CASE ANALYSIS

Natalie the Retail Manager

Overview

This case is conducted on the basis of a girl’s five year career. She did not let go any

opportunity without challenge. As a fresh graduate she started her career as an Assistant

Manager of a very renowned company. Along with the success, she was covered by lots of

stresses and health problems in the very early stage of her life. Moreover she had to face negative

work culture, hostile attitude, and political battles from the subordinate and colleagues. But she

successfully managed these obstacles and learned how to act with various political behaviors and

also turned the environment to some extent by improving teamwork. She had a positive

perception about the organization that they are caring about the employees which was actually

wrong. In spite of these barriers she stuck with the organization for five years. At the end of five

years, finally she got her reward- An offer to be a store manager.

Introduction of Natalie :

Natalie was a student of a large state University of Pennsylvania and had a dual major in

marketing and management .She lived in Pennsylvania with her parents. Natalie believed

education, skill & ambition lead to a rewarding career. She believed it’s better to have career in

management rather than in marketing because in management field she could rise quickly.

Natalie can be described based on the below point of view:

Started the career at Enigma with cheerful mind:

After graduation she was looking for job and facing some interview. Natalie had joined in retail

store because it offers the best opportunity .and in this sector she had chance to apply her dual

majors. Natalie was happy to join in Enigma and her excitement for first job was not allow her

more time to think more even to talk to her parents . She was impressed to see the proactive

development programs and corporate culture.

Scenario had changed and work under stress:

Stress can be defined as harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a

poor match between relationships among coworkers and management and lack of opportunities

or motivation to advancement in one’s skill level. Natalie’s perception about the organization

had changed that Enigma stress on individual capability rather than team work .Again they

treated the employee as human capital. There was no emotional binding with other coworker and

supervisor .The work culture was not positive and she received hostile behavior from her

subordinate .She had no recreation or leisure time ,had to work for 24/7 and all these stuff

compiled to think about leaving the job within six month of joining.

Arising Dilemma regarding career:

Though stress in work but she was successful to improve the work environment of her

department. After five years later Natalie confronted with some rough decision .Dilemma is

between career and personal life.

Q2- Do u think enigma was right in the approaches it used to recruit Natalie?

Answer- well, I am also a graduate as well as Natalie. So I will answer this question from two

perspective-Graduate student perspective and Organizational perspective.

Graduate student perspective: from this viewpoint I think Enigma’s approaches of recruitment

of Natalie was right. because Enigma gave Natalie the opportunity to gather job experiences as a

fresher which will be so much helpful for her future career life because many of her friends are

still looking for a perfect job position. As all of you have seen in the newspaper or well-known

jobsite named as Bdjob.com that if you try to submit your CV to any suitable job circular, you

will get a column of requirement mentioned “Job experinece:5-10 years, or 1-3 years” etc. so my

question is- unless any company give the freshers the opportunity to enter into a job in their

company, how can we-the freshers will gather job experiences. So how can we will be able to fill

up that job experience requirement column. Natalie got it from Enigma. So I do think that

Enigma’s this approach was right.

Organizational perspective: from this viewpoint I will not be agreed with Enigma’s approach

because it’s recruitment process for Natalie was too risky. Although Natalie has dual majorship-

in management and marketing but it is not prove that she is capable enough to handle this big

responsibility. They believed in her talent but it was quiet risky. Natalie may be failed and

Enigma may haves faced losses for her. Although it did not happen but there was a question of

risk in this situation after all she was been appointed as an important role- assistant manager not

a simple trainee.

should an employer have a moral obligation to always use realistic recruitment?

Answer- yes, an employer should have a moral obligation to always use realistic recruitment. An

employer should balance between the applicant’s perspective and organizational perspective. He

should consider the real talents and capabilities of the applicants whom are recruiting along with

the company’s mission and goal. He should not give any fresher a big load of responsibility as

Natalie which is a subject of risk for the company. Again, the applicant should not be given any

position which is not suitable with his or her qualifications and ability. He or she should not be

given any work full of extra stress and not useful for future career life for which the applicants

loose their will toward job life.

Here, in this case, Enigma has given a chance to Natalie to become an assistant manager just as a

fresher whereas Natalie’s friends are still fighting for a suitable position for them. so that Natalie

had to face many difficulties to manage her subordinate who were elder than her in case of age

and tenure but instead of Natalie if Enigma would give a chance to any of the elder employees

who had 5 years more job experiences than Natalie then I think the staff’s confidence and

encouragement of work would be retained and this type of problems did not arise. Similarly

Natalie did nit need to face lots of stresses which damaged her health severely at very early stage

of her life.

Q3-Do you believe that the” survival of the fittest” approach that Enigma used in developing its

managers was an appropriate strategy?

Answer- yes, I believe that the “survival of the fittest” approach that Enigma used was an

appropriate strategy in developing its managers, But before explaining “how”?lets knows first –

who are managers?

Survival of the fittest is a way how employee will start to expose or utilize their personal skill.

This strategy will help employee to figure out their dormant skill. This approach will find out the

store’s best competent personnel who will lead the company. This way company can develop the

employee who can manage the store very well, because she/he will be the one who knows the

organizations ins & out very well. She then can make policy which will best fit to the store.

Managers are those who managed everything within and outside of organization which are

related to their business. So managers must have the ability to fit in every circumstance in the

organizations and survive it till the goal is achieved. In one sense, managers are known as leaders

and anyone van not be a leader. He must have some special qualities to survive in any situation

and lead the team toward success. So I think the approach that Enigma used is appropriate for

development of managers .because of this a manager will get an opportunity to face the real life

situation of an organization and to test their real talents and capabilities of being a manager.” a

bird can not learn to fly unless it will be thrown from a high place to bottom”. So, nothing is

different in the case to find out real managers.

Do you think Natalie should have been more forceful in trying to correct managerial and cultural

wrongs that she observed?

Answer- no, I don’t think that Natalie should have been more forceful in her management

practice. Because of two reasons-

Firstly, Natalie was the youngest employee in Enigma. At very early age she became the

assistant manager whereas there were many employees who were elder in age and working

period than Natalie and were working under the supervision of her, what they could not accept

and disobeyed her. Beside this, the staffs at Enigma store had a negative view of management

because of it’s abusive attitude to them and the employees were been treated as nothing more

than human capital.

Secondly, we know that worker’s nature is not trying to adjust with any strict and stressful

situation. The more they would be pressurized and forced, the less they would be productive, the

less they would cope up with management.

For the above reasons, Natalie has followed the flexible way. She learned to implement changes

and improvement in her dept. in a quiet fashion. Because more hard and strictness would result

more complex situation for Natalie and bring difficulties for Natalie to achieve the company’s

goal and mission. so that Natalie adopted such strategy to correct managerial and cultural wrongs

that she observed which are flexible, friendly in nature to the staffs. She has act as a caring,

friendly supervisor. So employees can share their views to her, they do not think themselves as a

human capital to the organization rather than an important member of it. Thus her effort became

successful to encourage team work as a way to improve performance and by the end of 1 st year

her dept. stood up 2nd to dept. in the store.

Q4-do you agree with Natalie’s decision to “stick it out for a while longer”with Enigma after

she had been on the job for a year?

Answer- yes, I do agree with Natalie’s decision to “stick it out for a while longer” with Enigma.

Because she is suffering from severe migraines, heartburn problemsso her physician adviced her

not to find or involved in any stressful job.so,if she moves on to another job then she has to face

lots of stresses than this present situation.

Should Natalie have been more proactive in considering other employment options at this point

in her career?

Answer- no ,I don’t think that Natalie should have been more proactive in considering other

empolyment options in her career.

Well,lets explain it.Natalie is an women.so we all know there is a huge difference to think about

a career based on men perspective and women perspective.So,as an women she had to face many

difficulties on the job situation.she has to think about her job life along with her family

life.moreover as an employee at Enigma company,Natalie herself found lots of pros outweigh the

cons here.lets check out what are these-

Pros

Nice salary increases

Bonus

Major promotion

Great opportunity just as a fresher

Enlargement of her job experiences.

Cons

Lots of stresses and health problem

Hostile attitude of her subordinate

Negative work culture

So,if she would consider other options regarding her career that means if she wants to impove

her position,her rank then she would have to take more stress along with more power of

supervision.besides these,she will have to bear lots of obstacles regarding to her

family,marriage,fiance and on. So anything she should consider for her career will affect her

personal lifewhat she does not want.so it would be wise to try to balance her personal life and

professional life.

So, what situation she is in now is quiet managable wih her family life but if she accepts the

promotion offer to be a manager proposed by Enigma then she would have to leave her current

city which is not required by her fiance.But if she forced him a bit then may be he would be

convinced what Natalie does not want. So,based on her personal life requirement and health

requirement-I have been agreed with this decision to stick out with the present situation for a

while longer.

Q5-If you were in Natalie’s shoes after 5 years with Enigma,what career and lofe choices would

u be prepared to make?

Answer- if I were in Natalie’s place after 5 years with Enigma,I would prefer to choose personal

life before career.i would stay in my existing position as an assistant manager and reject the offer

of being a manager.

Because,to me,family comes first.i would sacrifice anything so easily for my family.if I consider

myself as a career oriented person then I would say-I am quiet successful in my career and I am

lucky that I got the success at very early stage of my career.i started my career life as an assistant

manager just of being a graduate and gathered lots of job experiences which will be so much

helpful for my future career life whereas my other graduate friends are still fighting to survive in

this job field.i got more than enough.so I can reluctantly think that I am in a sustainable position

now.thatswhy I want to focus on my family life rather than become more aggressive about my

career.i don’t want to force my family,don’t want to disappoint them just for my own career

ambition.

Again,we all know that-health is wealth.so if I could keep myself fit and sound then sooner or

later I can make my dreams come true.otherwise all will be simply zero.as I hold a position of

assistant manager,it has given me lots of stresses and work pressure,which is harmful for my

health and its just the starting point of my career.if I reject the offer of being manager this time

then may be it would be difficult to get such opportunity anytime soon but if I gain experiences

then after more 5-10 years,I could switch to other company and can get high rank position than

present.in the mean time I can settle down my family life and keep myself out of lots of stresses

and make myseil fit and sound.because the more high the rank of position,the more the pressure

and stress of responsibility.

What are the key factors thatyou would consider in making your choices?

(answer kivabe likhkbo bujhtesina)

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_stress