Management Assignment Discussing Ways To Motivate Workers At Pizza & Pub
Question
Task:
CASE STUDY
Pizza & Pub
Your first work experience came in the eighth grade, when your father opened the family pizza business. After university graduation, you entered the construction business, building homes for more than a decade. But then something drew you to make a change. So, you took the family recipes and started your own restaurant, Pizza & Pub, which was deliberately located far enough away to avoid competing with your father.
Your goal was simple: to build a fun, family restaurant. Pizza & Pub – there are now two – have 8-metre-high, floor-to-ceiling stone fireplaces, stuffed bears, moose ‘antler chandeliers’, huge aquariums separating the bar and the restaurant, and wood everywhere: oak floors and huge beams recycled from century-old barns. And they’re huge, each seating 320 guests. On a Friday night, 1500 customers will eat at Pizza and Pub, most waiting an hour for their tables, while having a drink and eating free peanuts at the bar. Those 1500 customers will eat 3200 pizzas, and takeaway customers order another 800. Why do they come? Beyond the great pizza, they come for the value. A medium cheese pizza is $16; soft drinks are $2.80, with free refills; and the popular Italian beef sandwich is under $12. Pizza & Pub is really affordable, especially for a sit-down restaurant.
With things going so well, you planned to open three more restaurants in the next five years. Unfortunately, the recession changed your plans. Guest counts dropped by 20 per cent, or 100,000 people per year, decreasing revenue by nearly $1 million. On top of that, your managers were having difficulty controlling costs. Each week, they conducted a physical count, comparing food inventories (tomato sauce, flour, cheese, beef, liquor etc.) to the previous week, and then adjusted for this week’s sales. But beverage and food costs were still above goal: 22 per cent of revenues for beverages and 20 per cent of revenues for food. The problem, as you discovered, was your management staff, all were hired externally because of their extensive experience at established well-known restaurant chains. You discovered that their idea of leadership, learned in the ‘command and control’ cultures of other restaurants, was telling people what to do. So, they had someone else put in the inventory numbers but this task was of part of the person’s job role. When the numbers came out wrong, the management staff didn’t dig deeper or ask questions to discover why. This led you as the business owner to question your management and staff motivation.
In the end, with costs up, revenues down and lending standards tightening, the bank didn’t approve the new construction loans for the three additional restaurants. So rather than expanding, your immediate challenge is to fix and grow the two Pizza & Pub restaurants that you have. Frustrated with your management staff, you gave responsibility for reducing costs to a 24-year-old who had worked for you since she was 16 and you knew was highly motivated to work for you and in this industry. She fixed the problem in four weeks by discussing the problem with the kitchen, wait and bar staff, who suggested immediate solutions to reduce costs.
Once you had these solutions in place, you pulled together the management and other staff from both restaurants. You outlined the current position of Pizza & Pub which showed that financial restrictions would need to be in place for at least the next 12 months. After answering questions from the management and staff, you then asked for their help to improve the motivation and performance within the business. You also highlight that while you recognise everyone wants to be paid more, you remind them that you are already paying award wages and increasing wages will not be an option for at least the next 12 months due to current financial constraints.
Management Assignment Question: 1. Identify and discuss four (4) ways to motivate workers at Pizza & Pub to perform at their best?
Answer
Identify and discuss four (4) ways herein management assignment to motivate workers at Pizza & Pub to perform at their best?
Motivation is referred to as a set of forces that directs initiates and enables individuals to persist with respect to their efforts in order to achieve organisational goals. Motivation is closely related to job performance within an organisation as a higher level of motivation means improved performance among the employees. However, it has been identified that job performance is dependent upon three primary determinants are motivation, ability and situational constraints, which plays a crucial factor in increasing workplace performance among the workers (Williams et al., 2019). Moreover, motivation, as mentioned above, is determined to be effort exerted by an individual together with the skills, talent and knowledge possessed by the individual along with the integration of equipment, tools, resources and policies that duly impact the job performance of individual employees. Furthermore, the dimensions that have been cited above are needed in order to enhance motivation level among the employees, which in return increases the job performance of the employees.
The employees that are working within the organisation of Pizza & Pub have come across motivation issues, as a result of which their workplace performance has significantly reduced. Moreover, the management staffs of the respective organisation were duly recruited externally on the basis of their work experience in well-established restaurants. However, the staff members of the management department in Pizza & Pub had faced issues with respect to the overall supervision of business activities within the organisation. Furthermore, the managerial department has faced motivation issues, which has rightly reduced their performance in the workplace. The organisation has also witnessed issues regarding the management of finances, which has duly added to the reduction of their profits and revenues from their market of operations. Due to this, the expansion processes of Pizza & Pub restaurant have been delayed as the company was denied the approval of construction loans from the bank. In addition to that, the company has been forced to impose financial restrictions due to which the wages paid to the employees were stagnant with no increase for almost a span of twelve months (Williams et al., 2019). The lowering of wages has significantly impacted the employees within the organisation. As a result of which the workers have been highly disappointed and demotivated, which has rightly affected their motivation and job performance.
In response to that, the managers of the respective restaurant have implemented certain ways in order to increase the motivation level among the restaurant staff members. One of the prominent ways by which the motivation among the employees can be increased is by satisfying their needs. Needs and satisfaction are closely associated, and with the fulfilment of needs, motivation increases (Ayundasari, Sudiro & Irawanto, 2017). By paying adequate wages to the workers and incentivising they can certainly mitigate the issues of performance and motivation faced by the employees. It has been recognised that needs are determined to be psychological or physical requirements that are required to be fulfilled so as to make sure well-being and survival of the employees (Rožman, Treven & ?an?er, 2017).
Figure 1: Classification of Needs of Three Different Theories
(Source:Williams et al., 2019)
As per figure 1, the theory of Maslow’s entails the identification of the needs of an individual, which, when fulfilled, extensively motivates them in order to accomplish their goals. In addition, Maslow’s theory suggests that individuals are motivated by physiological, belongingness, safety, self-actualisation, and esteem needs highlighting those needs in high-order and low-order classifications which can be observed from figure 2. Moreover, Alderfer’s ERG classifies growth and relatedness in high-order, whereas existence in lower-order and fulfilment of such needs leads to an increase in motivation of employees. However, McClelland learned needs theory argues that the degree to which specific needs motivates a person varies from individual to individual, with achievement being the primary motivator as compared to affiliation and power. Moreover, in accordance with figure 1, it has been suggested from research studies that the needs that are placed in higher-order significantly motivate individuals even though the lower-order needs are not fulfilled (Williams et al., 2019). The satisfaction of lower-order needs is vital prior to the higher-order needs. The fulfilment of lower-order needs leads to the creation of opportunities for the employees by their employers in order to satisfy higher-order needs.
Figure 2: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
(Source:Williams et al., 2019)
The implications of Maslow’s needs theory by the supervisors of Pizza & Pub have enabled them to enhance motivation within the workers. Through this theory, the management has been able to comprehend the needs of the employees, which has allowed in the successful understanding of the dissatisfaction of the employees. This has enabled the management of Pizza & Pub to implement reward systems so as to impact the motivation and job performance of the employees. It has been established that there are two types of rewards, which are namely intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are mostly tangible, like job pay, benefits, promotions or company stocks, which are duly aimed towards improving the performance of employees and boosting their morale. Extrinsic rewards have been utilised by the management of the respective company in order to impact their performance and increase their motivation. However, intrinsic rewards are generally associated with performing an activity or a task for its sake which can improve the satisfaction level of the employees with respect to their tasks within the organisation. If the employees are not enjoying their daily organisational activities, then it leads to lowering of their morale, which adversely affects their job performance (Idowu, 2017). The management of Pizza & Pub has also made use of ways through effective rewards systems in order to reward their employees in order to encourage them and improve their work performance.
Moreover, incentivising the employees for their job well done has been highly effective with respect to increasing the motivation and performance of the employees (Nugroho et al., 2020). Apart from that, the implementation of expectancy theory has enabled the managers of the organisation to motivate their employees by systematically procuring information with respect to the identification of what the employees want from their respective jobs. This has also paved the way for the recognition of their dissatisfaction and needs, which in return has facilitated the managers to take into consideration for impacting their workplace motivation as well as productivity. With the help of company surveys, the management of Pizza & Pub restaurant has comprehended specific preferences of the employees, which has further allowed the managers to strategically fulfil the needs of the employees.
The managers of the respective firm have also utilised the aspect of goal-setting theory in order to retain the motivation level of the employees. It is crucial for the management of Pizza & Pub restaurant to incorporate the goals of the employees within the goals of the organisation and provide the workers with opportunities to grow in their professional careers. Goal-setting theory dictates that the achievement of individual goals of the employees acts as a motivator for them, which extensively improves their performance within the organisation. Furthermore, the managers of the firm are required to ensure that the employees accept the challenging goals, which upon achievement, instils a sense of satisfaction among the employees. This has allowed the employees with the autonomy to work hard for achieving their professional goals which, further leads to the enhancement of their performance, and the organisation can also achieve its expansion goals in the market (Williams et al., 2019). The application of reinforcement theory has facilitated the managers to identify, analyse, intervene, measure and evaluate crucial behaviour that is related to performance. Successful identification of performance behaviour enables the managers to understand the issues faced by the employees and provide them with opportunities and rewards for their good performance within the organisation. The implementation of the above-stated theory within the organisation has helped the management of the firm to increase employee motivation by critically comprehending tier behaviours related to performance. The application of certain theories that are duly related to motivation has allowed the managerial department of the company to comprehend the needs of the employees, dissatisfaction of the employees and expectations of the employees. Fulfilment of the above factors has significantly aided the Pizza & Pub restaurant to improve employee’s performance by boosting their morale and providing opportunities for them to grow. As a result of which the financial performance of the organisation has greatly improved, facilitating its expansion process in the market.
References
Ayundasari, D. Y., Sudiro, A., & Irawanto, D. W. (2017). Improving employee performance through work motivation and self-efficacy mediated by job satisfaction. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 15(4), 587-599.https://www.jurnaljam.ub.ac.id/index.php/jam/article/view/1175
Idowu, A. (2017). Effectiveness of performance appraisal system and its effect on employee motivation. Nile Journal of Business and Economics, 3(5), 15-39.http://journal.nileuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/NileJBE/article/view/88
Nugroho, Y. A., Asbari, M., Purwanto, A., Basuki, S., Sudiyono, R. N., Fikri, M. A. A., ... & Xavir, Y. (2020). Transformational leadership and employees' performances: The mediating role of motivation and work environment. EduPsyCouns: Journal of Education, Psychology and Counseling, 2(1), 438-460.https://ummaspul.e-journal.id/edupsycouns/article/view/507
Rožman, M., Treven, S., & ?an?er, V. (2017). Motivation and satisfaction of employees in the workplace. Management assignment Business Systems Research: International journal of the Society for Advancing Innovation and Research in Economy, 8(2), 14-25.https://hrcak.srce.hr/ojs/index.php/bsr/article/view/12597
Williams, C., McWilliams, A., Lawrence, R., & Waheduzzaman, W. (2019). Mgmt4. Cengage AU.https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wdnYDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Williams,+Chuck,+et+al.+MGMT4,+Cengage,+ 2019.&ots=NHl6LkXfbN&sig=8zKAY5N8iSNEq0bMMoGhPQfuIWA
