How Best to Manage Team Diversity

¶ … Hot Topic so successful as a retailer? What makes them so popular with their employees? How can they keep their success going?

Hot Topic is a youth-oriented apparel and accessory store featured in malls across the country. What is so impressive and unusual about Hot Topic is the way in which it has been able to remain successful for so many years. It is a 'trendy' store that has continued to be trendy for many generations of teens.

Hot Topic's CEO Betsy McLaughlin recently resigned from the company and has been credited with fostering its success over the decades (McLaughlin resigns from Hot Topic, 2011, California Apparel News). McLaughlin was responsible for the creation of one of the company's subsidiary divisions, the 'Torrid' line of clothing which showcases attractive fashions in plus sizes for teens (McLaughlin resigns from Hot Topic, 2011, California Apparel News). Just as Hot Topic is unique as a mall store and fulfills many teens' unmet needs for a style that is more hardcore and gothic than the offerings of the Gap and the Limited, Torrid satisfies an unmet need for overweight teens to look stylish.

The company's atmosphere is teen-focused atmosphere at its headquarters, rather than merely tries to market to teens. This encourages employees to engage in out-of-the-box thinking. "Eighty percent of the merchandise we carry is not available at any other mall store" (Pendleton 1997:1). Hot Topic strives to create a product image and product lines that are radically and profoundly different from those of competitors. "Hot Topic tries to limit the risk by ordering its trendy merchandise only 30 to 60 days ahead" (Pendleton 1997:1). Rather than trying to create a company that is 'all things to all people,' Hot Topic hones a cutting-edge appeal.

Its corporate headquarters encourages workers to remain part of the teen culture the company is trying to serve. "Hot Topic has, literally, no walls between departments. The 75 employees, who show up to work in jeans and T-shirts, toil at their desks near monitors constantly beaming MTV...The company encourages its generally youthful staff -- mostly around age 20 at the stores -- to frequent dance clubs and concerts. Spot a trend, report on it, and Hot Topic will pop for the ticket" (Pendleton 1997:2). Early on, this strategy proved to be very effective for the company. When a Hot Topic employee saw Gwen Stefani in "punk-inspired tank tops and hip huggers," the company manufactured them almost immediately and gained a first-mover edge upon the competition (Pendleton 1997:2).

Q2. How does the idea of no walls and no doors in the corporate headquarters encourage the culture Hot Topic is trying to perpetuate? Do you think you would like to work in such an atmosphere?

Betsy McLaughlin "was known as a friendly boss who espoused what seemed like unconventional ideas. At Hot Topic headquarters, there were no walls separating top executives from other company employees" (McLaughlin resigns from Hot Topic, 2011, California Apparel News). This helped to create an exciting workplace in which people were respected for their ideas, not their formal positions on the organizational hierarchy. Having no walls encourages workers to communicate with one another as a unified corporate team. When people have ideas they can talk to one another, regardless of whether their nearest sounding board is an intern or a member of the higher-level management.

There are, however, some downsides to having no barriers between employees. Privacy can be conducive to generating creative ideas. Hot Topic's workplace is often very noisy and dynamic, which can make it difficult for workers to contemplate alone. This can thwart individuals who might come up with unusual concepts. The fact that new ideas are so quickly brought under scrutiny can kill new ways of approaching problems as well as foster dialogue.