Tanglewood Case Study

Table 1.1 Markow Analysis Information

Transition probability matrix

Job Category -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 Exit

(1) Store associate 0.53 0.06 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.41

(2) Shift leader 0.00 0.50 0.16 0.00 0.00 0.34

(3) Dept. manager 0.00 0.00 0.58 0.12 0.00 0.30

(4) Asst. store manager 0.00 0.00 0.06 0.46 0.08 0.40

(5) Store manager 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.66 0.34

Forecast of availabilities

Job Category Current -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 Exit

(1) Store associate 8,500 4,505 510 0 0 0 3485

(2) Shift leader 1,200 0 600 192 0 0 408

(3) Dept. manager 850 0 0 493 102 0 255

(4) Asst. store manager 150 0 0 9 69 12 60

(5) Store manager 50 0 0 0 0 33 17

10,750 4,505 1,110 685 (9) 171 45 4,225

Gap Analysis

Next year (projected)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Year end total 4,505 1,110 685 (9) 171 45

(column sum)

External hires needed 3,995 90 165 (9) -21 5

(current workforce-total)

The data from the completed charts above is showing that Tanglewood may be having a hard time recruiting and hiring enough sales associates. They will need to continually be hiring entry level store associates to try to keep up with the continuous demand since it seems like many employees at this level do not remain with the company long term. It also appears that approximately 40% of the assistant store managers (level 4) and approximately a third of the store managers (level 5) decide to leave the company, as well.

Environmental Scan

Based on the environmental scan for the state of Washington, staffing for the amount of managerial employees needed is quite complex and Tanglewood may have problems filling their vacancies in the future. It appears that the environment is able to supply the necessary skilled and qualified people for the managerial level positions; however, Tanglewood promotes internally for all levels, including managerial positions. They will need to continually hire enough store associate talent to ensure that as the employee works their way up the corporate ladder there will not be a lot of vacant positions.

Preliminary Action Plan

With keeping Tanglewood’s policy of promoting internally, the following projection of employees are required in order for Tanglewood to have the exceptional workforce quality it currently has, and continues to strive for. In order to fulfil the current hiring needs, we propose the following number of associates:

• 3,995 sales associates

• 90 team leads

• 165 department managers

• 21 employee reduction of assistant managers

• 5 store managers

Tanglewood would like to attempt to dispel some of the negative perceptions seen in the retail environment by providing higher wages, store discounts, and more flexible work shifts. Tanglewood also wants to improve job satisfaction by providing employees with task variety, allowing associates to work in different departments, having contests between store departments, and having parties to celebrate everyone’s hard work by honoring the winning team. Tanglewood’s comment system will also be stressed to show that although store associates are the lowest level position within the company, these are the people that are one of the company’s biggest and best assets and their comments and suggestions are greatly and truly encouraged. We must keep in mind that the sales associates are often the face of the company because they interact with the customers on a daily basis. We must show them how important they are to Tanglewood and the continued growth of the company.

It may be easier for Tanglewood to focus their efforts at recruiting high school students for the store associate position since each store requires such a large number of store associates and Tanglewood does want all of the associates to have a desire to move up into managerial positions. High school students may be the perfect match for this position because these candidates may just be looking for a part-time job in order to make some extra cash and gain some work experience. They may not want to have all the responsibility of being in a managerial position