Personality chapter 6 183

Chapter case study: Building Annas self-esteem

Company setting
Plockmanns ls an excluslve department store located ln the centre of Helslnkl, Plnland.
The store ls famlly-owned, and hlghly successful. |t has four maln oors, wlth varlous
departments sltuated ad[acent to each other on each oor. |n the early sprlng, there was
a decllne ln sales volume experlenced by most departments ln the store. Most employees
attrlbuted the slowdown ln sales to the economlc downturn aectlng the entlre reglon.
Background
Lach department ln the store has a sales supervlsor who reports to the asslstant manager.
The sales supervlsors are all full-tlme, long-term employees of Plockmanns. As a general
rule, the sales supervlsors ln each department do not actlvely sell, but keep the department
well stocked, ensure merchandlse ls presentable, deal wlth speclal orders, and traln sales
personnel. The full-tlme and part-tlme employees do most sales work. Lach asslstant
manager reports to the store manager, Lsa Llndholm, who was a sales supervlsor of a
department for nlne years. The store dlrector, Karl Plockmann, has been wlth the famlly
buslness for o years and wlll be retlrlng ln a few years. Pecently he has delegated most of
the merchandlslng and sales responslbllltles to Llndholm. All sales assoclates at Plockmann
are pald strlctly on an hourly basls. The startlng wage ls [ust above the mlnlmum wage, and
ralses are glven on the basls of length of employment.
Anna Polketa ls the asslstant manager responslble for the basement oor, whlch has
four departments: tools and garden equlpment, furnlture and small electrlcal appllances
(such as kettles and toasters), beddlng and llnen, and large appllances (such as cookers
and televlslons). The supervlsors and sales assoclates ln Polketas departments seem to
get along well wlth each other. |f buslness ls brlsk ln one department and slow ln another,
the salespeople ln the slower area asslst ln the busy department. Anna has been wlth
Plockmanns for four years, slnce graduatlng from a buslness programme. when people
descrlbe her personallty, they typlcally use such words as metlculous, lntelllgent, carlng,
supportlve, sensltlve, dependable and creatlve. She llkes gettlng her sta on board as
opposed to telllng them what to do, sald one full-tlme sales assoclate. Another co-employee
commented, Anna ls adept at [uggllng work schedules and talklng thlngs through wlth us.
Lsa Llndholm, Annas supervlsor, has the reputatlon of belng a skllled merchandlser, and
ln the past has lnltlated many ldeas to lncrease the sales volume of the store. Llndholm
personles the ambltlous manager ln terms of hls work ethlc. what drlves Llndholm! |n hls
management practlces he belleves ln settlng targets, measurlng progress, and ls actlon
orlented, or what some supervlsors at Plockmanns call the readyrealm syndrome.
8eyond hls hearlng, people typlcally used such words as arrogant, egolstlc, Teon-man,
selsh and obnoxlous to descrlbe Llndholms personallty. One sales assoclate sald, o the
record, |ts hls way or the hlghway. what ls more, some of the longer-term supervlsors sald
that Lsa Llndholm was very lmpatlent and that he was sometlmes rude to hls subordlnates
whlle dlscusslng merchandlslng problems wlth them.
The problem
Anna Polketa consulted wlth her sales supervlsors about the reason for the decllnlng
sales volume. The consensus reached was that the level of customer tra c had not been
adequate to allow the departments to achleve a hlgh sales volume. Durlng a one-to-one
meetlng wlth Anna, Llndholm polnted out that some of the other departments ln the store
had experlenced a :z percent galn over the prevlous year, desplte the recesslon. Llndholm
concluded that slnce customer tra c could not be controlled and slnce the departments
had been adequately stocked throughout the year, the lmprovement ln sales must have
been a result of lncreased eort on the part of the sales assoclates ln each department.
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184 part 3 INDIVIDUALS AND WORK
Later, Anna found out that Llndholm had sent a letter around to each department lnformlng
sales assoclates that they mlght be glven fewer hours to work lf sales dld not lmprove.
The followlng week, Llndholm called Anna lnto hls o ce and suggested that each sales
assoclate be lssued wlth a code number to record dally sales. Lach sales assoclate would
enter her or hls sales along wlth |D number, and at the end of the day, a new computerlzed
reglster would total every lndlvlduals personal dally sales. Llndholm sald that by revlewlng
the computer prlntout of lndlvldual sales over a perlod of tlme, he would be able to
determlne who the slackers were. The sales assoclates were to be tralned to use the new
computerlzed sales reglster and about the purpose of the dally tally card. They would also
be told that a monthly commlsslon would be pald on lndlvldual monthly sales, and that
those assoclates who dld not meet a mlnlmum sales target would have thelr hours cut back.
Anna told Llndholm she wanted to conslder thls change, and also dlscuss lt wlth the four
department supervlsors before lmplementlng lt. She told hlm that she would be away on
vacatlon the next two weeks, but that when she returned to work, she would dlscuss thls
proposal wlth the supervlsors.
On returnlng to the store after her vacatlon, Anna was taken aback to see that new
computerlzed reglsters had been lnstalled and each of her sales assoclates was lnputtlng hls
or her |D number when completlng a sales transactlon. when she asked Llndholm why the
new system had been adopted so hurrledly, he replled that when lt came to meetlng sales
targets, no delay could be tolerated.
The new system changed the behavlour of the sales assoclates. They dlllgently entered
all the lnformatlon for each sale. Sales people became much more aggresslve ln thelr sales
eorts: often customers were approached more than once by dlerent assoclates ln each
department. The frlendly conversatlons that had taken place among sales assoclates and
between supervlsors and customers were shortened, and sales were processed through
the computerlzed cash reglsters much more qulckly. when sales actlvlty was slow ln
one department, assoclates would mlgrate to other departments were there were more
customers. Sometlmes conlcts between employees arose because assoclates from the
small appllances and beddlng departments mlgrated to the cookers and televlslons
department and competed for the blg tlcket sales.
A month after the adoptlon of the new system, unloaded carts llned the alsles of
the stockroom and the shelves on the sales oor were poorly stocked. Often customers
asked for ltems that were not on dlsplay, and were told the ltem they deslred was not ln
stock when ln fact lt was stlll waltlng to be unpacked ln the stockroom. Slmllar behavlour
occurred ln the other departments on the three maln oors. when Anna reported her
observatlons of these sltuatlons to Llndholm, she was told that lt was a result of the
assoclates ad[ustlng to the new system and to not worry about lt. Anna polnted out,
however, that sales volume had stlll not lmproved.
Three months later, at Anna Polketas request, Karl Plockmann, Lsa Llndholm and Anna
dld a tour of the four departments on the basement oor. After talklng wlth some of the
supervlsors and sales assoclates on all four oors, Plockmann sent a memo announclng that
the new transactlon system and sales commlsslons would be dlscontlnued at the end of
the month. Sales volume ln the departments dld not lmprove, and two months later Anna
Polketa reslgned from Plockmanns to take up a management posltlon at a rlval store ln
the clty.
Task
Provlde a report to the dlrector, Karl Plockmann, coverlng the followlng polnts:
. How do you account for the change ln the sales assoclates behavlour, and what does lt
say about the eect of personallty!
. To what extent would you say that Lsa Llndholms personallty ls reected ln hls approach
to lmprovlng sales at Plockmanns!
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Personality chapter 6 185
. what mlght our study of personallty tell us about how Anna Polketa reacted to the
sltuatlon!
Sources of additional information
8arrlck, M. P., Stewart, G., Neubert, M. and Mount, M. (:pp8) Pelatlng member ablllty
and personallty to work-team processes and team eectlveness, Journal of Applied
Psychology, 1une, pp. ;;p:.
Lyness, K. and Thompson, D. (zooo) Cllmblng the corporate ladder: do males and female
follow the same route! Journal of Applied Psychology, Pebruary, pp. 86:o:.
vlnkenburg, C. 1., 1ansen, P. G. and Koopman, P. L. (zooo) Pemlnlne leadershlp a revlew
of gender dlerences ln managerlal behavlour and eectlveness, Chapter p ln M. 1.
Davldson and P. 1. 8urke (eds), Women in Management: Current research issues, vol. ||,
London: Sage.
vlslt the Preud Museum ln London webslte at www.freud.org.uk/ for a range of ldeas on
psychoanalysls.
Note
Thls study was wrltten by 1ohn 8ratton, Thompson Plvers Unlverslty, Kamloops, Canada.
Web-based assignment
Porm a group of three to ve people, and vlslt the websltes of any of the followlng
organlzatlons: Mlcrosoft (www.mlcrosoft.com/uk/graduates), Salnsburys
(www.salnsburys.co.uk), 8rltlsh Alrways (www.brltlshalrways.com), and Poyal 8ank of
Scotland (www.royalbankscot.co.uk). what personallty attrlbutes are these organlzatlons
seeklng when they recrult new employees!
Go to www.queendom.com/tests.html and www.support(learnlng.org.uk/ (search for
psychometrlcs) and examlne the psychometrlc tests. Some of these you may take yourself
wlthout applylng for a [ob. How accurate, ln your vlew, ls your personallty prole as revealed
by any of the psychometrlc tests! Do your close frlends agree wlth the assessment! whlch
klnd of psychometrlc tests do you suppose would be more eectlve ln reveallng the more
lmportant aspects of your personallty! why! How much welght should organlzatlons glve
to psychometrlc test results ln employment selectlon! Lxplaln your reasonlng. wrlte a
report detalllng your ndlngs.
OB in lms
The lm The Odd Couple (:p68) centres on the llves of dlvorced Oscar Madlson (played by
walter Matthau) and hls about-to-become-dlvorced best frlend Pellx Ungar (played by 1ack
Lemmon). Pellx moves lnto Oscars New ork at, but the two men have entlrely dlerent
personallty characterlstlcs. whlle Oscar ls dlsorganlzed and untldy, Pellx ls tldy. Thls amuslng
lm traces thelr many lnteractlons as Pellx moves closer to hls dlvorce and Oscar yearns to
llve alone agaln.
watch the rst z mlnutes of the lm. what personallty characterlstlcs do Oscar and Pellx
dlsplay! what personallty types best descrlbe the two characters! what behavlour ln the
lm led you to your concluslons!
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