To Daryl Perrone and Marilyn Gonzalez, Tanglewood’s mission briefly described is to be the best outdoor department store for their customers, while being committed to everyone involved with the organization. Tanglewood values responsible financial management, clear and honest communication, and always keeping performance and customer service in the forefront. With this information in mind, we need to restructure the organization’s staffing and training standards. One of the most important areas in department stores is the quality of customer service. In order to be successful, the employees at Tanglewood must be content with their position and be knowledgeable about the products in the stores. The ideal match for store associates would be to bring in employees who are also interested in outdoor activities, outgoing individuals. As for the warehouse associates, a clean job and criminal history is a requirement. For associates in leadership and managerial positions, promoting from within would be ideal to create a sense of belonging and loyalty. Education and/or experience will also need to be verified for the leadership and managerial positions, if the associate is lacking in either then we must try to provide adequate training.

Strategic Staffing Decisions
Staffing Levels
Acquire or Develop Talent: As far as acquiring or developing talent, I think it will vary depending on the job vacancy we are trying to fill. For positions up to Department Manager, I believe Tanglewood should be able to develop talent. If associates have been around for a while, they have a clear sense of the organization’s culture and its demands, like I mentioned above, it also promotes a sense of belonging and loyalty. For positions above Department Manager, Tanglewood should only look at the potential employee’s qualifications. The most qualified individual should hold the position to help direct the organization in the right direction.
Hire Yourself or Outsource: In regards to Tanglewood’s recruiting and hiring, I believe the organization has a strong enough HR department to handle the responsibilities of acquiring new employees. Most associate’s positions at Tanglewood are non-leadership roles so heavy recruiting will not be necessary.
External or Internal Hiring: This goes hand in hand with acquiring or developing talent, I believe. For most positions, I believe Tanglewood should try to hire from within as long as the associate is qualified to hold the position. If training can be provided, internal hiring will be sufficient and effective. The higher the job title, the less Tanglewood can focus on which hiring process to use and more attention should be focused mainly on the potential employee’s qualifications and person-organization match.
Core or Flexible Workforce: I think that a mixture of both core and flexible employees should be used at Tanglewood with the majority of employees being part of the core workforce. Since Tanglewood is a department store it has high and low business seasons throughout the year as the weather changes or holidays approach, so being able to have a flexible workforce to help out during peak times of the year would be ideal. Students would be a perfect match as seasonal workers since school occupies most of their time, they would not have a problem with temporary work. As long as there are no empty promises made to the seasonal workers, things should go smoothly.
Hire or Retain: Retaining employees is very important for Tanglewood to focus on. Retaining fits in with the organizations mission and values and will make the organization more successful. A low turnover ratio means less training and leads to familiarity with employees which will also save the organization money and time to focus in other areas which might be in need of improvement. Employee satisfaction leads to customer satisfaction so Tanglewood’s employees need to feel like they are being compensated accordingly.
National or Global: