Issues:

y An employee who was rewarded as the All Star for her outstanding performance was later on fired because she was not able to report at work for a few weeks due to an accident that she faced. (Her doctor reported the incident to her manager). y The intentionally broken clock was another issue in Nordstrom, due to this the employees were unable to record the time they worked and later on had to manually record it by which they came to know that they worked more hours than it was being recorded. That employee also mentioned that if you are in the good books of the manager, your sales will increase, otherwise youll be fired. y Another issue was that a top employee was accused of stealing sales and was dismissed without given a chance to prove herself innocent. y Discrimination was another eminent issue. An employee was asked by her manager to change her dressing and later on the Mexican girl was asked to change her accent that was very tough for her. y y Exploitation of the employees was also being done. The employees were asked to keep their SPH high for that they had to decrease their work hours (that means they could record hours spent on other nonselling chores. y Wrong practice of teamwork was also noticed. That means if an employee worked late hours others had to do so too or theyd be criticized that they dont practice teamwork (that is a prominent trait of a Nordie). y y y The employees are pressurized to do extra work (over time). High turnover rate is another issue. A union was established under the leadership of Peterson, who published the disputes of the company in the Wall Street Journal.

Success Factors of Nordstrom:

y y Employee motivation Employee traits( upbeat, ambitious and selfless)

y y y y y y

Dedication of employees to their work (born servants) Benefits and rewards Decentralization approach Informal training Book-keeping (it helps create strong customer relationship) Thank you letters and personal deliveries also emphasize employees dedication to their work and the degree to which they care about the customers.

y y y y

Self-evaluation system Goal orientation and self motivation system Mystery shoppers Smile contests

Other problems:
y y y y y y y y Employees are under constant pressure for increasing their SPH. Harassment Aggressive competition Unfair labor practices Off the clock work and employees were not paid for the over time. Insecurity about the job It created complexes among the employees. Managers discrimination

Recommendations:
y First of all, Nordstrom should resolve the dispute with Peterson as it badly affected the companys name. y Management should not pressurize the employees as it directly affects their performance, creativity as well as productivity. y They should not give constant torture to the employees that they will be fired. It creates a sense of insecurity in them.

They should compromise with the employees and give them relaxation in case of emergencies.

The company should give the employees the right to clarify themselves before giving the final decision.

y y

The company should pay the employees for the extra hours they work. The evaluation system should be clear and controlled by the upper management not the shop managers so that the problem of discrimination could be eliminated.

y y y y

Employees should take competition as a positive motivational source. Managers should adopt a fair attitude. Sales hours should be properly defined. Problems should be resolved within the company and should not be made public as it will harm the goodwill of the company as it did before.

It is clear that the customer satisfaction is the main goal of the company but we think that the company should also work in order to satisfy its employees so that it will motivate them to work effectively.

Formal training and employee appraisal programs should also be introduced along with the informal training in order to achieve an organized system.

The managers of the stores should also be kept in check so that they do not perform anything to harm the name of the company and should also be restricted from doing injustice.

Exhibits: Hierarchy of Nordstrom

President Vice President Store manger employees salesperson

Commission Criteria:

Commission system is ased on: Sales Person A ility Lenghth of Employment

Promotion Criteria:

PROMOTION RITERIA

ustomer Service

Productivity

Team work