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Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 13 (2006) 99–109

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Strategic human resource management in department stores:An historical perspective

Dale Miller

Department of Marketing, Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Australia

Abstract

The department store as a retail format created special demands on the organization of staff and the creation of a harmonious and

productive workplace. Despite a lack of theoretical knowledge of human resource management strategy, early 20th century

department store owners used the business strategy to guide strategic decisions about internal communication and staff training. The

most obvious area of training was in selling. However, the more innovative department stores also recognized the need for

management development programs. This study examines how the business strategy which embraced business growth, efficiency and

effectiveness, building the firm’s image and creating a supporting culture, strategically guided selected human resource management

policies and practices in an Australian department store.

r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Human resource management; Business strategy; Retail history

1. Department stores and human resource management

Best practice human resource management can makecritical contributions to the strategic success of busi-nesses. The focus on a strategic approach to humanresource management emerged in the academic litera-ture in the 1980s with Fombrun et al.’s work (1984). Theshift in thinking and practice mirrored an increasingprofessionalizing of human resource management, andreflected the gradual decline in using the term, personnelmanagement. In the Australian context, Collins (1987)examined the strategic contributions of human resourcemanagement, and Dunphy and Stace (1990) usedAustralian cases studies to support their advocacy of anew and more strategic paradigm for human resourcemanagement.

In the flourishing services sector, retailing is thelargest private sector employer in many countries. Forretailers in firms of any size, managing the staffeffectively and efficiently will be a significant determi-

e front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

tconser.2005.08.012

ess: D.Miller@griffith.edu.au.

nant of success (Arrowsmith and McGoldrick, 1996). Inlarger retail firms, the multiplicity of staff are spreadacross many retail roles and functions, the most obviousof which, to the customer, is that of the salesperson. Incontrast, investors tend to focus on the capabilities ofthe upper echelon especially the Chairperson (President)and the Chief Executive Officer (Managing Director)(Chanticleer, 2004). The divisional heads are oftenselected for their potential as part of the firm’ssuccession plans, and their standing is critical in multi-business retailers, for example spanning supermarketsand liquor, discount department stores, full-line depart-ment stores, office supplies and petrol outlets (Chan-ticleer, 2004; Coles Myer Ltd., 2004). The multifacetednature of large-scale retailing presents some specialchallenges for strategic human resource managers. Theacademic literature has not analyzed human resourcemanagement in retailing extensively. This apparent gappresents an opportunity for systematic investiga-tion. The purpose of this paper is to examine howselected human resource management components wereexecuted in an Australian department store, what

ARTICLE IN PRESSD. Miller / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 13 (2006) 99–109100

management support there was and the extent to whichhuman resource management contributed to the firm’sbusiness strategies.

The modern department store was a distinctive andinnovative retail format from its emergence in the midand late 1800s (Alexander and Akehurst, 1999). Largescale retailing in department stores has attracted muchattention in academic literature (Crossick and Jaumain,1999; Jefferys, 1954; Lancaster, 1995; Pasdermadjian,1954; Perkins and Freedman, 1999). The complexity ofthe format brought with it unique challenges andopportunities in managing staff. By the early 1900s,many department store owners and senior managersunderstood the nexus between profit, customer satisfac-tion, and staff competence (Roberts, 2003). Staffdirectly and indirectly contributed to customer purchas-ing and satisfaction. That is, the elements of the retailmix were delivered to customers through staff, whetherthey were sales assistants, buyers, visual merchandisers,or staff working behind the scenes in advertising,accounts or mail order. One distinguishing feature wasthat department store innovation continued from itsemergence as a retail format in the 1800s. Technologyuptake, marketing innovations, product innovation andthe development of innovative people managementprocesses and practices became hallmarks of departmentstore innovation (Miller and Merrilees, 2002). Thispaper provides an historical perspective on aspects ofhuman resource management in the department storeretailing domain.

The study proposes that the business strategy of theowners directly guided the human resources effort forthe 1920s–1950s period. For the purposes of this paper,the term business strategy is interchangeable withmanagement rationale. It indicates the connectionbetween the expressed strategy and the owners andsenior managers who developed the strategy and whoguided its implementation on a day-to-day basis. Toexplore this proposition, a case study of one Australiandepartment store, David Jones Ltd, is used. Thebusiness was founded in 1838, and continues as one oftwo major department store chains in Australia. Thestudy investigates how the owners shaped the humanresource management effort of an Australian depart-ment store and how components of the human resourcesfunction developed.

Human resources management in retailing has notcaptured the strong attention of researchers. Theemphasis has tended to be on the salesperson–customerinteraction (Sharma and Levy, 2003), rather than on thefirm–employee relationship or interaction. Importantspecific issues like employee relations (Freathy andSparks, 1994), wages (Broadbridge, 1997), and part-timeemployment (Shackleton, 1998) have been addressed.While well-organized staff recruitment and selectionremains vital, strategic human resource management

also encompasses managing staff retention, which hadattendant benefits to individual staff and to the firm.The use of two human resources practices, staff trainingand managing internal communications, could poten-tially support recruitment and selection, and benefitspackages in helping to retain retailing staff, in all areasof the firm.

The Australian context for the study contrasts withboth American and British retailing in the 1920s–1950s.In that period in Australia there was no association ofpersonnel practitioners and no personnel tertiaryeducation (Smart and Pontifex, 1994). The study showshow despite this lack of formal professional support, thepersonnel function, as human resource management wascalled, developed and made strategic contributions tothe firm’s management. To illustrate the effectiveness ofthe development of human resource management, thepaper discusses two critical human resources elements,staff communication and staff development. Studies ofthis specific nature seem underrepresented in theliterature.

This study uses archival empirical data for a long-itudinal retrospective qualitative case study (Eisenhardt,1989; Hill, 1993; Yin, 1994). The source data wasderived from deposits held in the David Jones Archive.The David Jones department store, named after itsWelsh founder, developed from an 1838 drapery inSydney, Australia, and achieved department store statusby the 1870s. The opening of an opulent new store, onthe original site, reinforced that status in 1887. Trendsand innovations in British retailing especially informedthe store design and merchandise selection. By the1920s, the store was renowned for excellence in customerservice, merchandise selection and store design, and asan employer of choice. The business had operated asingle outlet until the 1927 opening of a new and verygrand flagship store inspired by North Americandepartment store developments. The findings showhow the business strategy drove the internal commu-nications and training. Finally, the paper explores therelevance of the findings for contemporary retailers andhuman resource management professionals in the retailsector.

2. Literature

Drawing on the diversity of approaches to studyingretailing, several literatures guide this study. They arethe general retailing and department store literatures,and specific works that discuss internal communicationsand staff training. The rapidly developing humanresource literature has not taken up studies in theretailing domain to any great extent, as Marchington(1996) discussed in his work on food retailing. This is asurprising gap given that in service economies, the

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retailing sector is often the largest private sectoremployer (Merrilees and Miller, 1994).

In managing the challenges presented by the newretail format, the department store leaders looked toindustry initially for management strategies and a morescientific approach which was evident in some of thepublications of the time (Lancaster, 1995; Perkins andFreedman, 1999). Indeed, Lillian Moller Gilbrethapplied her vast experience with scientific managementin manufacturing at Macy’s, New York, in the 1920s(Graham, 2000).

New career opportunities and disciplines were emer-ging to suit the needs of mass merchandisers. Thedepartment stores created innovative and sophisticatedmarketing strategies to promote their offerings to themass market (Koehn, 2001; Strasser, 1989). Strom(1992) argues that in the USA, personnel managementrather than marketing or advertising, was the glamourprofession of the 1920s. However, the research andtheoretical concepts supporting personnel managementand its more sophisticated and strategic successor,human resource management, were yet to emerge.Tertiary education in personnel and retailing wascertainly available in North American universities bythis time (Nystrom, 1915; Samson, 1981; Strom, 1992).This was not the case in Australia, where professionalpersonnel management in the form of an embryonicprofessional association did not emerge until the 1950s.The teaching of retailing at Australian universitiesoccurred mainly from the early 1990s and only in afew universities, despite retailing’s strong theoreticalfoundations and inextricable nexus with marketing andmanagement.

Positioning department stores, Ferry, a formerdepartment store executive cautioned that they were‘the most complex of all business structures, having tomeet every material requirement of people in an ever-changing world, and therefore requiring executivecontrol of exceptional ability’ (Ferry, 1960, p. 29).Discussing department stores and people, he detailedsome of the historical conditions that applied, such asfines, living-in, and the general case that employees didnot share ‘to any extent in the wealth they helped tocreate’, and he argued, ‘certain features peculiar tomerchandising have to be considered in any analysis’(Ferry, 1960, p. 24). By inference, many practices wereconsistent with their times and with those of other largebusinesses, for example wage relativities. However, thevery nature of large-scale retailing implied some uniquecircumstances, one of which was the very public natureof the working conditions for the selling staff.

Tone’s work highlights the emergence of internalnewspapers in manufacturing (Tone, 1997). Many majorfirms followed the trend. The National Cash Registercompany, for example, was notable in its internalpublications (Marcosson, 1945). The use of house

newsletters and journals exploded generally by the1920s (Tone, 1997). Consistent with manufacturingand with other department stores, Australian depart-ment stores launched in-house newspapers (Brash et al.,1985; Redmond, 1938; Tone, 1997).

The management motives for fostering or promotingsuch publications are debatable (Benson, 1986). Argu-ably, staff took what they wanted from such publica-tions rather than uncritically absorbing managementrhetoric. Lancaster gives a considered view when herelates another staff management technique, the staffdiscount and internal newspapers, saying that

y by facilitating greater access to the store’smerchandise, the staff’s identity with, and loyaltyto, the company was much enhanced. ‘House’journals and magazines which became synonymouswith the larger establishments were common duringthe 1920s and 1930s and served a similar purpose.

(Lancaster, 1995, p. 145 & En 63)

Turning to training in department stores, ongoing on-the-job training had its roots in the earlier learner andapprenticeship systems in retailing (Lancaster, 1995). In1909, Gordon Selfridge had set the benchmark for salespromotion and in-house retail training in his revolu-tionary London store (Adburgham, 1981; Honeycombe,1984; Pound, 1960; Rappaport, 2000; Williams, 1956).The 1920s and 1930s heralded many training publica-tions, particularly in the USA, offering specific practicalguidance for department store management. Pendleton’sauthoritative work gave staff training advice, whileothers, like the Alexander Hamilton Institute’s booksfor use in their business courses, offered more generalmarketing and management (Pendleton, c.1932; TheEditors, 1918). Roberts (2003) paints a vivid picture ofsales training in New Zealand department stores, andexplores the influences from Britain, Australia andAmerica. He also identifies the use of the staff magazinesto reinforce management’s expectations about skillsacquisition and customer relationships (Roberts, 2003,p. 283).

In the case of French department stores between thewars, the evidence from Chessell’s study (1999) suggeststhat private sales training providers were used to traindepartment store employees from time to time. Chessell(1999), however, concludes that in-house sales trainingpredominated in department stores, to inculcate em-ployees with the firm’s values, reduce costs and keepemployees close to the shop-floor.

In contrast to evidence of sales training, the literatureis vague on historical examples of management devel-opment, although these programs are now common-place in major retailing firms. In America, for example,Filene’s developed systematic training programs, usedexperts including Frank Gilbreth, and recruited collegegraduates (Hendrickson, 1979, p. 131). Despite this

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effort, Hendrickson is unclear about specific manage-ment development programs. In the Australian context,Kiel (1983) reported that even in the early 1980s, whileindustry associations were offering retail managementdevelopment courses, most firms used internal training,and at the time of his study there were only two retailoriented courses and they were at the diploma ratherthan degree level.

We have argued that there is limited retail researchdealing with strategic human resource management. Inparticular, two components of strategic human resourcemanagement, staff training and internal communica-tions are underrepresented in the academic literature.This paper takes that perceived gap as its point ofdeparture and seeks to analyze the impact of these twohuman resources practices on business strategy.

3. Research design

This study proposes that holistically the businessstrategy of the firm applied to human resource manage-ment goes beyond recruiting and selecting employees. Itguides the whole gamut of human resource managementpractices including the more sophisticated components oftraining and internal communication. Accordingly, it isargued, these two components could be guided by thebusiness strategy and in turn contribute strategically toachieving the firm’s goals. To investigate this proposition, aqualitative longitudinal retrospective case study design wasused (Eisenhardt, 1989; Hill, 1993; Yin, 1994). Examiningthis period in department store retailing is constrained bythe availability of information, a problem faced by manyresearchers (Alexander, 1997; Hill, 1993; Samson, 1981).As well, the data need to be considered in the context of thesocial, legal and economic milieu in which they occur(Alexander, 1997; Lancaster, 1995; Santink, 1990).

The empirical source data was derived systematicallyfrom the deposits held in the David Jones Archive. Themain data sources covering the 1920–1950 period werethe Board Minutes, the Chairman’s Annual Reports,internal staff newsletters, mail order catalogues, news-paper clippings and training resources. Several oralhistories held in the archive were used as well. In acritical paper supporting firm-level studies, Shaw et al.(1998) discussed a research project examining multipleretailing in Britain between 1850 and 1939. Theystressed ‘‘y the importance of firm-level studies toinform wider debate’’ (Shaw et al., 1999, pp. 90–91) andthat they could proceed because

y many of them possess reasonably informativecompany archives. Discriminating use of sucharchives can provide an extremely valuable opportu-nity for detailed analysis of organisational changesy

(Shaw et al., 1999, p. 83)

The choice of a qualitative framework was critical toaddressing the research proposition because qualitativestudies can provide richly textured data, a characteristic,which suits the lack of existing studies. Thematicanalysis was used to interrogate the data, based on aconceptual framework of the perceived relationshipsbetween business strategy, communication and training.Triangulation in qualitative research can take variousforms including triangulation of methods, sources,analysts and theory (Patton, 2002, p. 536). Theimportance of using multiple data sources can help toensure data integrity (Mason, 1996), although historicalmaterials held by or about Australian retailers are oftenfragmentary and by their very nature selective. For thisstudy, data integrity, comparable to internal validity,was achieved using multiple sources and by consultingwith the Archivist (see for example Creswell, 1994, p.158). The use of multiple sources drawn from historicaldocuments is a form of data triangulation, and wasaugmented by cross checking with the Archivist aboutinconsistencies and possible alternative explanationsand interpretations. Together these research strategiescontributed to what Patton (2002, p. 563) calls‘thoughtful systematic triangulation’ to minimize ‘sys-tematic bias and distortion’ and to increase ‘ credibilityand quality’.

This single qualitative study cannot be generalized orreplicated as such. However, arguably, although thisstudy is unique, there could be ‘limited generalizabilityfor categories or themes’ that emerged, and potential toreplicate the case in another setting as explained byCreswell (1994, pp. 158–159).

4. Findings and discussion

The findings are presented in relation to businessstrategy, training and staff communication. The evi-dence substantiating each area is discussed. Drawing onthe archival evidence, the study reveals that the businessstrategy is strongly associated with the human resourcesrole and functions. Two fundamental functions ofhuman resource management, staff training and internalcommunications, were developed so that they wouldcontribute strategically to the firm’s performance.

To put the results in context, it is important to notefrom the 1920s to 1950s the face of staff managementchanged in Australian department stores. Until the early1920s, the ways of managing staff in many departmentstores could be termed paternalistic (Reekie, 1987). Thatis, the business strategy primarily governed the exerciseof authority and the distribution of discretionarybenefits such as bonuses. By the post 1920s period, asignificant shift had occurred with the institutionalizingof wages and hours of work through Australian federaland state government legislation, which meant that

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previous discretionary benefits were ostensibly standar-dized. The management still pursued some financialdiscretionary benefits, but increasingly had to use moresophisticated human resource practices, such as trainingand internal staff communication, to provide discre-tionary benefits that helped create and retain loyal staff.

4.1. Business strategy

4.1.1. Introduction

The strongest evidence for the business strategyrationale is in the Chairman’s Reports to the AnnualGeneral Meeting of Shareholders. The Chairmanroutinely expressed the achievements and directions ofthe company in very personal terms from the early1920s. One factor contributing to the strength anddirection of the business strategy was the Chairman’scontinuity of tenure for over 30 years. Even though thefirm was publicly listed, it was run like a familyenterprise that was consistent with the values of theChairman and his family predecessors. Stores likeBentall’s and the John Lewis Partnership in the UKand Eaton’s in Canada also had this continuity of familyinvolvement (Lancaster, 1995; Macpherson, 1985; San-tink, 1990), while others like Kirkcaldie and Stains inWellington, New Zealand, passed from family leader-ship somewhat earlier (Millen, 2000). Staff managementexpertise, comparable with today’s human resourcemanagement capability, became a critical way ofcontrolling and managing staff practices in departmentstores.

The dominant elements of the business strategy were:

�

Business growth � Efficiency and effectiveness � Image of the firm � Supporting culture

4.1.2. Business growth

The business expansion encompassed developing thereach and capacity of mail order, expanding themanufacturing scope, refurbishments and opening newstores in the central business district in 1927, 1935 and1938, all of which required additional staff and newskills as the firm strove to build and sustain itscompetitive advantage as a premier department store.

4.1.3. Efficiency and effectiveness

The business strategy emphasized efficiency andeffectiveness in all aspects. The evidence from theArchives shows that benchmarking staff managementpractices with American, Canadian and British depart-ment stores was used, and suggests that senior managersused the comparative information to refine and adaptstaffing practices in the firm.

4.1.4. Image of the firm

The premier image of some department stores likeMarshall Field’s, Chicago, (Koehn, 2001) was inspira-tional to the senior managers of David Jones, whichaimed to achieve a reputation for excellence in storedesign, merchandise range especially fashion leadership,and customer service. The position of the Chairman andhis family in the city’s elite society was very important tothe Board. To many staff, it was a respectable,sophisticated and even supportive place to work. TheChairman used the firm and its public activities to buildan image of the firm that was fashionable, innovative,glamorous, served customers well, looked after its staffand had an eminent place in city commerce.

4.1.5. Supporting culture

To achieve growth, efficiency and effectiveness, and apremier image of the store, the firm developed asupporting culture, which emphasized ‘‘family’’ valuesand social expectations and activities. The values of thefirm were family centred. The stability given by familywas evident where the founder’s grandson held the duelroles of Chairman of the Board of Directors andManaging Director, for most of the period. The senseof family management continuity was very strong, assimilarly noted for example in Bentall’s in the UK(Lancaster, 1995). The idea of the ‘family’ at work hadimplications of mutual obligations and responsibilities.For example, the owners supported staff health andwelfare initiatives, as shown in the Board Minutes andnewspapers. The Board members grasped the impor-tance of involving staff in activities that reinforced thedesired social culture within the firm and developed itsreputation. Management fostered many staff events tocelebrate the firm’s achievements like annual storebirthday functions, and gala occasions like dinners andballs. At other times, picnics were held for staffenjoyment and recreation. Staff were expected to beinvolved in these activities. Management also supportedthe formation of social clubs including the cricket club,the choral society and the drama society.

4.1.6. Business strategy summary

Overall, the business strategy was the glue that heldtogether the web of staff management practices at DavidJones from the 1920s to 1950s. Significantly, thebusiness vision supported an active approach to staffmanagement. More subtly, there was an approach tostaff management of benign paternalism. The personalvalues and aspirations and the overarching strategy thatthe Board developed were strong influences. Thebusiness strategy incorporated a demand for expertiseto guide the company’s staff management policies andpractices. From 1923, the Staff Manager, who remainedas the senior manager in this function until 1968, led thestaff management expertise. Together, he and the

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Chairman steered the management of staff over aprolonged period.

1David Jones Archives (DJA), McNeill Collection (McNC),

Lectures, Speeches and Addresses (LSA) 5, 1936, Seven lectures by

store executives; and McNC LSA 9, 1946, Lectures planned for junior

executive training.2DJA PRG 2/80, C. L. Jones, Copies of Speeches, notes for

addresses and interviews, articles and personal writings 1916–1958;

PRG 2/80 (1) Impression: England and America 1916–1917; PRG 2/80

(11) Jones, Opening remarks at working dinner, 9 April 1954; BRG 1/

4.2. Training

4.2.1. Introduction

The evidence about training comes from the BoardMinutes, Personnel documents and a collection of thePersonnel Manager’s papers and books, deposited in theArchive. That collection powerfully conveys the man-agement interest and commitment to building up thetraining and management development functions withinDavid Jones. In the physical collection, trainingmanuals, brochures and booklets from other majordepartment stores abound including for example, ‘‘StoreSystems Book’’ (Simpson’s, Toronto, Canada); ‘‘Seller’sGuide’’ (Selfridges, London); and ‘‘The Store ofService’’ (Marshall Field, Chicago). The manuals andcourses reflect contact with many department storesincluding Harrods and Macy’s. The holdings areconsistent with the business strategy of finding efficiencyand effectiveness by benchmarking with practices at thebest department stores in North America and Britain.The roots of this approach were in previous generationsof managers who travelled extensively and with thebuyers who were sources of information about practicesin other countries and retail firms.

Other books collected were about training, personnelselection, salesmanship, and character analysis, as a wayof more scientific selection of staff. The PersonnelManager’s speeches and lectures display a keen appre-ciation of what constituted good staff management andits contribution to the success of the firm. For example,lectures prepared for training sessions discussed the roleof personnel management and how it contributed to thebusiness.

The evidence suggests that the Chairman and seniormanagers, operating within a benign paternalisticmilieu, influenced the training programs. The firm, asPollon noted,

y has always been a store with staff developmentand training schemes well to the fore. y theadvanced style of training programmes, featuringlectures on marketing, management, stock controland customer contact. This plan gives its staff theopportunity not only to become familiar with thefirm’s plan of how it wishes its stores to operate, butalso finds the individual talents of its personnel, sothat they may be given an opportunity to realise theirpotential.

(Pollon, 1989, p. 172)

Training activities were guided by the businessstrategy themes of business growth, efficiency andefficiencies, image, and culture development.

4.2.2. Training aligned to business growth

To continue to achieve business growth with newstore openings and the ongoing introduction of newfashions, additional merchandise and new services, morestaff with management skills were needed. Throughoutthe 1920s–1950s, the personnel manager worked withthe Managing Director and other senior managers todesign training and management development programsthat would build staff skills and focus on attitudes andpractices that would achieve the firm’s goals. Many ofthe senior staff gave lectures to junior staff frequently.The management development programs of the late1940s and throughout the 1950s were very innovativefor Australia, especially as there were no specificuniversity courses in retailing.1 The Executive sanc-tioned many such programs. They ranged through on-the-job training, the appointment and development ofthe emerging middle management band of staff, thecreation of Discussion Groups, the appointment ofexecutive associate directors, and scholarships.

The most innovative management development pro-gram commenced in the late 1940s and recruited existingfemale and male staff on a competitive basis. Theyentered a twelve-month structured program of groupdiscussions, lectures, assignments and examinations, atthe end of which, all participants were assessed for theirpotential for future management positions and the mostoutstanding was awarded a 1-year travelling scholar-ship. The travels of the winners were reported in the in-house news, and in the Sydney press (DJA NewspaperClippings).

The progressive introduction of formalized andincreasingly sophisticated training programs was asignificant dimension of staff management. The benefitswere twofold. David Jones needed well-trained staff toachieve the company’s objectives, and the staff gainedskills that they could use in their current employment, ortowards promotions or to transfer elsewhere.

4.2.3. Training aligned to efficiency and effectiveness

The business strategy emphasized efficiency andeffectiveness to keep the firm profitable and expanding.The business strategy was developed by the Board andsenior staff who were alert to overseas developments inmerchandising, advertising and staffing matters. Thearchival documents show that attention was paid toLondon where Gordon Selfridge had set the benchmarkfor sales promotion and in-house retail training.2 The

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business books and manuals from other departmentstores, now retained in the Archive, suggest that themanagers were seeking more structured and ‘scientific’approaches to business and staff management, andsuccessful selling.3

One way of achieving cost effective performance wasto employ competent casual staff. Many casual salesstaff formed a pool of people who had repeatedemployment contracts over extended periods, mainlyat Christmas and sales periods. Many had previous salesexperience and training, needing only on-the-job re-fresher training to learn the latest practices and updatetheir product knowledge.

4.2.4. Training supporting the image of the firm: service

and fashion

Selling was the most public area for displaying staffskills and supporting the firm’s image and building itsreputation with customers. Like Roberts (2003) discussedin the New Zealand context, much effort went intotraining staff in selling techniques at David Jones. Sellingwas at the heart of on-the-job training in the variousmerchandise departments and of lectures and specifictraining courses. The heads of the departments wereusually also senior buyers, which meant that they under-stood the supply chain and the customers’ preferences. Intheir absences on buying trips, other senior sales staff actedas heads of departments. Apart from training in selling,archival evidence suggests that by the 1930s training inbasic occupational health and safety was in place.

The image of the firm was enhanced in several waysby the training effort. With customers, capable and well-informed sales staff were able to help build thereputation of the firm for excellent customer service.They were also able to display their knowledge offashion trends, reinforcing the firm’s image of being atthe forefront of fashion and innovation.

4.2.5. Training supporting culture development

The organization and delivery of the training activ-ities reinforced the culture of the firm. The concealedthreads of management paternalism were woven into thefabric of the training and development programs, drivenby the business strategy values of the ‘family’ workingcollectively to achieve success, with contingent value forstaff, the Board and the shareholders.

Succession management through training prospectiveexecutives contributed to reinforcing and continuing the

(footnote continued)

574, David Jones’ Limited: Advertising Department Circulars issued to

staff and customers for the opening of the Elizabeth Store November

1927, Copy Letter from Selfridge November 1926, Memo from Jones

to McDonald 22 December 1926.3DJA McNeill Collection (McNC) partially catalogued. Lectures,

Speeches and Articles (LSA). Miscellaneous Files (MF). Books and

Publications (BP).

culture based on the values and practices of the familywho led the firm. In another form of career building andhierarchical development, the Board created the JuniorExecutive. Participation benefitted the selected indivi-duals with career development and the firm withadditional expertise and scope for succession planning.An earlier initiative had added a staff representative to aBoard Sub-committee, which afforded the appointeeinvaluable experience, and possibly militated againstany trade union development, which meant harmonywas generally maintained within the ‘family’.

4.2.6. Training summary

Together these major training initiatives put DavidJones among those successful retailers such as Selfridgeswith progressive and innovative training systems andcareer development processes. The staff benefit in theform of development initiatives was driven by thebusiness strategy, which aimed to have effective andefficient well-trained staff who were part of the ‘familybusiness’.

4.3. Staff communication

4.3.1. Introduction

The evidence shows that internal communicationswith staff were used to assist the implementation of thebusiness strategy. The most significant printed internalcommunications were the house publications of theperiod at David Jones. Several main titles werepublished. The first, Between Ourselves, appeared in1916 briefly and re-emerged in 1920. The editor was oneof the staff and she had a lucid idea of her role, the roleof the newsletter and of the part that staff should play inits production and consumption. In the early 1930s, theDajonian Monthly was the house organ, with moredirect personalized communication from Directors andsenior staff. For example in December 1933, theDirectors and senior staff conveyed Christmas greetingsand appreciation to the staff through the newspaper.From 1936, the more regular and comprehensive David

Jones Store News was the house journal. These housenewspapers supplemented and supported day-to-dayhierarchical communications.

The major content strands were influenced by thebusiness strategy. The values espoused were consistentwith the times. In business terms, the messages wereabout business efficiency and effectiveness (storegrowth, changes of policies and change of practices),skills (how the firm expected staff to relate tocustomers), the image of the firm, and ‘‘family, family,family’’, including social ‘‘family’’ activities that origi-nated in the workplace, such as balls, dinners, andsporting functions. Together these messages conveyed tothe staff how they were expected to behave both asagents of the firm and as members of the firm’s

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‘‘family’’. The expectations expressed in the staffcommunications reflected the business strategy.

Generally, in the store’s in-house newspaper, thecommunication was informational and ostensibly egali-tarian, although by inference there was editorial super-vision. Other modes of internal communication were theabundance of internal lectures, speeches and publica-tions, which generally championed similar themes. Thestyle of these communications managed to be author-itative and yet seemingly egalitarian. Thee internal staffcommunications were guided by the business strategythemes of business growth, efficiency and effectiveness,image and culture development.

4.3.2. Staff communication aligned to business growth

The Annual Reports vividly discussed the firm’sachievements in the preceding year and projected plansthat generally focussed on business growth and devel-opments rather than just consolidation. From the early1920s, the Annual Reports often referred to the positivecontribution of the staff in achieving the firm’s businessgoals. The mail order catalogues showed the quality andscope of merchandise offerings and highlighted changesof direction. The planning, building progress andopening of new stores, refurbishments, and productand service innovations that demonstrated growth, allfeatured in the house newspapers.

4.3.3. Staff communication supporting efficiency and

effectiveness

The business strategy emphasized efficiency andcustomer service. Items about behavioural expectationsof staff of seemed like edicts from senior managementaimed at achieving improved performance. The returnof the Chairman and senior staff from trips abroad wasa feature, which reinforced the hierarchical nature of thefirm’s structure.

Training information included tips, detailed proce-dures, notices of training activities and reports on visitsand lectures from experts. The training sub-themespanned many aspects including new ways of dealingwith customers, and complaints and compliments.Examples include tips on selling and preparations forannual sales events.4 These frequent exhortations con-veyed the management’s view of how selling should beconducted, and supplemented formal training programs,and on-the-job training.

The hiring of staff at Christmas or for the clearancesales was a regular topic, with the injunction to make thenew recruits welcome and part of the ‘family’. Informa-

4DJA SN for example SN 1 (1) 2, 7 April 1936, injunction to staff to

know what is advertised; SN 1(3) 2, 10 June 1936, information about a

new glove fitting device, the necessity to help deliveries with correct

house name and number details, and the plans for the forthcoming

sale. ‘The plans are laid, the goods are ready, let yourself go and you’ll

get enthusiastic about it too!’

tion to update staff knowledge was provided about newproducts for sale or new customer services and facilities.

4.3.4. Staff communication supporting the image of the

firm

The tone of reporting and the choices about topicsshaped the image of the firm conveyed in the news-papers. Reports of buyers’ travels were often included,painting a picture of glamour and promoting aspirationsamong the more junior staff, while subtly reinforcing thespirit and expression of the business strategy andbuilding the image of the firm for staff. As shown,many issues publicized or reported particular storecelebrations such as annual anniversaries, and storeopenings or refurbishments, which reinforced the imageof the firm’s standing, longevity and glamour.

4.3.5. Staff communication reflecting culture

Many items promoted or reinforced the idea of thework family. The ‘‘family’’ celebration was a much usedcommunication device. Reports featured the celebrationof annual store anniversaries and many other eventsaimed at staff rather than customers. The house staffpublications heavily promoted all such events. Particu-lar events related to the Chairman and his travels andhomecomings and were often in the form of a ball orformal dinner, usually held in the store’s GreatRestaurant. Celebrations of store anniversaries, indivi-dual successes, retirements or long service, supportedthe idea that all members of staff were part of somelarger entity.

Some authors see negative connotations aboutemployee involvement where staff were expected tocontribute to presents, presentations, gifts, and memor-ials, or to pay to attend such celebratory functions(Phenix, 2002). There were some costs to staff forcontributions to gifts, tickets and clothes for functions.By inference, there may have been were psychic costs fornon-compliance. Most likely, however, this practice wasconsistent with the times and staff probably viewed suchcontributions as part of what one did in one’s work role,especially in a firm that promoted a family ethos sostrongly. The level of participation shown by photo-graphic evidence and related reports, seems greater thancould be explained by patriarchal coercion or ‘‘groupthink’’.

The extent of this phenomenon seems to be particularto department store staff, with examples evident in othercomparable firms such as Eaton’s in Canada, withfundraising for many occasions including a statue of thefounder, Timothy Eaton to mark the fiftieth anniversaryof the firm (Phenix, 2002). Drawing on photographicevidence and press reports, the participation rate inthese events appears very high, suggesting that involve-ment was a generally positive experience. Therefore as acommunication tool celebrations were an effective

ARTICLE IN PRESSD. Miller / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 13 (2006) 99–109 107

device, creating again an aura of egalitarianism and a‘‘family’’ corporate culture, and exemplifying the valuesunderpinning the business strategy.

Social information reflected the times and conveyedthe social mores of the day. Engagements, marriages,births, deaths, bereavements, retirements, vacations andprolonged illnesses were detailed. Notices of staffengagements usually included reference to the size orsparkle of the diamond engagement ring. Marriagenotices often observed that the bride would naturally beleaving her job at David Jones, although such a choicewas not compulsory. Other notices promoted the joy ofsubsequent baby births. In contrast, the reports ofdeaths and severe family illnesses were sober. Equally,many personal events of the less acceptable kind, such asdivorces, went unreported, with all staff officially‘‘blind’’ to such happenings, which reflects the socialexpectations and conditions of the times.

Occasionally staff competitions were promoted. So-cial clubs and staff sporting events were reported.During World War II, reports about staff serving thearmed forces and staff fundraising or other supportefforts were frequently published.

4.3.6. Staff communication summary

The use of the in-house staff newspaper wasconsistent with the business strategy. The in-housenewspapers presented a combination of managementand staff ‘news and views’. Staff could contribute to thenewspapers in various other ways, with stories andletters, so a sense of egalitarianism was possible.Photographs supported the editorial material. Staffsuggestions or letters were invited intermittently. Somesuch responses were mildly critical, and probablypartially ‘‘censored’’. Although edicts were includedfrom time to time, the newspaper was not really anappropriate forum, as senior staff and supervisorswould have conveyed to staff the behaviours expected.The communication in the house newspaper wasinformational with undoubted editorial supervision.The business strategy strongly influenced the expecta-tions expressed in the communications. The intensityand scope of communications helped to convey andreinforce expectations to all staff about selling practicesand relationships with customers. They helped to build aculture of selling, which resided not only within the salesassistants, but which permeated the entire staff. Thesuccess can be gauged in part by increasing salesturnover and profit, shown in Annual Addresses bythe Chairman from the 1920s to the mid 1950s.5

Staff loyalty was developed and enhanced throughthese communications, partly by overtly expressing howthe leaders thought that staff fitted into the business.The Chairman frequently expounded the importance of

5DJA BRG 1/27.

treating staff well and they in turn would treatcustomers well. Consequently, shareholders would besatisfied with the company continuing to make profitsand pay dividends.

4.4. Summary of findings and discussion

To summarize the findings and discussion, thebusiness strategy guided the policies and practices fortraining and for staff communication, which whensuccessfully implemented helped to achieve the manage-ment goals. The continuity of leadership of the firmoverall and the personnel function from the 1920s to1950s contributed to incremental changes in the businessstrategy and consequently, the related training and staffcommunication.

The successful contributions of training and staffcommunications did not happen in a vacuum, but ratherin the context of the day. The success depended on otherroles and functions of firm being guided by the businessstrategy. For example, merchandise management had tobe effective and efficient and contribute to the firm’simage as per the business strategy, so that training couldbe implemented. That is, no matter how skilled asalesperson, suitable goods and services must beavailable to present to the customer. Senior staff neededappropriate resources, responsibilities and accountabil-ities to perform efficiently and effectively, and consistentwith the desired image of the firm.

5. Implications and conclusion

There are several implications that flow from thisresearch. The first is that that twenty-first centuryretailers could use the findings as a catalyst to reviewingtheir business strategies which may or may not bearticulated explicitly.

Second, retailers should take a strategic approach tohuman resource management. Retailers and share-holders must understand that strategic human resourcemanagement goes beyond recruitment, selection, andpersonnel administration, to deal the entire range ofhuman resource management functions. Strategic hu-man resource managers in contemporary retailing canevaluate the extent to which there is synergy between theorganization’s business strategy and human resourcepolicies and practices. An evaluation of any gap inalignment would indicate where suitable adjustmentscould be made.

Third, within strategic human resource management,there are likely to be special benefits of evaluating twosophisticated components, training and staff commu-nications. Complex issues such as staff retention can beaddressed in part through staff development.

ARTICLE IN PRESSD. Miller / Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 13 (2006) 99–109108

In conclusion, this paper contributes to knowledgeabout strategic dimensions of human resource manage-ment in department stores in several ways. First, it hasidentified that in the case of David Jones, the businessstrategy strongly and directly influenced the humanresource management role, as illustrated by two of itskey functions, staff communication and training. Thus,human resources practices were strategic for thedepartment store studied.

Paradoxically, the strategic influences flourishedbecause of the continuity (or ‘sameness’) of leaders onthe one hand, and on the other the willingness of thoseleaders to take on innovations from elsewhere or tocreate their own. Another contributor could be termedgenerational employment, where the leader and othersenior staff were descendents of the firm’s founder.Many employees had very long service, and severalgenerations of some families were employed. Whereemployees did not enjoy permanent employment, manywere regular or repeat casual staff, employed year afteryear for peak periods such as Christmas and sales. Theemployees’ continuity of connection with the firm andthe visibility and longevity of the leadership of the firmand the human resources function assisted in creating anaura of ‘family’ within the firm.

In summary, modern retailers should place moreemphasis on the policies and practices that couldcontribute to enhanced staff retention, rather than onthe immediacy of recruitment and selection. Twenty-firstcentury retailers could use the findings to strategicallyreview their internal communications strategies andtraining policies. Moreover, strategic human resourcemanagers need to align human resource activities withthe organization’s strategic goals. Finally, studies usingcontemporary department stores as the focus couldinvestigate the human resources roles and functionsincluding staff communication and training. A qualita-tive textual study of company documents could be usedas a precursor to a quantitative study.

David Jones, like other department stores, pioneereddistinctive solutions to the unique challenges of thelarge-scale retail format. The success of their humanresource management activities can be measured in partby the ongoing business growth, which required effectiveand efficient staff practices, and by the positivereputation that the firm enjoyed in the broadercommunity.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the permissiongranted by David Jones Ltd to research and publishfrom materials deposited in the David Jones Archive.Particular thanks to Barbara Horton, Archivist, DavidJones Ltd; Dr Ellen Jordan, University of Newcastle,

Australia; Professor Bill Merrilees, Department ofMarketing, Griffith University; and the anonymousreviewers for helpful feedback.

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