Best Buy

Running Head: ROWE PROGRAM AT BEST BUY 1

ROWE Program at Best Buy

Michael Diaz

Strayer Business 520

Summer Quarter, 2010

CONFLICT RESOLUTION AT GENERAL HOSPITAL 2

ROWE Program at Best Buy

Describe the culture of Best Buy

Best Buy’s culture before the implementation of the ROWE program “used to embrace

long hours and sacrifice (Hellriegle and Slocum, p. 553)”, and women were accepting reduced

pay and part-time positions, while accomplishing the same work as man, in order to be able to

take care of their families. I any single work could describe the culture at Best Buy before the

implementation of the ROWE program, it would be abuse.

After the implementation of the ROWE program, working conditions and productivity

increased. “Results from the reactions to ROWE have been encouraging. Productivity increased

an average of 35 percent within six to nine months in the Best Buy units that implemented

ROWE (Hellriegle and Slocum, p. 553)”. Besides an improvement of productivity, numbers in

voluntary turnover also improved, specifically in the range of 52 percent to 90 percent, and one

procurement division even “saw voluntary turnover drop from 37 percent a year to less than 6

percent annually (Hellriegle and Slocum, p. 553)”.

The culture in Best Buy has improved so drastically that due to the improvements in

voluntary turn-over, performance, and all around quality of life, Best Buy has opened a new

division, Culture Rx. “Culture Rx offers customized consulting services tailored to the needs of

clients with ROWE at the core of its philosophy (Hellriegle and Slocum, p. 545)”.

Discuss the approach to organizational change that the ROWE program illustrates

The approach to organizational change that the ROWE program has illustrated can be

explained via the ROWE program’s 13 principles. The first of 6 key principle used in the


ROWE program is that there are no traditional work schedules. This approach to work schedules

utilized by an organization when implementing the ROWE program allows for flexible work

schedule which allow employees to spend more time taking care of their families. The second

key principle implemented with ROWE is that most meetings are optional; making meetings

optional is beneficial because it gives more time to employees to work if it is not essential that

they attend specific meetings.

The third key principle of ROWE is that employees are not to judge other colleagues’

schedules, this reduces conflict between colleagues buy removing time from accountability, and

allows everyone to concentrate on their performance versus what their neighbor is doing. The

forth key principle in the ROWE program redefining work a something you do versus a place

you go to. This improves employee morale because it may allow some employees to work from

home, which would eventually translate to more time for employees to spend time at home

versus being stuck in the office.

The fifth key principle of ROWE is the concept that as long as the job is completed,

employees do whatever they want, whenever they want, this is beneficial because it improves

employee morale by giving employees more control over their work and time. The sixth and

final key principle of ROWE is that quality of work is measured by quality and results, not time;

by measuring work performance by results versus time, employees are motivated to work faster

and more efficiently.

The implementation of these six key ROWE principles, along with the other seven,

allowed Best Buy to approach organizational change, while encountering minimal resistance

from the organization or employees; the following section will discuss any resistance, both


organization and individual that the Best Buy had to overcome while implementing the ROWE

program.

Discuss the resistance, both organization and individual that the ROWE program had to

overcome

Even though the implementation of ROWE has contributed to an improvement in torn-

over, morale, and a reduction of stress and conflict, some resistance and conflict was experience,

mostly from the managers. For example, Tom Blesener, a manager of 27 employees in the

extended-warrantee services division, resisted having to give-up some control of his employees,

“he [could not] stop by his employees’ desk and spring deadlines on them (Hellriegle and

Slocum, p. 555)”, instead, if he needed someone to work on Saturday, he would have to leave it

up to the team to decide who would work.

An organizational source of resistance to the ROWE program is the legal department

because some in-house attorneys believe they might get paid less. One attorney, Jane

Kirshbaum, also worries that they might “be criticized as unresponsive if they take off one

afternoon (Hellriegle and Slocum, p. 555)”. In general, most concerns and resistance is only a

natural response to change, and most concerns should never materialize, specifically because one

of the philosophies of ROWE is that employees are not to judge other colleagues’ schedules.

Discuss the sources of stress that are apparent in the case

According to Tom Blesener, The most difficult part of the transition to ROWE “was

accepting responsibility for the stress his employees felt (Hellriegle and Slocum, p. 554)”. For


Blesener, having to start treating his employees like adults versus children was also a stressor for

him.

An obvious source of stress within the case was change. Most people, due to uncertainty

or lack of knowledge, worried that, as a manager, they would lose control, and with the

attorneys, they worried that they would lose money. Another source of stress possibly caused by

the implementation of the ROWE program is the lack of clarity between work and play;

fortunately, this stressor should only be temporary while employees get used to defining work

and play, and establishing the appropriate schedules which would allow them to complete all

their work.

Discuss whether or not the organizational culture has helped with the change

In general, the organizational culture as definitely helped with, and even embraced the

change. If anything, all the resistance and lack of support came from the managers and high-

income in-house attorneys. The actual employees, who have contributed the most to the Best

Buy culture, have enjoyed the benefits of ROWE because it allows them to be more accountable

for their work, while also allowing them to spend less time working. A perfect example is Mrs.

Tobias, “she says she has stopped avoiding her children, [she stated] “I was getting up in the

morning, rushing to get out of the door before my kids were awake” (Hellriegle and Slocum, p.

555)”; for Mrs. Tobias, ROWE not only reduced the stress in her life, and freed up time for her

to spend with her family, but it might have even contributed to the wellbeing of her family.

In general, the ROWE program has contributed to the well-being of Best Buy’s

employees, it has improved turnover numbers, improved productivity and quality of work for,

and might have even saved a few marriages and families. Even though the program has been so


beneficial for Best Buy corporate office, Best Buy cannot implement this type of program

throughout the whole organization due to the fact that timecards are central for Best Buy at the

branch level.


References

Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W., Jr. (2009). Organizational behavior: 2011 custom edition (13th

ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Documents

Best Buy