Leadership and Management

            Gap Incorporated is owned by CEO Art Peck, who oversees all managerial staffs from different branches. As one can guess, this can be a lot of work. As Jeff Sonnenfeld from the Yale School of Management says,  “These aren’t people that are hanging out and golfing and running around country clubs and sipping on their sherries at late afternoon. These are people that are working nonstop, 40-hour days, eight days a week” (Dubner, 2018). Art Peck works especially hard to maintain stability in his company, as Gap Inc. is separated into five different branches that represent each of its separate divisions; Gap Old Navy, Banana Republic, Intermix and Athleta (Dudovskiy). Each division has a separate president that takes care of their brand specifically (Dudovskiy).  Two of the most influential people at GAP include Teri List-Stoll, the Chief Financial Officer, and Craig Brommers, the Chief of Marketing Officer (Gap 3, 2018). The Banana Republic President is Mark Breitbard, the President of Old Navy is Sonya Syngal, Nancy Green is the President of Athleta, Jyothi Rao is the General Manager of Intermix, and finally, Gap’s President is Neil Fiske (Gap 3, 2018). Hill City’s President has not been named yet, however. Each president oversees their department, but Art Peck oversees all of their actions within their companies. As one can see, Art Peck’s job as CEO is often compared to coaching a team. As Nicholas Bloom, Professor of economics at Stanford says, “[I]f you think of a football team, it’s very much like that with C.E.O.’s. In some ways, they’re the masterminds behind the scene” (Dubner, 2018).

            As for the major functions of management, Gap’s strategy varies depending on what department one is examining. For example, the planning aspect of the major functions of management may be different under Old Navy’s president Sonya Syngal and under Nancy Green at Athleta. However, as a whole, the company deals with the major functions of management explicitly. Planning is defined as “the process of setting goals and determining the best way to achieve them” (Collins, 2017). Planning also has a lot to do with planning for not only the future of the company, but for the future of the world as a whole. Corporate social responsibility, and giving back to communities, is equally important as running a company. In terms of planning, Art Peck started doing the majority of his work before he was even CEO; “A champion of the company values to “do more than sell clothes,” Art has been a trustee on the board of Gap Foundation since 2008, and a long-time advocate for corporate social responsibility and the company’s philanthropic work” (Gap, 4, 2018). His work aids him in planning for not only the welfare of his business, but also the communities around him. Peck is also responsible, as CEO, for strategic planning, or creating a clear and concise outline of a business plan, creating a mission statement, using SWOT analysis to identify risks and strengths, setting goals and objectives for the company, and then using tactical and operational plans to implement this process (Collins, 2017). Next, as top manager, or CEO of the company, Art Peck must set objectives, scan the environment much like he did in SWOT analysis, and plan and make decisions that are best for the company, much like he did whenever he convinced Gap inc. to acquire Intermix and Athleta (Collins, 2017) (Gap, 4, 2018). It is also especially important that Peck must also develop an organizational chart to determine which leadership positions he directly oversees, as Gap has six different Presidents for each brand division (Collins, 2018).

            The other two halves of the major functions of management intertwine with the major functions of leadership and communication style. The next function of management is directing, which is defined by Karen Collins as “providing focus and direction to others and motivating them to achieve organizational goals” (Collins, 2017). At this point, Peck is responsible for providing his company with plans and placing them where they need to be within the organizational structure. One of the most important parts of management, however, pertains to how well the CEO of a company leads his workers; this reality stems from what leadership style a manager is considered to present. Art Peck has stressed that he “has led the company to stress transparency” (Tufts University, 2016). Based on the above quotes, Art Peck is likely a democratic leader, or a leader who “generally seeks input from subordinates while retaining the authority to make the final decisions. They’re also more likely to keep subordinates informed about things that affect their work” (Collins, 2017). This leadership style typically translates to being a transformational leader, or “managers mentor and develop subordinates and motivate them to achieve organizational rather than merely personal goals. Transformational leadership is effective in organizations that value team building and information sharing”, meaning that Art Peck’s leadership is very effective considering that Gap has become increasingly more inclusive and equity-based over the years. Finally, Art peck also has the responsibility of controlling his company. There are five primary steps to this process, including “establish[ing] standards, (2) measur[ing] performance, (3) compar[ing] actual performance with standards and identify[ing] any deviations, (4) determin[ing] the reason for deviations, and (5) tak[ing] corrective action if needed” (Collins, 2017). There are multitudes of important actions that managers, or more specifically a CEOs of a large company, must be responsible for. Though Art Peck has a lot on his plate as the Chief Executive Officer, he has still managed to do a great deal for Gap, and will continue to do more.

            Human resource management “consists of all actions that an organization takes to attract, develop, and retain quality employees” (Collins, 2017). As for how Gap recruits their employees, their methods have become more open and inclusive over the years. On Gap’s careers website (https://jobs.gapinc.com/gap-home), they state that “We're looking for true individuals. People with the courage to take chances. Who understand that making a difference takes passion, patience, and persistence” (Gap Careers, 2018). There isn’t a lot of information from Gap employees about what they specifically love about working at Gap; however, the Gap CEO art Peck says that the goal by working at Gap is to “do more than sell clothes", and the way to do this is by harboring a sense of community and inclusion in the workplace. After winning the 2016 Catalyst award for inclusivity in the workforce, Peck also said that “It’s not an accomplishment, it’s the way the world should work”, which is reflected in the fact that “Today, women make up more than 75 percent of Gap Inc.'s worldwide employee base, from store managers through the CEO's senior leadership team. Additionally, women currently lead four out of five Gap Inc. brands ” (Gap Careers, 2, 2016). Peck’s statement goes hand-in-hand with what Dr. Sandra Taylor said when she presented about the importance of being a good global citizen by taking part in Corporate Social Responsibility. She said that “In order to understand and master international business, you have to understand global history, culture, politics, policy [because] they are all intertwined in international business” (Taylor, 2018).

According to the Catalyst foundation, an organization that focuses on healthy and inclusive environments for women, Gap takes part in a number of work-related inclusivity measures to develop and motivate employees, specifically women and women of color. Gap specifically supports and harbors a strong communication between Human Resource Managers and members of the Diversity and Inclusion Council, specifically claiming that “The Council’s approach is “think globally, act locally,” with women’s strategy as an area of commonality across regions and functions” (Catalyst, 2016). In addition, Gap also tailors programs within the company to employee needs; for example, they encourage employees to take part in non-profit organizations or become members of social action groups such as ASCEND and Icon (Catalyst, 2016). As for performance appraisals, or the “Formal process in which a manager evaluates an employee’s work performance” (Collins, 2017), Gap stays true to its mission statement for a friendly, unintimidating workplace; Gap does not have formal performance appraisals, but instead, all managers and employees are encouraged to have twelve, informal, undocumented conversations about their performance over the course of the year (E-REWARD.CO.UK. , 2016) In contrast to this information, however, , on the Catalyst award website, a former Gap employee made a disturbing comment about being denied a job. The person claims that Gap may be a publicly inclusive company, but not an internally equity-based one. The commenter claimed that “I know, I experienced it (discrimination) myself when I worked there in a freelance capacity and applied for 3 different positions for which I was the most qualified applicant by far, and was turned down for all 3 positions due to the company's discriminatory and illegal hiring policies” (Catalyst, 2016). Based upon this comment, there may be need for more in-depth analysis of Gap’s Human Resource department and what it means to be an “inclusive” workplace.