The Behavior of Employees at the 21 Dining Bar in Riyadh Saudi Arabia - Case Study Example

Virtual business design report Name Institution Date Virtual business design report Abstract Theories of management links the behavior of employees at 21 Dining Bar to diminishing motivation and lack of morale. The interactionist model of organizational theory and the path-goal theory of leadership are useful in determining the cause of the problem and in finding the appropriate solutions. In the case of the 21 Dining Bar in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, the organization should involve the employees in decision making and re-design their work units to be more challenging in order to promote innovation. Introduction Late arrival of normally reliable employees to work at 21 Dining Bar in Riyadh Saudi Arabia presents managers with a management challenge because it will affect work performance and attainment of the organization’s objective. Riyadh is a cross-cultural setting, where a majority of the employees is foreigners from neighboring countries. A majority of the employees are Muslims due to the geographical location of the city. Organizational theories can be used to solve a problem that the organization is facing at the moment. The first theories of organizations viewed human as machines that can function so long as they are given a blueprint to follow. Interactionist model of organizational theories and path-goal theory of effective leadership are some of the models that can be used by management of 21 Dining Bar to solve the problem of employee lateness. Analysis From the business problem facing 21 Dining Bar in Riyadh, it is evident that there are changes that are happening in the organization that have affected the employees negatively. Reliable employees are turning up late for work. The interactionist model of human relations and human behavior can explain the cause of the problem and the possible solutions of correcting it. The classical model of organizations was criticized by many human relations experts who claimed that organizations should be taken as human and social systems (Miles, 2012). This approach is also referred to as a natural systems approach. This natural systems model encompasses theories that stipulate the significance of human relations. It proposes that human behavior can be unplanned, emotional and in most cases not rational (Miles, 2012). According to this theory, employee output is not dependent on the physical characteristics of the work environment such as economic incentives, employees’ abilities and work environment, but is influenced by the organizational climate and social conditions of the organization. It is evident from the case problem that employees at the 21 Dining Bar is on a go slow because they used to be reliable. This can be attributed to employee dissatisfaction, lack of motivation and morale. In an experiment to justify the credibility of this theory, Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger performed the Hawthorne experiment to determine the impacts of physical conditions on employee output at the Western Electric (Lynch & Cruise, 2006). In the course of the experiment, they accidentally discovered the importance of human relations such as the attitudes of supervisors on employee output. This is because the work environment is a social system. Employees need to be involved in an organized social group that offers prospects for social interaction and association with other members of the organization. Supervisors should be more democratic and managers need to be appreciative of employees’ need for involvement and social acknowledgment to motivate their cooperation (Tompkins, 2005). An organization that attempts to satisfy the material need of its employees only, but fails to meet their social and human needs will experience low output, unhappiness, and lack of cooperation from its workers. Output relies on group cultures and satisfaction, which then shows the level of social integration among fellow employees and between management and its workers. This theory is supported by Maslow’s humanistic psychology that identified a hierarchy of human needs. According to Maslow, the most basic of needs are physiological and safety needs that comprise food, shelter and clothing (Tompkins, 2005). This is then followed by social integration, love, prestige, and social esteem. The final need and the most important is self-actualization or fulfillment. It is only possible to move to the next level of need when the previous need has been satisfied. It is possible that the management at 21 Dining Bar in Riyadh has failed to provide opportunities for employees to satisfy the final and most important need. Douglas McGregor furthered the theory of humanistic management by asserting that humans cannot be self-actualized by mere material or monetary rewards. The assignment itself must be challenging to motivate the individual. The job should offer employees an opportunity to creatively enhance themselves. Employees will be proud of their work if they were given responsibility and their contributions acknowledged. To achieve this, fragmented work should be redesigned to significant units that include thinking and innovation (Clegg et al, 2005). The decision making process should be inclusive and decentralized; management should attempt to reduce the level of hierarchy. The objectives of the organization should concentrate on internal commitment instead external control of workers. Humanistic management model emphasizes on collaboration between employees and management. Greater effort is placed on satisfying employees’ needs instead of productivity (Daft et al, 2010). Poor organizational conditions are responsible for low output or employee dissatisfaction. For the case of the 21 Dining Bar, the employees are not to blame for their lack of motivation to be punctual, but the philosophy of management in the organization. It is possible that the management at 21 Dining Bar is not receptive to the needs of the cosmopolitan employees that they have. Such an organization offers sufficient incentives to their workers considering the city that it operates in; therefore, there must be other underlying factors that are related to management style and satisfaction of employees such as self-actualization. For employees working in such an organization, the likelihood of tailoring of duties is possible, and this makes the jobless challenging. This can contribute to lack of motivation among employees. The path-goal theory of leadership can also be used to diagnose the problem that 21 Dining Bar in Riyadh is facing. This theory links the leadership of management as the main factor that influences the satisfaction, motivation and output of an employee (Lussier & Achua, 2010). It emphasizes the importance of selecting the appropriate leadership style to suit the needs of a particular group. To be an effective manager, one needs to be conversant with different leadership styles because different situations require different leadership styles. According to this theory, there are four types of leaderships: in the directives style, the manager gives out strict guidelines that must be followed by employees, supportive style is where the manager concentrates on maintaining happiness between workers themselves and the management, participatory leadership involves workers in decision making process and achievement-oriented leadership uses rewards to motivate employees (Gill, 2010). Leadership styles are associated with the type of work. For 21 Dining Bar, the employees can be skilled or unskilled employees. Two types of leadership styles are appropriate for such an organization: directive leadership is applicable for low-skilled assignments such as being a server or a chauffeur. Participatory leadership is appropriate for employees such as accountants, chefs, and public relations officers. These employees are important in ensuring that strategic plans of the organization are implemented. The personalities of employees also influence the type of leadership that should be applied. Locus of control trait demands that the employees want to be the decision makers or the manager to be the decision maker. Need for clarity trait determines if the employee favors precise instructions. Authoritarian trait is one that directs other employees. Other employees may perform tasks for the sake of giving experience to other employees, while others have the desire to achieve goals and receive acknowledgements for such achievements (Khurana & Nohria, 2010). This theory is a cause-and-effect theory; therefore the leadership of an organization need to alter the leadership style in order to solve a problem such as in the case of 21 Dining Bar. If employees are not performing their duties as expected such as lacking in punctuality, the leadership should investigate the cause of the problem first. In the case where employees need more participation in decision making, the management can involve them in the process in making some decisions (Cannella et al, 2008). If such a move solves the problem, management can introduce other changes to forestall future problems. In a scenario like the one facing 21 Dining Bar, the management needs to give clear instructions to the employees regarding the time for reporting to work. A directive leadership style will be effective in such a scenario because it is obvious that there are regulations in place concerning punctuality. Re-stating the significance of keeping time will solve the problem. Conclusion From the analysis of the problem facing 21 Dining Bar and the relevant theories of management, it is evident that employees at this organization are suffering from lack of motivation. An organization such as this cannot fail to give its employees sufficient incentives to motivate them. Lack of punctuality can be attributed to lack of interest with the wok that one does or failure of the organization to put in place management practices that encourage employees. Another possibility is boredom associated with doing the same task everyday with no opportunity to improve oneself. This is common in hospitality industries especially with low-skilled jobs. Recommendations 21 Dining Bar can improve employee satisfaction to ensure that they attend work early by first considering the environmental influences that may have contributed to the problem in the first place. Since Riyadh is predominantly a Muslim city, there is a possibility that the problem was as a result of Muslim religious ceremonies and practices that may have affected their schedules. In light of the diminishing morale and motivation among employees of 21 Dining Bar, the management can undertake the following measures to solve the problem: 1. The management should focus on job enlargement. By this, fragmented works should be re-designed to significant units that will facilitate thinking and innovation among employees. This will reduce and ultimately eliminate boredom associated with doing the same ask daily. 2. The organization should change its management style to be more participatory and less centralized. Other measures associated with this measure include lowering levels of hierarchy in management and reducing the level of setting objectives. References Cannella, B., Finkelstein, S., Hambrick, D. C., & Oxford University Press. (2008). Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards. New York: Oxford University Press. Clegg, S., Kornberger, M., & Pitsis, T. (2005). Managing and organizations: An introduction to theory and practice. London [u.a.: SAGE. Daft, R. L., Murphy, J., & Willmott, H. (2010). Organization theory and design. Andover: South-Western Cengage Learning. Gill, R. (2010). Theory and Practice of Leadership. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Khurana, R., & Nohria, N. (2010). Handbook of leadership theory and practice. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press. Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2010). Leadership: Theory, application, skill development. Australia: SouthWestern/Cengage Learning. Lynch, T. D., & Cruise, P. L. (2006). Handbook of organization theory and management: The philosophical approach. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor & Francis. Miles, J. A. (2012). Management and Organization Theory: A Jossey-Bass Reader. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Tompkins, J. (2005). Organization theory and public management. Belmont, Calif: Thomson Wadsworth. Read More