The Men's Warehouse

In the history of the Men’s Warehouse, the company grew exponentially with 40-50 stores per year. By the end of the company’s 1996 fiscal year, 345 stores were in operation. The company’s strategy surrounded the premise that men do not like to shop, or bother with the time to hunt for bargains and wait for sales. Consequently to meet the demands of men, the Men’s Warehouse offered their merchandise that were typically 20-30 percent below other competing high class department stores, avoiding the special promotion technique. This is was very thoughtful and strategic. They know who were targeting and understand the needs of their customers.

Employees in upper management are loyal to the company which indicates they are highly invested in their work. Four members of the senior management team had held their positions since its inception and others have had at least 10 years of dedication. Loyalty extends through the organization from wardrobe consultants to mangers. Zimmerman (CEO) is also heavily invested in his company, not just in the financial sectors, but building positive relationships with his employees as well. During the holiday seasons, he tries to attend at least several of the company’s Christmas party to make his presence known. To me that shows dedication and taking an interest in his colleagues and fellow workers. The same mentality is expected of managers. District managers are expected to go to every each week and regional managers are to attend every month. This is a well thought out idea to have management be more present at the lower levels of the organization.

The company is founded on the concept of servant leadership rather than self-serving interest. Under the servant leadership, people transcend self-interest to serve the needs of others, by helping them grow professionally and emotionally. They as a whole, encourages others in their personal development and helps them understand the larger purpose in their work. One of the quickest ways an organization can distinguish the difference between a servant leader and a self-serving leader is how they handle feedback, because one of the biggest fears that self-serving leaders have is to lose their position. In contrast, servant leaders embrace and welcome feedback as a source of useful information on how they can provide better service.

“The people you manage and work with are your customers, as well as clients of the store.” This place emphasis to treat your employees as you expects them to treat your clients. Both are assets to the overall wellbeing of the organization. George Zimmerman conducts training seminars personally, which is great because so many CEO’s of large corporation seems unreachable to individuals in the lower status. “Employees come first and our customers come second.” If you create quality relationships with your employees, then they will do the same for your customers.

Compensation and staffing are completely based on commission in an effort to avoid issues of working off the clock, and dealing with over time. The company implemented a new bonus program to encourage employees to be more “team oriented” by providing monetary incentives at the end of the month. Promotion & Career Development was completely from within; again, reinstating loyalty among employees within the organization. Individuals working in management have always started working for the Men’s warehouse from the bottom up. When it comes of hiring and firing, the company focused on hiring employees based on their personalities and skills rather than previous experience. If an employees is not working up to their potential, rather than firing that individual, the company provide ample opportunities (transferring that person to another store) to improve their practice. I really liked the “Jim” example of an employee whose only ability comes from stealing other consultants’ customers and pilfering other team members’ sales. The interesting result from his termination allowed other employees to collectively work together and overall, they did much better than Jim individually, which invalidates the importance of teamwork within an organization.

The company encourages its employees to socialize with each other. They have enforced several sports team such as baseball, softball, and hockey teams all consists of co-workers and colleagues. But this seems to happen with people on the same social status, the higher echelon of managers partnering with district mangers. Although it’s a step in the right direction, it is still very sheltered in terms of socialization.