Managerial Levels

• Staples Inc is the world’s largest office supply company

• Opened its first store in US in may 1986
• By 2006, company operated over 1500 stores, had a revenue of over USD 16
billion and was having customers in 47 US states and 21 countries in the world.
• It sells over 8000 office products (electronic equipment, computer hardware, and
software, office furniture and supplies) and services such as copying, printing,
mailing and technology support.
• The company operates via retail stores, mail-order catalogues, e-commerce and
contract lines of business.
• A typical Staple store is open 7*365 from 7 a.m to 9 pm.
• Each store had a store manager, two assistant managers and 30-5 full and part
time employees (called associates).
 CEO

Merchand
Operations Marketing Finance HR
ising

Division 1 Division 2

Region 1 Region 2 Region 3

District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4

Store 1 Store 2 Store 3 Store 4

Store manager
• Focus is short term and operational.
• Primary responsibility is a combination of doing and delegating
• Execution and timing of a wide range of task-related activities required to keep stores
clean, well stocked and working at peak efficiency.
• Prices, inventory levels, store layout and merchandise mix are set by the HQ departments,
the primary impact of store managers on their budgeted P&L comes from promoting
customer service, keeping employees motivated and use labour hours effectively.
• Interview and hire their own associates, schedule the days and hours of associates, train
them.
• Oversee and monitor routine daily tasks such as stocking shelves, unloading freight and
keeping bathrooms supplied and cleaned
• Plan and manage roll out of new programs like seasonal change in the layout and display,
introduction of new product.
Store manager
• Day begins early, 6 am!
• Count the money in the safe, prepare the cash registers, check on the
cleanliness and overall store conditions and develop an agenda for
the day.
• Review the voicemail (from district managers), check emails and
Management Action Planning (ERP) system.
• MAP informs the store managers of corporate programs, upcoming
deadlines, changes to layout and displays, new promotional
programs, soon-to be mailed advertising circulars, and test products
• During the day store managers serve as Manager on Duty-front of the store
all the times focusing on running the store and directing workflows.
• When not serving as MoD, store managers walk their stores and interact
with customers, associates, monitors and coach employees on selling,
inventory management and restocking tasks.
• Handle problems like delayed deliveries, product shortages or broken
fixtures
• Plan staffing requirement for the upcoming days and weeks
• Assign employees and assistant managers to the critical tasks identified in
the MAP
• Store managers enjoy relatively little discretion over WHAT must be
done but considerable discretion in HOW tasks are allocated and
accomplished.
• Store managers are responsible for multiple tasks and a diverse work
force and have to determine within the constraints set by the HQ
• They serve as the frontline of execution and face many execution
challenges that they try to overcome with disciplined planning,
thoughtful scheduling, and recurrent oversight and coaching of
associates.
District managers
• Usually promoted from the role of Store Manager
• Serve as a hand-on-control and development system with the goal of desired behaviours
and ensuring consistent performance.
• Travel four days per week. Visit every store in their district at least once in every two
weeks. Three or four store visits per day
• Store visits serve multiple purposes, compliance, coaching, trouble shooting,
communications and information collection.
• Bulk of their time is devoted to store walks and real-time interactions with store
managers, assistant managers and associates and customers.
• They review sales, financial and operating data and update them to the regional vice
presidents
• Identify problem spots or trends that suggest a plan for the week.
• Remain in constant touch with headquarters, superiors and other store managers by
voicemail and email
• Assess the store’s physical condition, cleanliness, lighting, promotional
advertising, inventory levels, displays and availability of associates.
• They communicate news from the HQ and upcoming promotional
programs, possible delivery problems or system outages.
• They check to see if processes and procedures are followed and ask
associates general questions about their work and specific questions about
whether they are facing any problems with the new products, promotions,
displays or company initiatives.
• The ask store managers or associate managers for updates on recent store
performance, complimenting them on good results and asking for remedial
actions if results are poor.
• They also spend considerable time coaching managers and associates.
• District managers manage information flows from three
directions-downward from senior managers, upward from associate
managers and store managers and sideways to and from peers at HQ
and other districts.
• They are expected to serve as eyes and ears for their regional vice
presidents and HQ peers.
• They are also required to monitor market place trends and share
information regarding best practices.
• District managers are evaluated on the collective performance of the
stores they oversee.
• Usually each district manager manages about 12 to 16 store
managers, 25-30 assistant managers and over 400 associates
• District managers frequently move store level employees around to
improve overall performance.
Regional vice presidents
• Handles 80-100 stores
• Link stores with high level company goals, objectives and initiatives.
• Work bi-directionally, communicating regional priorities upwards to
division heads and HQ personnel and corporate directives to downwards to
district and store managers.
• Serve four primary roles: offering feedback on proposed and recently
launched initiatives, translating broad programs and policies into detailed
action plans, ensuring alignment and troubleshooting systematic problems.
• Many of these responsibilities arise beacuase of regional variation in
competition, consumer preferences and labour market conditons.
• RVP are the guardians of the region and try to be “a voice at the table”
when key decisions are made
• Spends bulk of the time-3/4 days per week visiting stores. However, his
visits are shorter and less detailed than those of district managers.
• Their aim is not just to improve store level compliance or engage in
individualized coaching but to collect broad based information about
ongoing programs and company policies, reinforce desired behaviours and
identify emerging systemic problems.
• They engage managers and associates in extensive discussion to ensure
consistency of corporate message, full understanding of goals, objectives
and awareness of the importance of new programs and initiatives of the
company.
• RVP use their visits to identify region specific opportunities and needs
and present them to the boards and advisors at HQ departments
ensuring that regional perspectives are incorporated into corporate
plans and decisions.
• They meet regularly with buyers to review merchandising choices,
provide suggestions for new initiatives, critique proposals for
repositioning, provide advice on capital budgets and proposed
remodelling plans, partner with the real estate department to assess
sites for new stores, and collaborate with corporate staff to
determine how marketing and other functional budgets are best
deployed in their regions.
• RVPs play major role in strategic execution. Once the board outlines a
new initiative, RVPs are responsible for converting them into specific
action plans.
• RVPs advices on quantities of seasonal products to offer, the
allocation of products to individual stores, improvements in training
programs etc.
• Review reports of district and store performances and talk
individually with district managers both individually and as a group
about performance issues such as lower than expected sales,
perspective problems like delivery delays, and upcoming initiatives
such as planned promotions or advertising.
Division senior vice presidents
• Serve as a senior members of the field organization.
• Work extensively with both head quarters and field managers.
• Ensures that views of the field are represented at the highest levels of
the organisation
• Function as an aggregator and accumulators, who collate and
synthesize information and pass it up the organization.
• DSVP have a “vote” on strategy and policy decisions while RVP only
have a “voice”
• DSVPs exercise their voting right at the time of program formulation.
• Once the programs are launched, DSVPs have additional responsibility of “sharing the
corporate vision” with the field.
• They do so by working with the RVPs and DMs, brining them together in group meetings
or along with them when visiting stores. .
• They act as a filter and are far more selective in the information they share, in order to
avoid information overload and ensure that most critical messages get through.
• Collects information through reports, meetings, conference calls and store visits.
However, their visits are fewer and briefer
• DSVP have more discretionary resources than other field managers-typically a pool of
several thousand labour hours that they are free to allocate for regional or district use.
• They have authority over the fund for special training and temporary staff additions that
ensure timely implementation of new initiatives, respond to competitive moves or
overcome performance shortfalls.
• DSVP are responsible for setting the business plan for their divisions,
subject to the constraints of the corporate plan.
President, U. S Stores
• Involves significant strategic responsibility.
• Has considerable influence over strategy formulation
• At US, all 1200 stores are regarded as a single business unit, reporting
to a single executive.
• President US Stores reports to the COO and serves as a member of
the CEOs leadership team.
• Marketing and merchandising are not completely under president’s
control and budgets and programs including capital expenditures
have to be negotiated with powerful staff departments.
• Essentially president U S Stores has two jobs-head of the field
organisation-devotes nearly 40% of his time in the field, visiting
stores with SVP, RVPs and district managers, checking performance at
multiple levels (division, region, district), evaluating the status of
initiatives, assessing competition and engaging with managers and
employees.
• Second job is that of a senior corporate officer. Spends 60% of his
time in office, regularly meetings and conference calls related to
setting strategy, coordinating with staff departments and providing
input on corporate matters.
Implementation challenges
• Lack of skills or capability
• Lack of will or desire
• Lack of knowledge-what and how
• Lack of consistent execution
• Failure to adjust for variability
• Failure to anticipate or respond to breakdowns
• Failure to modify poorly designed policies or programs
Planning/Organising/Coordinating/Controllin
g?
• A manager who is told that a factory has just burned down and then
advises the caller to see whether temporary arrangements can be
made to supply customers through a foreign subsidiary

• When a manager presents a gold watch to a retiring employee?

• When a manager attends a conference to meet people in the trade

and returns with an interesting product idea for employees to
consider.
Managerial Roles-Henry Mintzberg
• Figurehead: Represents the organization, as well as motivates the team
• Leader: Leads a team, a department or an entire organisation
• Liaison: Develops and maintains internal and external relationship
• Monitor: Identifies problems and opportunities for growth
• Disseminator: Shares data and communicates it effectively
• Spokesman: Speaks for the organisation, defending the company’s
interests
• Negotiator: Participates in negotiations, tries to create a win-win situation
• Disturbance handler: Fixes the problems, maintaining productivity
• Entrepreneur: Organises and runs business processes
• Resource allocator: Determines how and where to deploy resources