Rowe Program at Best Buy

Robin Carter

June 6, 2011

BUS 520, Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Dr. C. M. Jones

Describe the culture of Best Buy.

According to the Families and Work Institute, the numbers of people in the US that stated they were overworked, rose from 28% in 2001 to 44% in 2009 (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 553). The ROWE program was Best Buys’ attempt to recreate a “work-life balance” amongst their employees. The Result-Only Work Environment program, ROWE, enabled employees to work when and where they chose to, as long as the job was done (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 553).

The ROWE program consists of principals that allow the work place to have a different view on work philosophy. The key principals consist of not having a set work schedule but an obligation to produce results, having elective meetings, having a lack of judgment of concerning how fellow colleagues spend their time; work being seen as performance output and not as a designated place (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 553).

Prior to the carrying out of the ROWE program, Best Buy’s employees made sacrifices and worked long hours until they found a solution. Best Buy employees suffered low moral and there were high job turn over rates. Employees spent a lot of time in spur-of-the-moment meetings initiated by management. Employees were called upon to complete reports without prior notice. Cali Ressler, a human resource executive, noticed women were accepting part-time status and pays in order to spend more time with their families but still working at a full-time performance level (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, p. 554). Paranoid

Discuss the approach to organizational change that the ROWE program illustrates.

According to Steve White, the president of Comcast Cable, West Division, change starts with leaders who set the pace based on the employees they have selected to hire (Chambers, December, 2010, p.43). According to Best Buy’s change process, their...