seem to be done on need only basis for operational reasons. Example Help needed to Move inventory and replenish stock	Conversation can happen more often as compared to discount stores as required by customer. Example: Staff might connect with other departments to check for a customer query for a type of product.
5. Company loyalty: Is there evidence of loyalty or of enthusiasm to be working there? If so, provide an example.	Loyalty Not evident.	As compared to discount stores the employees seemed to be happier and it would be logical to assume that they might be more loyal to company as compared to discount stores
6. Dress: Are there uniforms? Is there a dress code? How strong is it? How do you rate employees' personal appearance in general?	Yes. Uniforms looked mandatory. Employees could have been more crisp. General appearance was average.	The is a dress code. Employees are better dressed and crisp as compared to Discount stores
7. Diversity or commonality of employees: is there diversity or commonality in age, education, race, personality, and so on? If so, provide an example.	Less diverse as compared to high end store	Seemed to have more diversity depending on the type of customers that visit the store.
8. Service orientation: Is the customer valued or tolerated?Provide an example to support your statement.	Focused more on selling products by volume. Service orientation lesser than High end stores.	More service oriented than discount store. Example: Employees are incentivized to make sure that customers at their section are engaged and satisfied.
9. Human resource development: Is there opportunity for growth and advancement? If so, provide an example.	Much Lesser as compared to High end stores. Hierarchy and wage structure seemed to be flatter at discount store.	More involvement of HR, observed things like an employee of the month tracker for departments which suggest that opportunity to grow would be present based on individual work.