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2. Go through the Case and answer the following Questions. 10 Case Application 2: HUNGRY FOR PRODUCTIVITY: FRITO-LAY LINKS STRATEGY WITH JOB DESIGN Frito-Lay knows you love your favorite snack foods, and the pros-morale problems. KSRs are responsible for all delivery of Frito-lay pect of facing an empty shelf where your Doritos should be is just products to store shelves. This method, called "direct store deliv- unthinkable. In fact, the Frito-Lay mission statement is to be the ery" is a labor-intensive process. RSRs drive products from ware- world's favorite snack and always within arm's reach houses to retailers, stock the shelves, negotiate for more shelf In pursuit of their mission to have your beloved chips always space, take additional orders, and are paid a commission based on at hand, Frito-Lay is constantly looking for ways to make sure their sales volume. Executives researched a list of factors that could be business practices match up with the goal. A few years ago, HR at responsible for the productivity issues including compensation, Frito-Lay was put to the test when low productivity and high turn- training, a competitive retail environment, and rapidly increasing over of the route sales representatives (RSRs) made it increasingly numbers of Frito-Lay products. In an effort to narrow down the difficult to meet sales and profitability targets . Line managers and possible causes, they contracted with researchers at the University HR were resorting to cheerleading in hopes of motivating the of Southern California, Los Angeles, to study RSR recruitment, RSRs to meet sales goals. But turnover and low productivity contin retention, motivation, and productivity . Job design was also stud- ued to make it difficult to achieve, quarter after quarter. HR and ied by breaking the position into three major responsibilities: sales, line managers teamed up to formulate a cost-effective solution that driving and delivery, and merchandising would solve the problem for good, but first they needed to discover Frito-Lay already knew that one key to increased sales volume the causes at the heart of the high turnover, low productivity, and was the ability to get additional display space in high traffic areas, Securing additional shelf space was already an important part of Increasing sales training for RSRs. RSR training Frito-Lay had also created a highly structured job for Making hourly employees available to help the high-volume RSRs that included carefully planned driving routes to minimize route RSRs with stocking duties, enabling them to focus on driving time, stocking procedures, and utilization of the truck. the tight driving, delivery schedules, and sales tasks. Routes were divided between low-volume routes that include con- venience stores and drug stores using smaller trucks, and high strategy by carefully analyzing the internal factors that were caus- HR was able to more successfully meet the organizational volume routes that service large grocery and discount stores with ing the problem. They were able to align, hire, train, and design larger trucks. Predictably,low-volume routes required more driving jobs to meet organizational needs, resulting in happy snackers time and contact with store managers. Research determined that worldwide. Next time your favorite flavor of Doritos is in plentiful RSR sales skills in securing additional display space was a bigger supply at your local retailer , remember Frito-Lay's mission and influence on increased sales in these low-volume routes. RSRs who had previous sales experience tended to be more successful that RSRs who did not Questions: On high-volume routes, the ability of the driver to stick to a tight delivery schedule and have shelves stocked with product ear- 1. How are job design and organizational strategy at Frito-Lay lier in the morning was critical to increased sales. Prior sales expe- linked? How does one influence the other? rience further enhanced the ability of the RSR in these high-volume 2. What external environmental factors may have influenced routes. the low productivity at Frito-Lay and how it was fixed? HR used the information collected to link hiring and job train- 3. If you were an RSR at Frito-Lay, which of the changes would ing to organizational strategy and sales growth by: you find most beneficial? Least? 4. Can all productivity problems be cured by better aligning Putting more emphasis on recruiting and hiring individuals thank HR. 11