California Pizza Kitchen: - Essay Example

? California Pizza Kitchen: Business Assignment Kazim Rizvi California Pizza Kitchen is a very renowned fast food chain that is famous mostly for its California styled pizzas. This restaurant took its roots in Beverly Hills, California, by Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax’s entrepreneurial qualities and ideas. World over, this has become a famous franchising unit as well, and is mostly known for innovation in the field of non-traditional pizzas. It has expanded and diversified very well in over 230 locations in nine countries. Today, kiosks have also been started to serve at airports and shopping malls. Apart from this, the unique organizational structure (Pantalones) of the enterprise and its structured departmentalisation in the management of its human resources has added to its overall success and performance. Various aspects of California Pizza Kitchen’s culture, system, structure and people have been discussed further in detail. Keywords: California Pizza Kitchen, organization, structure, system, performance. Structure California Pizza Kitchen has a well made organised structural composition. If an efficient structure of organisation is followed, it leads to better decision making and performance, and it also helps to make smooth the control that managers have over the workings of the organisation. This organisation follows a functional structure of organisation where all the various departments report to a coordinating head. This involves various key areas including processing and producing the final products, taking care of raw materials as well as delivery of orders, not to leave out the people in charge of mediating between providing services to the customers. This helps to lead to a lot of occupational specialisation as each person gets more and more out of the tasks that he performs, and becomes a professional in the same. There is a lot of decentralisation within this organisation as well. The coordinating heads of the different departments, or the managers in charge of the main work, delegate authority to other workers who then have the accountability and responsibility to carry out the tasks at hand. For example, in the cooking area, the head chef bestows enough responsibility on the other workers in the kitchen to carry out tasks leading to the preparation of a pizza. When it comes to taking orders and delivering, phone calls are taken by a single person and then delegated to employees that are in charge of transporting the orders to the specified locations. Authority and formal modes of communication are followed between the managers and their subordinates. The employees or workers within each unit and branch are under the unit managers of the location. These managers work under the orders of area managers who are in charge of a number of units, and they report back to the main in charges or heads that look after the sales of the company. (Britt, Russ) There are a number of teams, committees and task forces within each unit of the organisation. Since decentralization plays a huge role, each worker has the right to participate in the functioning of the organisation. This gives them a better sense of belonging and collective feel and motivates them to work towards the organizational goal. Teams come up with targets that need to be met by the end of a single day, week, as well as collectively, in a month. Incentives are given to the best workers within each unit as well to motivate them further. The various task forces also have the ability to decide the routes that can be adopted, to order faster and better. Systems Planning is a pre-requisite to the efficient and effective functioning of any organization and much the same way, even in California Pizza Kitchen, budgets are set before so that work can be done in a proper manner. Systematic statements are revised in an item wise manner regarding the purchase of raw materials, as well as all the other elements that go into production including expenses, overheads, transport, stock holdings, etc. Meeting targets that have been set for the day is the main way by which the performance can be evaluated. Every unit has its own obstacles to overcome, and by meeting the required targets, it contributes to better working and developmental goals. (California Pizza Kitchen) People The firm’s employees consist mainly of young people who have dynamism in their work ethics and regard morals and values. The firm signs in people who promise to deliver their best. For different jobs and careers with the firm, one has to have a little difference in their work styles. For employees as waiters, their skills include excellent communication and interpersonal relations with people as well as an insight into the deliverance of the product, and uphold the obligations of the chain. (Martin, Richard) Chefs and workers inside the kitchen must have knowledge in the workings of machines involved in the production of pizzas. Furthermore, the employees are also trained before getting signed on, so as to get some amount of on the job experience. Workers have to have top quality in carrying out their tasks and there are also a number of incentives in the form of perks and benefits given to the best workers in each unit. With time, they develop a bond with company, and have a very united attitude towards the firm. They learn to work for a common organizational goal and motivate each other in doing so too. Happy work surroundings and such an environment helps to pep up their spirits and push them to the best of their potential, whether it is the job of waiting tables, cooking, or delivering, or even carrying out the behind the scene jobs like promoting and advertising for the company. Culture The company has upheld its values and perspectives a great deal. It believes in a corporate philosophy of ‘R.O.C.K’ which stands for Respect, Opportunity, Communication and Kindness. This goes to show the kind of relationship it shares with every element of human resource related to it, may it be the stockholders or the employees. The entire collective team has a very strong grip over the management and thus is able to smoothly move towards achieving the final objectives with ease. Due to such positive work ethics and beliefs, it has been able to increase its returns on investments with time, as well as increase the sales to a further 40%. With the help of further diversification into selling different products, the revenue has increased even more. (Manley, Victoria) Norms of conduct have been specifically laid down in their rules and regulations and include proper cleansing of hands, wearing hairnets, dealing with raw materials very cleanly, and interacting with the customers in a friendly manner, to name a few. Conflicts are resolved among employees with the help of the unit managers. The restaurant gives ‘thank you’ cards to its customers, and thus, values them in every way that it can to keep them coming back. Its logo differentiates it from other pizza chains as it is a true emulsion of its name – it consists of the palm tree, attributed to Beverley Hills, where it was first started and stands out from the rest of the boards and advertisements thus. Works Cited Pantalones (Updated 28 November 2005) Organizational structure. Retrieved from http://oppapers.com/ California Pizza Kitchen. (Company website) Retrieved from http://investor.cpk.com/management.cfm Martin, Richard, "Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield: Courting a New Success," Nation's Restaurant News, September 20, 1993, p. 118.  Britt, Russ, "California Pizza Kitchen Sells Slice,"Daily News,May 21, 1992, p. 12. Manley, Victoria, "California Pizza Kitchen Opens in Monterey,"Monterey Country Herald,January 25, 2005. Read More