Swazzi is a national chain of clothing stores. It produces and sells women's and men's clothing, footwear, and accessories. In general, it targets high-income consumers, focusing on high product prices.

Swazzi's Northeast Region, its largest, has just experienced its worst fiscal year on record. The region is in terrible shape. Sales are far below expectations and continue to stagnate. Nearly every store is underperforming. Turnover is high and some of the best salespeople are jumping ship. Morale is low.

J.K. Miller has been hired as the new Northeast Division Manager and tasked with turning around the region in short order. J.K. is especially concerned about employee motivation and store leaders. J.K. observes that most employees do not like their jobs, show little respect for the company, and exhibit little affinity with corporate objectives. Correcting these conditions is crucial to improving performance quickly.

J.K. visits Swazzi's flagship store to talk to Store Manager Sean. Over lunch, J.K. asks Sean to be candid about the reasons for poor sales performance at his store and other stores in the region. Sean says: "I have yet to visit a store in the region where the atmosphere is energized. No one seems to have any direction, and employees put only sporadic effort into their work. The sales teams don't seem to care about selling; they're unprofessional in their appearance and in the way they treat customers. Many members of the sales team don't seem to understand the commission system, and many see it as unfair. Absenteeism and turnover are high, even among the team leaders. I have to admit even I don't have much enthusiasm for my job. I also heard from different stores’ employees about some store managers being too laid back and unhelpful, but I don’t have any other details."

The company definitely has problems in the Northeast Division. J.K. remembers the Organizational Behavior class from college years; J.K. is sure OB topics and theories can help solve these problems.

As a team your job is to help J.K. solve the problems using applicable OB concepts and theories. You will need to identify possible root causes of the problem, identify the OB concepts and theories that are relevant to the case, and develop solutions and recommended action plans.

Required:
Identify the OB concepts and theories of Communication, Leadership, Power, and Politics, Conflict and Negotiation