Passion for the Outdoors and for People

CASE APPLICATION 1 Passion for the Outdoors and for People

At its headquarters in Ventura, California, Patagonia’s office space feels more like a national park lodge than the main office of a $400 million retailer.100 It has a Douglas fir staircase and a portrait of Yosemite’s El Capitan. The company’s café serves organic food and drinks. There’s an infant and toddler child-care room for employees’ children. An easy one-block walk from the Pacific Ocean, employees’ surfboards are lined up by the cafeteria, ready at a moment’s notice to catch some waves. (Current wave reports are noted on a whiteboard in the lobby.) After surfing or jogging or biking, employees can freshen up in the showers in the restrooms. And no one has a private office. If an employee doesn’t want to be disturbed, he or she wears headphones. Visitors are evident by the business attire they wear. The company encourages celebrations to boost employee morale. For instance, at the Reno store, the “Fun Patrol” organizes parties throughout the year.
Attracting people who share its strong passion for the outdoors and the environment, Patagonia motivates its loyal employees by giving them responsibility for the outcomes of their work and a high level of task significance that their work is meaningful because it contributes to the purpose of protecting and preserving the environment.

Patagonia has long been recognized as a great workplace for mothers. And it’s also earned a reputation for loyal employees, something that many retailers struggle with. Its combined voluntary and involuntary turnover in its retail stores was around 25 percent, while it was only 7 percent at headquarters. (The industry average for retail is around 44 percent.) Patagonia’s CEO Casey Sheahan says the company’s culture, camaraderie, and way of doing business is very meaningful to employees and they know that “what they do each day is contributing toward a higher purpose—protecting and preserving the areas that most of them love spending time in.” Managers are coached to define expectations, communicate deadlines, and then let employees figure out the best way to meet those.

Founded by YvonChouinard (his profile as a Leader Who Made a Difference can be found on p. 134), Patagonia’s first and strongest passion is for the outdoors and the environment. And that attracts employees who are also passionate about those things. But Patagonia’s executives do realize that they are first and foremost a business and, even though they’re committed to doing the right thing, the company needs to remain profitable to be able to continue to do the things it’s passionate about. But that hasn’t seemed to be an issue since the recession in the early 1990s when the company had to make its only large-scale layoffs in its history.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.

What would it be like to work at Patagonia? (Hint: Go to Patagonia’s Web site and find the section on jobs.) What’s your assessment of the company’s work environment?
2.

Using what you’ve learned from studying the various motivation theories, what does Patagonia’s situation tell you about employee motivation?
3.

What do you think might be Patagonia’s biggest challenge in keeping employees motivated?
4.

If you were managing a team of Patagonia employees in the retail stores, how would you keep them motivated?

Case Study Summary

This week, you are assuming the role of a human resources consultant, hired by Patagonia to analyze their employees’ levels of motivation.
Your Assignment

Read the Case Application 1: Passion for the Outdoors and for People (end of Chapter 17).

After reading the case details, prepare your report for Patagonia managers by answering the following questions:

According to Maslow’s hierarchy, which basic needs does the Patagonia culture meet? What would it be like to work at Patagonia? (Hint: Go to Patagonia’s website and find the section on jobs.) What’s your assessment of the company’s work environment? (20 points)
Use the expectancy theory or the equity theory of motivation to explain how feeling underpaid might affect the work of a Patagonia associate and what a manager can do to increase the employee’s motivation. (20 points)
What do you think might be Patagonia’s biggest challenge in keeping employees motivated? If you were managing a team of Patagonia employees in the retail stores, how would you keep them motivated? (20 points)

Grading Rubric

Grading Rubric for Week 6 Case Study: Patagonia Case Study (page 531)

This case is worth 80 points. Please name your paper, “LastNameFirstName”.
Category    Points    Description
Understanding    60    Please list each question as it is stated, then respond. Quality of the answers to questions 1–3 will be based on the requirement that you research your responses and cite two (2) sources in APA format for each question. You can use your text as one (1) source, and include the use of another (1) unique source to further support  your response.
Analysis    10    Correctly produced APA parenthetical citations and References list
Execution    10    Organization, spelling, and grammar
Total    80    This case is worth 80 points. Please name your paper “LastNameFirstName”