Compile a summary of learning from the The Tanglewood Casebook (cases 2,3,6, and 7)
Must be at least 2.5 – 3 page double spaced pages of comments.
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TANGLEWOOD
CASEBOOK
for use with
STAFFING ORGANIZATIONS
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7th Ed.
Kammeyer-Mueller
TANGLEWOOD CASEBOOK
To accompany Staffing Organizations, seventh edition, 2012.
Prepared by John Kammeyer-Mueller
Warrington College of Business
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Telephone: 352-392-0108
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright ©2012
Mendota House, Inc.
Herbert G. Heneman III
President
Telephone: 608-233-4417
E-mail: [email protected]
INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE CONCEPT
Rationale for the Tanglewood Case
Many of the most important lessons in business education involve learning how to place academic concepts in a work setting. For applied topics, like staffing, learning how concepts are applied in the world of work also allow us see how the course is relevant to our own lives. The use of these cases will serve as a bridge between the major themes in the textbook Staffing Organizations and the problems faced by managers on a daily basis.
The Tanglewood case is closely intertwined with textbook concepts. Most assignments in the case require reference to specific tables and examples in the book. After completing these cases, you will be much more able to understand and apply the material in the textbook.
With this in mind, it should be noted that the cases are designed to correspond with the types of information found in work environments. This means that for many important decisions, the right answers will not always be easy to detect, there will be more than one correct solution, and often the very information that would make decisions easy is missing. Remember that ambiguity in any case corresponds to reality; although it may be frustrating at first, you should remember that business problems are themselves often confusing and require important judgment calls that don’t have any single “right” answer.
Successful Case Performance
Successful case performance involves several key concepts. Each case should be prepared in the form of a report to be given to the top management team at Tanglewood department stores. The following guidelines for successful case performance are useful for checking your work:
1. Is the report easy to read?
a. Correct grammatical errors and eliminate confusing sentences.
b. Break the text into subheadings so it is easy for the reader to find relevant information.
c. Explain your statistics in a way that an intelligent reader who is not familiar with them could understand what is being reported.
d. Present tables cleanly with relevant data highlighted for the reader and with minimal extraneous information.
e. Explain why you chose to use information and data in the way that you did.
2. Are your final recommendations and answers sensible?
a. The final recommendations should be presented in a clear, succinct manner.
b. The recommendations should be feasible and directly related to the information provided to the information provided in the case.
c. Recommendation should take potential problems into account.
CASE ONE: TANGLEWOOD STORES AND STAFFING STRATEGY
Case one principles:
1. You will first assess the current operating environment for Tanglewood in terms of it competitors, structure, employees, culture, values, and human resources function.
2. Then you will then develop recommendations for how the organization should staff its operations, focusing on strategic decisions pertaining to staffing levels and quality.
Section Objectives
The goal of this section is to help you learn more about the basic environmental concerns the Tanglewood Department Store chain is facing. This information will help you to understand how competition, strategy, and culture jointly inform the effective development of a selection plan.
Organization Overview and Mission
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. The company’s mission statement is:
Tanglewood will be the best department store for customers seeking quality, durability, and value for all aspects of their active 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.
Tanglewood was originally founded in 1975 by best friends Tanner Emerson and Thurston Wood. The initial concept was a single store in Spokane Washington, named TannerWood, which sold a combination of outdoor clothing and equipment that the pair had designed themselves. The employee handbook notes that, “Tanner and Thurston financed their early store plans with credit cards and personal loans from friends and family. They had so little money that they slept in sleeping bags in the back room and put every penny they made back into the stores.” The first store’s unique merchandise offering and personable sales staff made them successful quite rapidly, allowing Emerson and Wood to move out of the back room and add several more stores during the late 1970’s. The merchandise offerings expanded over time to incorporate more conventional retail items, while still retaining the elegant, yet outdoors look for the stores overall.
Emerson and Wood eventually decided to rename their store chain Tanglewood in 1984. Much more rapid growth began around this time. As Emerson put it, “we worried for a long time that expanding would compromise our vision of a small, personable shopping experience. We had always wanted to run the type of store that we would love to work and shop at. Around 1984, after we had 10 stores, we realized we had developed a fairly successful blueprint for running stores with a strong base of employee participation, customer satisfaction, and profitability. So we decided to spread out to cover the northwest.”
During the 1990’s the expansion strategy really took root. Most of the expansion occurred by purchasing other existing stores rather than building new stores. Emerson and Wood had been heavily involved in the management of the stores, but found that increasingly the corporate administration was a more pressing concern. The company arrived at a regional structure for its operations. Emerson and Wood took on the positions of CEO and President of the company, respectively, while a team of regional managers more directly oversee day to day operations. The company currently 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.
Prior to any further expansion, however, the company needs to consolidate its current management strategy. The process of growth has been very quick in the last 5 years, and has involved buyouts of several smaller chains of department stores. While all the stores under the Tanglewood name have the same basic look, the management styles and human resource (HR) practices still reflect the historical differences between stores. Wood noted in a recent interview with Business Monthly, “Tanglewood really needs to slow down and take a hard look at our corporate culture. Right now, we need to consolidate and make sure we’re as close to the company’s original mission as we can be. Our success is due entirely to our strong culture—this is something we need to hold on to.” These concerns have lead Tanglewood to bring in external human resources consultants like you to help centralize the organization’s practices.
Another major concern for Tanglewood has been the westward expansion of companies like Kohl’s and Target. The possibility of more direct competition has lead Tanglewood to critically examine their HR policies and practices. For staffing, in particular, the organization feels there absolutely must be a workforce of committed, qualified individuals who will help carry the Tanglewood philosophy into the future.
Competition and Industry
The Tanglewood Department Store chain operates in the nondurable general retail industry, which fits into industry 45211 as classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). This industry engages in the sale of consumer goods including clothing, small appliances, electronics, and other housewares. The retail industry accounts for over $4 trillion in annual sales. Recent estimates indicate that the retail industry employs approximately 15 million people.
A comparison of several top retail stores is presented below. The operating revenues indicate total sales for these organizations, and the compound growth rate tracks changes in the sales for each retail chain. The financials show that Tanglewood is a moderately sized organization with strong growth potential.
Operating Revenues (in millions) Revenue Growth
(1 yr) Employment (in 1,000s) Employment Growth
