Patagonia, Inc.
Background and History Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia, Inc. founded in 1957 and the company consisted of a variety of outdoor sports equipment and clothing. The products were sold wholesale to specialty outdoor gear retailers in North America, Europe, and Japan, through mail order, through 22 company-owned retail stores in the United State, Japan, and Europe, and through distributors in Italy, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and Korea (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2012). In 1997, Patagonia grossed over $158 million in sales and had over 750 employees. Yvon had a strong belief in how the company should operate. He expected the products to be of high quality but also expected high quality customer service, quality workplace, …show more content…
However, the Workbook Process is very costly and time consuming, as not all employees understand how the process operates. The Workbook Process also lacked motivational agreements, or the capability to create a connection between organizational incentives and the goals reached by the Workbook Process. Patagonia management was also not aware of how long the process should be utilized for it to be effective. In addition, Patagonia has poor incentive programs. It was not made clear to employees of the criteria in which was necessary to achieve a bonus and individual liability was difficult to achieve, as management was unable to measure individual performance, which in turn caused a decrease in confidence among employees. Lastly, Patagonia did not have any formal hiring polices, as it was shown, Yvon would hire anyone he felt had a good personality. Lacking formal hiring policies allowed some employees to be unaccommodating of the workbook …show more content…
Patagonia, implemented the Workbook Process to obtain the views and opinions of their employees, and to keep them well informed with how the company is doing financially. The Workbook Process is a great system; however, it came with some negative implications. The Workbook Process was very costly and did not recognize employees for their individual performance, which allowed employees to view the process negatively. By implementing a few changes to the process, such as finding a way to evaluate employees on a group and individual level will allow employees who perform well to be recognized and rewarded. As result of implementing some changes to the system, Patagonia will save money by making the system more cost-effective and should see an increase in employee participation and
Background and History Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia, Inc. founded in 1957 and the company consisted of a variety of outdoor sports equipment and clothing. The products were sold wholesale to specialty outdoor gear retailers in North America, Europe, and Japan, through mail order, through 22 company-owned retail stores in the United State, Japan, and Europe, and through distributors in Italy, Argentina, Chile, Australia, and Korea (Merchant & Van der Stede, 2012). In 1997, Patagonia grossed over $158 million in sales and had over 750 employees. Yvon had a strong belief in how the company should operate. He expected the products to be of high quality but also expected high quality customer service, quality workplace, …show more content…
However, the Workbook Process is very costly and time consuming, as not all employees understand how the process operates. The Workbook Process also lacked motivational agreements, or the capability to create a connection between organizational incentives and the goals reached by the Workbook Process. Patagonia management was also not aware of how long the process should be utilized for it to be effective. In addition, Patagonia has poor incentive programs. It was not made clear to employees of the criteria in which was necessary to achieve a bonus and individual liability was difficult to achieve, as management was unable to measure individual performance, which in turn caused a decrease in confidence among employees. Lastly, Patagonia did not have any formal hiring polices, as it was shown, Yvon would hire anyone he felt had a good personality. Lacking formal hiring policies allowed some employees to be unaccommodating of the workbook …show more content…
Patagonia, implemented the Workbook Process to obtain the views and opinions of their employees, and to keep them well informed with how the company is doing financially. The Workbook Process is a great system; however, it came with some negative implications. The Workbook Process was very costly and did not recognize employees for their individual performance, which allowed employees to view the process negatively. By implementing a few changes to the process, such as finding a way to evaluate employees on a group and individual level will allow employees who perform well to be recognized and rewarded. As result of implementing some changes to the system, Patagonia will save money by making the system more cost-effective and should see an increase in employee participation and