ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

10 ITEMS OR LESS, S01E01

Show Summary
During the opening credits, Leslie Pool quickly narrates the show's set-up. Leslie's dad, who never thought his son would amount to anything, drops dead in the family-owned grocery store, the Greens and Grains. Returning to Ohio after inheriting the store, Leslie is intent on making the struggling store a success, while proving his father's assessment of him wrong. There are only a couple of catches, the most important one being that Leslie doesn't really know what the hell he's doing. As well, Leslie's staff (who know all about his dad's poor opinion of him), may not be the most stable. Incredibly soft-spoken and oddly-oriented Ingrid runs the Customer Service counter. "Out" perfectionist and aspiring Ice Capades skater Richard keeps the cash register ringing, while young, world-champion bagger Buck keeps the customers' bags fully loaded. Funereal gorper Carl skulks around the store, sweeping and mopping up when he's not busy trying to figure out how to fix a freezer or water pipe, while his one-night-(only)-stand partner Yolanda, a sexy, outspoken produce arranger who likes her men rough, puts her time in so she can take care of her son, ManuelitoCarl's son (a fact that Carl only learns about four years later). Rounding out the G & G team is Todd, the handsome stud butcher who is about as bright as one of his sides of beef. And if Leslie's inexperience and his staff's flakiness and casual approach to their duties isn't bad enough, he has to contend with next-door-neighbor Super Value Mart, one of a behemoth grocery chain (all similarities to Wal-Mart intended) run by power-mad, sex-crazed Amy Anderson, a former object of unrequited lust for Leslie when they went to school together, and now his arch nemesis who's focused on only one thing: either acquiring or destroying altogether the G & G so Super Value Mart can expand their parking lot.i

Starling D. Hunter III 2012 | starling@qatar.cmu.edu| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu

Cast of Characters
Leslie Pool: the owner/manager of G&G. Leslie brings his oblivious yet lovable management style to the Greens & Grains grocery store he inherits after his father's death. Amy Anderson: The first and second season manager of Super Value Mart, the G&G's number one competitor from across the street. Amy went to high school with Leslie. Mercy P. Jones: The third season manager of Super Value Mart. She is ultracompetitive, and trying to put the G&G's out-of-business at all cost. Ingrid Wakowski: Ingrid is the quirky, soft-spoken customer service representative who lives for Renaissance Festivals. Yolanda Nelson: The straight talking dominant force behind the produce department. Todd Sykes: Todd, the butcher who hopes to be a NASCAR driver. Carl Dawson: Carl is the sweet doofus stockboy with a huge crush on Yolanda. Richard Mednick: Richard is a dignified cashier who dreams of becoming a professional figure skater. Buchwald "Buck" Washington: Buck is a checkout bagger who is looking towards the future of becoming a doctor by attending night school.ii

Episode Recap
The main character in the episode is Leslie who is the new boss, who takes over his fathers business which is a supermarket greens and grains after his death. But he runs through several obstacles trying to keep the business together after he discovers that his father was trying to sell the store because it wasnt making much of a profit. Leslies father died before he could finish the process of selling it to the rival supermarket. We see Amy who is the boss from the rival supermarket who tries to convince Leslie to sell the store, but he refuses believing that he could run the store and increase profits by his unconventional ways of leading the employees to success. We see Leslie trying to communicate with his employees to increase the sales of the store by enhance the communication between them, boosting their confidence level and sparking completion between through the book of success that the employees have to reference to when working in case they needed inspiration through words of wisdom that Leslie put together for them. And throughout the episode Leslie is constantly pressured by Amy to sell the store so he tries to prove her that the store is fine but fails at the end when he sees his employees go on to a huge fight that he was the main reason of. Leslie momentarily is convinced to sell the store but his employees realize that their future depended on the store so they intervene and convince Leslie that the store needs him so he changes his mind at the end and keeps the store to prove to himself as well as others that he is capable to running a business successfully.
2 Starling D. Hunter III 2012 | starling@qatar.cmu.edu| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu

And through these events we see three theories coming together and making a perfect connection. We see Leslie taking over his father who here Leslie represents a change agent that changes the store and the way it was run by his father. And by Leslie trying to take over his father, he is put in a situation where he finds himself as a leader and tries to implement his methods of leadership over the groups and teams the employees formed either due to the situations Leslie enforced or through prior relationships.

Discussion Questions
Identify the change agent in this episode and indicate whether (s)he an internal or external agent? 2. Who offers the most and who offers the least resistance to change and why? 3. Identify alternative change techniques used in the episode:
1.

Solutions
Write to starling@qatar.cmu.edu to obtain a copy of the solution to this case.
i ii

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35963/10-items-or-less-the-complete-first-second-seasons/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Items_or_Less_(TV_series)#Characters

Starling D. Hunter III 2012 | starling@qatar.cmu.edu| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu