The container store has poised itself as the best organization. The prominent values evident in any store of the company are great quality products aimed at customer satisfaction and the best motivated and empowered employees compared to any other retail workers, created by organizational cultures accumulated over the years in the organization. The culture is built on a hiring decision aimed at getting the best employees for the company to realize the objectives of the company as usually covered by magazines. This paper will analyze the concepts and cultures the company management relies on its hiring process decisions.
The company has adopted various concepts in the hiring process drawn from strategies used by the different managers of the company since its inception and are explained as follows. Management by a scientific approach is where employees are regarded as machines to the best functions of the company. It is amongst the earliest concepts used in the company in which employees were given definite instruction on their required performances in the company based on the objectives. It considered wage as an impertinent issue to job motivation.
The consideration of pyramid or hierarchy of employee needs. With the understanding that people are usually motivated by the needs, The Container store has defined a certain hierarchy of these needs into; physiological like food and shelter, safety by ensuring emotional security, social such as ethics, personal esteem and self-actualization categories. The general view is that people are motivated by unsatisfied needs. The company then capitalizes on these by providing the highest wage in their industry, in order to sate their employee needs and in the process motivate their employees.
Jobs in the organization are categorized to create issues that are often referred to as motivators. These are geared towards increasing the company’s productivity. The employees are motivated to work hard in order to get to a higher category of their jobs. The employees then major on customer satisfaction endeavor by putting themselves in the shoes of the customer. Job categorization includes job redesigning practices such as job enrichment where employees are added more responsibilities and duties within their niches or job rotation within different departments in the organization. The rotated employee will get a chance to interact with different kinds of duties and workers in the organization and get an insight of the sum total functionality of the company. The supervisors in different departments also get a chance to work with different kinds of individuals at their space of work. This is done with a view to not only stimulate interest in the job but also motivate decision making by employees in preparation for future management responsibilities.
The other concept at the Container store is management by objectives. In this concept, employees are coached and taken through a learning process where an emphasis is put on the achievement of a particular objective or goal of the company. Employees are hired with a particular objective in mind and are trained to develop skills requisite for the achievement of the objective. The Container store has over years developed norms and practices that have since formed its culture. The cultures have been utilized for various procedures and particular for this paper, the hiring process. Their basis for competent employees who are great is achieved by taking a reasonably long time in hiring their employees.
The company holds loyalty as a culture in that, most of the employees developed loyalty for the company when they were customers and now work for the company. These employees are committed and motivated in their job a fact that the company attributes to its unprecedented employee turnover rate of 15% – 25% in an industry whose turnover rate is rated at 90% – 100%. A culture of efficient and effective customer care, the company hires individuals who understand the needs of customers fully and care for them. The company places topmost importance on customer satisfaction thus the need for individuals who can adapt to that basic directive. The level of their customer satisfaction is analogized to “man in the desert” that a customer should not only be accorded their required service, but also other complimentary services. Even the feedback from the customers affirms on this culture of the company.
Equally, important culture is the embracement of proper values with emphasis on honesty, probity and an open communication within the organization which is achieved by the establishment of a family like working environment without any compromise for the employees. The reputation of all employees is respected and upheld and their work is acknowledged which motivates the employees to tap their capabilities and potential the best they can. The company in the end gains reputation since these values accumulates from every contribution of each employee.
Employees are also given the onus of thinking for themselves as they make their decisions without reprimand on mistakes which presents them with a relaxed environment for working. This empowerment practice motivates the employees to put their best innovative ideas at work without any fear that maybe the management may punish them for any mistakes in the process. The top-level management all through to team groups in supervisory roles value team building based op communication from above and within their respective groups. When employees in the company understand the values and objectives, there will work with regards to the achievement of the above goals and objectives.
The Container store regards good managers as those who integrate each of these formulas by tying the needs of the employees in tandem with their jobs for motivation. This humanistic approach by the store which incorporates empowerment, course training and education and open communication has put the Container store in a world-class status and made it be treasured by employees.