Organizational Structure of XYZ Department Store - Term Paper Example

Introduction I have worked for the retail department store, XYZ at a management position. It is a store that carries an extensive variety and deep assortment. It also offers customer service and has separate distinct departments for each kind of merchandise to be displayed. The store sells both soft goods like bedding, and hard goods like furniture, electronics and appliances.The store is an upscale and has exclusive designer merchandize and more customer service (NAICCS). Organizational Structure The organization of the company is structured in such a way that it has a complete staff which consists of a manager, an assistant manager, and salesmen for each department of the store. Along with the owner of course, there are store operations under which the tasks of management, cashier, sale, receiving, and loss prevention come (NAICCS). Marketing deals with the promotional activities, visual or audio displays and public relations. As for the department of merchandising, there are tasks which deal which the monthly or yearly plan of stock along with the supervision, control and budget for the stock. There are also financial responsibilities for dealing with the store accounts, debts, or credits. Lastly there is an IT (Information Technology) department, which manages and looks after the necessary equipment and technology needed for the store(NAICCS). Agency Problems In a firm, the agent might have incentives for increasing their wellbeing at the expense of the principle, for which they might engage in activities like shirking or perking competition, which would go unnoticeable by the principals.When the incentives of principals and the agents are not aligned, there are agency problems, as in a firm, the principals engages an agent for performance of some services(Zimmerman, 2009). However, this amount of behavior can be limited by the principals by giving the agent, through contracts, appropriateincentives, and by incurring monitoring cost. It can also be guaranteed to avoid such problems by agents if they incur the bonding costs. If such actions occur, the principals will not be compensated.This may include purchasing insurance policies that they will have to pay to the principals. To increase the amount paid to them, the agents will be willing to incur these expenses. If the contract problems are too costly, they generally would not be sufficient for both the parties as the cost would not be sufficient to retain the agent from performing such activities(Zimmerman, 2009). Job Dimensions It is the tasks and responsibilities required to fulfill the general scope of a particular job. In the company XYZ, the job dimensions are set according to organizational structure. Store Operations: There is management, which deals with all aspects including community engagement, hiring, and top talent development, along with delivering strong financial results and an exceptional customer experience. Moreover, the management is required to drive enhanced revenue, profitability, and performance to budget by developing strategies aligned with organizational priorities. It should also be ensured that the store consistently meets or exceeds their financial goals by creating specific short-term and long-term plans. From my personal experience through working at the XYZ Company, I know that recruiting and retaining top talent through ongoing training and development, ability to deliver bank deposits according to Loss Prevention safety guidelines, and actively managing the store employees, is also a part of this job.Management also includes the job of an assistant manager, for which a specific set of skills is required. The assistant manager should be able to help the store manager in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, developing, evaluating, coaching, and counseling store employees. S/he should also be able to create a positive customer experience that includes a proactive interaction and immediate resolution for customer issues as needed. Along with the above tasks mentioned, the assistant manager has to share an overall responsibility by a set of strategic sales plan for setting, monitoring, and driving sales goals, and to achieve key marketing initiatives by setting, communicating and executing marketing and merchandising programs. Management also includes the job of a cashier, which requires accounting transactions to be handled efficiently, like entering purchases into a cash register, calculating discounts or references, maintaining sufficient amounts of change in cash drawer,and balancing cash drawer, receipts, and documents’ discrepancies. Marketing: This department should be able to manage digital media, by making simple presentations or multimedia productions, and design a web page with its construction and maintenance. It should know the “likes and dislikes” of a market and should be able to promote the brand with integrity and honesty. They should be able to do an efficient market research, dipstick survey, syndicated research and field tests. There should be full media evaluation, scheduled proposals, and auditing of advertising campaigns in all kinds of media i.e. print and electronic by following advertising ethics and principals. The marketing department is supposed to be able to link and access essential resources and specialized talents required throughout the planning and implementation phases.Marketing also handles the communication between consumers and the store, and the store with other businesses to cater for public relations, event management, sponsorships and promotions. Merchandising: It requires the efficient handling of stock or inventory control, by keeping a check of when the stock runs out, when to re-order, protection of the stock, the sales and purchase transactions, and keeping a check on stock insurance. Financial: This department takes care of the balance sheet, accounts, debts, credits, accruals and payments, loans, profit and loss accounts, sales and purchases provision of depreciating assets, insurance, and interest. It also manages the cash inflows and outflows. IT: It requires being “tech savvy”; having know-how about the computers, and the appropriate data base, operating system, and application software. The personnel should be aware as to when the equipment needs replacing; they should be able to manage the computer based projects. The current design is appropriate for the XYZ Company, as it has large departments and for doing the work efficiently, each department in organizational structure is appropriate with the required job dimensions. Compensation packages The Company XYZ has the product organization, as it is large and diversified by the products it sells and each product department has a requirement of being managed efficiently and separately. It is an effective organization as each product department can focus on the particular need of their product line and become experts in its development, production, and distribution. However,each product group requires such functional areas, which can be difficult to afford. If these areas are not present, the organization might not be so efficient which may also result in a loss of jobs in case of some non-profitable years. The company’s executives are given sound salaries with regular bonus pay on the basis of their greater responsibility and higher posts. There is an abundance of non-monetary incentives such as stock options, luxurious offices, holidays and free medical checkups. Services like town car and personal errand are also provided. As for the employees, there are packages which are somehow indirect for filling their requirement and give them incentives. These includes, flexible working schedules, care facilities for elderly employees, retirement programs, moving expenses, insurance for health, paid leaves and use of office machinery. In case the employees are willing to lend an extra hand or do a job other than their working hours or job dimensions, they are paid a bonus. Moreover, if the employee has performed excellent throughout the year, he/she is given stock bonuses. The compensation package is effective; as for the executives, they need to be motivated in order to handle a senior post, so that they would help to achieve the company’s goals. As for the employees, motivation is one of the similar goals along with earning sincerity in work to increase the productive efficiency of the company.However, the packages must be designed with certain considerations, as too much flexibility can ease up an employee, in turnaffecting their work negatively. Firstly the company's business plan and goals should be analyzed and the current and projected budgets should be looked at. Before giving fringe benefits, the gap between actual profits and the expected profits should be examined to analyze the margin of compensations. References Zimmerman, Smith &Brickley, 2009. Managerial Economics, Retrieved from: North American Industry Classification System (NAICCS): Types of Retailers, Retrieved from: Read More