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Stewart's is successful by building relationship's with regular customers. Also making the partners feel like they are important with the staff, and communicating positive aspects of the partners.

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Husain, Z. (2013.). Effective communication brings successful organizational change, 1–8.
Kramer, M. W., & Bisel, R. S. (2017). Organizational communication: a lifespan approach. New York: Oxford University Press.

Other Sources
Bruscella , J. Lectures for Organizational Communcation

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One Recommendation I could make for Stewart's Shop's would be to make sure everyone is switching up different tasks to do. Sometimes you can end up  being on the register all day and ending up with over 200 customers, and the other partner is cooking food, cleaning or stocking shelves.
The company should keep up with having store meeting, doing the share agreements and keeping the ESOP. All three of these things are great qualities about being a partner with the company, making them want to work there.

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This is a photo of a Security Pendent that all partners must wear during the shift. This benefits the shops, because it makes the employees feel safer during their shift. If there was an emergency all they would have to do is click the button and help would be on the way.

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Organizational Member's with Stewart's Shop's

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Organizational Member's with Stewart's Shop's

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Feedback is an important aspect of supervisor-subordinate communication.
At Stewart's every ninety days the partner sits down and has a meeting, which is known as a "share agreement" with the manager. The partner fills out a sheet and rates themselves from -2,-1,0,+1, +2 based off of how they believe they are doing and also explain why. The manager also fills out one and then they both go over the share sheet together, what the partner is doing good at, how they can improve, and in some cases if they are getting a raise or promotion. Having this type of communication and feedback can lead to more satisfied subordinates.

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"Supervisor-Subordinate communication is often considered the most important inter-personal relationship by employees." (Bisel, Kramer, 2016 pg. 185)

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Channels and Structures with Stewart's Shop's

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Channels and Structures with Stewart's Shop's

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At Stewart's Shop's informal communication is used at certain points.
- I could go to a certain assistant manager over the manager based off of the relationship I have with them.
- Partners sometimes communicate with each other if they have a question about something weather it be in person or text message.

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Informal communication is the most commonly used channel of organizational communication. This is also referred to as the "watercooler" of communication. (Bisel, Kramer, 2016, p. 133)

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Organizational Encounter with Stewart's Shop's 

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Organizational Encounter with Stewart's Shop's 

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Stewart's Shop's new hires come in with uncertainty about the job and what the organization is all about. The organization does a good job by providing 2 eight hour training days. The first day they learn about the importance of asking people for IDs and proper customer service etiquette, and other basic shop details. The following day is strictly about food safety. After you start working there the manager has the option to send partners to seminars that are offered to further their knowledge on the organization.

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Uncertainty Management Theory "Organizational Newcomers experience a lot of uncertainty when entering a new workplace." (Bruscella, 2020, Lecture 4,

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Three Key Concepts
1. Organizational Encounter
2. Organizational Members
3. Channels and Structures of Organizational Communication

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I thought it would be interesting to add in how the organization I picked to research is handling the COVID-19 Outbreak. Being that this business is considered essential, Stewart's has limited promotions on ice cream sales to focus on the safety of the customers. When this pandemic is over every partner is receiving a bonus check for the hours that they put in during these difficult times.

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Stewart's Shop is a well organized corporation that works hard to maintain a clean and well managed business, for the partners and the customers.
It is nice to be apart of an organization where there is little conflict, and much teamwork.

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The Stewart's Shop's website is an important aspect to communication and is the most efficient way to communicate with customers, being that the company is so large. The website provides weekly promotions and new flavors of ice cream. The history of Stewart's, and how it started and career opportunities. The location of different stores and the contact information. There is also a place to sign up to receive text messages for coupons such as a free scoop of ice cream. Given the current circumstances the website is even providing a page discussing COVID-19 and how they are taking action to remain safe as possible.

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Half Gallon Ice Cream Sale

Half gallon ice cream is on sale all week at Stewart's Shops, just $4.19 or 2/$8.

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Stewart's Shops - NY's Trusted Convenience Store for Fresh Food & Fuel

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Stewart's Shops is a family owned and operated chain of convenience stores and gas stations in New York and Vermont. Stop by to see what we have to offer today!

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Stewart's Shop's can be found in local news, weather it is promoting ice cream sales, helping out the local community and like the one I posted below, being one of the largest employers. Having the capability to hire many people, and help them out is awesome, especially because this is a great company to be apart of.

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Stewart's Shops is a family and employee-owned convenience store chain in 31 counties across the state and in southern Vermont. Stewart's is known for its fresh milk, ice cream, coffee, food-to-go, gasoline and other convenience store items.

Headquarters: Ballston Spa and Saratoga Springs

Year founded: 1950

Employees: 5,400 at 251 Capital Region locations
Website: www.stewartsshops.com
Interesting facts: Stewart's produces or distributes three-quarters of its products, allowing better control of quality, pricing and product availability. Stewart's has its own dairy, ice-cream plant and warehouse and works closely with more than 30 local dairy farms to provide customers with fresh milk to make ice cream and dairy products like buttermilk, eggnog and half and half. Their eggs come from Thomas' Poultry Farm in Schuylerville.
- Compiled by Wendy Liberatore
What's new: "Cookieccino" ice cream, which is available at the cone counter this month. It's mocha-cappuccino ice cream with Oreo pieces.

What employees are saying:

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2nd Place Large Employer: Stewart's Shops

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Stewart's Shops is a family and employee-owned convenience store chain in 31 counties across the state and in southern Vermont. Stewart's is known for its fresh milk, ice cream, coffee, food-to-go, gasoline and other convenience store items. Headquarters: Ballston Spa and Saratoga Springs Year founded: 1950 Employees: 5,400 at 251 Capital Region locations Website: www.stewartsshops.com Interesting facts: Stewart's produces or distributes three-quarters of its products, allowing better control of quality, pricing and product availability.

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1. Stewarts Shops Web Page
2. Security Pendent
3. New's Article

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An Artifact can be defined as a material representation of culture.
(Bruscella, 2020, Lecture 7)
What are Artifacts
- Tangible
- Visible
- Audible

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Every year the day after Thanksgiving, Stewart's starts a Holiday Match program which lasts until the New Year. Where customers can donate money, or just their change after cashing out. This money that the shop raises will go to local charities and help out the community where the store is located. This not only helps out the community but also shows customers how awesome Stewart's is!

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How are organizational decisions made at Stewart's Shop's? 

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How are organizational decisions made at Stewart's Shop's? 

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At Stewart's organizational decisions are made through the partners. Every month the manager has a store meeting. One with the partners who work the day shift, and another with those who work the night shift. Here is where they discuss what one shift group can do different to help the others. They also discuss how to boost sales and advertise promotions better. We also discuss how to make it fun and competitive by seeing who can sell the most of what is on sale. Having store meeting only improves the store's quality, and make the team work better together by sharing ideas.

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Organizational Culture Scholarly Article 

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Organizational Culture Scholarly Article 

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"Organizational communication has two objectives. The primary objective is to inform the workforce about their tasks and the policy issues of the organization. Organizational communication is defined as transmitting news about the work from organization to employees and through employees "

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- Organizational culture is "The sets of artifacts, values, and assumptions, that emerge from the interactions of various members within an organization, created and maintained through communication." (Bruscella, 2020, Lecture 7)

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After working with Stewart's Shops for over 6 months I have been able to understand more about their certain organization culture. The Organizational Culture at my specific shop is very positive. The Manager is constantly making sure everyone is happy and also doing their job right.The training here is very intense, there is a lot of specific things that you have to do in order to be properly trained.

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Stewart's started off as a family farm, which then progressively turned into a convenience store over years of development.
1950 - Ice Cream Shop
1960 -  Dairy Shop
1970 - Gas Station
Which began to take over the smaller gas stations that could not keep up with the competition.

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Stewart's Shop's is known for the fresh, local dairy and ice cream, own made beverages, and grocery items. This chain is based out of Saratoga Springs. Stewart's is a very well organized business, and communicates well with not only their partners but their customers. They are always letting us know of changes and also posting weekly sale items on their Facebook page for customers to see. Without the structure of corporate and the industry some stores could go down hill quickly or fail. Structure is an important aspect when running an organization. The work environment here is very positive, which is a key component to success. At Stewart's Shops they call their employee's "partners" because they really are. The partners own nearly 40% of the company through their Employee Stock Ownership, also known as ESOP, which is a benefit for working 1,000 hours in the year. This year Stewarts made $17 Million contribution towards their ESOP.