Jagenburg 1
1.
Before Marilyn Winn implemented her new Human Resources goals, there was too much
of a company-wide focus on customer satisfaction. This left employees out to dry, because they
were awarded compensation based on improving on past performance. This worked initially, but
as time went on it became harder and harder to improve on previous financial gains. As Satre
states in the case, senior level management “represented management rather than leadership.
They had been led by the rule book, and the rule book had been thick,” (DeLong &
Vijayaraghavan, 2006, p. 3). In other words, upper-level management held too great a focus on
increasing their profit margin, with little to no concern about employee morale and upward-
mobility in the field. All of this was left to Marilyn Winn, the newly appointed head of Human
Resources, to ameliorate company turnover, customer service, and employee morale.
The first strength I found with Winn’s work was in the rewards system. Based on
evidence found in the case, the monetary rewards that were given to the employees made them
more satisfied and excited to work at Harrah’s. Compelling evidence of this can be taken from
what Ward Shaw mentions in the case, that there was a lot of excitement from the employees and
their turnover had gone from 70% to 50% in one year (DeLong & Vijayaraghavan, 2003, p. 7).
Basically, this confirms that the rewards system decreases turnover at Harrah’s. Not only did the
rewards lower turnover, but it also vastly increased the performance and efficiency of the
employees. In the case, Ed Rylant confirms this increase when he states that the time the
employees take to get to the customers when called, has decreased from 360 seconds two years
ago to 105 seconds right now (DeLong & Vijayaraghavan, 2003, p. 7). This performance
increase shows that the rewards given to employees make them work harder and focus more on
Jagenburg 2
customer support. Further evidence supporting the improved customer support can be seen from
the cashiers who had increased and beat the other departments in customer satisfaction scores
after the rewards program was initiated (DeLong & Vijayaraghavan, 2003, p. 3).
However, there is a negative aspect of the things that Winn implemented. The assessment
tests. The managers did not like the tests because they could potentially prevent worthy
employees from being promoted. For example, Winn stated that “The problem is that a great
cashier might not have the other supervisory skills necessary to be promoted, and the tests catch
that” (DeLong & Vijayaraghavan, 2003, p. 7). Basically, even if a hard working employee with a
lot of potential would be a great candidate for a higher position they could not get promoted
because the tests would say they were not qualified. Further evidence to prove that these tests are
