...CASE STUDY 5-1:158 VETEMENTS LTEE Case Synopsis Vêtements Ltée is a chain of men's retail clothing stores located throughout the province of Quebec, Canada. Two years ago, the company introduced new incentive systems for both store managers and sales employees. However, the sales employees began to engage in activities that had an adverse effect on inventory management, employee cooperation, and customer relations. The store managers have tried, with limited success, to correct these problems. Discussion Questions with Suggested Answers 1. What symptom(s) exist in this case to suggest that something has gone wrong? • Employees stand near the store entrance, creating customer service problems, • Occasional conflict among employees over ‘ownership’ of customers • Some parts of store are left unattended, • Employees are unwilling to restock and reorder inventory • Employee morale has fallen, particularly in terms of poorer relations with the store manager 2. What are the underlying problems that have led to these symptoms? In other words, what theories explain what went wrong in this case? Expectancy theory Expectancy theory can be applied to this case to explain employee motivation to hoard customers at the store entrance rather than (a) attend to lower traffic parts of the store and (b) complete inventory duties. The E‐to‐P expectancy is likely least important because it is almost certain that any employee can stand near the front of the store to hoard customers. However...
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