Reference no: EM132867274

Isaac, the owner, called a meeting with the five department managers, and the store manager, Analisa. If they were going to turn things around, it was going to take everyone working together as a team. And, if they didn't improve the motivation of the sales staff, the owner feared they would lose one of the few remaining competitive advantages that they had. Carlos, the manager of the men's department, had been with FCS for over 20 years, and had been a manager for the past 12 of those years. Carlos was outgoing and very persuasive. All the salespeople had a great deal of respect for him, and he had successfully trained many junior salespeople. Don, the manager of the shoe department, had been with FCS for over 15 years, and had been a manager for the past 8 of those years. Don could be somewhat overbearing and overly detail-oriented at times, but ever since he had been managing the shoe department, the backroom shoe inventory was orderly and methodically arranged. And, because of that, customers spent much less time waiting for salespeople to bring them shoes, which lead to more satisfied customers and more shoe sales. Many at FCS considered Isaac, Carlos and Don to be "the three amigos." They ate lunch together every day and were often known to socialize after hours. Cecilia, the manager of the women's department, was the most junior member of the management team, having been promoted to manager after only 3 years as a salesperson, and having been a manager for only 1 year. Her quick promotion had been due to her uncanny ability to predict in advance which styles would be appealing to the customers. She had a pulse on fashion and always seemed to be able to predict what would sell in the next season. The last department manager was Aiysha, who was the manager of the children's department. She was a vivacious, energetic, warm, and fun-loving person - just the right temperament for the children's department, and it probably explained why she had been in her role as manager of that department for over 15 years. Unlike Carlos and Don, however, she had never once been invited to lunch with Isaac, or go out with him after hours, and Aiysha resented the fact that she and Cecilia were given much less discretion than Carlos and Don. "Thank you all for coming today" Isaac said. "We're at a cross-roads and I'm worried that if we don't find the right path, it will be the end of the Family Clothing Store." "We're all here for you, Isaac," said Carlos, "whatever you need, count me in." "If you ask me," Cecilia said, "we need to be more fashion-forward. I've been working hard to be on top of the women's trends, but I don't see the same innovation in the men's department." "Are you calling me outdated?" Carlos demanded. "You know I've been working here since before you entered high school. I think I know what men want to wear!"

"Calm down you guys." Aiysha interjected. "Fashion is for everyone. Some people like being conservative, others like to be flamboyant, but it's all good. We just need to figure out how to motivate the salespeople to sell more through better service" "You're right, Aiysha," Cecilia added. "We need to keep a positive attitude here. Retail is complicated these days and the path forward is unclear, but I do have one idea. I think the salespeople would be a lot more energized if they could actually help the customers through their whole purchase, and if they could move around in different departments during their shifts. Also, with all due respect Isaac, I think we need to get rid of those scripts." "I don't know," said Don, "we've had a lot of turnover recently and there are so many young, inexperienced part-time salespeople. I see them struggling to learn the back inventory system in the shoe department, and learning about all the different clothing departments too. I think we need to be more constrained, not less. I want salespeople dedicated to my department. Maybe we could get rid of the scripts, but I don't want the salespeople wandering around the store with the customers. I want them to know where they're supposed to be and to be welltrained to be there." "You may have a point about the turnover, Don," Aiysha said. "but we've still got our core fulltime staff. There are so many salespeople who have been working here for years and they've already mastered all the systems and departments. They are super-capable and they want more challenge. Maybe some of the new salespeople don't have the skills or the desire to do more, but the veterans are bored and the customers can tell. We need to figure out how to manage the whole salesforce." "Come on, everyone," Carlos chimed in, "let's remember who we are. FCS has been around for over 50 years and I'm sure we've got at least 50 more ahead. Sure, customers can be fickle and the market is uncertain, but we can do it. Isaac, you've always supported us and I for one am ready to give back." "Me too," added Don. "This is a tough problem, but I think if we just show the salespeople the same trust and recognition that we've been shown, then they'll rise to the occasion. You'll see. We'll be fine." Cecilia rolled her eyes in annoyance. There they go again, she thought. Carlos and Don always had Isaac's back, and it was no surprise considering how well he treated them. But she and Aiysha were well aware that not everyone got that same special treatment. She was grateful when Aiysha interjected and said: "Trust is nice. In fact, it would be nice if we were all trusted as much as you were Don, but when it comes to the salespeople, it's not enough to abdicate our responsibility and hope they do what needs to be done. We've got to figure out how to encourage them to give their best to the customers, so that the customers want to keep coming back. It's getting harder and harder to convince people to come into a store when they could just order online and have it shipped to their door. We've got to find a way to stand out, and the division of labour that we've got isn't working. We have to revitalize the salespeople and figure out how to get customers to keep coming back.

Analisa, the store manager, paused the conversation: "Well," she said "it looks like we've got two divergent ideas. One is to give the employees free reign to serve the customers however they think it makes sense, and the other is to stop the departmental rotation and train the new salespeople on clear methods to be experts in one department. Let's take a vote and then get back to work." Isaac looked around the room, wondering what the management team would say, and pondering if one of these two options would actually be enough to turn things around.

Apply path-goal theory to determine which leader behaviour(s) would be appropriate for Isaac, and the department managers at FCS, given the situational factors. Provide the rationale for your recommendations based on path-goal theory.

Apply leader-member exchange (LMX) theory to explain Isaac's leadership approach with the department managers. Provide a recommendation based on LMX theory that could help Isaac to improve his leadership.