Voluntary turnover is the final stage of the employment relationship. When voluntary turnover occurs, employees who have been screened, selected, socialized, and trained in the organization depart despite the organization's attempts to keep them. This clearly can be a considerable problem for an organization, since all the costs associated with staffing a new employee now must be incurred again for a new employee. However, voluntary turnover is not always a negative event. When an individual who has a poor productivity profile, negative attitudes towards the job and organization, and superior alternatives elsewhere leaves, it can be a positive outcome for the organization and the (former) employee. The Situation As you may have noticed when analyzing the transition probability matrix in the planning exercise, there was a 34% annual turnover rate among store managers and assistant store managers in Washington during the past year. This is an unacceptably high number from Tanglewood's point of view. Such high levels of turnover are likely to a feeling of instability among lower level employees, and generally indicate that the organization will have difficulty creating effective long-term goals in these stores. Unfortunately, this high turnover among managerial employees is even more problematic because of the costs involved. Managerial survey is a very sensitive issue for Tanglewood. The process of finding good managers obviously begins with recruiting. A very large number of individuals must be found during the recruiting phase, because, as you saw in case 4, only 11% of external applicants are selected to become assistant store managers and only 10% of external applicants are selected to become store managers. After hiring, every manager, regardless of their status as internal or external hires, is put through a two month training program that includes trips to the corporate offices, mentoring from other store managers and the regional manager, and culminating in a public welcoming ceremony at the store where the manager will work. There is a downside to the process of training managers. Excellence in managerial performance is often observable from the outside as well because competitors can walk into the stores and see which ones are functioning well. It is common for particularly successful store managers to receive offers from other companies that are trying to capture some of the Tanglewood "essence."

Correlations for individual surveys Daryl Perrone has also developed a correlation matrix that describes the relationship between surveys and performance indicators. This is similar to the information described in the validation chapter. Perrone thinks the same methods can be used to assess turnover as can be used to assess selection methods, since turnover is "selection in reverse." These data are available only for 153 managerial employees across the entire chain over time. To ensure that the data are valid, only one year of information is used, so that the same managers are not being counted multiple times. The final row presents correlations between the performance indicators and turnover as well. Remember that turnover is a negative outcome. A negative relationship between satisfaction and turnover means that those with a positive attitude toward the job are less likely to turnover. This also means it generally is preferable to see negative correlations between performance indicators and satisfaction, because it means that those with higher levels of performance are less likely to leave the organization.

Qualitative data: Exit interview results Staffing services has strongly encouraged the regional managers to carefully interview their managerial employees when they turnover. Because it is assumed that the regional managers will have some familiarity with the employees they are going to interview, staffing services has traditionally encouraged a friendly, informal discussion that will take place soon after the employee has turned in a resignation. Regional managers are instructed to, "ask the employees about what factors influenced the manager's decision to leave Tanglewood." The content, pacing, and direction of the interview questions are left to the manager's discretion. Because of these fairly loose guidelines, there is a great deal of variety in the form and content of these interviews. However, there are some broad areas of similarity among the responses. Daryl Perrone read through dozens of the interview reports provided by managers and developed the three most significant trends he noted. Departure because of superior alternatives One major reason managers say that they are leaving the organization is because they have found superior alternatives. Many of these managers express some regret about leaving, but at the same time, state that there are certain career outcomes that Tanglewood simply does not provide at the present time. Three representative statements from exit interviews are below: "As much as I love it here, I just can't pass up a job that pays 25% more per year to start in the high tech industry. I also think it's just time for me to try out some different work" Assistant Manager, Western Washington "I would stay if Tanglewood would help to finance my MBA. But I know they won't, and I know that my new employer will." Assistant Manager, Arizona "My new job pays me $10,000 a year more, and I can get my whole family on my health plan for free. From my point of view, that's a real no brainer." Store Manager, Northern California Departure because of dissatisfaction with the organization's direction A second reason many employees say that they want to leave Tanglewood is because they are dissatisfied with the direction of the organization. Although Perrone is reluctant to make strong statements about trends in these comments, he did notice that there appeared to be more employees from the eastern and southern locations who made these comments: "I came on board because I thought Tanglewood would be a different type of retail chain; you know, a place where people worked because they actually liked what they did. But for people like me who are working in a store that used to be run by Mirabelle [a former rival that Tanglewood bought out], that old culture of command and control is still there. It's too much of an uphill battle to make employee participation work here." Store Manager, New Mexico

"It seems like a lot of people in upper management here don't really know what they want, and that's frustrating. If I really thought this company had a mission, I'd follow it. But as it is, we seem to be constantly teetering between this 'participation' concept and standard retail." Assistant Manager, Utah Departure because of major life events The final common reason for employees to leave, according to exit interviews, is that some event outside of work has made it necessary for them to seek work elsewhere. The most common reasons are family events, such as the employee needing to take time off to care for a sick relative, the birth of a child, or relocation because of a significant others' job offer. Two typical examples follow: "It's hard for me to leave, really. I've been working with Tanglewood ever since I graduated from college fifteen years ago. In many ways, it's like a family to me. However, my wife just found a great opportunity in Chicago that we don't want to pass up" Store Manager, Eastern Washington "My dad's been really sick lately and I think that I need to be in Florida for him. You all have been great to me while I've been here, but family has to come first." Assistant Manager, Idaho

Would you mind helping me with this question

Review the information contained in the description of the situation, individual data, and the exit interviews, focusing on the types of people who seem to be leaving as well as the costs and benefits of voluntary turnover described in your textbook. Do you think the evidence suggests that Tanglewood has primarily functional or dysfunctional turnover? What evidence led you to that conclusion?