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Management 307:

Diversity And Inclusion In The Workplace

Gabe Ross

DePaul University
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Deviant workplace behavior is something that every organization will at

some point run into with employees. With this being the case, it is up to the

management of every organization to put into place a form of disciplinary policy in

order to correct this deviant behavior from employees, and to prevent the behavior

from happening in the future. Without a form of disciplinary action for unwanted

behavior from employee’s, the individuals performing the negative behavior will

never see a reason to change, or may not even notice an issue in their behavior at all.

It is reasons such as this that I feel it is extremely important and beneficial for an

organizations productivity and performance, to always have a form of disciplinary

procedures when dealing with deviant workplace behavior.

The organization that I would like to implement this disciplinary policy

towards would be my current employer, Tommy Bahama. Tommy Bahama is a retail

company that has been around since 1993. Currently, I am working at their flagship

location on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The company itself strives for a very laid

back, relaxed type of work environment, they even promote the term “make life one

long weekend” to their employee’s, emphasizing on how relaxed they would like the

stores atmosphere to feel. While this is a great atmosphere and company culture to

work with, given that the retail industry attracts a lot of unmotivated, lazy

individuals who are purely working for a paycheck, this kind of company culture

tends to enable deviant workplace behavior within some individuals more than

others. Out of the two years I have worked at Tommy Bahama, I have seen ample

amounts of deviant workplace behavior among the part time employee’s as well as
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within some store management as well. Employees tend to take advantage of the

companies relaxed atmosphere by coming into work late, not showing up for

scheduled shifts, standing around the store doing nothing waiting for their shift to

end, using their cell phones on the sales floor, ignoring customers, and talking back

to management.

Without the proper company disciplinary protocol, it is hard for managers to

correct or punish this type of behavior coming from their employees, and because of

this, employees tend to get away with acting in deviant manners at work. In order to

put an end to this type of employee behavior, a plan must be put into place, which

provides punishment for any type of poor behavior coming from these employees.

Not only would the execution of a plan such as this provide the company with better

working, more respectful employees, but the company would also being to see

productivity and motivation levels increase, as well as a decline in deviant behavior,

which would give management one less thing to worry about throughout their

already chaotic days.

In order to best implement this form of change and execution of a new

organizational disciplinary policy, Kotter’s eight stages of change would be the most

beneficial tool to follow and reference for a more seamless implementation and

transition to employees within the organization. The first step of Kotter’s eight

stages of change is to increase the urgency of the newfound change that you are

trying to implement. In this case, either the regional manager, district manager, or

store manager, would be responsible for increasing a high sense of urgency with the
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matter at hand to the rest of their management team within the store. All the higher-

ups need to be aware of the poor behavior that is coming from the store associates,

and understand how the poor performance is negatively affecting the overall

performance and productivity of the store. It is only once management realizes how

the current behavior is getting in the way of a more successful organization, that

these individuals will be able to display and demonstrate a high sense of urgency for

fixing the problem that the organization is currently faced with. If an individual from

the companies management team does not learn a sense of urgency, or understand

what the significance of the poor performance going on in the workplace is, then this

first step will help identify that part of the issue with deviant behavior is stemming

from members of the stores management team as well.

Step number two from Kotter’s eight stages of change would be to create a

guiding coalition, or in other words, building your team of members who will help in

rolling out the new plan of change. This is arguably one of the most important steps

of Kotter’s eight step process, unless you build your team with the right kind of

people leading this newfound change into your company, the implementation of, in

our case a new disciplinary policy, will not successfully be brought into the

organization or understood by other employees. According to an article from The

University Of Queensland Australia, “Creating the team is about putting together a

group with enough influence and energy to lead the change, and getting the group to

work together as a team. No one person, no matter how competent, is capable of

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single-handedly developing the right vision, communicating it to large numbers of

people, eliminating all of the key obstacles, generating short term wins, leading and

managing multiple change projects, and anchoring new approaches deep in an

organization’s culture.”. (p. 2). Without the most competent and dedicated team that

one organization can assemble, processes of the implementation such as the ones

listed from the article would not be possible. Ensuring that you have the right team

in place to execute and lead the change is critical to the success of the new plan. Not

only is it important for this team to have the same objectives as one another that

stay in line with the mission of your new change, but it is also crucial that these

members are fully committed to supporting the change from the very beginning, to

the very end of the process.

Once you have increased the sense of urgency for change, and built your

team of leaders to implement the change, the next step in Kotter’s eight stages of

change would be to create the vision and strategy of the organizations proposed

change. According to Martin Webster (n.d.), “We need to remember that by creating

compelling, eye-catching situations it is easier for others to see problems and

solutions. Creating a vision that can be conveyed in a matter of minutes is going to

move people into action much more effectively than detailed analyses ever will.

However, transformational change is difficult — it’s a venture into the unknown —

needs to be done correctly. We need to take an unorthodox approach and avoid over

analytic, financially based visioning exercises. Instead develop a vision that moves

people and pay lots of attention to the speed in which you can introduce change.”
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(p.3). Asking questions such as what do we want to see in the future, and what do

we need to do in order to see this future goal are important questions to ask when

creating the right vision. For the situation of implementing a new disciplinary policy

within Tommy Bahama, it would be beneficial to look at everything that is viewed

negatively such as employees showing up late to work, employees not showing up

for their shifts, employees using their phones on the sales floor, and simply not

doing what is asked. After acknowledging the type of behavior that we do not want

to see anymore, we get our answer of what we want to see in the future; employees

who are present and on time, employees who follow the rules, and employees that

do what is asked of them by their superiors. Once we have clearly addressed what

we would like to see in the future, it is then that we can start to brainstorm ideas

and solutions to making this desired future a reality. Putting in new disciplinary

procedures such as giving employee performance write-ups for coming in late or

not doing what is expected would be a great way to deter the unwanted employee

behavior. Informing employees that after three of these poor performance notes will

result in negative consequences such as dismissal would deter them from slacking

at working and would make sure everyone is timely and present. For issues such as

employees using their phones on the sales floor, not only could a negative

performance note be written, but having a manager warn the associate and after a

second attempt taking the phone away until their shift is over would also be a great

way to deter such behavior.

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After we have formed our vision for change, the next step in Kotter’s process

is to communicate for buy-in. When creating any kind of change within an

organization, the change generally formulates a lot of information. It is up to these

leaders, or in this case for Tommy Bahama, the store managers to communicate

these changes to the individuals who are going to be directly impacted by the new

changes that are being implemented. In the article Kotter Step 4: Communication

Buy-in, Steve weber (2016) states, “Since people generally do not like change,

obtaining buy-in is both critical and difficult. Without widespread acceptance and

buy-in the change initiative will probably fail.” (p. 1.). With this in mind, a few

things these leaders should be mindful of in this step of the process would be to

understand who needs to be informed of these changes, what are the key points

these people need to understand and how will we ensure they understand, what are

the concerns we should have and how will you respond to these concerns

appropriately, and are these changes fair and transparent. The most efficient way

that Tommy Bahama managers would be able to communicate this new change into

the organization would be to hold a mandatory all store meeting; something the

company normally does to inform associates of new changes such as upcoming

promotions and events to their associates. By holding this meeting, you are able to

sit down all of your employees at once and communicate the issues the location, or

company as a whole, has been having, and from there communicate the new

disciplinary procedure the company has decided to implement. Not only will having

everyone together allow the associates to collectively ask questions and address any
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concerns that they may have, but you are also able to address everyone at once

which will save time and money in the process of implementation which consist of

two crucial elements for any kind of change within an organization.

According to Kotter, once you have effectively and efficiently communicated

the buy in of this new change, it is time to empower a form of action to the plan. At

this point through out the implementation of this change, we have built a team with

a sense of urgency to lead the change, we have formulated a clear vision, and we

have effectively communicated the change to the members that are directly being

affected. Now it is time to take ownership and encourage participation and

acceptance of the change in a way that makes associates want to allow this new

change into their world. While this change is ultimately for the better of the

organization, and the employees as a whole, it will not always be viewed in that

sense right off the bat, especially is the employees are very use to minimal

consequences for their actions, and a very laid back work environment in general.

Offering some type of motivation or reward to allow employees to jump on the

bandwagon and participate would be one of the best solutions to this issue. By

initially offering employee’s rewards for the compliance of the new disciplinary

policy such as; scheduling hours for associates based on performance and attitude,

or material goods such as gift cards for the employees who show the least

workplace deviant behavior, employees would have something positive to strive for,

and in time, rewarding will not be necessary when the team begins to naturally

accept and abide by the consequences of their negative work behavior.

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Once we have empowered our base of action, according to Kotter it is now

time that the management leading this change should generate short-term wins.

According to Robert Tanner from the article, Leading Change (Step 6) – Generate

Short-Term Wins (2017), “Generating short-term wins is necessary to prevent the

loss of momentum and keep the organization engaged. In reality, implementing

major change takes time. Senior leaders and the guiding coalition use short-term

wins to eliminate organizational discouragement with the slow pace of lasting major

change. Short-term wins also derail cynics and self-interested resisters of change as

the wins provide real evidence about the validity of the change vision.” (p. 2.). This

goes to show just how important short-term wins are when it comes to the longevity

of this new change. By creating a visible goal for a time frame of around six to

eighteen months after the change has been implemented, we will be able to see how

well the new change is being implemented into the organization and also be able to

realize if any altercations need to be made to the plan in action. For tommy Bahama,

we would be able to look at timecard punches to see if employees have started to

adapt and accept the new disciplinary policy that is being put into place. If after six

months, employees were still continuously late, we would understand that changes

must be made to the disciplinary policy. We would also be able to measure

productivity among workers, are workers who once use to slack off now starting to

act more productively at work? This could be measured not only through the insight

of their physical performance by managers, but also by their sales measurements for
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that time frame. If things have begun to improve, then this would be a short-term

win that we can celebrate as a team.

Even though we are still celebrating and achieving short-term wins, it is very

important that in this next step of Kotter’s eight step process that leaders and

managers must never let up on the enforcement of this new change. During this step

of our implementation for change, we have already made great and hopefully

beneficial progress towards the overall future of our organization. However with

that being said, the last thing we want to do is think that just because we have

started noticing short term wins, we have fully implemented the plan of change.

Stated in the article, The 8-Step Process for Leading Change (n.d. / n.a.), “The

consequences of letting up can be very dangerous. Whenever you let up before the

job is done, critical momentum can be lost and regression may soon follow. The new

behaviors and practices must be driven into the culture to ensure long-term

success. Once regression begins, rebuilding momentum is a daunting task.” (p. 7.).

What this is stating, is that once you have begun putting your plan in place, you must

never assume that things have stuck. As a manager or leader of this change within

Tommy Bahama, the last thing we would want to see taking place is the workers

slowly going back to their old ways all because managers and leaders are no longer

enforcing the new disciplinary policy. Not only would the whole process have been a

waste of time and energy, but the company would also be out on the money that it

took to implement this change into the organization. If management began to slowly

lighten up instead of staying stern and aware of the policy, we would begin to see a
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reversion of behavior, in which case deviant workplace behavior would begin to

creep its way back into the workplace and productivity would once again begin to

fall.

Even though it may sound as if never letting up would be the final step of

executing the new disciplinary policy into Tommy Bahama, we cant stop just yet

without complete one final step, which arguably could be another one of the most

important steps in this rigorous process. Even after we are ensuring the longevity of

this new policy, it is extremely crucial that this new policy somehow finds its way

into the company’s culture. Even though Tommy Bahama has a very relaxed, and

laid back work environment, we want to ensure that we are still incorporating the

lessons of what this new policy has taught us. Its one thing to hire individuals based

on the vibe of the brand, but this has taught us that we must also be hiring hard

working, dedicated, and motivated employees as well. This would ultimately, in turn

change the way the company operates and performs. Even if we are still a relaxed

brand, we want our company to come off as very professional and motivated. Tying

this new plan into our company culture will do just that.

All in all, I firmly believe that implementing a new disciplinary policy within

the organization of Tommy Bahama such as the one proposed will dramatically help

prevent workplace deviant behavior and in turn play a huge factor on the

productivity levels of the store, as well as maintaining more driven, and professional

employees. By orchestrating this plan by following Kotter’s eight stages of change,

not only will the cost for this implementation be extremely low, but following these
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steps will ensure that this new change being installed into the workplace will have a

much higher success rate than going about it in any other fashion.
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Works Cited

•The University of Queensland Human Resources Division Home Page. (n.d.).

Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.hr.uq.edu.au/step-2

•Weber, S. (2017, January 01). Kotter Step 4: Communication Buy-in. Retrieved

November 10, 2017, from http://speakinggump.com/blog/kotter-step-4-

communication-buy/

•Tanner, R., & About Robert TannerWelcome to my leadership blog. I'm the Founder

& Principal Consultant of Business Consulting Solutions LLC. I'm a leadership

professional with 20 years of real world experience at all levels of management.

(2017, October 12). Home. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from

https://managementisajourney.com/leading-change-step-6-generate-short-term-

wins/

•The 8-Step Process for Leading Change | CFMA. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10,

2017, from http://www.cfma.org/content.cfm?ItemNumber=2378

•Martin Webster. (n.d.). Successful Change Management – Kotter’s 8-Step Change

Model. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from

https://www.leadershipthoughts.com/kotters-8-step-change-model/