Motivation without reward in Retail?

Post date: Aug 5, 2012 8:38:20 PM

How does a typical retail organization develop their management team?

What is the desired leadership style created within a particular location?

A recent 1 on 1 interview with an experienced retail manager created a question in my mind. I asked myself, since the management cannot increase the pay for their employees, how can they motivate them? I pondered this deeply, looking for a solution which used current organizational practices, innovative approaches which were authorized by the corporation and finally, unorthodox approaches.

In my study, the retail store is a stand alone issue. Within the business there is a sales floor, custom order shop, customer service, and warehouse/stock room. The company wants all areas to work with one another and assist the entire team as one unit. Unfortunately, this does not occur often, regularly, or even on occasion.

A typical day's workflow is:

The Stock Room team enters store early, begins to set aisles and displays, while restocking shelves. Each week there is a specific number of displays which need to be completed, due to holiday and seasonal merchandise.

The stock room team rarely completes these tasks completely, due to either hours or time management. The work load is not in excess to the team's capabilities.

The Sales Floor team is tasked with day to day customer support and product knowledge. Due to the left work, the team completes unfinished tasks from the stock room team.

A usual frustration is with the decreased budget hours for a sales floor and the increased work load outside of their expected duties and the organization's expected work flow. The sales floor team is subject to a conflict with work management, which creates a lower quality of morale.

The end result is a lower quality of service and reduced quality of secondary work on the left over projects.

The pay level for these employees is no higher than minimum wage in most instances.

The Management team expects that each team will work together without complaint as the team is the 'Store Team'. Due to the inefficiency of the stock room team, the morale question is, "what team". The combined workload creates a segregation of efforts, as well as, a negative workplace environment.

Management does not approach the issues in the same manner, there is a lot of miscommunication and misinformation.

This lack of coordinated communication creates interpersonal conflict among the management team. Although there is regulations to help support the development of each process, those established contingencies lay to the side of personal approach techniques.

Suggested Solutions:

In an effort to create a unified structure, healthy workplace environment, and reestablish a better profit from this location; I believe the following needs to occur.

Management needs to:

1) Adhere to the corporate regulations for process control.

2) Collaborate on the store development approach and define the steps to utilize to stick with it.

3) Create a centralized decision making environment, while allowing the autonomy of the separate teams.

4) Develop a performance improvement plan, which will help the stock room team better utilize their time and become more efficient.

5) Foster a healthy work environment by promoting collaboration among team members.

6) Identify, deter, and counsel negative feedback which is not constructive or is not necessary.

7) Stand as leaders and create simple to follow work flow, which is coherent.

8) Establish goals for teams, as well as, developing autonomy, mastery, and purpose for the teams and team members.

Summary:

This is merely a thought process which has occurred for a single retail location in a much larger company. The location is not performing to the standards of an average retail store, nor is there effective leadership due to a split management team. The issues created over the past 12 months have significantly impacted store morale and the team dynamic. To overcome this, measures must be enacted. One of the most important measures is the acceptance of the problems and that everyone is to blame. I recommend a Conflict and Negotiation seminar, along with behavioral assessments for the management team, with the training to explain their purpose and usefulness.

Gerald "Jerry" Kaiser

Bachelor of Science: Workforce Education and Development - HR Development (2012)

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