Pros
Competitive culture. Culture forces you to look at all aspects of the business. In that sense it makes you a stronger Manager because you need to always be aware of your deficiencies and opportunities and how you are going to modify associate behaviors to improve results.
Cons
Where do I begin?! I had the unfortunate chance of being hired in the #1 Region in the #1 District training(now that's a broad term) briefly in the #1 store for the company of which were performing well above company standard at the start of the 4th quarter then I was assigned to a broken store. The "expectation" was that I needed to be at the District standard, unbelievable!!! Training was non-existent. You had to figure out most things for yourself. Daily operations of the business were chaotic. You spent most of your time putting out fires then working your plan. I had at least ten different log-in/password combinations for various applications needed to conduct business. If you needed any kind of support, nine times out of ten you had to call a 1-877 number and you would be transferred halfway around the world to some call center to someone who probably never stepped foot into a Sears but was there to help resolve your problems. "Thank you for your patients, we really appreciate it" is the response you would get on each call. In store management was a carousel or revolving door. Field Management, at least in my territory, was constantly micro-managing. There was more focusing on the negatives then the positives. There is a business scorecard that tracks different metrics that the company felt were key to supporting and driving business. If we had dropped below District or company in any given metric rest assured you were going to be assaulted and harassed by the District manager through every available channel of communication(conference calls, e-mails, texts, etc.). like a militant cockroach. Never a positive word only how were you going to fix the problem. Where is your engagement? Where is your involvement? You should be embarrassed by your results, were some common phrases thrown at store management. It resembled being in an abusive relationship where the dominant partner is always beating you down with insults.