Lack of Motivation and Leadership Issues - Essay Example

 Case Study Report Table of Contents Executive Summary 4 5 1.0 Background of the Case 5 2.0 Problem Identification and Analysis 6 2.1 Lack of Motivation 7 2.1.1 Lack of Incentives 8 2.1.2 Inappropriate Rewards 8 2.2 Leadership Issues 9 2.2.1 Style of Leadership 9 2.2.2 Communication 9 2.3 Teamwork 9 3.0 Statement of Major Problems 10 4.0 Generation and Evaluation of a Range of Alternative Solutions 10 4.1 Motivation 10 4.1.1 Introduction of incentive schemes 11 4.1.2 Training 11 4.2 Leadership 12 5.0 Recommendations 12 5.1 Motivation 12 5.1.1 Introduction of Incentive System 13 5.2 Democratic Leadership 13 6.0 Implementation 13 6.1 Motivation 13 6.2 Leadership 14 Reference 15 Executive Summary The report has mainly highlighted the problems of the organization and more specifically the issues of the Victoria outlet. The primary problem that has been identified is the high percentage of damaged and unsold products in the store. The root cause of the problem that has been found at the outlet is related to the motivation of the employees. Also due to autocratic leadership style of the store manager employees are feeling insecure and disheartened. Such issues also increased the turnover rate of the outlet. In this respect the major problem statements has been clearly portrayed. A number of solutions have been proposed such as introduction of motivational program, transformation in leadership, facilitating team work etc. However among that introduction of incentive scheme and adoption of democratic leadership style have been recommended. Finally the implementation process has been emphasized. 1.0 Background of the Case The case entails about the owner of Giovanni’s Pizzeria, Riccardo Lombardi. The owner was extremely worried despite of the fact that his business was doing extremely well. However his primary concern was regarding the fact that whether the success will continue or it will diminish as a number of competitors are entering the market. The franchise was purchased by Riccardo 10 years ago from the American Giovanni’s Pizzeria. Since then it has been able to establish 40 stores around the markets of Australia. It has its headquarters in Glen Waverley, Victoria. The franchisee is segmented into six areas. The operations of each and every area are looked upon by a state manager. Furthermore all the stores are administered by a store a manger along with two assistant managers. The company has different policies for hiring employees. However they do not consider education as the only indication factor for getting a job in the stores. Most of the employees who works on the store have tertiary education and of age 24 to 27. They get selected on the basis of their abilities to perform the job. There are issues within the company for not providing any formal training. However it is secondary issue. The case further details that the company’s Ballarat store of Victoria, was facing a number of issues such as increasing percentage of unsold and damaged goods, malpractices of the employees, high employee turnover due to stringent policies and also dissatisfaction among the employees due to autocratic leadership style. In order to reduce the impact of the problems on the day to day operations of the operations of the outlet, the store manager Marcello imposed a set of guidelines. Such guidelines and rules was one of the biggest reasons for the arising problems of the store. Due to this phenomenon a number of employees left the organization and the number of experienced employee got reduced. However filling up the vacancy was an easy task for the manager, as the eligibility criteria was simple. After the recruitment the manager himself worked for two months with the staffs and performed all the function that a general employee performs. Although it was against the rules of the company, but still Marcello carried it out for the better productivity. After two months of imposing the rules and offering training to the new employee, he found that the percentage of unsold and wasted food got highly reduced. As soon as Marcello reduced his level of supervision on the employees, he again found that the rate of damaged foods is again increased. 2.0 Problem Identification and Analysis Giovanni’s Pizzeria was facing a number of problems within their store. There were problems in every store of the company, but the major problems highlighted in this context are about the store in Ballarat, Victoria. The major problem that the company or that particular store was facing was the high amount of unsold or damaged products. It was getting harder for the management as well as the store managers to control the percentage of unsold and damaged foods in the store. There are many reasons for which the foods get damaged or it remains unsold. For example the employees sometime burn the food while preparing it. Sometime the ingredients required for preparing the food items falls accidentally. Furthermore there are incidents when friends or relatives of an employee visits the, he intentionally offers extra ingredients which increases the percentage of damaged or unsold to a large extent. The case also highlights that during the working hours, the employees frequently eat foods which are prepared for the customers. Since the store has 18-20 employee and a frequent nibbling by the employees further increases the list. Therefore from the findings it can be easily stated that the employees do take unfair advantages of the circumstances. After identifying such happenings the store manager further increased the level of supervision, and imposed various rules and regulations to restrict the malpractices of the employees. It has caused dissatisfaction among the employees. This in turn generated another problem which is regarding the high percentage of employee turnover. A number of employees left the bank causing difficulties in running the day to day operations. One of the reasons is the lack of supervision. Due to the fact that the store manager could not be at the store for the whole day, employees took unfair advantage of it. Furthermore there were huge communication gap between the management and the employees of the organization, which also affected the company to a large extent. However the root causes of the problem is not only lack of supervision; there exists much deeper reason for these occurrences. On studying the case and considering all the relevant theories of management the following causes have been identified. The root causes are therefore highlighted below:- 2.1 Lack of Motivation Motivation plays an important role towards the achievement of business goals. It acts as a driving force for the organization as well as for the employees. It is important to have motivation in order to accomplish a task effectively (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011, p.90). In addition, motivation is more important for the companies who follows or operates as a team. In this context Giovanni’s Pizzeria also follows a team based working system. Hence due to lack of motivation in the company a number of problems have been raised. Due to the lack of proper motivation the employees carried out such actions. Some of the evident causes of problems that generated the issues are as follows: 2.1.1 Lack of Incentives The employees did not get receive any incentives for their performance. The only used to get their salary depending upon the working hours. Also they used pay penalties if any foods get damaged due to the fault of employee. Hence there was a lack of proper incentive structure for the employees. On the other hand there was a structured incentive system for the store managers, where at the month end they are, entitle to receive bonus if the percentage of damaged or unsold foods are less. Although the bonuses are meant for the store manager, but still it creates a sense of difference among the lower level employees and a manager. 2.1.2 Inappropriate Rewards Rewards acts as a motivation to the employees and helps them to work better (People, 2004). There was hardly any reward system for the employees. The employees of that store only used to get their salaries and regular foods. They were entitled to have free pizzas along with salad, and soft drinks after every six hours. However due to increasing percentage of damaged and unsold foods, the manager of the store decided to increase the six hour interval to a twelve hour interval. Despite the fact that there was an Absence of a proper reward system, the management took such stringent decisions. 2.2 Leadership Issues It is impossible to deny the fact that leadership is important in every aspect of the business. During the process of implementing any change, organizations falter if its lacks proper leadership qualities (Manning & Curtis, 2002, p.59). Similarly the case was for Giovanni’s Pizzeria. The Ballarat, branch of company had numerous issues pertaining to leadership issues. 2.2.1 Style of Leadership The store manager used to follow the autocratic leadership style. This has generated high level of dissatisfaction among the employees. 2.2.2 Communication Communication plays an imperative role in an organization (Rush, 2002, p.110). Without proper communication organization are bound to experience difficulties in their day to day operation. Therefore having a proper communication process not only facilitates team work, but allows people to work for a common objective (S.D. Ferguson & S. Ferguson, 1988, p.591). There was also a huge communication gap between the management and the employees which caused several problems. The company did not have any performance management system or any feedback system to rectify the problems of the employees or reward them for better performance. 2.3 Teamwork Like the factors of motivation and leadership, teamwork is also the key towards the success of an organization (Arkansas-Aresraces, n.d.). The employees felt that they are not being properly valued and there was hardly any opportunity for future growth, which forced them to leave the organization for the betterment of the future. In addition there was also a display of poor team work between the employees. 3.0 Statement of Major Problems On review the case, a number of problems were found within the organization. However among those there were some major problems, which need to be addressed as soon as possible in order to function properly in the market place. Moreover these issues are impacting the overall business operation and causing some amount of financial loss to the company. The major problems are presented below:- The company is unable to motivate its workforce properly. There is hardly any form of appreciation from the part of the company towards its employees. The Australian franchisee of Giovanni’s Pizzeria was also facing issues pertaining to leadership. The store manager was unable to effectively handle the staffs of the outlet. Without being a supportive and authentic leader, he followed autocratic leadership styles and generated huge dissatisfaction among the employees. Again these factors played a significant role towards the malpractices of employees. 4.0 Generation and Evaluation of a Range of Alternative Solutions In order to curb those issues discussed earlier the report will now present the possible solutions of the problem. Some of the solutions along with their pros and cons are highlighted below:- 4.1 Motivation The first and foremost thing for the company to get rid of these issues is to launch various employee motivation programs. If the employees get or remain motivated during the working hours they will exhibit better output. The working efficiency will also rise which will in turn help to increase the productivity of the company. Therefore some of the motivational programs can be initiated by the company are as follows:- 4.1.1 Introduction of incentive schemes The Company can start incentive schemes for the employees as it does for the store managers. In this context the employees can be offered financial incentive on the basis of their performance. The performance can be measured on effectiveness of the employee during the working hours and also the total working time (Unstats, n.d.). This will help the company to improve its operation and also motivate the employees to perform better. Advantage of introducing incentive schemes: - Employees will be motivated to earn more money and will be helpful for both organization as well as the employees. Disadvantage of introducing incentive schemes: - There are hardly any disadvantages in introducing an incentive scheme for the employees. However the only factor is that the company has to bear extra money for the employees. 4.1.2 Training The Company does not offer any formal training to its staffs. However if the company offers suitable training to its employee they will be highly motivated to carry out their duties. Advantage of introducing formal training system: - Training will increase the efficiencies of the workers and will increase their interest towards the work. Disadvantage of introducing formal training system: - Training will be an additional cost to the company. 4.2 Leadership Apart from initiating motivational program in the company, it has to rectify the leadership practices of the organization. The store manager, Marcello follows an autocratic leadership style, where he makes the ultimate decisions and hardly there are any inputs from the others. In this context the store manager should try to change the way of leading the employees. Advantages of democratic leadership: - It is intrinsic in nature and thus it will help to reform the culture of the outlet (Woods, 2005, p.32). Moreover it will facilitate better working environment. Disadvantages of democratic leadership: - If the store manager offers relaxation to the employees in terms of supervision, they may again start the malpractices. 5.0 Recommendations Analyzing the pros and cons of the proposed solution in the last segment it has been identified that the best solution to this problem is to enhance the motivational level of the employees. This can be done by introducing new incentive scheme for the employees. Hence the recommendations of for rectifying the issues are provided below. 5.1 Motivation Employees who are motivated offer exceptional benefits to the organization (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2007, p.10). Therefore effectively motivating the employees is obligatory. A highly motivated workforce always has a positive impact on the organizational performance (Ghuman & Aswathappa, 2010, p.352). Therefore the company must introduce motivational system in order to increase efficiency as well as for curbing the issues. The motivational program in this context must be the introduction of incentive schemes. 5.1.1 Introduction of Incentive System Financial incentives help in increasing the job satisfaction of the employees. Furthermore it helps to satisfy the social needs of the employees (Mukherjee & Basu, 2005, p.125). Hence the company can use introduce it. 5.2 Democratic Leadership A democratic leadership style will help employees to feel valued and secure (Robbins, DeCenzo, Bhattacharyya & Agarwal, 2010, p.232). They will in turn offer high productivity. Hence it is recommended that the store manager must modify his leadership style and follow democratic leadership style. 6.0 Implementation The implementation process is about the incorporation of the motivational and leadership styles. In order to implement the process various factors have been considered. Some of the factors are cost, the target segment etc. The implementation is therefore presented in a tabular form. 6.1 Motivation What Who How When Cost Introduction of incentive scheme Managers and Staffs 1. Discussion with the HR department. 2. Discussion with the higher authority. 1 week $ 5000 6.2 Leadership What Who How When Cost Training Managers and staffs 1. Investigate the course options. 2. Consultation with the trainers. 2 Week $ 3000 Reference Arkansas-Aresraces. (No date). Teamwork is the key to success. Retrieved from http://www.arkansas-aresraces.org/Training%20Scripts/TEAMWORK%20IS%20THE%20KEY%20TO%20SUCCESS.pdf. Ferguson, S. D., & Ferguson, S. (1988). Organizational communication (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Ghuman, K., & Aswathappa, K. (2010). Management: Concepts practice & cases. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Griffin, R. W., & Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational behavior: Managing people and organizations (10th ed.). Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Manning, G., & Curtis, K. (2002). The art of leadership. New York: McGraw-Hill International. Mukherjee, S., & Basu, S. K. (2005). Organisation & management and business communication. New Delhi: New Age International. Noe., Hollenbeck., Gerhart., & Wright. (2007). Fundamentals of human resource. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. People. (2004). Leading and motivating as a manager. Retrieved from http://people.rice.edu/uploadedFiles/People/TEAMS/Leading%20and%20motivating%20as%20a%20manager.pdf. Robbins, S. P., DeCenzo, D. A., Bhattacharyya, S., & Agarwal, N. (2010). Essentials of management (6th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education. Rush, M. (2002). Management: A biblical approach. Colorado: David C Cook. Unstats. (No Date). Resolution concerning the measurement of working time. Retrieved from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/citygroup/ParisGroup-Attachment.pdf. Woods, P. (2005). Democratic leadership in education. California: SAGE. Read More