Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pca Choosing An Organization and Situation - Zack Peterson
Pca Choosing An Organization and Situation - Zack Peterson
Zack Peterson
Professor Willmott
OGL 481
25 August 2020
The organization in which I will be studying over the remainder of the course is the
popularly known clothing and homeware retailer, Urban Outfitters. I first gained exposure to this
company from my older sister, Katie, at the young age of twelve. She had just discovered them at
the time, and so, naturally, I thought whatever she was interested in was pretty cool and I had to
know about it. Only, I genuinely thought this was a cool company in which I genuinely wanted
to know more about them. Urban Outfitters was established in 1970 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, selling a curated mixture of clothing items to college kids at the University of
Pennsylvania (URBN, n.d.). In its early days, the first Urban Outfitters store became known by
students and shoppers as a hub for a unique, one-of-a-kind shopping experience for which
consumers within that particular demographic could not find elsewhere. It was a place where
similar-minded individuals, bonded by shared creative, musical, and artistic interests, could get
together within the same space to further engage in a sense of community that was being fostered
within the store. Fast forward to today, and Urban Outfitters stores are still perceived by their
core clientele to be a space of gathering for fellow creatives, as well as those who appreciate
what the company represents compared to its industry competitors. With stores found all over the
United States and in parts of Canada and Europe (URBN, n.d.), their community has expanded
far beyond belief from what could have been expected back during their initial start in 1970.
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My role in Urban Outfitters, at first, was that of an interview candidate for a Social Media
Coordinator position in January of 2016. Just shy of two months after the fact, I then became a
Sales Associate at their Nashville, Tennessee store, later working my way up to become the
store’s Women’s Accessories Team Lead. In my role as the Women’s Accessories Team Lead, I
worked alongside the Women’s Accessories Team Manager on studying the new inspiration
prior to the start of a new season, executing floor resets with our team to bring the new
inspiration and concepts to life, and working closely with our Women’s Accessories Associates,
who each specialized in an individual category within the women’s accessories division.
3) Describe the situation. (see the Canvas instructions for details, especially about how your
situation will be analyzed from five different perspectives over the next five modules)
The situation I found myself in relating to the organization was an interview process. In
total, the process itself lasted just over a month. The first stage of this situation took place on
January 3, 2016, when I had received an email from a woman named Portia Wilson. She was, at
the time, the senior talent recruiter for URBN and was reaching out to me regarding a position
which had been available for a couple of months at that point. The position was Social Media
Coordinator for the Urban Outfitters’ Men’s Instagram account, which is a position I had seen
myself pursuing for a few years because it combined two areas of my expertise: photography and
community building. I emailed her back that evening, and we had scheduled a phone call for the
next day at ten in the morning. The call went well enough that it led to a Skype interview the
following week with another woman named Rachel Albright, who held a major role in the
brand’s creative department. My interview with Rachel had gone well enough that I was then
asked to visit their headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where I would have a round of
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interviews in one afternoon. My trip to Philadelphia was a week and a half after my interview
with Rachel, which permitted me plenty of time to overthink and stress about the upcoming
interviews. Once I had landed, I had to hit the ground running. I landed at 11:45 in the afternoon
on a Tuesday, arrived at the headquarters by 12:30, was taken on a tour of the office building I
would be working out of, was even shown a workspace I would have if I landed the job, and was
brought to their community space where I had five interviews from 1 until 4:30 in the afternoon.
I had the honor of meeting with a generous handful of incredibly talented people; those of whom
worked on the higher end of the corporate ladder to those who worked in other departments
outside of social media, as well as a couple of people who I would be working alongside of if
given the position. I left the next day and was given the task to prepare any questions for my next
interview, which would be held with the Creative Director of Urban Outfitters the following
Wednesday via Skype. The meeting with her lasted all of about fifteen minutes, and by then I
had a feeling I would not be given the opportunity to pursue this role I was so hoping to obtain.
That Friday, I was contacted by Portia, who had informed me that, due to my lack of a college
degree because I was still, in fact, in college at the time, they would not be pursuing me as a
candidate for the position. While the news certainly put a damper on my spirits, I was not totally
After being told I would not be working at the headquarters of Urban Outfitters, I found
myself in yet another interesting situation. On March 1, 2016, I started my first day of work as a
Sales Associate at the Urban Outfitters store located within downtown Nashville. The first
couple of months were somewhat of a challenge, as it is for anyone starting a new job; figuring
out the flow of an average business day at the store, achieving a consistent work schedule,
getting on good terms with the management team, and finding a work ethic within the store
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which spoke naturally to me. A quote from our textbook which I found to be quite reminiscent of
this experience I faced, states, “First, organizations are complex. The behavior of the people who
bewildering array of people, departments, technologies, strategies, and goals” (Bolman & Deal
2017, p. 32). A few months had passed by then and I had felt confidently enough to apply for a
newly available position at the store, which was Women’s Apparel Team Lead. After
interviewing for the position and not getting it, I decided to apply for another position which was
closely similar to the Women’s Apparel Team Lead. Only, it was for the Women’s Accessories
Team Lead. Luckily, this time, I was offered the role of Women’s Accessories Team Lead in
June and maintained the role until my departure from the company in November. I worked
primarily with the Women’s Accessories Team Manager, Andy, on understanding the vision and
inspiration for the seasons ahead. Along with Andy, I also worked closely with our Women’s
Accessories Team Coordinators, Kara, Jenay, and Jamila. Each coordinator was given the duty
and responsibility of working within a category of the women’s accessories division. The
categories ranged from beauty and skincare to jewelry to our selection of intimates. From
working with each coordinator, I helped ensure the work they had executed was cohesive and
aligned with the division’s overall inspiration and aesthetic. After our work was approved by
visual and other members of management, the maintenance work began to uphold the look we
had worked so hard to achieve for the duration of the season, which would only be a couple of
months. Although my time was short, the work ethic I gained from the situation is something I
References
outfitters/about-us