Nordstrom Organizational Culture

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Author: B. Galindo Nordstrom: A Culture for the Customer Nordstrom was first founded as a small company in the year 1901 by John W. Nordstrom & Carl Wallin. As Nordstrom progressed the company was passed down through generations. It was very important to the company that it remain a family establishment. With a philosophy to offer the customer “the best possible service, selection, quality and value,” (Nordstrom, 2009) they developed a culture that focused on a family environment and meeting the customers every need. Nordstrom’s values & philosophy have become well known. They provide an extreme emphasis on customer satisfaction. Employees are known to go well out of their way to provide the best possible service,…show more content…
Nordstrom does not offer extensive training programs to its customers. Employees are paid on a commission basis, they are surrounded by a very competitive environment and it is ingrained in them that customer satisfaction is key. Employees needing to train new employees may not emphasize to the new employee why the need for customer satisfaction is so important. Also, because of the competitive environment, it may cause the employee to not train the new employee appropriately because of threat to their sales, which could in turn cause a misconception of their family environment. There is no training program for them that state any reasons why the culture of the company relies on customer satisfaction. So in this case some employees may feel resentment for having to put so much effort into making their customer happy. For instance, some Nordstrom employees may feel that it is too difficult to meet the needs of some of their customers. Employees are expected to go out of their way, even to work long hours or beyond their hours to meet their customers’ needs, but they do not get compensated for any overtime. The environment for this employee could be very stressful and cause them to not want to put much effort into sales. If they pass this experience on to a new employee, the new employee will have a negative perception of the…show more content…
Workers work on commission and some may do anything in their power to meet certain standards, believing that it aligns with Nordstrom’s philosophy. Nordstrom emphasizes that you should make the customer happy to go beyond your limits to satisfy their needs. This could affect the perceptions of the organization. Customers could expect the employees to be available for their every need and tend to things that have nothing to do with the company, which in turn the employee will abide with because they want to make the customer happy. For instance, employees have been known to make restaurant reservations for customers coming in from out of town, they have been known to make special deliveries to a customers house and even send tailors to those who cannot come to the store. You have to ask yourself, where does Nordstrom draw the line on customer
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