Managing People Based on TyCoffi - Case Study Example

? Managing people Table of Contents Introduction 3 HR Practices 3 Compensation and rewards strategy 3 Training and Development Programs 5 Communication Process 6 Evaluation of the recommendations 8 Conclusion 9 Reference 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction The project brings forth the case of TyCoffi, which is a coffee house chain based in UK. It is located in a number of places across UK and employs as many as 700 employees. The chain is in the process of developing five more coffee houses across greater Cardiff, Penarth, Cyncoed, Cardiff Bay, Roath Park and Pontcanna. This calls for the establishment of a complete recruitment strategy in the coffee house for the position of House Manager and Assistant, and 10 baristas, or the employees who are responsible for preparing and serving the coffee based drinks. It is also important the new staffs recruited are provided with adequate training on the functioning in the organization and on technical skills needed undertake activities. The present project seeks to develop and design a complete set of HR practices for the purpose. This includes an effective and competitive compensation and rewards strategy, training and development strategy and a communication strategy aimed at motivating and retaining staffs in the organization. A complete list of recommendations is provided for each of the above activities in the organization. HR Practices Compensation and rewards strategy One of the most important components of a company’s human resource strategies is its compensation and rewards structure. Compensation and rewards need to be designed not only as per the strategic objectives of the firm but must also be competitive in the market. Moreover they must also be designed to meet the requirements of employees such that they remain motivated and loyal to the company. Mere increase in salaries only helps to motivate employees for a short span of time and does not leave any permanent impact. Thus salaries must be complemented with a proper reward structure which is directly linked with the performance of employees (Armstrong, Cummins, Hastings & Wood, 2005, p131). Since Mike has strong egalitarian views, it is important that there is equitable compensation in the organization. TyCoffi must not maintain any pay secrecy. The compensation structure must be absolutely transparent to the employees. This would indicate that TyCoffi does not have any defensible compensation system (Cale & Tate, 2011, p.124). This strategy would be beneficial in gaining confidence of the people on the management’s fair-handedness and concerns people leaving the organization would reduce. The first way of determining pay structure is to establish a competency based pay structure. This is mainly to draw the distinction between the House Managers, Assistants and the Baristas. The three category of employees have different set of skills and competency based on which their basic salaries are to be determined. The rate of pay increases must also be linked with the same set of competencies and skills. This strategy is particularly beneficial in motivating employees to gain additional skills and competencies and acquire new knowledge (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011, p.383). A performance based pay is particularly recommended for the baristas and the House Managers. This is mainly intended towards motivating employees towards performing better or improving their performance. Since baristas are directly associated with the customers and remain in close contact with them, the level of customer satisfaction depends on the kind of service that they provide. Thus associating their pay with performance would help to enhance their performance standards through improved delivery of services. This would not only help to better their own performance but improve reputation and goodwill of the company too (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011, p.383). Apart from the baristas, the House Managers are also responsible for the performance of their respective team of baristas; thus linking their pay with performance is also important. Managers are required to work according to the goals set before them and performing over and above that goal must be compensated with incentives and bonuses. Performance based system pay is especially required for enhancing competitiveness in the system which consequently reflects through its performance and position in the market (Jackson, Schuler & Werner, 2011, p.383). Training and Development Programs Training and development must also be linked to the overall goals and strategies of the firm. Most importantly, training must not only be delivered with the purpose of improving skills and expertise but must be aimed to change attitudes in the organization. Training must be provided on individual basis as well as in groups (Cartwright, 2003, p.5). Training must be provided through an action plan. Firstly identifying the essential competencies in the individual career field is crucial before deciding on the areas in which training would be provided. In this case, baristas are the most important people who would need skill based training. Moreover, the training requirements are different for different people for which conducting individual training needs analysis is important. This must be followed by a comprehensive training program specifying the kind of training for each individual along with the specified time schedule and activities (Training and Development Task Force, 2001). Induction training is especially required for all those who enter into the organization to have a complete understanding of the organizations’ goals and objectives, functioning, work processes etc. The induction training must be followed by the formal modes of training which would be particularly skill based. In the case of the baristas training must necessarily be in the form of on-the-job training. In this they are allowed to observe and learn the job skills from more experienced employees (Landy & Conte, 2007, p.306). The skill specific training for the baristas would include ways of receiving customer orders, delivering services to customers, ways of making different varieties of coffee, coffee blending etc. Some of the critical aspects which require special training are the ways of handling coffee making equipments and ways of handling customer queries and complaints. According to Mike’s belief customers do not only buy a cup of coffee, they buy the complete experience. Thus baristas must also be trained to develop interpersonal skills to ensure that their behaviour with customers is always polite. Since there would be numerous new employees recruited in the organization due to the establishment of the new coffee houses, it is recommended that training is provided by the method of job rotation. When one set of employees are trained on a particular set of skills, others can be trained in a different department. This would maintain flexibility and would avoid disruption in the training process due to over congestion (Landy & Conte, 2007, p.307). On the other hand the training for House Managers would be different. They could be trained on technologies which are used in the organization. They could be trained through computer based courses which develops their competency in the field (Training and Development Task Force, 2001). Communication Process The effectiveness of communication is an important determinant of the success of businesses. Effective business communication is found to play an important role and critical for the successful operation of an organization. In TyCoffi, communication must be aimed at motivating employees and staffs along with enhancing their loyalty and faithfulness towards their employer. In TyCoffi, communication must necessarily be based on the egalitarian views of Mike, the founder of the company. In case of emergence of a problem workers must feel free to communicate with Mike without hesitation. They should be as comfortable to communicate with Mike as they would in the case of the House Manager or their colleagues. However, for this communication channel must not be very complex. Also there must be adequate transparency in the organization along with equality, mutual trust and respect among colleagues (Sanchez, n.d.). Since Mike is open towards the use of modern technology, it is recommended that an internal network system could be created and which would allow all members in the organization to have access to. In case the management wanted to convey a message to the organization, it could be updated in the network for everyone to view. In case the message was aimed to a particular member in the organization it could be sent to his personal account. The most important function of this mode of communication system was to improve internal relationship among members and enhance sharing of ideas, views, facts or even feedback. The fact that the messages coming from the staffs and workers were directly reachable to the management would give them the feeling of recognition and honour in the organization. It would make them feel that their presence was important and consequently they would get motivated to perform their tasks better and faster. This communication system would be most effective in motivating employees as in case of any rewards or recognition of an employee due to some work achievement would be communicated through this medium. This would be particularly beneficial for individual motivation as well as motivation at the group levels. Also in case of arrival of any problem members could communicate the issue to the management and vice versa. Satisfaction and motivation would eventually result in controlling attritions by gaining employee loyalty towards the employer and the organization (Miller, 2008, p.61). Evaluation of the recommendations Evaluation of the rewards structure, communication and training and development must be done on the basis of the objectives they seek to achieve. The compensation and rewards structure must be first compared with that existing in the industry. Since the restaurant business is booming, it would be difficult to survive or attract talents with poor reward strategies. In TyCoffi, the reward strategy is aimed at attracting talents, retaining them and at the same time ensuring their maximum performance level in the organization. Performance measurements standards could act as reward evaluators. A fir performance management system is crucial for this. If employees’ were found to perform below standards, it would mean that the rewards system was not competitive enough to ensure their maximum performance. A suitable and satisfactory rewards structure would surely reflect through improved performance and productivity. Training and development programs could be evaluated by taking feedback from employees. Their views could be collected as to how they perceived the program or how it helped them in undertaking their regular responsibilities and activities in the organization. Questions would be asked as to whether they found this training helpful in carrying out their jobs faster, smoother and with increased efficiencies. Also they could be asked about their views about more of such programs in future. The complied feedback of all employees could be used for evaluating the success of the training programs. Most importantly, the change in productivity and performance of employees before and after the training programs could be a reflection of the success of failure of the programs. A higher productivity would definitely reflect success of the programs (National Research Council (U.S.), 1988, p.6). Lastly the success of the communication strategies could be evaluated through the extent of smooth and regular flow of information in the organization. The process of activities and the smooth running of operations could me a measure of evaluation of the communication strategies in the organization. Most importantly, an enhanced level of employee motivation and commitment would show if the communication strategies were successful or not. A successful communication strategy would result in less attritions or turnovers in the organization as motivation levels would be high and thus employee loyalty too. Conclusion The overall rewards structure, communication, training and development strategies in the organizations has been aimed towards enhancing employee motivation and commitment and improved efficiencies. It is recommended that compensation stretches must comprise of both a performance based pay as well as a competency and skill based pay. Linking rewards with employee performance is essential for motivating employees to perform better. With regards to the training and development of the baristas, mostly on-the-job training has been recommended on various skills and competencies. Training is mainly provided by experienced personnel in the organization. Finally, an internal communication network system has been recommended for TyCoffi for enhancing smooth flow of activities and operations. Moreover it is also aimed at recognizing the views and feedback of employees on different issues. Reference Armstrong, M., Cummins, A., Hastings, S & Wood, W. (2005). Job Evaluation: A Guide to Achieving Equal Pay. Kogan Page Publishers. Cale, P. & Tate, D. C. (2011). Sink Or Swim: How Lessons from the Titanic Can Save Your Family Business. ABC-CLIO. Cartwright, R. (2005). Implementing a Training and Development Strategy. John Wiley & Sons. Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S. & Werner, S. (2011). Managing Human Resources. Cengage Learning. Landy, F. J. & Conte, J. M. (2007). Work in the 21st century: an introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. Wiley-Blackwell. Miller, K. (2008). Organizational communication: approaches and processes. Cengage Learning. National Research Council (U.S.). (1988). The engineering research centers and their evaluation. National Academies. Sanchez, N. (No Date). Communication Process. [Online]. 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