Trader Joe - Examining Emotions, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction - Research Paper Example

Trader Joe’s: Case Study: Examining Emotions, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction The Approach Trader Joe’s Uses to Promote a Positive Work Environment for its Employees. 3 Ways in which Trader Joe’s is Able to Increase Job Satisfaction and Performance Trader Joe’s mainly uses the employee involvement approach to create a positive work environment for its employees. The company considers its human capital as an integral element to its success. This employee focused organizational culture has really assisted the firm to deliver a great shopping experience to its customers. First, the Trader Joe’s has potential employee compensation and benefits policies to keep its employees motivated. The case study clearly states that Trader Joe’s employees earn considerably more than their counterparts at other chain grocers (p.W-100). In addition, the company offers its employees comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and vision insurance, company-paid retirement, paid vacation, and a 10% employee discount. Even while keeping some of its financial information confidential these days, the company officials say that its managers earn approximately $100K per year. Secondly, the company compensates its outlet managers fairly high as compared to other retailers mainly because those managers are well informed of the Trader Joe’s system inside and out. In addition, managers are hired only from within the company, and therefore Trader Joe’s employees obtain extensive exposure to potential career development opportunities, which in turn would increase their job satisfaction and performance. Thirdly, the organization encourages its employees to closely interact with customers and to take proper decisions to enhance customers’ shopping experience. This approach would give employees a sense of belongingness and empowerment, which in turn may foster employees to improve their performance so as to contribute notably to the overall organizational productivity. Undoubtedly, this practice is also beneficial to promote employees’ job satisfaction. How Trader Joe’s uses the Management Process to Develop its Employees From the case scenario, it is identified that Trader Joe’s executes the management process effectively to develop its workforce. According to the case study, Trader Joe’s believes that its ‘responsible, knowledgeable, and friendly’ workforce is critical to its success (p.W-100). The organization pays great emphasis to develop customer-oriented employees by providing specific job descriptions stating desired job skills and retail experience. The company asks its employees to be ambitious and adventurous and to maintain a strong sense of values to contribute significantly to customer satisfaction. The Trader Joe’s management strongly connects with its customers by cultivating a culture of great product knowledge and customer involvement among its store level employees. It is important to note that the organization nurtures its “employees with a promote-from-within philosophy” (p.W-100). The Trader Joe’s encourages its each employee to taste and learn about the products and to stimulate customers to share what they have experienced. This approach would greatly assist the company to improve its future employee interactions with customers. Most of the Trader Joe’s shoppers opine that the firm’s crew members were really helpful to locate or recommend particular items. The training programs like Trader Joe’s University are effective to instill in future leaders the loyalty necessary to run stores in line with both company and customer expectations. In addition, such programs can really influence managers to develop a customer-focused attitude in their part-time workers. It is interesting to note that the company pays specific attention to its succession planning activities by promoting these training programs. Furthermore, the organization uses the tools of planning, organizing, leading and controlling to enhance its employee development. Two Ways that Leaders can Effectively Manage Relationships in General by Using the Four EI Competencies The four Emotional Intelligence (EI) competencies are self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management. By promoting employee involvement in decision making, leaders can manage relationships in general with particular emphasis given to four EI competencies. Secord (2003, p.231) indicates that this strategy would encourage employees to be in close touch various organizational affairs and to actively engage in the decision making process. Through this strategy, employees would obtain the opportunity to develop self-awareness and self-management skills. Since employees have a crucial role to play under this approach, they would be watchful of the social and community problems relating to the operations of the firm. In other words, employees would be socially responsible persons, and hence they may not compromise environmental safety or community welfare for their personal financial gains. In addition, enhanced employee involvement in decision making can really assist leaders to improve relationship management and thereby effectively manage relationships in general. Similarly, working closely with the ground level staff is another potential strategy to deal with relationship management efficiently using the four EI competencies. Under this practice, leaders interact with their ground level staff on a daily basis, and this in turn may help them identify various worksite problems and other issues facing employees. Leaders can strengthen their relationships with employees by identifying and resolving employee conflicts and other worksite issues on time. In addition, this leadership approach may aid leaders to improve their social awareness notably and to respond to various organizational issues in a socially responsible manner. Three Leadership Practices that Trader Joe’s could implement in order to Increase the Competitive Edge of the Organization It is recommendable for Trader Joe’s to implement leadership practices like employee motivation, delegation, and performance appraisal to increase the competitive advantage of the organization in the grocery industry. Gagne (2014, p.205) opines that the practice of employee motivation is essential to keep employees inspired and to improve their work performance constantly. The leader may use various motivational strategies such financial incentives or other benefit packages to stimulate their followers to perform better in the workplace. When employees are kept motivated, they would be eager to achieve more, and such a worksite environment will certainly add considerably to overall employee productivity. In the words of Singla (2007, p. 126), proper role assignment can really benefit the organization to ensure that different organizational duties and responsibilities are carried out timely and appropriately. It is obvious that each employee will have different skills and capabilities, and therefore thoughtful distribution of tasks among them is inevitable to facilitate smooth flow of various organizational activities. While assigning various tasks, the leader must be vigilant to consider seniority and previous job history of his/her subordinates so as to avoid possible disputes. Finally, performance evaluation is another advisable strategy for the company to obtain a competitive edge in the market environment. According to Landy and Conte (2009, p. 234), performance appraisal may assist leaders to identify best and poor performers in the workplace and to treat them appropriately. Through this process, leaders can further motivate best performers by rewarding them adequately and avoiding adverse situation where poor performers remain in the company at the expense of their best performing colleagues. In short, performance evaluation is beneficial for the leader to maintain a highly productive workforce. References Case Study. Gagne, M. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Work Engagement, Motivation, and Self-Determination Theory. Oxford University Press. Landy, F. J & Conte, J. M. (2009). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. US: John Wiley & Sons. Singla, R. K. (2007). Business Studies. New Delhi: FK Publications Secord, H. (2003). Implementing Best Practices in Human Resources Management. CCH Canadian Limited. Read More