OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Choosing an Organization Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Identify an organization and situation you want to study over the remainder of the course.
2. Describe the organization and the situation

1) Name and describe your organization.

The organization under review is Kendra Scott. This a jewelry and accessory company
with over 100 retail stores in the U.S. and a large ecommerce presence. It was started by
designer, Kendra Scott, about 20 years ago but is now ran by a different CEO. Retail
stores are run off of sales associates, key holders, and management, and these store teams
are responsible for many day-to-day store functions. Greeting and working with
customers, optimizing inventory, updating displays, tracking stock supplies, and planning
events and looking for non-profits partners are all expectations of teams and managers.

2) Describe your role in the organization (it can be an internal or external role).

At Kendra Scott, I was an Assistant Store Manager that ran store operations. I worked
internally within the organization, but also experienced overall issues from an external
point as well. As a manager and leader you were responsible for opening or closing the
store, coaching keyholders and associates, driving sales and making adjustments to
scheduling and handling customers. Additionally, and importantly in my role, was the
operations aspect, involving inventory management, supply ordering, delegating tasks
and projects, and ensuring accuracy through all of the above.

3) Describe the situation, including information you think the will help the reader
understand the most important elements of the situation. (This will require
selectivity: part of the art of case writing is separating the essential facts from the
mass of information that might be included).

This last fall of 2021, our store had several team members leave the company, including
myself. Many factors played into nearly half of our team leaving including, the lack of
support from our District Manager, low compensation, and increasing workload. Myself
and another manager expressed our concerns with the District Manager over multiple
virtual meetings. Even with positive results on sales plans, project completions, and other
successes and high performance, the ideas were ignored and changes were pushed away.
With this, 6 team members departed during November, leaving the District Manager in a
struggle for the holidays. Reframing Organizations shared something that suites this

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 situation, “Unless you can step back and see how system dynamics create these patterns,
you muddle along blindly, unaware of better options,” (Bolman & Deal, 2017, pg. 35).
For months, members of our store allowed the treatment to be normalized, and when the
store management brought light to it with no positive change, we were finally able to see
the pattern and culture of the entire company and upper leadership. Initiatives that push
for better employee treatment and support must not be ignored. A supportive and growth
oriented company culture is important to retain talent.

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 Reference

BOLMAN, L. E. E., & Deal, T. (2017). Reframing organizations. JOHN WILEY & Sons.