Tanglewood Department Store Case Study

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will fit the culture for the Tanglewood philosophy (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 29).

8. Overstaff or Understaff

Since the employees at Tanglewood stores “are encouraged to make suggestions regarding operations,” they need to reduce the amount of employees they currently staff. This can be done by distributing some of the responsibilities to other employees and management. This will decrease payroll and operational costs. Tanglewood should not decrease staff in a way that will cause them to be understaffed and rely on flexible staffing, but give particular employees more responsibility. This will also give current employees more opportunity for training and promotion to higher level positions.

9. Short- or Long-Term Focus

For Tanglewood to improve staffing they need to focus on a short-term changes of their current human resources. This would include changing “the role of corporate HR,” because “the corporate staffing function has not been strong” (Kammeyer-Mueller 10). These changes will improve staffing, so human resources can help by “developing talent for the long term” (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 30). Having a long term focus for staffing can “put in place talent management programs,” which means Tanglewood will be ready for any skills needed in the future (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 30).

Staffing Quality

1. Person/Job or Person/Organization Match

Person/job match shows how “the job has a certain requirements and rewards associated with it” (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 16). The person/job match shows “there is a need for a dual match to occur: job requirements to KSAOs, and job rewards to individual motivation” (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 16). This staffing option is not recommended for Tanglewood, because there is no focus on the person being matched with the organization. Below is a model of the person/organization match and an explanation of how it works (see exhibit 1.4).

Exhibit 1.4 Person/Organization Match

Source: Heneman III, Herbert G., Timothy A. Judge, John Kammeyer-Mueller. Staffing Organizations. 8th. Mishawaka: Pangloss Industries, Inc., 2015. Print. Exhibit 1.4.

In the above exhibit the job is the center with “four other matching concerns involving the broader organization also arise in staffing: organizational values, new job duties, multiple jobs, and future jobs” (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 18, 19). Organizational values are the “desirable attitudes and behaviors” that an employee will need to have in order to fit with the organization (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 19). New job duties includes the extra tasks that may be assigned to a specific position (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 19). Tanglewood needs employees who are flexible and capable in doing multiple jobs (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 19). Potential employees who look to become promoted or move up the corporate ladder will need to match with the future job category. Tanglewood needs to focus on the person/organization match, because “all employees share all tasks” and “voice their suggestions for in-store improvements” (Kammeyer-Mueller 9). Overall, “one of the main portals through promotion and advancement” is from employees suggestions, then this is another reason why the person should be matched to the organization (Kammeyer-Mueller 9).

2. Specific or General KSAOs

KSAO stands for “knowledge, skill, ability, and other characteristics needed to perform the job effectively” (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 10). Specific KSAOs are geared more towards “job-specific competencies, often of the job knowledge and technical skill variety” (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 31). General KSAOs are geared towards “KSAOs that will be applicable across a variety of jobs, both current and future” (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 31). Tanglewood needs to acquire those who can have skills that will be beneficial for the organization on a variety of different job levels, so they will be a better fit for Tanglewoods culture. Finding employees who can easily adapt will save time and money.

3. Exceptional or Acceptable Workforce Quality

Tanglewood needs to have an exceptional workforce that way they can have the “best and the brightest” employees, because they will outperform an acceptable workforce (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 31). The use of an acceptable workforce would consists of accepting a “less high-powered workforce and probably less expensive,” which is not recommended since Tanglewood needs decision makers who can grow and adhere to the Tanglewood culture and philosophy (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 31).

4. Active or Passive Diversity

Tanglewood needs to have an active workforce and not so much to where “its own workforce mirrors it,” but enough to where Tanglewood can have a workforce that understands the needs depending on the geographical location (Heneman III, Judge, Kammeyer-Mueller 31). An active workforce will save time, money, bring a wide variety of suggestions, and ideas to the organization. A passive diversity could create issues in future, because the world in which we live is changing every day.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

Overall, Tanglewood wants to centralize human resource and expand in the northwest and the organizations needs to make some key changes. This will include retaining current employees, hiring internally, and acquiring new employees when needed. Tanglewood should avoid outsourcing and keep an exceptional core workforce that can perform a variety of job functions. After strengthening corporate functions Tanglewood will become more competitive with a strong workforce that will continue to “carry the Tanglewood philosophy into the future” (Kammeyer-Mueller 4).

Works Cited

Heneman III, Herbert G., Timothy A. Judge, John Kammeyer-Mueller. Staffing Organizations. 8th. Mishawaka: Pangloss Industries, Inc., 2015. Print.

Kammeyer-Mueller, John. Tanglewood Casebook. Mishawaka: Pangloss Industries, Inc., 2015. Print.