Zale Corporation is multifaceted and operates under more than one name. Zale is among the largest jewelry retailers of America. They sell diamonds, gemstones, Silver and Gold jewelry, watches and costume jewelry over 1,100 stores and over 600 kiosks. They also have stores operating in Puerto Rico and Canada.
Zale targets the value-oriented type of customer and high quality products with phenomenal customer service. These are Gordon’s Jewelers, the flagship chain Zales Jewelers, and Piercing Pagoda. They also have nearly 150 outlet stores. In Canada, they opened approximately 200 stores which are Peoples Jewellers and Mappins Jewellers. Zale also operates websites where they sell their jewelry online.
They have six online retail brands. These include their main online store, zales. com and their discount store, zalesoutlet. com.
Gordon Jewelers also operates online via gordonsjewelers. com. Canadas Peoples Jewellers and Piercing Pagoda also have their retails brands, peoplesjewellers. com and pagoda.
com. Insurance is even offered for in-store and on-line purchases at an additional cost. Zales functional organizational structure is unique and different from the type of divisional structure of department stores such as JC Penny and Sears or the matrix type of organization of Wal-Mart. Zale’s is owned and ran by a distinct group of executive directors.
The group consists of the following: chief executive officer, chief administrative officer, executive vice president, chief merchant and sourcing officer, executive vice president, chief marketing officer, senior vice president of merchandise planning and allocation, senior vice president of financial products, senior vice president and chief information officer ,senior vice president and chief financial officer, senior vice president of supply chain, senior vice president and chief of stores officer, senior vice president of human resources and customer service, senior vice president of real estate, senior vice president and general manager of Piercing Pagoda. That is not all. Each Senior VP also has their individual teams. Their teams include vice presidents, directors and their subordinates.
Each employee is selected based on their skills, knowledge, and experience of the role they are hired to fill. One of Zales competitors, JC Penny (JCP) follows a different corporate structure. Their organization is more of a divisional type of structure. JCP has a board of directors.
There are twelve executive directors; one executive for each division within the company. Each division consists of a marketing, finance, and operations department. Unlike Zale, JCP sells a plethora of different goods. An organization that uses a hybrid structure is Wal-Mart. A hybrid combines the key elements of a functional and divisional structure. Wal-Mart sells even more different types of good than JCP.
Wal-Mart crossed the retail boundaries and offers consumers the convenience of having one store to do practically all of their shopping. A Wal-Mart customer has the option of buying groceries, electronics, jewelry, house wares, clothing, and even automotive goods. Wal-Marts organizational structure is unique because they do not have just one CEO, they have nine; one for each division. This includes 21 executives, and five Senior Presidents. Since Wal-Mart has a broad, global market, their divisions must be broken into areas of specialty with one leader per each division. Zales organization structure breaks down in to six departments, each with their different functions.
The first of these is the merchandising department. The merchandising department has one Vice President and six merchant teams who carefully select which products get sent out to stores to be put on the shelves for customers to purchase. The second department is Sourcing. In the sourcing department there is one Vice President and two directors who each have a team. Sourcing deals mainly with manufacturing. This department keeps track of all orders as well as profits and losses, searches for and negotiates the lowest costs of components, and serves as the main line of communication between merchants and vendors.
The next department is marketing. The marketing department consists of the vice president and two directors. Then there are eight additional employees that work underneath them. Although Zale serves a variety of demographics, yet maintaining a professional and polished appearance is very important to the company.
Most of Zales advertising is done through mail, yet email communications are also used. The next department is finance. In this department there are two vice presidents and six directors including their individual teams. The finance department is responsible for ensuring that all monies are dispersed correctly and to the appropriate departments.
Finance all keeps accounts of all accrued expenses and manages the financial statements and accounts. The last department is the Information Technology (IT) department. IT consists of a vice president and two directors who each have a team of six employees. IT ensures that all computers and computer software runs properly.
This includes troubleshooting and correcting computer and software errors. IT also installs and runs all new software programs and may even conduct small training classes to help employees learn new systems. Besides maintaining computers and software, IT also looks for the latest and greatest products available to help the company keep a competitive edge. Last, but definitely not least, is the Human Resources (HR) department.
The HR department is one of the most important departments of all. HR consists of one vice president, then four directors and their individual administrators. The administrators each have their own team of employees as well. This department is responsible for selecting appropriate applicants for hire and placing them in a position that best suits his/her and the companys needs. The HR department is also responsible for managing and resolving employee conflicts or concerns. They handle payroll and employee benefits as well.
Zales organizational structure seems to be set in place properly. However, the organization has experienced many ups and downs in profit since it first opened. Much of these ups and downs are due to the economy. When there is a boom in the economy, then jewelry sales increase. When the economy is suffering, jewelry companies lose a lot of money because jewelry is not a necessity that people cannot live without.
To conclude, Zales lacks consistent leadership because the CEO of the organization keeps changing and economic situations have been unfavorable. If success is what the company wants, then they have to have a leader who is willing to stick around, roll up his/her sleeves and lead them to victory. In 2010, Theo Killion was appointed CEO of Zale Corporation. Within three years he was able to turn the companys success rate around. In 2013, the company officially returned to profitability by achieving an impressive $10,000 in earnings. This is the largest amount of earnings the company has seen since 2007.
If Theo Killion can maintain his quality of leadership and stick with the company for a while, then perhaps we will see a trend of success for Zales in the future. If they continue to change CEOs every few years as they did in the past, then they might want to rethink their current organizational structure. ReferencesMarketing 91. (2014).
Retrieved from http://www. marketing91. com/types-sales-organizationThe Official Board. (2014).
Retrieved from http://www. theofficialboard. com/org-chart/zaleZale Corp. (2014).
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