Working with and Leading People - Essay Example

Working with and Leading People Key Facts of the Case British celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver was regarded having the most effective and unconventionalway of recruiting, training and motivating young individuals who were unskilled and unqualified and to making them the best chefs with professional excellences. In 2002 he initiated this approach as he himself was a school dropout at the age of sixteen and made his name as the most successful person in the catering business. He ventured a new restaurant named “Fifteen” where he started giving training to fifteen lucky applicants who were chosen through a series of employment tests to become the world’s best chefs and get placed in the top restaurants around the world. Recruitment and Selection Process Recruitment is the process of encouraging, identifying and generating potential candidates for a specific job. It is considered as a positive approach as it attracts as much as candidate possible. The goals for recruitment is to draw more of qualified candidates and to encourage unqualified candidates to self eliminate themselves (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2008). In this case study, Jamie Oliver has taken an unconventional approach to recruitment where he encouraged un-educated and un-skilled applicants to get trained by him to become future chefs. He did not depend on any job specifications and judged the candidates on the basis of their enthusiasm and dedications towards their passion to become the best chef with highest professional standards. His goal was to attract un-qualified candidates rather than setting standards to self eliminate themselves. The selection process is the decision making process on hiring or not hiring a potential candidate for the vacancy (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2008). The selection process followed by Jamie Oliver was not based on the conventional criteria such as experience, knowledge and skills. He selected 60 candidates who went through some rigorous employment tests. The trainees were first asked to talk about food while they were filmed simultaneously to judge their excitement and obsession about food. Then it started with the ‘taste’ test where they were subjected to rare dishes which they have never tasted and was judged upon their ability to sense the texture and flavour of the food. This acted as an elimination test where only 30 people were selected and were taken to the next round where they were made to observe the process of cooking a simple dish of vegetables and fried salmon. All the stages of the process were explained to them and then they were instructed to cook the same dish as to see how they took control over the procedures to prepare the dish by adding their innovation. They were asked question while cooking it and were selected on the basis of their work as well as the quality of food cooked. The final 15 were chosen through the selection process and were sent to college to acquire basic skills which lead them to the training session. Retention Procedures Retention is the initiative of the company to encourage its employees to remain with them for the longest possible period of time. The factors on which retention depends are the compensation, work environment and work relationships (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2008). In this case study, Jamie Oliver did not try to retain his trainees, he has rather observed and evaluated on their sustainability and self retaining ability in tough work environment. The training comprised of demonstrative, theoretical as well as practical classes in the kitchen. He motivated his trainees by giving personal attention to improve their work relationships by encouraging team works through tasks. As compensation and rewards he praised his trainees on excelling in classes and taking initiative in works other than the training related classes. Oliver took them out for camping which created a sense of encouragement and refreshment as well as building a sense of team spirit. Legal, Regulatory and Ethical Considerations Legal and ethical issues are considered during recruitment and selection processes to minimize risk. Job advertisements, interview questionnaire, reference check and offering job all has to be done in compliance to legal and ethical standards. Job postings, interviews and offers should not be based on place of origin, race, ancestry, color, marital status, religion, political belief, family status, sex, physical and mental disability, sexual orientation, age etc (Bratton and Gold, 2003). Jamie Oliver did not let empathy to come in between his training and he was quite vocal about the faults of his employees as he treated all his trainees as equal without having biases on some. He dealt firmly and instantly on breach of disciplines. Code of conduct was followed by greeting each other at the time of commencement of the training session as well as at the end of the day. He never judged his trainees on the basis of their family income, caste, beliefs and made sure that there were no family issues involved or stress created on his trainees by personally visiting them in college or at their respective home as to solve any problems that caused hindrance in their career. He suspended trainees and took disciplinary actions on aggressive, irrational and violent behaviours which disrupted the work culture and relationships in the institute and the kitchen. On absenting classes in college as well as the kitchen, the trainees were warned and with lesser mistakes, he explained the faults and solutions. This did not hamper the work flow of the training as these problems were dealt with and forgotten. Managerial Contribution to the Selection Process The manager’s responsibility towards the selection process to be involved in the strategic planning process, forecasting the candidate requirement, recruiting, selection, induction, training, motivation, performance appraisal, rewarding employees, managing carrier growth of employees/promotions, managing complains about employees, managing employee grievance, managing redundancy. Therefore, in order to initiate a selection process, the managers need to consider these attributes for selection of an employee who would further fulfil these criteria and become a superior manager himself (Armstrong, 2009). In relation to the case study, the manager was involved in the strategic planning and forecasting of recruitment and selections. The number of trainees to be chosen from each of the employment test and rounds was decided by the manager. The selection criteria to be set by judging their enthusiasm towards food and cooking, their tasting ability, adaptability of the trainees in pressure situations, innovation in cooking, determination, are some of the components measured by the manager. Their accommodation, code of conduct during the selection process was outlined by him to ensure unbiased process and right selection of deserving candidates. The manager ensured that the candidates were team worker and supported each other during group test not losing their temper. Therefore he had to frame out cooking rounds where putting the trainees under tough situation and time constraints to cook for 50 guests and evaluated them on their sense of urgency, skills, team work as well as respect and trust towards their chef. Some of the trainees were difficult to handle as they were unskilled, became de-motivated and disruptive at times due to lack of work experience and also handling stress of both college and kitchen. Therefore, the manager’s role was to solve their issues by interacting with them personally, handling their problems and motivating them to move towards their goals. The manager had to encourage them by rewarding them with praises and initiating team tasks, camping to avoid stress. Mutual respect among trainees was another important factor in the case study. In order to gain respect one must give respect. Therefore, the manager ensured mutual admiration by creating a code of conduct, greeting each other during training as well as being present at difficult work timing to ensure his presence and support. These factors were considered during elimination or selection of trainees as who behaved inappropriately were suspended or warned. Skills and Attributes to be an Effective Leader in Jamie Oliver’s Organisation The key skills to be an effective leader are to understand the need and characteristics of an individual, knowing and using the group resources, communicating, planning, controlling team performance, evaluating, setting examples, sharing the leadership, counselling, leading a group, and effective teaching. In this case study, Jamie Oliver proved to be an efficient leader who trained a group of fifteen trainees and kept coordination and motivation alive in the group (Gold, Thorpe and Mumford, 2010). In order to be a leader in Jamie Oliver’s organisation, the skills and attributes one should possess are as follows: The leader should have a clear vision like Jamie Oliver had. He had a clear target that where he want this project to head towards and was able to communicate it to his trainees and other people involved in his restaurant’s growth. Therefore, to lead his organization one should be a transformational leader (Yukl, 2013). He should be able to lead a team and motivate them to achieve the goal building a strong and successful team. One should be a liaison who has a quality of a visionary setting great example for the trainees by communicating and cooperating with the group and initiating a close relationship between the trainee and the trainer. For an effective leader, action speaks more than words; therefore handling pleasant and unpleasant situations are also some of the attributes. Jamie Oliver attributes to all these leadership styles. Believing in the team is very important for a leader in Jamie Oliver’s organisation. The leader should have faith and trust in the trainers and also must have a positive approach towards training the individual and motivating them by praising and rewarding. He must have the power to delegate and give moral boost and support when the team messes up and loses confidence. Like Jamie Oliver, a leader in his company also must be able to handle disturbances. He showed a lot of responsibility towards the project and its team members. Handling unexpected situation personally, professional and financially must be the major responsibility of a leader. If things go wrong, it is the duty of the leader to take the blame and realise that it is only him who can solve the situations and honestly deal with it. In order to maintain uniformity in Jamie Oliver’s organisation, these qualities must be present in the leader as he did. In relation to the behavioural theory of leadership, a leader either dictates what needs to be done or involves his team in decision making; hence, it results in better coordination and team work (Yukl, 2013). In this organization, there must be a democratic leader who would allow his trainees to also participate in decision making like Jamie Oliver did by taking his trainees to the farmers, suppliers, markets from where he procured food. He wanted to instil all the qualities and values he possessed on his trainees so that in future they prove to achieve professionalism and expertise like him. Thus, a leader in Jamie Oliver’s organisation should possess all the attributes and skills which he possesses as a leader. Difference between Leadership and Management Managers are to whom an organization’s management processes are assigned and their key roles are planning, budgeting, staffing and organizing, controlling and problem solving. A manager is considered to be rational and determined, having a mind as well as methodical, reliable, purposeful and deliberate. Leaders on the other hand are individuals who set directions, support people, inspire and motivate them. He is flexible to work in any given situations, innovative, inspirational, self-governing and courageous as well as has the soul, the obsession, enthusiasm and creativity. Therefore, all leaders can be managers but all managers cannot be leaders (Owen, 2009). Vision Establishment Management creates strategies and budgets, builds up procedures and timelines and exhibits impersonal outlook about the vision and goals (Ronald and Cary, 2004).Leadership sets course and develops the vision, creates strategic procedures, accomplishes the vision and shows enthusiastic attitude about the vision and goals (Ronald and Cary, 2004). Human Development and Networking Management maintains organizational structure, organizes and recruits, assigns task, delegates authority, establishes the vision, policy and procedures, shows low sentiments and restricts employee preferences (Ronald and Cary, 2004). Leadership supports organizations, propagates the vision, mission and course, influences conception of coalitions, teams and partnerships that recognizes and acknowledges the vision (Ronald and Cary, 2004). Vision Execution Management controls, coordinates processes, recognizes and resolves problems, scrutinizes results, acquires low risk approach to resolving crisis (Ronald and Cary, 2004). Leadership inspires and encourages, strengthens employees to conquer barriers to change, assures basic human wants and obtains high risk approach to problem resolving (Ronald and Cary, 2004). Management deals with administration, signifies control and influence, deals with questions like how and when, helps in creating strategies and looks for subordinates, whereas, leadership leads to innovation, guarantees trust and result, deals with questions like what and why, initiates solutions, and makes followers (Armstrong and Stephens, 2006). Leadership styles in Jamie Oliver’s Organisation Autocratic Leadership style This leadership style would be followed in the organization during the recruitment, selection and training period. Formulating rules and delegating orders to the trainees to abide by the rules and regulations of the training process. The trainees need to go through different cooking tests to analyze efficiency, enthusiasm and passion towards cooking. On not fulfilling the criteria, they are eliminated (Owen, 2009). Bureaucratic Leadership Style The leadership style should be followed when it becomes difficult to manage the trainees. Certain codes of conduct are framed and they are made to follow them. As they were unskilled, un-educated, therefore, they had difficulty working under pressure as well as not being able to cope up with the college rules and regulations leading to aggressive, irrational and violent behaviours. These behaviours initiated the leader to punish or suspend them depending on the level of crime committed and rewarding others who abided by the rules and made an extra effort to work on their efficiency (Bratton and Gold, 2003). Participative/Democratic Leadership Style Democratic leadership style followed in Jamie Oliver’s organization is considered to be the most important. As the organization is based on training the individuals to be professional chefs, it is essential to build a relationship between the members and leader. The leader motivates the trainees to work in team and create coordination among team members by taking them for camping and encountering them to live situations like checking quality of meat and vegetables. The leader needs to encourage trainees to gather knowledge and fight constraints by personally communicating with them, understanding their problem and solving them through mediation either by visiting their family or travelling to meet them in college to resolve issues, helping them to re-appear in exam if they could not pass and assisting them during their night shifts in bakery as well as during their training phases (Owen, 2009). Transformational Leadership Style Transformational leaders look into the larger picture in accomplishment of the vision. Therefore, in Jamie Oliver’s organization this form of leadership is followed to make the trainees future chefs of best professional values and qualities to be able to work in the best restaurants globally. Transformational Leaders motivate them to work with team spirit and gather wide knowledge on food and cooking, skilled with different cooking techniques of global standards. Educating them with team etiquettes like greeting each other during work commencement and day end, behaving with harmony with team members, warning if mistakes are made and resolving those mistakes are some of the characteristics of this leadership style (Bratton and Gold, 2003). Types of Motivation The different ways the manager would motivate the staff to achieve the objectives of Jamie Oliver’s organisation are as follows: Incentive: This deals with rewards which is monetary as well as non monetary. In Jamie Oliver’s organization, motivating trainees with rewards is encouraged. They are either praised for good work or taken for camping to avoid stress. Through this they get motivated to work even better to achieve their goal to become the world’s best chefs. This type of motivation increases the affiliation motives of the trainees helping them to work in team and harmonizing with each other as well as respecting and trusting their trainer (Deci and Ryan, 2008). Fear: Some trainees in the organization are very hard to deal with. They are stubborn, aggressive and violent. Hence, for them it is very necessary to be afraid of consequences. So depending on the level of breach of conduct, they are either suspended or warned. This helps them to maintain decorum of the organization and obey their leader or trainer (Vallerand, 2004). Achievement: This type of motivation is used to let trainees grow and compete within the team as well as in the global arena. They are trained to the highest professionalism and values to place themselves in the best restaurants around the world. Exposing them to different work situation, putting them under competition and selecting the deserving candidates instilled the sense of achievement motive on the final fifteen trainees who were finalized to get trained in the organization. Praising them on showing extra effort in works other than their prescribed training and evaluating their performances, giving feedbacks on their strengths and weaknesses would boost to work harder (Vallerand, 2004). Benefits of Team The benefits of teamwork in Jamie Oliver’s organization are that it increases competence, progresses performance, enhances individual efficiency, increases dependability and trust on each other, improves skills, decreases stress, initiates and encourages achieving goal, leads to innovation and service improvement (Scott-Young and Samson, 2008). Difficulty in Team Work and Conflict Resolution In team work, there might arise discrepancies due to lack of accountability and commitment among the members which leads to team identity ambiguity. Poor communication and arguments followed by decision making difficulties leads to conflict and due to lack of participation and group coordination in-capabilities, team work becomes complicated. In the case study, the trainees have come across such difficulties when they were put into pressure situations like cooking meals for 50 guests which led to confusion, chaos, arguments and the whole process needed to be stopped. Conflict can be resolved through acknowledging the conflict and communicating it, understanding the situation of conflict and finally reaching to a consensus which is beneficial for the team (Scott-Young and Samson, 2008). Assessing the Work Performance The trainees in Jamie Oliver’s restaurant were assessed on different parameters of work performance such as how enthusiastic and passionate they were about food, whether they could communicate themselves on tasting a food and expressing their thoughts about its texture, ingredients etc. The candidates were evaluated on the basis of their observational powers, reaction to a new dish as well as how they took control over the kitchen delivering quality food. The trainees were also assessed on their skills, determination and sense of urgency when subjected to pressure situations (Pettijohn and Taylor, 2002). Assessment of the Success and Development Needs of the Trainees The training was dependent on three factors that are the outcome of learning, how it was able to help the trainees in their personal development and how it helped the trainees to assess their self-potential and self identity. All these factors had proved to be a great success in Jamie Oliver’s organization “Fifteen” and by 2005 it contributed in expanding its franchises in different places (Pettijohn and Taylor, 2002). To support the development need, the manager should give importance to the different types of trainings that would motivate the employees. Continuous evaluation of performances, giving feedback, praising on effort and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the trainees help in their development. It shapes their individual identity as well as encourages them to even perform better to achieve their and the organization’s goal (Govaerts, et al, 2007). Reference list Armstrong, M. 2009. Armstrong’s handbook Human Resource Management Practice. 11th ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers Armstrong. M. and Stephens, T., 2006. Management and Leadership. A Guide to managing for results. London: Kogan Page Limited. Bratton J. and Gold J., 2003. Human Resource Management Theory and Practice. 3rd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Deci, E. L. and Ryan, R. M., 2008. Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 49(3), pp. 182. Gold, J., Thorpe, R. and Mumford, A., 2010. Gower Handbook of Leadership and Management Development. 5th ed. United Kingdom: Gower Publishing Limited. Govaerts, M. J., Van der Vleuten, C. P., Schuwirth, L. W. and Muijtjens, A. M., 2007. Broadening perspectives on clinical performance assessment: Rethinking the nature of in-training assessment. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 12(2), pp. 239-260. Owen J., 2009. How to lead. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Education limited. Pettijohn, C. E., Pettijohn, L. S. and Taylor, A. J., 2002. The influence of salesperson skill, motivation, and training on the practice of customer‐oriented selling. Psychology & Marketing, 19(9), pp. 743-757. Ronald, J. B. and Cary, L.C., 2004. Leading in Turbulent Times. Managing in the New World of Work. New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing Limited. Scott-Young, C. and Samson, D., 2008. Project success and project team management: Evidence from capital projects in the process industries. Journal of Operations Management, 26(6), pp. 749-766. Stark, G., 2006. Stop “going over” exams! The multiple benefits of team exams. Journal of Management Education, 30(6), pp. 818-827 Torrington D., Hall L. and Taylor S., 2008. Human Resource Management. 7th ed. New York: Pearson education limited. Vallerand, R. J., 2004. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in sport. Encyclopedia of applied psychology, 2(10). Yukl, G., 2013. Leadership in Organisations. 8th ed. New York: Pearson Education Limited. 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