Supervisorial Position in McDonalds - Case Study Example

Leadership Interview Paper Introduction to Leader and Business An interview has been conducted with a business leader who holds a supervisorial position in McDonalds. McDonalds is the world’s largest chain of fast food, burgers and beverages that caters to millions of customers all over the world. The business of McDonalds operates through its franchisees and outlets all over the world in various countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and others. This interview has been conducted in one such franchisee where the supervisor was contacted and was asked about the organizational issues faced and managed by him on a daily basis in that outlet. The issues that came up as a response from the supervisor are related to the aspects of motivation of the people working in that outlet of McDonalds, group dynamics of the workforce and the organizational structure of the business. The supervisor has previous work experience of handling similar issues on organizational behavior being in a leadership position in industry for a considerable amount of time. For the purpose of confidentiality, the name of the supervisor has not been disclosed in the interview paper. The same has also been conveyed to the supervisor at the point of talking the interview. This ethical aspect of the interview has helped in obtaining open responses to the questions asked during the interview. The details of the interview along with the relevant theories of organizational behavior explaining the aspects of motivation, group dynamics and organizational structure that came up from the responses of the interviewee has been presented in this paper. Interview responses and connections to relevant topics The questions asked to the interviewee and the responses received, for the questions asked, have been summarized as given below. Following are the set of questions to which the interviewee has responded. 1) Looking at the excellence in service quality of McDonalds, what are the key factors for success of your team? 2) What are the major areas of challenge in leading a team that is required to live up to the standard expectations of the customer who visit your store on a regular basis? 3) Are all your team members considerably motivated while they are required to maintain the highest service quality standards on a regular basis in the industry? 4) What are the common areas of dissatisfaction among your team members and how do you address them? 5) Have you observed groups or clusters among your workforce? If yes, how do you see group dynamics affecting customer service in your organization? 6) To your opinion, is formation of groups among your staffs beneficial for sustainability of service delivery in McDonalds? 7) How do you manage to hold the different groups together in the same workplace? 8) Are your team members ready to accept changes? How do you get the best out of the team when there are changes in the workplace followed by conflict among the team members? 9) Is the daily work divided among the manpower deployed by the organization? 10) Are there specialist roles in the workplace? If yes, how is the co-ordination among the specialists and the other staffs? 11) Are you able to influence your team members in case of conflict of interest? What ways do you adopt? 12) Do your team members look up to you for a resolution and follow your instructions? 13) Do you bank more on experience or on behavioral theories to bring out the best performance from your organization structure? The summary of the responses of the interviewee suggests that the key to success of his team in McDonalds is that the staffs are motivated to reach their desired career goals which in turn lead to the attainment of organizational goals. The group dynamics in the organization is strong as it creates a healthy competition where the employees strive to attain service excellence (Greenberg, 2011). The excellence in performance of the employees is recognized by virtue of rewards bestowed on them by McDonalds. However, due to the differences in ability of the staffs, the achievement level varies. For this reason, there is also a relative difference in the rewards and recognitions bestowed by the organization on them. As a leader, there are challenges to keep the team members at the same motivation level on a regular basis so that organizational goals are met. The common areas for dissatisfaction include non-attainment of desired level of growth in comparison to specific peer groups, not being allocated with the desired level of responsibility in work place, non-acceptance by peers as a key contributor to the process (Luthans, 2005). This leads to the formation of groups among the staff members who find common lines of interest among themselves. As a leader, it is required to be transparent and not biased to each of the team members. In order to address the areas of dissatisfaction, the supervisor discusses the relative performance of the employees and the areas of improvement necessary to attain the desired level of benchmark service to customers of McDonald. In order to address these issues in the organizational structure, the supervisor ensures that each and every employee gets fair access to the resources, systems, scope and opportunities in the organization. The fairness in access to organizational facilities along with the existing group dynamics helps in stimulating an environment of motivation and healthy competition to achieve service excellence (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). The team members are technically and psychologically prepared in advance to accept changes in the organizational structure. The comparative growth among the staff members is solely performance based. The daily work is divided among the manpower based on the level of responsibility assigned to them. The leader also keeps a track that the specialist roles as well as the non-specialists keep a strong co-ordination in the organizational structure for delivering service and delight to their customer. In case of conflict of interest among the staffs, discussions are conducted by the supervisor to understand the areas of conflict, reason for which individual and organizational goals are matching and appropriate steps are taken to address those conflicts (Slocum and Hellriegel, 2007). The team members look up to the inspirational leadership of the supervisor for resolution of issues that takes place in the course of daily work. The leadership and management in the organizational structure plays an important role in motivating the employees, training and equipping them with required skills to deliver the best of services in the industry and at the same time recognize and reward the potential employees in the workforce. Overview of relevant theories and concepts on Motivation The responses obtained from the supervisor could be explained from the behavioral theories on motivation. Some of the motivational theories that could explain the organizational behavior are Maslow’s Theory, Alderfer’s ERG Theory and Equity Theory. The Maslow’s Theory suggests that motivation of individuals depend on the various needs and the urge required from within for fulfilling those needs. The needs of individuals vary from person to person. The needs have been categorized as physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem and self-actualization. According to the response of the supervisor in McDonald, some employees in the workforce are motivated to increase their basic pay scale in order to fulfill their physiological needs. Some of the staff members are motivated to deliver high quality of service in order to ensure job security or safety. Some are motivated to establish a sense of belongingness among the co-workers by establishing strong co-ordination among them. Some of the staff members in the team are motivated to move up the hierarchy and attain larger responsibilities in McDonald. Some of the employees are motivated to grow by virtue of their creativity and delivering highest quality service to the customers (Pinder, 2008). In the same lines, Alderfer’s ERG Theory explains the need of existence, related needs with respect to the peers and the growth needs of the team members in McDonald. The need of existence triggers the motivation for increase in salaries, related needs drive the motivation to excel in comparison to their peers, and their growth need motivates them to take higher responsibilities and specialist roles in the organization. The equity theory suggests that the employees are not motivated by the rewards and recognition received by them but from the perception of comparative rewards received with respect to their peers in McDonald. Overview of relevant theories and concepts on Group Dynamics The theories of group dynamics are useful in explain the responses received during the interview with the supervisor in McDonald. The various types of groups explained in Homan’s Model are formal groups, informal groups and psychological groups. The formal groups are formed by the staff members of McDonald who are allocated duties and responsibilities on a regular basis based on their job role. The formal groups are formed as a result of strong co-ordination among the team members during their course of daily work in McDonald. The informal groups are formed due to some form of emotional attachment, sentiment or empathy during the course of regular work. Informal group may form among the top performers as well as low performers in the organization. The psychological groups are formed among team members who resemble each other due to common ways of thinking. The psychological alignment among the team members may be due to rewards, recognition, discrimination, penalties, etc. The group dynamics that the leader has observed could be explained from the Balance Theory of group formation whereby the members form a group due to commonness in attitude, beliefs and ideas, lifestyle, etc. The Social Exchange Theory and the Social Identity Theory also provide sufficient explanation. The Exchange theory suggests that the existence of group dynamics is due to the mutual needs and benefits realized by the members of the group. The team members are bound together by the sense of mutual trust or obligation between them (Chen, 2008). The Social Identity Theory explains the fact that individual members of the team have a need of belongingness to a group which fulfills their identity and acceptance in the organization and place of work. All these factors give rise to group dynamics which has been found from the response of the supervisor. Overview of relevant theories and concepts on Organizational structure The issues found in the organizational structure in McDonald could be explained theoretically with the help of Classical Organization Theory, Neo-classical organization Theory, Contingency Theory and Systems Theory. The classical theory suggests that there should be management principles for running an organization and it is required to scrutinize each aspect of work carried out by the people under able leadership in the organizational hierarchy. As found from the interview responses, the leader in McDonald have been able to able to get the best from the available resources through regular scrutiny, meetings, discussions and feedbacks that has led to excellence in service of the organization. The issues and challenges faced by the supervisor on a regular basis are solved in line with the management principles set by the organization. The neo classical theory suggests that the existence of principles and values in the organization is crucial for maintaining the hierarchy where the decision of the higher authority would be accepted by the team members (Baligh, 2006). The work culture of transparency, discussions and feedbacks, instructions based on facts has helped the supervisor in McDonald to manage his resources in an efficient manner. The Contingency Theory recognizes the importance of managing conflicts within the team. It is wise to accept that there would be differences among the team members and it is important for the leader to identify the areas of dissatisfaction and address them. This approach has helped the supervisor in McDonald to establish a strong co-ordination with the team members. The Systems Theory explains that the organization is built in a wholesome manner with various resources such as manpower, systems, infrastructure, etc. Any change that occurs in one of the areas is likely to affect other areas in the organization. The leadership is aware of this fact for which managing change is an important aspect of team management. Recommendations/Insights The relevant theories as discussed in the context of organizational behavior and structure in McDonald provide insights to the leadership about the effective methods of motivating people and managing change at workplace. The leadership should ensure that the various needs of the staff members that they expect from the workplace are fulfilled. For this reason, the management should keep in place evaluation techniques to judge the ability and performance of the team members. The access to systems and resources should be given to all employees in a fair manner. Depending on the ability of the team members, the leaders should undertake discussion with individual members and set realistic targets for them to achieve. This would motivate them to put in maximum efforts in order to reach their goals. The formation of groups is inevitable at workplace as found in case of McDonald. The leader should take a note that the group dynamics at work place fosters healthy competition among the employees. In order to close down the gap between peers, the leader should arrange for training and development for prospective potential to come up the hierarchal ladder in the organization structure. The leader should establish strong co-ordination with the team and extend support to his team members. A relation of trust, an environment of transparency and a culture of rewarding the merit would help to justify the management principles at work place. Any change management should be undertaken with the help of discussion and consensus of the majority which would provide a sense of belongingness to all individual members in the team. References Greenberg, J. (2011). Behavior in Organizations, 10th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Pinder, C. C. (2008). Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior. New York: Psychology Press. Chen, O. T. (2008). Organizational Behavior and Dynamics. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Baligh, H. H. (2006). Organization Structures: Theory and Design, Analysis and Prescription. New York: Springer Science & Business Media. Slocum, J.W. and Hellriegel, D. (2007). Fundamentals of organizational behavior. Beijing: Thomson South Western publishers. Luthans, F. (2005). Organizational Behavior. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Griffin, R. and Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational Behavior. Oklahoma: Cengage Learning. Read More