Tanglewood Case 1

Staffing Levels

1. Acquire or Develop Talent

According to the case, Tanglewood already has a total of 243 stores opened in the states of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona and has been looking forward to expanding the stores in westward. In deciding whether to acquire new talents or develop the existing talents, it is best for Tanglewood to develop the existing talents for the existing stores and acquire new talents for newly acquired stores.

It is best suggested for Tanglewood to develop the existing talent who already knows the internal culture of the workplace. By focusing talent development approach, Tanglewood employees, at all the levels, can learn the requisite KSAOs (knowledge, skill, ability, and other characteristics) so that jobs are performed effectively. Developing the talent for the existing stores not only prepares Tanglewood employees to perform, but also inspires them to perform. It motivates them to make the most of the skills and capabilities they acquire in order to differentiate Tanglewood from its competitors like Kohl’s and Target.

However, considering the company’s good steady pace with opening new stores, developing the talent can be a difficult thing for a company because of the time constraint. In this case, it is best for a company to acquire new employees who can “hit the ground running” and be at peak performance the moment they arrive. It assures that the new candidates have the required job requirements in form of the qualifications or KSAOs needed to perform the job effectively in no time.

2. Hire Yourself or Outsource

Being one of the biggest retail stores, Tanglewood should focus on hiring yourself rather than outsourcing. In order to ensure that the hired individuals are the right candidates for the right position, Tanglewood should screen and identify the appropriate hires. By hiring yourself, Tanglewood can achieve the centralization the...