Question

Case Study- Henderson’s

Your interview for the position of store manager at Henderson’s is coming to an end. Henderson’s is a men’s clothing store with a 50-year history of offering affordable clothing and great customer service. Alan Henderson, who owns the store and conducted the interview, smiles as he offers the following suggestion: “I like you. You seem like you have integrity. I also like your background in retail sales and your understanding of customer service. See these ads all over my desk? Notice the tag line we use, ‘At Henderson’s, Everyone Helps!’ I want you to know that this is more than a slogan, it actually describes the culture of the store. I know it may sound corny, but this line tells our customers that we understand that we would not exist if not for them. All of us---salespeople, managers, and yes, even the owner---go out of our way for customers.” He pauses for a second and you see his eyes roll up and to the right as he remembers his days in the store. After taking a breath, he continues, “I haven’t been at Henderson’s for the past two years. I’m retired now and I have some trouble getting around.” You notice the walker across the room by the door. He continues, “I put my long-time accountant, who is semi-retired, in there to just keep an eye on things and take care of the bills, but I’m worried that he doesn’t understand the business and is out-of-touch with operations. He told me the other day that he wants to retire fully at the end of the month. Things are getting bad. Sales are down and I know they put on a show when I visit, but somehow, it just doesn’t feel like Henderson’s any more. So this is what I propose…” The owner explains to you that he would like you to spend your first day as a salesperson in the store. Your job on this special day is to observe, learn the basics of the business, and report your observations to him over dinner at the end of the day. On your second day of work, the owner plans to walk into the store with you by his side and announce your new role. He hands you a big legal pad and says, “Take good notes.” It is now the end of the day and you transferred your handwritten notes into the following document in order to organize your thoughts for your meeting with Mr. Henderson. Day One- Henderson’s Notes 9:15 AM- I was the second person to arrive and was greeted by Rachel at the register who punched me in. She grabbed four other employee cards and punched those in as well. 9:30- 9:45- The other four staff arrive. Rachel asks one of them to organize their breakfast order. I ask Rachel if she is one of the managers. She says, “No, but do as I say and you’ll be all right. I been here a long time and I’m tight with the owner. Also, just remember that I handle the register.” 9:55 AM- Everyone is standing around Rachel at the register eating their breakfast. Clothes are strewn all over the sales floor and people are gathering at the gate. The manager arrives and lets the first few customers in. Someone asks which items are on sale and the staff realizes they never posted the sale signs. A mad scramble begins. 10:45 AM- The manager asks to see me in his office in the back. He’s working on some kind of spreadsheet, but looks up and welcomes me. He tells me that he takes care of the bills and the salespeople manage themselves. He suggests that Rachel, in particular, would be helpful to me on my first day. The manager does not leave his office for the entire day. 11:30 AM- I noticed that the power chord for the video camera by the register is unplugged, so I plugged it back in. 12:30 PM- The store had a busy morning because of the sale and most customers were willing to search through the racks on their own for what they needed. Whenever someone needed help, the level of customer service delivered by the staff was consistently weak. 1:30 PM- I’m introduced to Rachel’s sister as she takes a garment to the register for purchase. I notice the video camera unplugged again. Rachel switches the price tags on her sister’s purchase, and whispers with a giggle, “Remember, At Henderson’s, We All Help… Ourselves!” They have a good laugh. 3:00 PM- I sit with the manager in the back of the store and he explains that sales have been down. He isn’t meeting his sales goals, but he doesn’t know what to do. Earlier in the year, he did achieve one of his monthly sales targets ($75,000), but overspent his monthly ad budget by $40,000 and incurred an extra $10,000 in overtime to do it. He has no experience with retail sales or managing people---he’s a numbers guy and the numbers aren’t good. I wondered if he knew I was the next manager, but didn’t ask him. Our meeting was interrupted as two of the salespeople argue about schedules. Rachel steps in and makes the decision

Part I- Primary Functions of Managers

Question #1- Ten Points- From the standpoint of planning, what observations do you have for the owner of the store?

Question #2- Ten Points- From the standpoint of organizing, what observations do you have for the owner of the store?

Question #3- Ten Points- From the standpoint of leading, what observations do you have for the owner of the store?

Question #4- Ten Points- From the standpoint of controlling, what observations do you have for the owner of the store?

Part Two- Culture

Question #5- Ten Points- Reflecting on the owner’s description of the culture he felt he’d created at the store, how would you classify it? (Adaptive, achievement-oriented, involvement-oriented, consistency-oriented). Please explain the reason for your classification.

Question #6- Ten Points- What steps might you take as the new manager to try and return the store to the culture described by the owner?

Part Three- Types of Management Skills & Performance

Question #7- Ten Points- Considering the three types of management skills (technical, human, and conceptual), which of these skill sets do you think you will depend on more as you begin to implement your changes and recommendations?

Question #8- Ten Points- When the current manager described the way that he achieved the sales goal in one particular month earlier that year, did you classify the performance of the store as being strong for that month? Was the strategy utilized to achieve that goal effective? Was it efficient?

Part Four- Overall Recommendations

Question #9- Twenty Points- What recommendations do you have for change as you begin your new position? What will you try to accomplish during your first month on the job?

Answer 1

1. The firm lacks organisational structure and planning. Henderson's had a lineage of 50 years thus there was a history and realistic background to assess where the business was heading and where the owner wanted it to be taken in the future. However Mr. Henderson's aging had resulted in him visting the store very less and thus a discipline of complacency was prevalent through out the organisation.

Proper assessment of present business scenario with respect to internal environment and the clothing industry itself needed to be analysed.

Proper flow of responsibilities and delegation of managerial power was to be revised and reset effectively.

Job responsibilities and work priorities needed to be defined to remove the state of confusion within the entire store.

Each employee right from counter staff to sales persons to guards to managers should be assigned goals and targets and their individual performance should be monitored.

Proper Accountability systems needed to be put in place to evaluate employee's progress on their pre defined parameters.

Evaluation, Review and Feedback system to be put in place.

2. Organising is a holistic process of planning and amalgamation of entire management functions. Henderson's was an age old organisation and needed to be revamped as it was still working on its olden processes of resorting to just one person for all troubles. There was no upgradation and continuous process of goal oriented co-ordination of all functions.

3. Henderson's lacked a leader and badly needed a authoritarian leader to put all processes into place and all functions into place.

4. No monitoring and control existed in the organisation and all employees functioned at their own will.