ROWE Program at Best Buy Payne 1 1. Describe the culture of Best Buy. Best Buy culture has changed tremendously. The company’s culture was once to embrace long hours and sacrifice, now the culture is more relaxed. The employees are now really able to run their own schedule as well as their own work progress. Before the ROWE program was introduces to the Best Buy employees would have to work until they found a solution. That means staying at work all night and day if the job or situation requires it.
For example the book talks about one employee that was given a plaque for staying up and at work for three days to right a report that was due. He made a sacrifice for his job that made him end up in the hospital. The ROWE program which stands for Results-Only Work Environment program is a way that employees can still work whether in the office, at home, or coffee shop as long as they finish the job. This program has changed the culture of Best Buy as well as the performance. Although this program has not been introduce to the retail store I would love to see it happen.
As a current worker of the Best Buy retail store in Memphis, TN I see that being very hard to adjust quickly in retail store because mainly we are there for the customers. Although I can say the ROWE program is a good idea but the rules and principles are very lenient. One of the principles that I have to question is “As long as the work gets done, employees do whatever they want whenever they want”. That is one principle that may not be suitable because that gives the employee too much time on their hands. The culture is more adjust and the employees don’t feel pressure about trying to balance work Payne 2 and home.
The employees feel more ownership of the job and see this program as one of the benefits they have working with Best Buy. 2. Discuss the approach to organizational change that the ROWE program had to overcome. The change that the ROWE program had to overcome was performances. It also had to overcome change. Although the transition did start out slow it later progressed. Everyone had their different thought about different things that made their performance a little sluggish. Buy starting out slow everything suddenly started to fall in place. So there is no certain way a day is going to go everyday may be different.
It even went as far as all the employees had to do is leave messages saying that they were out and how to get in touch with them if they are needed. Now business is conducted by cellular phones within the company. It is the same meetings it is just not done with everyone in the office. Business is taken care of just in a different way from how it was usually done. The book stated that the transition required a lot of changing of old attitudes and it produced a lot of stress. Once employees went through training for the program they seemed to realize that they had given up a lot for the job and it wasn’t worth it.
The hourly managers did not like the fact of the ROWE program. 3. Discuss the resistance, both organizational and individual, that the ROWE program had to overcome. The fight that the ROWE program had to overcome was accepting responsibility. Individual each person had to deal with their own battles. Managers had to overcome the fact that their employees felt stressed out, but since the ROWE program these employees Payne 3 have more control over their work schedule. It also gives a person a better chance to get to know their employees.
Organizational wise departments such as Best buy legal department do not agree with the ROWE program. They were worried about how it would affect their job and their pay. They are paid based on their performance so f they are not in the office to perform the job it can affect their pay if they don’t serve their clients. 4. Discuss the sources of stress that are apparent in the case. There is stress coming from all different sources including managers as well as employees. Some of the managers in retail do not agree with the ROWE program because it gives to much freedom for employees to do just as they please.
The stress comes when as Kirshbaum says with everyone out of the office how do you know that the person left in the office is the one that is getting all the work dumped on them. Also with workers that are worried about having to work 24hours because with ROWE program that is what you are doing even though you are not in the office that does not in the office who says that you may not get an call or email at any given moment that contains to work. As one of the employees stated ROWE can be hard for people that have a routine schedule or wants order in their life. 5. Discuss whether or not the organizational culture has helped with the change.
I can honestly say that I do believe that the organizational culture has helped with the change. It has given everyone a chance to adjust to the new way. They even Payne 4 went as far as having ROWE training. As a current employee of Best Buy I can say any change that the company has they have training. We just this year we had TRUST training. These training are to introduce the new program as well as give everyone hands up on what to expect. Sources Hellriegel, D. , & Slocum, J. W. , Jr. (2011). Organizational behavior: 2011 custom edition (13th ed. ). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning
