A COMMON WORKPLACE SITUATION-ABSENTEEISM IN A FAST FOOD CHAIN - Essay Example

? A COMMON WORKPLACE SITUATION-ABSENTEEISM IN A FAST FOOD CHAIN The objective of this paper is to describe acommon workplace situation within an organization and how to deal with that situation. It describes how the situation of absenteeism may arise in a fast-food chain of restaurants, the meaning and causes behind absenteeism, and methods to overcome it. Not just strategies but the uses of excellent administrative skills are necessary to combat workplace conflicts. In the presence of a good leader, not only such situations can be resolved but also control from appearing again becomes possible.. A COMMON WORKPLACE SITUATION Maintenance of Workplace ethics is necessary to avoid any conflict that disturbs a healthy environment. Today, to tackle these problems a strong plan has to be formulated and so is its implementation important. It is commonly seen that workplace conflicts are ignored and not resolved with attention. Such situation may promote further chaos. Organizational ethics are formal and informal set of actions, to guide behavior of conduct in an organization. Therefore, ethics program and proper communication within an organization can help. (Joseph, 2000) Every organization needs a cooperative and helpful workplace environment for its success. Minor conflicts are a part of routine and can be managed effectively with the help of ethical plans (as mentioned earlier). However, if these issues are not looked upon immediately, these may plague the organization to devastation. In every workplace, employee’s involvement is vital in every department. A COMMON WORKPLACE SITUATION – IN A FAST FOOD CHAIN BUSINESS In this paper, we are discussing a workplace situation in a very popular food chain business that can directly affect the productivity of organization. The purpose of a food chain is to provide the best to its consumers, both in taste and quality of service. Due to the rapid change in our lifestyle, a lot of importance is given to consumption of instant food since it is easy to make, consume, and most often just a call away. Such services need very efficient and hardworking workers, and require them to deliver their best to costumers and the business for high productivity. Absenteeism is a common problem that is an indicator of low individual performance on the part of the worker. ABSENTEEISM Absenteeism is a common workplace problem, and it is simultaneously the biggest problem that directly impacts the services, delivery of goals, staff morale and in the end leads to be financial loses. It is one of the major problems that a manager has to face; the problem of absenteeism has different meanings for employer and employee respectively. In simple words when an employee fails to appear for duty continuously it can be recorded as absenteeism. All the organizations before hiring any employee sign an agreement with the worker and decide over the leaves as well. Most of the organization needs a low absenteeism rate to fulfill the objective of the business. Absenteeism is broadly defined as an employee being absent from workplace and responsibilities assigned to him/her. A very common cause behind it is the absence due to sickness or taking extended breaks for lunch, carrying on personal work in office timings without any leave. However, in these cases, the employee intends to come back home. Whereas, in other cases, the employee stays absent from work without leave and does not intend to return to work. Therefore, a proper check of absenteeism is to be maintained by the manager, so that other employees may not feel any sort of inequality. Organizations should make sure that they combat such problems with appropriate policies. (Munro, 2007) As the term explains it all that absenteeism is failing to show up to work and not performing the responsibilities one is charged for. It directly affects the productivity within the organization. Eventually, the workplace faces' losses. The problem of absenteeism is rapidly increasing around the globe; there may be several reasons that are responsible in this situation. Apart from personal reasons like illness or willingness to work, several factors like stress and burden of work, routine and office timings might not be suitable for some employees resulting in their low level of interest in the job; are other causes for this problem. (Maliakal, 2011) In a food chain business when the employees are absent from work without any leave or cause. The business and its performance suffers greatly, not necessarily that the employee is on a high-ranking post of the business. Due to the absence of any employee, the normal routine work at the restaurant may suffer. From the process of cooking to delivering of food, each department is greatly dependent upon the coordination and efficiency of workers. APPLICATION OF MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES TO COMBAT ABSENTEEISM Absenteeism is adopted by employees to hide their low level of morale or other disabilities. One of the most important ways to overcome is motivation. Use of negative motivation may lead to stress and anxiety, in result the employees resort to absenteeism. If the factors of fear and burden are added to motivate employees, it would have an adverse impact on employee’s attendance. Whereas positive motivation, provides an incentive for the workers and leads to regular attendance in this way the employees feel a link with his employer, it contributes to profit for employees as well as his organization. (Davoren) “Workers have needs must be fulfilled in order to avoid demotivation. When workers lack motivation, they tend to resort to anti-work behaviors such as absenteeism, negligence of duty, late-coming, failure to meet deadlines, display of open frustration and these factors work as negative to the performance. Organizations need to place all efforts to ensure that incentives such as intrinsic motivators, extrinsic motivators and performance management.(Stella, 2008, p No 20) Motivational theories include , McGregor’s theory X and theory Y, Abraham Harold Maslow’s Theory of Need and Herzberg’s theory of Hygiene and Motivation. These theories motivate workers to perform and achieve organizational goals. When a worker is motivated to perform his duty, the problem of absenteeism can be easily combated. Motivation would increase the efficiency and productivity. He feels satisfied while performing his duty and his will to stay absent from work turns into motivation to work and show best of his abilities. (Stella, 2008) ROLE OF LEADERSHIP Any problem that occurs within an organization can only be tackled if effective measures are adopted by both the leadership and worker. The role of every leader is to maintain a relationship with its employees. An effective leadership motivates, maintains a certain workplace environment and formulates strategies to overcome the problem. In the situation of absenteeism, the leader has a minor effect upon the employee if the cause behind absence is any kind of personal matter. Whereas, if the reason behind his absence is due to workplace environment or over load of duty at work, as a good employer he can communicate and resolve such problems. “A leader’s behavior may be geared to enhance team spirit, a safe work environment, or other desirable features, and these features may influence other variables (including health, work-family conflict) which in turn cause absence.” (Mellor, Arnold & Gelade, 2009, pNo 3) ROLE OF POWER AND INFLUENCE In a professional working environment power and hierarchy in interpersonal relationships is maintained within a workplace. Such usage of power across the spectrum of workplace may initiate threat of violence and bullying. Therefore, usage of power and influence in a working environment are mostly discouraged. It would not only disturb workplace environment rather fear of high position holders and their influence would further increase the situation of absenteeism. Conclusion Concluding, the problem of absenteeism is irresponsibility on the part of the workers. However, collective efforts from the administration and employees can resolve this problem. When taking the example of a food chain business, if absenteeism prevails it would directly impact the performance of the business. As in a food chain business, the consumer appreciation can be seen on day to day bases. When there would be apathy on the part of the service provider to its customers, the customers would not be satisfied by the service. Hence, it is necessary to combat absenteeism and boost up the services for customer satisfaction and success. References Davoren, J. (n.d.). The effects of motivation on absenteeism. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_8266194_effects-motivation-absenteeism.html Joseph, J. (2000, october). Ethics in the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm? Maliakal, L. (2011, 9 27). Absenteeism in the workplace. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/absenteeism-in-the-workplace.html Mellor, N., Arnold, J., & Gelade, G. (2009). The effects of transformational leadership on employees’ absenteeism in four UK public sector organisations. (Master's thesis)Retrieved from http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr648.pdf Munro, L. (2007). Absenteeism and presenteeism:possible causes and solutions. (Master's thesis)Retrieved from http://www.google.com.pk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=causes of absenteeism&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CD4QFjAC&url=http://www.sar.org.za/index.php/sar/article/download/76/82&ei=lI3-UIudCeiq0AWg1YDwDA&usg=AFQjCNF3HGO6WVsdKfVle887sY8cx2e0FQ&bvm=bv.41248874,d.d2k Stella, O. (2008). Motivation and work performance: complexities in achieving good performance outcomes; a study focusing on motivation measures and improving workers performance in kitgum district local government. (Master's thesis)Retrieved from http://oaithesis.eur.nl/ir/repub/asset/7011/Opu HRE 2007-08.pdf Read More