Bella's: Can Kris Jenkins help Bella's? CASE DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS The case depicts a new general manager's concern that job satisfaction and employee engagement have reached such low levels that the organization is in crisis

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Bella's: Can Kris Jenkins help Bella's?

CASE DESCRIPTION/SYNOPSIS The case depicts a new general manager's concern that job satisfaction and employee engagement have reached such low levels that the

organization is in crisis.

THE COMPANY Bella's is a full-service day spa and hair salon featuring a wide variety of

spa treatments including full body massages, body scrubs and wraps, European facials, specialty manicures and pedicures, skin treatments, waxing, and hair coloring services. Bella's also features a retail department which specializes in unique custom jewelry. Bella's flagship store and headquarters are in a city with a population of approximately 250,000 people in the southern United States. It also has spas/salons in four other smaller cities (all with populations over 40,000) in the same state. Last year, Bella averaged approximately 25 employees per store; annual sales last year were approximately $3M, a decrease of 12% from the previous year. The company lost money last year for the first time since it started operating. The management of Bella's considers the firm to be a one-of-a-kind establishment serving a wide segment of the population. The success and growth of Bella's has far exceeded Illa Fitzgerald's (the founder and owner of the business) original expectations.

COMPANY HISTORY The company was founded twelve years ago by Illa Fitzgerald, a

former beautician/massage therapist who had worked in the salon industry since finishing cosmetology school at age 21. She used an SBA loan, investment dollars from five family members, and her personal life savings to fulfill her dream of owning her own spa/salon. Her vision was to create a unique company that offered a complete array of products and services aimed at creating and maintaining healthy minds, bodies, and spirits. The company is now 12 years old, and Illa takes great pride in knowing that her company has come very close to achieving her vision.

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Illa recognized from the beginning that her business/managerial experience was very limited, and she knew that managing the day to day operations of her business had very limited appeal to her. So three months before the salon opened, she hired Lynne Gibson as general manager of Bella's. Lynne Gibson had served as the general manager of Bella's since its inception. Prior to taking this position, Lynne had worked at a major women's clothing retailer, initially as a management trainee and finally as a regional manager. Before Bella's, Lynne and Illa, while not close friends, were certainly acquaintances who had gotten to know each other.

Illa had shared her dream with Lynne and had often told her "you know when I do this thing, I want you to come run it for me." Lynne never really gave it much thought, but when Illa made a formal offer, Lynne decided it would be a good been very successful in retailing-- take a toll on her personal life. A single mother of two, Lynne decided that this change would be a new challenge, and it would also enable her to be more successful in balancing family and career. From day one, Lynne basically was involved in or made all the managerial decisions at Bella's. Though Illa was certainly the lead player in strategic decisions, Lynne was the ultimate decision maker for anything operational. Bella's began with six employees: Illa, Lynne, three hair stylists, and one massage therapist. All were friends or acquaintances of the owner. Very little recruiting took place in the initial hires, beyond Illa convincing them to come and be a part of her new business.

A salary was offered with a promise of "as we grow and become more and more successful, I'll make sure you're rewarded for your contribution." A year ago, Lynne Gibson decided to leave to get a Master's degree in Education. Illa resisted change, and was troubled by change, so she managed to convince Lynne to remain as a consultant to the company while working on her degree. Lynne's new role was to offer input and advice on any and all issues of Illa's choosing. Prior to this point, Lynne was the general manager of Bella's Incorporated; she also served as the store manager of its flagship location. Within her store, a Retail Manager and a Service Manager reported directly to Lynne. Additionally, the Store Managers at each of the other four stores reported to Lynne.

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 Lynne, GM of Bella's Incorporated, Flagship Store Manager

  Flagship Retail manager

other 4 store managers

Within each store, individual store managers were the only employees serving in a supervisory position with each being responsible for all daily operational issues of his/her salon. All other responsibilities/decisions for individual locations were Lynne's - including purchasing, marketing, financial, and human resource decisions. Individual store managers did have the opportunity to offer informal input into hiring decisions for his/her store. The salon managers' salaries averaged approximately $32,000 annually. Three had college degrees, and they averaged four years of experience. Each began as a part time sales clerk/receptionist either at Bella's or at another salon.

Bella's offered a benefits package that was good for an organization of its size. This included health insurance (the employees shared in the cost of the premiums with Illa's and Lynne's being paid totally by the firm) and retirement (in which Bella's made modest contributions).

THE CURRENT SITUATION Kris Jenkins started her job as new GM of Bella's a month

ago. Her career began as a hairdresser after finishing cosmetology school. Ten years later, Kris completed her Business degree and was the store manager of a national chain located in a mall in a midsize southern city. Her ultimate goal was to own her own salon, but she did not feel that she was yet prepared either financially or from an experience standpoint.

Flagship Service manager

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Though she had learned many valuable lessons managing the firm in the mall, she recognized that she had limited decision-making experience. She was hoping to make a career move that would enable her to have direct input regarding all top management decisions of a salon. That was the main reason that she decided to take the General Manager's position at Bella's. Her career goals were almost identical to those of Bella's owner 12 years ago. Illa had achieved what Kris aspired to achieve. Also, her background was essentially the same as Illa's - Kris had discovered a new role model. What could be better?

As Kris sat at her desk this morning, things didn't appear nearly as ideal. She began replaying three events in her mind:

1. After the offer but before accepting the position, Kris had spent time with Lynne (the

previous general manager of the organization), discussing a variety of topics. Bella's numbers had deteriorated dramatically in the past year. Profits were down; absenteeism was up; turnover, while not dramatic, was higher than it had been in the past five years. And while no formal performance appraisals had been done in the past year, Lynne provided her assessment of the performance of all Bella's key people.

It was clear that Lynne felt each manager was performing significantly below their capabilities, and significantly below previous levels of performance. After their discussions, several things stood out to Kris. First of all, Lynne was very reluctant to criticize Bella's employees. But between promises of secrecy and reading between the lines, it was clear that Lynne had serious concerns - and they centered around Illa. As their discussions continued, Lynne doubted Illa's ability to provide Kris the autonomy needed to effectively manage Bella's. This appeared to stem primarily from two things: a) Illa's unexpected interference with limited information about the issues or problems, and b) Illa's tendency to regularly monopolize the manager's time on trivial or personal matters , keeping the manager from focusing on the needs of the salon.

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2.After the time with Lynne, but before taking the position, Kris spent three days at Bella's. She had stayed at the spa from opening to closing to visit with all the employees. While the conversations had been pleasant, it seemed pretty apparent that many, if not all, seemed reluctant to be totally honest. Though none had directly put down the company or the owner, body language and incomplete or evasive answers had concerned Kris at the time. She worried that employees simply did not feel good about their jobs or the company.

3. Though she had spent a great deal of time with Illa, the day she actually accepted the job was critical. Due to numerous concerns that became evident while talking with Lynne and employees, Kris was leaning heavily toward turning down the job. But after respectfully discussing these concerns with Illa, Kris began to change her mind. Illa addressed each issue, giving the impression that she recognized the problem and was willing do whatever it took to correct performance—including stepping away and giving Kris autonomy to make all operational decisions at Bella's. Illa was very persuasive, and Kris decided to reconsider her decision to decline the position. At the end of the day, she told Illa she would take the position. Kris was excited—she knew this would be a wonderful career move - -but also worried. Could she really turn Bella's around? And would she have the freedom to do it?

"Enough reflection," Kris said out loud. "Get to work." She had the results of the employee survey she had conducted over the past two weeks. The survey was an attempt to measure the job satisfaction and employee engagement of Bella's employees. It was similar to the survey that she used in her previous job. Kris had been involved in implementing changes at her previous salon based on results of these surveys -- changes that had been quite effective in terms of improving outcomes. She was optimistic that some insights in these two areas might lead to the same thing occurring at Bella's. (See Appendix, Employee Survey Results) On the promise of anonymity, no names were attached to any surveys; however, the outcomes, while there

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were some positives, were quite troubling. What messages were being sent? And, most importantly given this information, what should she do now?

APPENDIX : EMPLOYEE SURVEY INSTRUMENT EMPLOYEE SURVEY

The purpose of this is to determine job satisfaction and employee engagement of Bella's employees. Please take a few minutes to complete and return the survey form. Your responses are anonymous. Thanks so much.

  Response (1 Strongly Agree, 7 Strongly Disagree)

I am very satisfied with the work I do.

I am very satisfied concerning promotional opportunities.

I am very satisfied with my relationship with my supervisor.

I am very satisfied with my relationship with my coworkers.

I am very satisfied with the owner. Overall, I am very satisfied with my job

I know what is expected of me at work.

I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work.

At work, I have the opportunity every day to do what I do best.

I regularly receive recognition and praise for doing good work.

My supervisor cares about me as a person.

The owner cares about me as a person. There is someone at work who encourages my development.

At work, my opinions seem to count.

The mission of the firm makes me feel my job is important

My coworkers are doing quality work.

I have a best friend at work.

Someone at work regularly talks to me about my progress.

In the past year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Salon Manager Average Score 5

2

2 5

1 3 2 4

4

2

4

2 2

2 4

5 3 1

4

Hairstylist Average Score 6

3

3 5

1 3 6 6

6

2

4

2 2

1 4

5 4 2

4

Spa Service Average Score 5

3

3 5

1 3 6 5

5

2

5

2 2

1 5

6 5 2

4

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