Essay: Publix Super Market – leadership and managerial style

Publix Super Market, generally known as Publix to us, was started in the early 1930s in Winter Haven, Florida. The founder was George Jenkins with the philosophy that treating customers and employees like family. It as has since then only continued to grow in capacity expanding over the southern region in the United States. Today, Publix employs over 189,000 people with 1,134 store locations, 8 distribution centers, and 10 manufacturing plants. More than half of the locations are still in Florida, but since 1930 it has expanded to states including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Publix is employee owned and a privately held corporation in the highly competitive supermarket and retail industry.
Mission of The Organization
The mission of Publix is embedded in corporate culture and is stated as being the premier quality food retailer in the world. The core ideology of the statement is committing to intolerable waste, dedication to dignity, value, and employment security of the associates, with the highest standards of stewardship for stockholder, and being involved as responsible citizens in our communities. The family friendly image and exceptionally trained staff are what provides continuous success for Publix. Most of the supermarkets customer base is on the essence of the community or neighborhood in which it is located. Furthermore, advancements have lead me to think they target a market of college student because they set trends that most people will follow. Being historically known for cleanliness can be somewhat linked to structure of the organization using continuous quality improvement, project management, and process involvement. Using a team structure helps focus on the company’s business plan maintaining a competitive advantage while reducing cost and remaining open to change. The use of a strategy support system shows Publix is concerned with efficient ways to reduce costs and labor to make sure they get the intended benefits that are applied. The primary competition for Publix include Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Whole Foods, and Winn-Dixie. The corporate culture really sets Publix at an advantage for continued growth and profit because they focus on what’s important to the consumer.
Structure of the Organization
The leadership style is like a democracy building on a triad of emotional intelligence abilities: teamwork and collaboration, conflict management and influence. For instance, Mr. Jenkins, the founder of it all start out like an affiliative leader who bonded with employees by creating harmony and coaching leaders who implement a one-on-one approach of developing individuals. Also implementing an environment of pacesetters setting extremely high standards for performance and rewarding them if pace was acceptable. The motivation for employees is extensive at Publix with the stock ownership plan that contributes Publix stock to associates each year at no cost to them! This would be a great reward for anyone in the working industry and at the same time having extra income is a plus. A few other incentives include annual holiday cash bonuses and weekly paychecks for hourly associates. Opportunities are presented to those without a college degree specifically, like establishing 401(k) retirement savings plan with a company match and health insurance just by being an employee at Publix. Tuition reimbursement is allowed for employees who obtain their degree and plan on advancing in a higher department with Publix in the future.
Leadership Style
Service awards are issued on a new number of occasions for employees who go above and beyond to fulfill the brand equity of the supermarket. Opportunity to participate annually in a survey to let management know your opinion on a wide range of workplace quality issues which helps management provide feedback to everyone. Along with these benefits comes training opportunities on the job on site, leadership development is taught, and formal mentoring to put emphasize on the importance of learning the true value of corporate culture at Publix.
Control Processes.
The company’s guardians for control include the Corporate Legal department and the Risk management department which oversee compliance of the laws, protects its assets, and minimize risk. The duties of Corporate Legal are maintaining and implementing policies with strict regulations for areas of the organization such as: trademarks, environmental, safety guidelines, contracts, and tax. Whereas, all of 120 associates of the Risk Management team focuses on upholding the assets of Publix. Risk management can evaluate the need for Workers Compensation for employees that get injured on the job. The Loss Prevention department assesses the inventory and effeteness of security policies, along with monitoring it distribution and manufacturing facilities routinely. The Risk Management department is broken down into teams of Divisional, Corporate Clerical and Analytical, and Corporate management for the best utilizing of practices. Both support and retail divisional teams have important task to uphold safety. For instance, shoplifting prevention and retail crime investigation are conducted team members including: regional specialists and auditor, administrative clerks, facility supervisors, and security officers. Corporate clerical and analytical groups are in control report editing, filing management, and video surveillance. Other duties include evaluating data like point of sale transactions and money services to develop civil recovery options. One other operational controls are safety corporate management team that plays a tremendous role in the design and development metrics to reduce safety accidents and provide better reinforcement for employees on guidelines to identity unsafe working conditions and reduce the number of injuries. The other type of control used by Publix is the Business Analysis and Reporting, Corporate Accountants, and Payroll duties. The role of these departments is the utilization of numbers that ensure suppliers are paid, shelves are stocked, and paychecks are accurate. The associates manage the company’s liquidity position to determine if making short-term or long-term investments are obtainable. Most importantly they analysis the potential of opening new stores, purchasing of new equipment, and carrying new products. Lastly, the associates of Publix would like to be paid in a timely manner which is done by payroll. The payroll department is in control of all tracking and collecting all pay checks to associates.  (Last Name, Year)
Innovative Managerial Practices.
Publix being an employee ownership corporation really encourages active participation in the organization. It is not a risk but an opportunity for growth for associates and Publix itself. The stagey used by the founder is a great example as to why employees feel empowered. Jenkins believe in treating every like family and with that alone would come prosperity. The empowerment of associates is shown in their abilities to make customers happy. Any day at Publix can result in your groceries being brought straight out to the car with smiling face of an associate by your side. The philosophy embedded in the associates fostering the willingness to provide excellent service. In years past, Publix was accused of discrimination and harassment on the premise that all genders and ethnicities were fairly treated in relation to share ownership. To avoid this idea of unfair behavior within the organization, Publix has implemented training programs to promote learning and developing leadership systems. In addition, Publix has established Information Systems that have improved functions for all business units. The information technology updates offer data warehousing, assortment planning, automated replenishments, and point of sale systems.  (Last Name, Year)
References
Finance | Corporate | Careers | Publix Super Markets. (2016). Retrieved from http://corporate.publix.com/careers/support-areas/corporate/departments/finance
Forbes Welcome. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/companies/publix-super-markets/
Legal & Risk Management | Corporate | Careers | Publix Super Markets. (2016). Retrieved from http://corporate.publix.com/careers/support-areas/corporate/departments/legal-risk-management
Publix – Recycling. (2016). Retrieved from http://sustainability.publix.com/what_we_are_doing/recycling.php
Publix is Putting Service First in Super Market War: Forbes | NBC 6 South Florida. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Publix-Is-Putting-Service-First-in-Super-Market-War-Forbes–216805791.html
Publix Super Markets Financials and News | Fortune 500. (2016). Retrieved from http://beta.fortune.com/fortune500/publix-super-markets-87
Publix Founder’s Legacy Explored in New Documentary, ‘Mr. George’ – News – The Ledger -Lakeland, FL. (2014, March 5). Retrieved from http://www.theledger.com/news/20140305/publix-founders-legacy-explored-in-new-documentary-mr-george