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Walgreens

In: Business and Management

Submitted By vkozal
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Walgreens was founded in 1901 by Charles R Walgreens Sr. Charles purchased a drug store that he was working at and created Walgreens’ Drug Store. This goal became much more than expected as the store grew. Charles Walgreen Sr was not only the manager but president of his company. In 1800’s most if not all companies managers were the owners of the companies. In a matter of eight years Walgreens was no longer a single store. By the time the second drug store opened there was enough money and experience to hire managers and other employees. Because Charles knew what it was like to be an unhappy employee he strived for his employees to be different. Charles trained his employees under these guidelines “let the customers finish making the complaint – never interrupt. Say softly that you are sorry he/she has been put to this trouble and you understand how he/she feels, even though the customer is wrong, make the exchange or adjustments”,(Scott Smith,2014). “Because Walgreens treated his workers well he tried to hire only those who would be prospective managers or better,” (Scott Smith, 2014). One thing Charles did when a new store opened was he would have an old manager run it while the new manager was training. This was a good approach on his behalf. Not only did he know the store was being ran right but the new manager was being trained by someone well trusted. A manager’s role is never easy. Dealing with an upset customer, to dealing with off inventory. Managers not only are responsible for their own job but they are also responsible for the employees under them. A manager has to let their employees know there task to be completed, while doing this the manager has to be respectful, understanding, and being helpful in the matter. Most managers hold a lot of power and control. Like for instance with Walgreens “he gave managers authority to make a lot of decisions with in the general corporate standards and awarded bonuses based on sales” (Scott Smith, 2014). Some challenges a manager may have to face daily is an employee not meeting the companies standards for example with Walgreens they offer a balance rewards, it is up to the cashier to offer this to a customer or ask if they are have this so that the customers can have the great deals that Walgreens offers. If the employee don’t ask or offer they may not meet the goal percentage asked by the company. Another challenge would be an upset customer. A good example here is a customer buys a product and the product is expired or not sealed right. This customer is not going to be happy and will have a complaint. These challenges today may seem simple to handle. Giving an employee a warning, a write up, and possible termination. Helping an upset customer out by refunding there money or replacing their item with a better or new one. Twenty five years ago not so simple. Employment rates were lower so you had to hang on to all the employees you had. A manager may not have been able to refund or exchange a bad product for an upset customer. Inventory being less then what it is now days and sales being lower as well. Managers face many obstacles and challenges every day. Now in 2014 it’s easier for a manager to deal with these challenges compared to twenty five years ago.

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