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

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Name and describe your organization.

Winn-Dixie is an American grocery store chain within the food industry. They sell
Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, and
liquor. Winn-Dixie was founded in 1925 by William Davis and his three sons in
Jacksonville, Florida. Winn-Dixie is currently in the middle of being acquired by the
German Supermarket chain Aldi Sud, another grocery store giant. The purchase is
scheduled to be completed by the end of the first quarter. The company currently
employs 41,000 members across 546 locations. The current President is Anthony T.
Hucker, the grocery store chain was very successful between the early 70’s and 90’s.

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

I held an internal role within the grocery store chain. During my tenure at Winn-Dixie, I
was a cashier from May 2001 to September 2003. Provides a positive customer
experience with fair, friendly, and courteous service. At Winn-Dixie, my daily duties
consisted of processing grocery sales on a cash register by scanning items, itemizing and
totaling customers' purchases. I also helped resolve customer issues and answer product
questions. I would also bag purchases if needed.

3) Describe the situation, including information you think 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).

When I first started working at Winn-Dixie as a cashier, the current management

team would use overtime pay as a tool to promote employees to take on more hours at
work. It was not uncommon for most employees to make additional income during the
month when the opportunity to work under overtime pay presented itself. This scenario
was a win for both management and employees. Winn-Dixie was always hiring people

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throughout the year; it was never seasonal like other companies I had worked for. The
grocery store had a revolving door work climate. After my first year at the company, I
concluded that management was forced to get creative to keep employees on the clock
longer. They needed to keep employees on the clock longer to make up for the lack of
production that otherwise would not have gotten generated. At the end of the day, most
employees, including myself, took advantage of the overtime pay.

The following year, the economy shifted in a way where things like gas, utilities and
rent was higher. Two months into the new year, the management lead was replaced by a
transfer from the headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. His name was Daniel Brown. Mr.
Brown was an older gentleman who decided to make changes in the first sixty days he
was in the position. One of the changes he instantly implemented was the ability to accept
tips from customers regardless of position. As the weeks went by people continued to
volunteer to work overtime as the company was still not efficiently retaining adequate
staff. When the pay period had closed, and the checks were printed on the first of the
month, some of the employees were confused. Employees that had worked overtime
during that pay period were missing the overtime column on their pay stub. A few weeks
after, employees were told by management not to come to work for days they were
already scheduled to work. Mr. Brown decided to count their overtime hours towards
their 40-hour work weeks. That was the max employees were able to work a week. This
combination of immediate change from new management and false hope of overtime pay
was a negative hit on employee morale and retention.

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 References
Berdychowski , Bernadette “How Winn-Dixie became one of Florida’s top grocery store
chains” Tampa Bay Times, https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2023/08/18/how-
winn-dixie-became-one-floridas-top-grocery-stores/

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.