Tanglewood Case Study

Environmental Scan

Tanglewood has a very complex environment with both external and internal forces working for and against the company at the same time. The data in table 1.1 shows that Tanglewood will lose 53% of its workforce this year due to retention issue that will require a large pool of entry level store associates to be hired. Shift leaders will also see a reduction of 50% requiring the promotions of 600 new shift leaders from current sales associates.

The culture of promoting from within creates strong work ethics among those employees wishing to attain more responsibility within Tanglewood. Urban areas may offer the level of sales associates required within the next year, and by offering higher than average pay may create a higher level of satisfaction to retain employees. Action Plan for Hiring in Spokane,
Washington

Staffing levels for the next year will follow the historic trends of recent years. Tanglewood current workforce consists of 10, 750 employees across 50 stores in the state of Washington. Tanglewood will require 3,995 store associates, 90 shift leaders, 156 department managers, -21 assistant store managers, and 5 store managers. Sales associates are the face of the company to the customer and special provisions need to be taken to insure that the employee knows that their hard work is integral to Tanglewood’s success. The more successful employees will be promoted to shift leaders. The goal is to increase job satisfaction, with a variety of cross training and incentives to help retain talented associates. Entry level positions may require incentives to attract the large candidate pool needed to fill such a large gap. The internal practice of promoting from within Tanglewood offers the potential to advance within, but only after spending several years acclimating to Tanglewood’s culture and store environment. Incentives such as higher starting pay will attract more applicants especially high school students looking for cash to spend.

High school students not wanting to attend college may find the culture of internal promotion welcoming as a chance to grow with the company. College graduates may find entry level jobs to lack the level of pay, odd-hours, and conflict with lower-level employees. Currently there is a surplus of 21 Assistant store managers and only 5 Store manager positions opening in the next year. The remaining 17 have the potential to be related to other regions that may need qualified store managers, though these assistant may lack the skills or knowledge to move ahead. Promotion from within is a key tenant that makes Tanglewood’s culture terrific and it should be utilized to retain talent. Externally recruiting should be done to recruit through job fairs, kiosks, and employment web sites. Demographic data for the labor market

The percentages of demographic data show that improvements need to be made across each category of jobs at Tanglewood. The available workforce table shows that both women and minorities are lacking in management positions. The pattern of hiring seems to suggest that given the available workforce not enough women are being hired as store associates and minorities make up
a very small percentage of the management positions.

Affirmative Action Plan

Tanglewood should engage in specific strategies to change their recruiting and promotion practices. The lack of minorities as shift leaders is not a direct result of not trying to fill these positions, but rather the lack of diversity within the available workforce. Incumbency levels for women and minorities are slightly off from the incumbency percentages. Women see the largest gap in store associate, shift leaders, and department managers. Incumbency levels are nearly 10% in each job category when compared to female availability in the region.

Minorities make up the smallest percentage of the workforce at Tanglewood in the Washington area. The availability is the key factor in the lack of diversity for minorities in Washington. Even with specific actions to recruit more women and minorities meeting these goals will not be attainable within a year. Specifically targeting a specific demographic group could be consider discrimination to others with that in mind the plan of action must be unspecific in scope.

The benefits of including more women and minorities within management areas are possibly new ideas and management styles that would benefit Tanglewood. Internal promotion takes time especially when trying to close the demographic gaps in hiring, but the socialization caused by the internal promotion only reinforces Tanglewood’s strong culture. The downside to not hiring externally for meeting demographic gaps in managerial positions is the time required to reach these goals. The specific targeting of demographic groups could also result in EEO complains of discrimination by non-minority groups. A slow steady approach is recommended to rectify demographics gaps to assure no EEO complaints are filed and to keep the overall effectiveness of Tanglewood’s culture. Memorandum for demographic gaps at Tanglewood stores

Tanglewood has strived to create an environment of hard work, excellence, and a cultural of teamwork among its stores. This culture has made

Tanglewood very successful, but there is always ways to improve. Tanglewood stores lack the diversity that could benefit the organization as a whole. Demographic data at Tanglewood stores shows that incumbency levels fall short of availability level. Each store should strive to be more diverse to foster a more diverse workforce to lead Tanglewood into the future.

These gaps in representation at Tanglewood stores should be addressed by adding additional efforts to recruit in demographics areas that are lacking. Special effort should be used to target the specific demographics Tanglewood needs for its diversity, additional recruiting and job fairs held in demographic regions with the most of the specific targets needed. These job fairs, media publications, and advertising should seek to recruit along with regular recruiting practices. This additional effort should not be considered when hiring candidates. The goal is merely to attract qualified individuals within demographic gaps. No special consideration should be given based on an individual’s race or sex as that would be in direct violation of civil rights law.