Assignment 3

Imagine that you are the HR manager for a retail store. Your store sells clothing, shoes, handbags, linens, etc. The company recently had its worst quarter, and you want to improve employee performance through sales of the merchandise and through offering excellent customer service. The employees are less motivated; due to the recent negative media attention the company has been getting about its earnings. You want to implement a new performance management system, modify the employees’ current behavior, and link compensation directly to performance. Currently I work for a paramount retail department-store company, which I work as an HR manager. We sell high-end clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, watches, linens, etc. Due to harsh winter weather hampered sales that cause the company to report the worst fourth-quarter earnings in recent years. Upper management has made belt-tightening effort to avoid the closing of some stores but will be forced to eliminate over 1,500 jobs in the coming year. The job reductions and other actions will save about $20 million, starting this year. Based on this information the HR managers at each store was advised to take immediate action to develop an new performance management system which will modify the employee’s current behavior due to negative media attention of the company and to link compensation directly to performance. As the HR
 manager of the New York store, my immediate goal is to improve employee performance through sales of the merchandise and through offering excellent customer service. After researching other highly successful retail chains—such as Trader Joe’s supermarket and Costco wholesale clubs—records shows that each store invest heavily in their employees and is still able to offer the lowest prices in their industries, solid financial performance, and better customer service than their competitors. These chains have proven that the key to breaking the trade-off is a combination of investment in the