Scenario
You are a trainee manager in the garden department at XYZ Home Improvement. XYZ is a retailer with five stores. Known for providing quality tools, materials, and expert advice, XYZ prides itself on offering a wide selection of products for do-it-yourself enthusiasts and contractors. Its key product categories include hardware, plumbing, electrical supplies, building materials, and garden supplies. The company has built a strong reputation for customer service and competitive pricing.
XYZ is achieving positive results across most departments, driven by a customer-centric approach and an effective strategic plan. Revenues have been increasing, and the company’s efforts in sustainability and e-commerce have positioned it as a leader in the industry. The company has a strong social media presence and a loyalty program that keeps customers returning. As part of XYZ’s strategic imperative for the next five years, the company has asked each department to submit a strategic goal to help the company meet its mission and vision.
XYZ employees and store locations have done an excellent job of embracing and executing the company’s strategic goals. Departments have successfully integrated customer-centric practices, adopted sustainable products, leveraged innovative technologies, and created a strong culture of employee engagement. These efforts have improved customer satisfaction and increased sales across most departments. Your mentor manager is concerned, however, about the performance of the garden department in comparison to other departments in the company. They have asked you to review the company’s strategic plan and a summary of the department’s performance in order to better understand the problem. You will also review the mentor manager’s proposed goal for the company’s new strategic imperative and discuss evidence that supports it.
Directions
Your task is to analyze how well the company’s strategic goals were implemented by the garden department. This will demonstrate your understanding of the significance of using strategic goals to inform decision making. You will create a department performance analysis report for your mentor manager that summarizes your findings related to the department’s performance. In your report, you will also discuss your support for the mentor manager’s proposed goal, using evidence from both the department performance summary and the company's strategic plan.
Begin by reviewing the XYZ Home Improvement strategic plan and performance summary (linked in the Supporting Materials section). These documents contain information that will support your work on the project. Refer to them for evidence to support your responses. You will discuss the department’s performance relative to the company’s strategic goals and outline actionable steps for ensuring alignment between the company’s goals and department operations. You will also use evidence to support the inclusion of an additional strategic goal.
Specifically, you must address the following:
- Explain the areas in which the department is successful in meeting the company’s strategic goals.
- Explain the areas in which the department is unsuccessful in meeting the company’s strategic goals.
- Recommend action steps to foster alignment between the company’s strategic goals and the department’s operations.
- Determine the resources that would be needed to support your recommendations.
- Use evidence from the company’s strategic plan and department summary to support the addition of the proposed strategic goal. Include the following in your response:
- Identify evidence that supports the proposed goal.
- Explain how the identified evidence supports the proposed goal.
What to Submit
Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:
Department Performance Analysis Report
Submit the completed Project Template as a 500- to 1,000-word Microsoft Word document. In the template, replace the bracketed text with your responses. Citations are not required for this project.
Supporting Materials
This material will help support your work on the project:
Resource: Project Strategic Plan
This resource provides details about XYZ Home Improvement and its strategic goals.
Resource: Project Performance Summary
This resource summarizes how the garden department has been performing. It also provides the proposed strategic goal.