Can we have some mature, intelligent, comment........... for a change
I have often questioned the strategies implemented under the Marshall regime. I especially think the hard-lined "you must execute 100% or be executed" themes are just plain crap. In the course of a week they make as many bone-headed moves in Ann Arbor as anyone in field or store management.
As recently as the last couple of days a Bookmark posting celebrated the imminent release of the upgraded Atlas system. The announcement noted that it would go live on June 2nd and that instructions and tutorials and quick references would be posted in advance of the start. When? On June 1st?
Does anyone in Ann Arbor have any clue that advance training - more than one day in advance - might make the start-up smoother and reduce the "duh" factor in front of customers?
I also think Marshall's first big mistake was announcing a series of "town hall" meetings that was strung out so that the last one is not going to occur until November. How is making some regions wait until November to hear from and question the new boss useful? The whole "town hall" thing just sounds like more BS and crap thrown out there a couple of months ago to keep the restless natives (technical term for employees) less anxious.
Having said all this I still wonder why so many posters here, people most of whom claim to be employees in a bookstore, say or seem to think so many stupid things.
This whole game of questioning Marshall's salary or bonus is absurd. What planet are some of you living on? Here we have a company that went deeper into the hole under Jones & Company. And Jones was just the last in a string of bad management teams. So now, after a lousy holiday season and 4th quarter, the Board dumps Jones. It really doesn't matter whether Ackman was behind it or not. Fact is that at significant expense, the Board dumped Jones and brought in Marshall at $750l a year.
Now by any comparable standard that is not a lot of money for the CEO of a public company with $3+ billion in annual sales. You've got a guy with retail experience who for whatever reason took a flyer on Borders. Maybe he gets a bonus if the stock recovers enough to satisfy Ackman's needs. Maybe the bonus gets bigger if we actually make money. Crap, if I'm a stockholder and the company actually lands on a quarter where it makes a profit, I'd give him a bonus too.
My point is this. I too have doubts about whether Marshall and the current hodgepodge of "make books," "great" service, and perhaps the most absurd of all, a relaunched Borders Rewards program, is the right plan and is going to work. But, for a company this size the CEO and CFO are always going to be people who command big bucks. Like it or not, that's just the way it is.
I think Marshall would be doing himself and the company a big favor if he actually got out in the field more often and visited stores. But not with an eye toward catching violations of the "GREAT" program or some other screw-up. But actually for the purpose of talking to staff including actual booksellers and cashiers and others.
Ann Arbor seems have this mentality that we in the stores are all just dumb, low paid, screw-ups who don't care. At this point the only true part of that is yes, we're pretty low on the pay totem pole. We do, however care. At least most of us do. And it would be nice if Marshall and his Ann Arbor team would occasionally understand that. At the same time we need to acknowledge that corporate CEO types will get paid and compensated well.
Most importantly, it would be nice if the discussion here would focus on things we like about what's happening, things we don't like and maybe even detest and the reasons why, and ideas we have as employees for improving not only our workplace environment, but the company's chances of pulling through this and turning a profit.
As recently as the last couple of days a Bookmark posting celebrated the imminent release of the upgraded Atlas system. The announcement noted that it would go live on June 2nd and that instructions and tutorials and quick references would be posted in advance of the start. When? On June 1st?
Does anyone in Ann Arbor have any clue that advance training - more than one day in advance - might make the start-up smoother and reduce the "duh" factor in front of customers?
I also think Marshall's first big mistake was announcing a series of "town hall" meetings that was strung out so that the last one is not going to occur until November. How is making some regions wait until November to hear from and question the new boss useful? The whole "town hall" thing just sounds like more BS and crap thrown out there a couple of months ago to keep the restless natives (technical term for employees) less anxious.
Having said all this I still wonder why so many posters here, people most of whom claim to be employees in a bookstore, say or seem to think so many stupid things.
This whole game of questioning Marshall's salary or bonus is absurd. What planet are some of you living on? Here we have a company that went deeper into the hole under Jones & Company. And Jones was just the last in a string of bad management teams. So now, after a lousy holiday season and 4th quarter, the Board dumps Jones. It really doesn't matter whether Ackman was behind it or not. Fact is that at significant expense, the Board dumped Jones and brought in Marshall at $750l a year.
Now by any comparable standard that is not a lot of money for the CEO of a public company with $3+ billion in annual sales. You've got a guy with retail experience who for whatever reason took a flyer on Borders. Maybe he gets a bonus if the stock recovers enough to satisfy Ackman's needs. Maybe the bonus gets bigger if we actually make money. Crap, if I'm a stockholder and the company actually lands on a quarter where it makes a profit, I'd give him a bonus too.
My point is this. I too have doubts about whether Marshall and the current hodgepodge of "make books," "great" service, and perhaps the most absurd of all, a relaunched Borders Rewards program, is the right plan and is going to work. But, for a company this size the CEO and CFO are always going to be people who command big bucks. Like it or not, that's just the way it is.
I think Marshall would be doing himself and the company a big favor if he actually got out in the field more often and visited stores. But not with an eye toward catching violations of the "GREAT" program or some other screw-up. But actually for the purpose of talking to staff including actual booksellers and cashiers and others.
Ann Arbor seems have this mentality that we in the stores are all just dumb, low paid, screw-ups who don't care. At this point the only true part of that is yes, we're pretty low on the pay totem pole. We do, however care. At least most of us do. And it would be nice if Marshall and his Ann Arbor team would occasionally understand that. At the same time we need to acknowledge that corporate CEO types will get paid and compensated well.
Most importantly, it would be nice if the discussion here would focus on things we like about what's happening, things we don't like and maybe even detest and the reasons why, and ideas we have as employees for improving not only our workplace environment, but the company's chances of pulling through this and turning a profit.