Whole Foods Case Study Essay

In the case of Whole Foods, training and associate learning is vitally important. The store is distinguishably noted for its extensive training that all employees must go through in order to be employed there. Each employee is extensively trained in the specific product or service team that they are assigned to. In essence, each of the employees at Whole Foods becomes subject matter experts in the product or service they are assigned to. Employees are known for their vast knowledge of the product or service that they work with. Whole Foods take pride in the extent of the level of knowledge that all employees are trained at in their area of product or service.
The personality traits that would be important to Whole Foods associates to posses
are: Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability and Openness to Experience. The personality trait of extraversion is important for associates of Whole Foods to have because they enjoy being in the presence of others, are outspoken in group settings, thrive on excitement as well as being cheerful and kind to others. Conscientiousness is an important trait to have because a person that has this trait expresses confidents in their capabilities, are organized, reliable, are driven to succeed and focuses on complicated tasks. Agreeableness is an important personality trait to have because they are straightforward, honest, have the will to help others, poses humility and have sensitivity to feelings of others. Emotional stability is an important personality trait to have because they have reserved feelings f anger, are relaxed, rarely discouraged, do not embarrass easily and handle crisis situations well.
The Whole Foods motivational practices that are used by management are tying rewards to performance, designing enriched jobs, providing feedback and clarifying expectations and goals.
At Whole Foods team leaders meet with team members to set goals for that team to obtain. When a team meets the goal that was set they are rewarded with bonuses. Individual team members that perform exceptionally well may be rewarded with a bonus of up to $2 an hour more than their current wage. Designing enriched jobs is another motivational practice that is used at Whole Foods. In this motivational practice employees are not just employees, they are given the ability to make decisions for themselves as well as for the team that they are assigned to. All employees are able to attend meetings to discuss issues and assist on making decisions for the team and store issues. The use of providing feedback is in direct correlation to clarifying expectations to goals. Team members have meetings with the team leaders to set goals that the team desires to accomplish. After having set the goals management provides feedback to the team and team members on the progress they have achieved in accomplishing their goal, and are rewarded for accomplishing that
goal.
From the reading of the text book, Whole Foods team members are not likely to experience effects of stress from demand-control or effort-reward models of stress. Demand-control model suggest that stress is at its highest when the demands of the job are high, but individuals have little control over the situation. This is not the case with Whole Foods as team members meet with team leaders to set goals and discuss situations and issues within the team and in the store. In effort-reward imbalance model it suggests that stress is high when the effort required to do the job is high, but the rewards are low. This is not a form of stress that is experienced at Whole Foods due to mean leaders allowing team members to participate in meetings that pertain to the team and operations of the store. When goals set by team leaders and team members they are given rewards for accomplishing goals, in conjunction to individuals being rewarded for high-performances. Stress at the executive level should be minimal as well, team leaders are constantly updating their team leaders of progress and bring up any issues or problems that the team or store may encounter.