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Case Study: Whole Foods, Prepare a Job Structure

HRM 598: Compensation
Dr. Kenney
Megan Purdy
mpurdy77@gmail.com
July 24, 2014

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As with most companies, Whole Foods has a set of core values that they strive for and
which are the basis of the culture of their company. The values of Whole Foods include: selling
the highest quality natural and organic products available; satisfy, delight and nourish customers;
support team member excellence and happiness; create wealth through profits and growth; serve
and support local and global communities; practice and advance environmental stewardship;
create ongoing win-win partnerships with suppliers; promote the health of the stakeholders
through healthy eating education. (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values/corevalues) The company looks to retain and develop their employees and give them an environment
to learn and grow in and eventually create careers within the organization.
In the evaluation process of Whole Foods, we need to take into account the size of the
company and how they view their individual stores and their employees. Each store considers
the different departments and groups within to be teams and these teams are then divided into
groups based on the departments and where each employee works. All of these teams depend on
each individual team member to work together to make sure their team is working efficiently and
smoothly to help in the overall production of the entire store.
Using the job descriptions that were provided in the Case Study, I have chosen to apply
certain titles to each position as follows:
Job A: Deli Team Member
Job B: Front End Specialist/Cashier
Job C: Prepared Foods Department Manager

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Job D: Prepared Foods Night Supervisor

Job E: Kitchen Team Member/Dishwasher
Job F: Store Receiver
Job G: Prepared Foods Assistant Department Manager
Job H: Regional Operations Manager
Job I: Back Up Store Receiver
After considering the three different types of technics that could be used, Ranking,
Classification and Point Method, it was a little difficult to choose the right one since all of them
could be used. Ranking would entail ordering the job description from highest to lowest based
on the definition of relative value or contribution to the organizations success. Classification
entails us to determine the number of categories and write descriptions to define the boundaries
between those groups. Each position is assigned a group by comparing the whole job with the
right kind of categorizing standard. The Point Method is the most involved of the three and has
three characteristics that are significant; compensable factors, factor degree numerically scaled,
and weights that reflect the relative importance of each factor. The way to determine the worth
of each job is through the compensable factors. . (Milkovich, Newman, & Gerhart, 2014)
Keeping in mind the job descriptions and how detailed that they are, the point method could be
utilized. Because of the ladder feeling or hierarchy that exists in the organization, the ranking or
classification method could also be used. Some compensable factors should be considered for
any of the methods that are used based on the mission, values and job descriptions that were

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given include customer service, experience, knowledge/skills/abilities responsibility and quality

of work.
The job structure for Whole Foods could be divided into three different categories;
Managerial, Customer Service and Store Support. Jobs C, D, F, G and H can all be considered to
be managerial positions, Jobs A and B filling the Customer Support roles and Jobs E and I as
Store support Roles.
Managerial Positions

Prepared Foods Department Manager

Prepared Foods Night Supervisor
Store Receiver
Prepared Foods Assistant Department Manager
Regional Operations Manager
Customer Service
Deli Team Member
Front End Specialist/Cashier
Store Support

Kitchen Team Member

Back Up Store Support

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I chose to use the ranking method technic because even though Whole Foods is a very
large company, they still are built internally to have a hierarchy system or make up. I did still

use compensable factors in deciding how to categorize each position into their proper group
and the value that each position carried. Using these factors, the ranking order that I
developed is as follows:
Whole Foods Team Member Ranking

Job H-Regional Operations Manager

Job C-Prepared Foods Department Manager
Job G-Prepared Foods Assistant Department Manager
Job D-Prepared Foods Night Supervisor
Job F-Store Receiver
Job B-Front End Specialist/Cashier
Job I-Back Up Store Receiver
Job A-Deli Team Member
Job E-Kitchen Team Member/Dishwasher

I chose to rank the jobs based on the information that was provided in the detailed job
description as well as based on the compensable factors that were determined. The reason that I
chose those factors were due to the importance they hold in the industry of grocery and food
service. Customer service is a vital part of the industry and a great deal of emphasis is placed on

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it in all levels of the organization as the team members are representatives of their organization.
The amount of experience that an individual has is vital in determining their position on the team
as either a leader or as a team member. The knowledge/skill/ability/responsibility factor most
definitely will affect an individuals placement on the team as well. More than likely a teenager
that is coming into his first job will not have the same experience and KSAs as an adult who has
been developing within the grocery business and cannot expect to slide into a management role

at the very beginning of their career. The quality of ones work will affect their advancement
within the organization, so I felt that it should also receive some mention as a compensable
factor.
The job descriptions that were given in this particular case study were very informative and
detailed. Each description provided a great deal of guidance in determining the value of that
particular position as well as what the position entailed and the requirement for each position.
These job descriptions helped to determine where each position would fall in the ranking as well
as give insight as to the skills that each position required. The job descriptions give the applicant
a very specific understanding of what will be expected of them in that particular position and the
requirements that are necessary to be able to do that job. I did however find that the job position
descriptions that were used were at times a bit misleading. They required a deeper look into the
actual job description to gain a better understanding of what the specific job was. For example,
Job E, Kitchen Team Member, when looking for a job, one may think that would entail cooking
and serving of some sort, but when reading the description, it is actually for a dishwashing
position. I think that using clearer and specific job titles would have been more beneficial.

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References
http://www.hr-guide.com/data/G411.htm
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values/core-values

Milkovich, G. Newman, J. & Gerhart, B. (2014). Compensation. McGraw-Hill Higher

Education, 11th Edition