What should caribou do after hiring the right store manager

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Reference no: EM133559171

Assignment:

Challenge: After establishing their first coffee house in 1992, Caribou Coffee Company cofounders John and Kim Puckett quickly grew the company. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Caribou Coffee Company is now the nation's second largest specialty coffee company with almost 270 company-owned stores and over 4600 employees. The company also sells its coffee, equipment, and other goods through the Caribou Coffee website and various retail partners. Caribou's leaders logically assumed that customer service was the reason customers returned to their stores.

This made sense, particularly given the company's emphasis on the customer service skills of all of its employees, including district managers who were responsible for eight to 14 locations. But the fact that store success varied more across district managers than within a single district manager's stores created a puzzle: If there was an across-the[1]board focus on customer service, why was the performance of each district manager's stores so similar, but the performance of each district manager different? Did the higher[1]performing district managers communicate more effectively to customers and associates? Were they better at developing employees? What exactly accounted for the difference?

Caribou's Response: Caribou Coffee wanted to know what accounted for the differences in average store performance for its district managers. It assumed that customer service had a lot to do with it but wanted to objectively evaluate what its best performing district managers did so that it would know for sure and could use this information to improve the future staffing of its district manager positions. Caribou discovered that its district managers' skills did vary. Some were really customer focused, as it expected, but the sales figures of those stores were not always the best. Caribou discovered that the most important district manager competency was his or her ability to effectively staff the store manager position.

When a district manager took the time to find the best replacement for a store manager instead of automatically promoting the shift supervisor with the most tenure, the results had a strong impact on revenue. Caribou's ability to show its district managers concrete evidence that hiring the right store managers positively impacts sales has been critical in focusing district managers on the careful staffing of its store manager positions. Not only have sales increased in the previously under performing stores, the district managers appreciated the information and assistance as well in improving their own performance.

After reading the challenge, answer the following questions by creating a thread:

District managers' ability to hire the best store managers was key at Caribou. What should Caribou do AFTER hiring the right store manager?
At Caribou, should store managers be promoted from within (i.e., "building talent") or from outside the organization (i.e., "buying talent")? Why?
Caribou realized that automatically promoting the shift supervisor with the most tenure to the position of store manager was not always the right decision. But, isn't hiring the shift supervisor consistent with the "supply chain" view of the staffing process? Why or why not?

Reference no: EM133559171

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