Staples is an American multinational organization in the business of providing office products to its customers. The company has experienced tremendous growth since its inception in 1986 and is one of the largest office products company in terms of sales and footprint. The entity has relied on its stores to reach its customers. As of 2006, the company had over 1500 stores in united States and Canada (Gavin and Levesque, 2007 p.1). The stores were responsible for 80% of the company sales. The organization’s stores have some level of autonomy. The manager of the store is responsible for all activities carried out within the establishment. The units also maintain their own Profit And Loss Statements. Therefore, the manager is responsible for the growth of revenue at their unit. Gavin and Levesque (2007 p.1) report that each store averaged an income of six million dollars in 2006. Competition in the office product industry is high. Staples face competition from other companies in the same business-like Office Depot and also big departmental stores such as Walmart. The heightened competition requires the firm to improve its customer service. The business instituted several measures that ensure the customer service at its stores is to a high standard. The firm has trained its staff and incorporated a customer-centric culture in its operations. The management at the stores is responsible for maintaining the required customer service levels.
This paper is a case study on Staples that focuses on the management of the company; the challenges faced by the managers in running the units are discussed. The characteristics of the manager and their influence on customer service are also critically analysed. The case study also examines the organisational structure; it further evaluates the positive and negative effects of changing the structure to a matrix format. Lastly, the obstacles to an effective strategy implementation at the organisation are cited and explained.
Challenging Aspects of a Manager’s job at Staples
The role of management is essential for any business entity. Barros, Sampaio, and Saraiva (2014, p.3) argue there is a correlation between quality management, organisational practices, and the performance of the firm. Schraeder, et al., (2014 p.57) add that a manager is critical in the successful implementation of a firm’s vision and mission. Furthermore, the leadership in a company is responsible for a conducive work environment (Henry, 2013 p.93). Staples relied on the leadership at the centre and on-the-field to run the business efficiently and effectively in order to achieve its revenue and growth objectives.
The management at Staples was designed in a structured manner, such that there were different levels of management. The job description and expectation at the different levels were similar, but the scale and scope increased with each hierarchical level (Gavin and Levesque, 2007 p.6). Therefore, the leadership faced similar challenges in executing their mandates. This is a list of the issues the managers at Staples faced.
Meeting Performance Targets
The company has sales, customer service, and efficiency objectives which each manager is tasked with ensuring are achieved at the store, district, regional, and divisional levels. Sales, expenses, and profit reports are generated daily and weekly. The General Manager has a mandate of checking sales volume and margin at stores level. The reports are then passed up the chain of management and each subsequent manager would study the reports to ascertain whether their area of influence is performing according to the set targets. The leadership has the challenging tasks of ensuring company’s income and profits grow amidst heightened competition.
