Men's Wearhouse

In a growing environment transcending to the decline, Men’s wearhouse was able to surpass its competitors and retain its successful trend. The key factor is the importance given to the employees. Zimmer always put forth the employees first and only then the customers. Inorder to treat customers likje kings, he felt that employees have to be treated like kings. Zimmer’s involvement in the anti war movement influenced his iconoclastic views. The Company’s expansion and growth was largely attributed to the fact that Men did not like to shop. The stores were small in size and not located in large malls thus cutting down on overheads and optimizing profits.
The employees shared an incredible loyalty to the Company showing their continuance of commitment. Zimmer’s charismatic media presence made him more significant to his employees. Zimmer’s belief in tapping the unravelled potential of the employees was a key to his success. The concept of servant leadership changed the traditional perspective of Boss –Employee relationship to thee Provider – Customer relationship. Mentoring has been widely advocated. Zimmer believed that interaction with people meaningfully created positive energy and maintained the organization as a “high touch” one. While prioritizing his stakeholder groups, Zimmer put the employees first. He believed that to maximize shareholder value, you have to place it at the bottom of the heirarchy.
In contrary to the conventional trend of concentrating on merchandising and marketing Zimmer’s focus was on store operations, which was considered critical to the success of the business. Wardrobe consultants were paid salary and commission. Commissions were based on individual performance.More than 50% of the salary was based on commission for legal reasons. There was an employee stock ownership plan. Training was more for sales and not as much for management.Hiring was centralized. The process of hiring was based more on personality and skills rather than experience. Nepotism was not encouraged. Emphasis was placed on providing feedback as part of a coaching and development effort to enhance the sales skills.Monthly newsletters and videos were circulated for effective communication. The Company encouraged socializing with each other. The Company had a number of meetings for training and development. There was a multi-unit managers meeting, a Suits High meeting and a Suits University meeting.
The Key management principles advocated were: Maximizing the individual’s self-esteem. This would lead toa higher self efficacy. The second principle was servant leadership. The other principle was to ask for help when you need it. Identifying success as not individual success but as growth and success of the peers.
In an industry charecterized by varied competition from retailers, to department stores to specialized chains, to maintain its stand is challenging. It would be difficult to maintain the competitive edge based on the unconventional management principles and to remain in close association with the managers. The Company should however capitalize on the win-win principle.