Organizational Analysis: Nordstrom Inc - Essay Example

? Organizational Analysis: Nordstrom Inc. Organizational analysis: Nordstrom 0. of the organization, whatit does, the customers it serves and its size 1.1.1. Description of Nordstrom Inc. Nordstrom Inc. Company was established in Seattle in 1901 by Wallin & Nordstrom as a shoe store. Despite not being in business previously, Nordstrom focused on the provision of exceptional service quality, assortment and value (finance.yahoo.com, 2013). By 1960, Nordstrom Company was the largest shoe store in United States and had branches in eight locations in Oregon and Washington. The company’s growth focus spread to women’s, men’s and children’s wear with time. According to finance.yahoo.com (2013), Nordstrom is today a leader in fashion and with specialized retailer service for shoes, apparel, accessories and cosmetics for women, children and men. Nordstrom operations are carried out in two segments namely Retail and credit. The retail segment is known for services in brand selection and commodities of private label. Conversely, the credit segment operates the organization’s federal savings bank which offers a credit card of the private label form, two Nordstrom credit cards of Visa form, and a debit card (Reuters, 2013). 1.1.2. What Nordstrom Inc. does Nordstrom is well established as a leading high-end attire trade corporation whose revenue is derived from the trade of premium quality shoes, clothing, accessories and cosmetics (Laughlin et al., 2006). Through these numerous retail channels, Nordstrom offers to its client-base a variety of private label commodities and trademark names whose main attention is inclined towards shoes, accessories, cosmetics and apparel (Reuters, 2013). 1.1.3. The customers it serves Nordstrom serves men, children and women of all ages, races and ethnic group, who have interest in fashionable shoes, accessories, cosmetics and apparel that comes with a unique taste for all (Laughlin et al., 2006). These customers are served through Nordstrom credit segment, an online sector and numerous boutiques. In the apparel industry, Nordstrom has a well established market niche mostly credited to the company’s excellent customer service with unparalleled reputation (Reuters, 2013). Customers are also served through a loyalty program that is based on shopping and that features Nordstrom credit and debit cards. A fashion reward program is also offered to Nordstrom card holders where points are accumulated depending on the amount of spending for 2,000 points, a twenty thousand dollars reward is issued to the customer in form of Nordstrom notes redeemable from Nordstrom stores or online (Reuters, 2013). 1.1.4. Size Finance.yahoo.com (2013) reveals that Nordstrom has a total of 61,000 full time employees led by various executives, officers and a board of members. Incorporated in 1946, Nordstrom is today a specialty retail leader owning about 245 stores in 31 of American States and is still in the process of expanding to other states and internationally (finance.yahoo.com, 2013). The company’s retail sector also has 124 Nordstrom Rack Stores and 117 recognized packed line stores. 2.0. Nordstrom mission and the role of HR in fostering the mission statement 2.0.1. Nordstrom mission statement While operating through the Nordstrom retail stores, upscale shoppers are attracted and provided with nothing less than quality customer service and stylish experience (Team2misnordstrom, 2012). Nordstrom Rack appeals to bargain-conscious customers serving through discount stores. The operation of Nordstrom is in line with its mission of providing unique services daily and ensuring customers are served satisfactorily. Nordstrom also operates under informed decision making to best meet the interests of the customers and the interests of employees by embracing the richness of its workforce diversity (Team2misnordstrom, 2012). 2.0.2. HR’s role in fostering Nordstrom’s mission statement Human resource managers have the responsibility of building the overall image and reputation of Nordstrom through understanding the customers’ needs and perceptions effectively. Nordstrom serves numerous customers of all ages, gender, race, education background and others (Caplinger, 2013). The Hr first ensures that the needs and perceptions of all classes of customers are well identified in order to understand who their customers are and satisfactorily serving them while engaging in continued research. Continued research ensures that there is continued reasonable improvement in customer products and services a technique that have made Nordstrom to set itself apart from competitors like Amazon (Caplinger, 2013). Investing in research has contributed to Nordstrom’s ability to remain in touch with pinnacle trends like the Yoga apparel which is attributed the increasing popularity of Yoga worldwide. After identifying its customers’ perceptions and needs, Hr at Nordstrom has embraced diversity in its workforce. Nordstrom Hr has overseen the hiring of employees from numerous races and ethnic groups such that the customer base is satisfactorily served. The company ensures that value is created through maximization of abilities in its workers to guarantee higher quality services and products. According to money.cnn.com (2013), Nordstrom was ranked position 61 among the best top 100 companies to work in 2012 up from position 74 in 2011. This clearly indicates that apart from concentrating on customer’s needs, Nordstrom HR is effective in perfect customer services and high employee performance. For the right talent, Nordstrom HR offers market competitive benefits and compensation and offers reward for highly performing employees. Cherian (2009) reveals that employee motivation at Nordstrom is extrinsic such that sales are based on commission and working has flexible schedules to suit the clients’ needs (Cherian, 2009). In addition, the HR at Nordstrom has focused on financial incentives to motivate employees while the customer focus is in the development of relationships that are long termed. Another program of developing employees is through announcing the performance of sales representatives internally which has resulted to increased competition (Cherian, 2009). 3.0. Common HR challenges at Nordstrom and the best strategy to overcome them 3.0.1. Common Hr Challenges at Nordstrom Since employee motivation at Nordstrom is founded on a commission structure of sales made per hour, the Human resource team has to ensure that there is a reliable financial incentive program to have the employees remain motivated, compete among themselves and focus on more sales (Cherian, 2009). Since most of the sales representatives’ work on contract basis, retention is hard especially when sales representatives do not meet the set sales benchmarks and have to be dismissed (Nordstrom, Mathis & Jackson, 2010). These means that sales representatives leaving the organization have to be replaced with new employees who have to be trained and so much money and time spent in their orientation to the company. For a large company like Nordstrom, Mathis and Jackson (2010) reveal that HR team is faced with internet usage or external transfer of files challenge. In the face of increasing insider issues and the large number of electronic message getting out of and into Nordstrom, the development, implementation and enforcement of a data security policy is a major challenge. In addition, for a company like Nordstrom where diversity requires inclusion of women, ethnic and racial minorities, sexual minorities and disabled persons among others, the Hr has to ensure that the team of employees formed is not discriminative (Mathis and Jackson, 2010). The team of employees has also to constitute of persons skilled for the job, and who have the personality, motivation and attitude to offer the superior quality services needed by the company’s clients (Williams, 2011). 3.0.1. Best Hr Strategy to overcome Nordstrom Hr Challenges During recruitment, Hr at Nordstrom should focus on using internet recruitment methods like emails, website and internet advertising campaign as these methods not only attracts potential participants but also reach numerous participants located in numerous geographical locations (Williams, 2011). Through internet based recruitment methods and setting out benchmarks through IQ assessment tests, Nordstrom will manage to get hold of the best potential employees while ensuring that recruitment is fair (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). With the best employees, Nordstrom can have their names and collected resumes stored in a database which can then be referred to in case of filling other vacancies left in the organization in future. The HR must also ensure that there is an existing security policy that balances the privacy of new and existing employees with the risk management for the company. The security policy must be clearly communicated to the new and existing employees, such that they understand why it is needed and that it is being fairly applied to all (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). The Hr must also ensure that the roles of each employee are clear and that they offer growth opportunity by their challenging nature and constant skills updating requirement. According to Taylor and Stern (2009), Nordstrom which focuses on customer service can also diverge into employees’ retention as a way of building longer terms relationships and ensuring that the customer base is strong. 4.0. Recommendation for Making Nordstrom more competitive Through online recruitment methods, Nordstrom will be bound to receive applications from numerous participants most of whom could not have been reached using the traditional methods like newspaper advertisement. Through online IQ assessment tests, the company will manage to fairly eliminate applicants who do not satisfactorily meet the company’s requirement. With the remaining participants, the company can choose other assessment methods like panel interviews, in order to obtain the best cream for the job (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). Since internet based methods will get to people of numerous geographical locations, race and ethnic groups, gender and ages, the company will manage to obtain the best in each category who subject to interviews, will be employed. This way, the company will only have the best of personnel in terms of skills and qualifications and other attributes and in the interest of the organization. The company will also have a database with the resumes of other potential recruits who can be turned to when needed to fill a vacancy within the organization and this reduces time and expenses incurred in recruiting other employees afresh. Through informing all employees of an existing data security policy, Nordstrom will ensure that employees found with violations are effectively dealt with and that organizational data remains confidential and well protected from malicious persons. Without any reports of customer information privacy violation, the confidence of customers will be retained and the customer base will remain strong ensuring that the company remains profitable. Through their retained sales representatives, Nordstrom company will experience the development of long term relationships with its clients thereby contributing to the company’s reputation, branding and profitability. References Caplinger, D. (2013). Has Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) become the perfect stock? Retrieved from http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/has-nordstrom-inc-jwn-become-the-perfect-stock-45075/2/ Cherian, A. R. (2009). The business of life: Nordstrom and SAS institute compensation structures and motivation. Retrieved from http://archerian.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/nordstrom-and-sas-institute-compensation-structures-and-motivation/ Finance.yahoo.com, (2013). Nordstrom Inc. JWN. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=JWN Laughlin, C., Hix, A., Lee, K., Florez, K., Holley, Z. and Kratzer, S. (2006). Nordstrom, Inc. Equity Valuation and analysis. Retrieved from http://mmoore.ba.ttu.edu/ValuationReports/Fall2006/Nordstrom-Fall2006.pdf Mathis, R. and Jackson, J. (2010). Human resource management. United States of America: Cengage Learning. Money.cnn.com, (2013). 100 best companies to work for. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/2012/snapshots/61.html Reuters (2013). Nordstrom Inc (JWN). Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=JWN Taylor, J. and Stern, G. (2009). An insider’s Guide to finding and keeping the best people. New York: AMACOM. Team2misnordstrom (2013). Nordstrom. Retrieved from http://team2misnordstrom.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-does-information-technology-system.html Williams, C. (2011). Effective management: a multimedia approach. United states of America: Cengage Learning. Read More