Tanglewood Case

To: Donal Penchiala, Staffing Services Director - Tanglewood

From: Rukshana Mazagonwalla, Consultant

CC: Marilyn Gonzalez, Vice President Human Resources - Tanglewood

Re: Staffing Levels and Staffing Quality

This memo will serve as my report for options to aid Tanglewood Department stores in improving their corporate staffing function. Due to the growth and expansion of its Department Stores, it is clear that Tanglewood needs to centralize certain functions and create staffing operation efficiencies.

The next phase of people strategy for Tanglewood is to ensure there is a committed staff that is loyal to the department store and that will ensure the philosophy of the organization is adhered to in its people practices. Leadership and Management need to become more consistent in the stores and the organization's mission must be kept at hand at all times. This is all the more vital at this stage of Tanglewood's growth especially given competition in the Northwest area from Target and Kohl's.

There are 13 different methods that experts use for strategic staffing decisions. Of those 13 there are nine that pertain to staffing levels and four that pertain to staffing quality. I would like to take you through each of these categories, explain each category and give my opinion on how/if the category pertains to Tanglewood.

* Acquire or Develop Talent: This is where an organization focuses on bringing new talent who can "hit the ground running" in the organization. This talent will be at peak performance the moment they enter the organization and will need little to no training. Developing talent would bring in candidates who can learn the required skills for the role and train them accordingly. My recommendation is that Tanglewood focus on developing talent. There is already a core staff of employees who are working hard for the organization and to motivate and retain talent and keep a loyal staff, developing from within is a good strategy for Tanglewood.

* Hire yourself or Outsource: Many organizations use outside sources to recruit and select employees. Some organizations feel a vendor can do a better job than the organization I selecting the right candidate for the role. Vendors usually keep track of legal compliance and any tracking that may be required by law. The other option is for the organization to hire its own candidates through an internal staffing department. Since Tanglewood has brought on board a new Staffing Services Director, the staffing can occur in house. This will allow the staffing team to ensure the right individuals are being brought into the organization. Recruiters should be set up to be in charge of staffing for certain regional store areas and this will ensure the right concepts are being enforced before bringing a candidate on boad.

* External or Internal Hiring: It is important for organization to recognize what blend of external and internal hiring is necessary to create a committed and stable workforce. In order to increase a committed and stable workforce, external hiring would make sense for specific entry level roles and for newly created roles where there are no internal applicants. External hiring would also be necessary when the amount of new jobs created out numbers the internal applicant supply. The right combination is important here for Tanglewood. External hiring can be done for administrative and clerical level roles in the stores and as there is a need for managers, assistant managers, etc internal staff should be developed accordingly.

* Core or Flexible Workforce: An organization's core workforce comprises of individuals who are full time or part time employees of the organization. These individuals are key to the core goods or services provided by the organization. A flexible workforce is comprised of workers who are used as needed. They are not regular employees and most times come from vendors or agencies. Tanglewood should consider bringing more flexible staff on during their peak periods, this may be the Holiday time or Seasonal Peaks that may occur and increase Tanglewood's sales and volumes. A core workforce already exists and should be utilized as well. The flexible workforce also does not have to come from a vendor or outside source. Since it is important to Tanglewood to maintain core values, culture, etc the flexible workforce can be hired directly by Tanglewood's staffing team to ensure the right candidates are coming on board even if it's for a short period of time.

* Hire or Retain: Both strategies have costs and benefits associated with them. It is important for an organization to analyze and understand the organization's needs and create the right mix and balance of "inflow" needs (backfills) and "outflow" needs (retaining key talent). Retaining key talent is important to Tanglewood's culture and ensuring loyalty to the organization. There will be many times when hiring externally is important to backfill the role with the right person but eventually a plan should be put in place to retain talent as well.

* National or Global: Many US organizations are moving towards overseas outsourcing and offshoring. Offshoring is where the organization sets up operations in another country while outsourcing is where the organization moves a business process to another country. At this stage Tanglewood should not engage in this strategy. The organization is not at a place yet where the growth requires global outsourcing or offshoring.

* Attract or Relocate: Organizations usually choose locations where they have enough of a labor supply to choose from. Organizations also believe they can entice a sufficient number of qualified people to join their company for employment. Tanglewood's locations in the Northwest make their products of camping and outdoor equipment