Totos Gourmet Pie and Coffee Shop - Industrial Psychology Solving Problems - Term Paper Example

? (Unit May 3rd Toto’s Gourmet Pie and Coffee Shop Industrial psychology solving problems Introduction The George’s consultancy firm is a company that specializes in doing research about a specific problem in a company, finding solutions and making necessary recommendations to prevent the re-occurrence of the problem. Having branches in 12 states in America, our company has efficient, well trained and experienced personnel. Due to our good reputation in service delivery, the Toto’s Gourmet Pie and Coffee Shop has hired our services. Toto’s Gourmet Pie and coffee shop is a national chain of about 100 outlets that operates primarily on the west coast. Apart from having a sit in comfortable restaurant, they also offer their services through a walk up or drive away window at cheap prices. Toto’s is specifically famous for their amazing pies, gourmet coffee and tea. According to Yelp reviews, Toto’s products are widely loved by their customers hence they are able to make a lot of money thus rewarding their employees fairly. Type of problem the company is experiencing The Toto’s Gourmet Pie and coffee is experiencing a problem in service delivery to its customers. Most customers are complaining that the employees are slow in filling up orders and food delivery. Some customers also complain that in most instances, they receive misplaced orders. Research on the problem In order to verify the existence of the problem, our consultancy firm was tasked to investigate the several Toto’s outlets. According to Michael Aamodt in his book industrial psychology: an applied approach, “the research of a problem in a business involves sampling a sector of a department affected to determine the extent of the problem” (Michael 26). Following this principle, the correct data is got from sapling. Out of the 100 outlets, we decided to investigate 20 of those outlets. Verification of the problem By use of observation method, our team of experts visited about 20 of the Toto’s outlets. Their main task was to check the rate and efficiency of service delivery by the employees in this out lets. It was noted by observation that, a customer could wait for more than 10 minutes without being served. This indeed was a confirmation that the service delivery by the employees of our client was not efficient. Cause of the problem In order to find the cause of the problem in Toto’s Gourmet Pie and coffee, we had to do research on the employees. The use of questionnaires and interviews was the method used to get important data from the employees. Questionnaires A questionnaire is a method of data collection which uses a given number of leading questions to gain information from the public. The type of questions asked may be closed ended or open ended, that is, questions with choices and those without choices. The questionnaires were drafted and distributed for the employees to feel. The areas which the questionnaires touched included: i) Whether the employees were satisfied their jobs or not ii) How to improve efficiency iii) Dissatisfaction of employees iv). The level of training of the new employees v) What factors contributed to laxity in the job After completion of the questionnaires, the responses of the employees were analyzed by our team of professionals. The responses were then categorically listed down from which the sources of employee laxity were deduced. Interviews Interviews were another method used by our consultancy firm to find important information about the real cause of the problem. The interviews were carried out in two sections. One involved questions given to the interviewee prior to the interview and the second part involved an impromptu questioning method. Each employee was called to the interviewing room and assured that the details revealed by each individual would result into victimization by the employer. This was done to ensure that employees would be free to reveal information without fear of their jobs. During the interviews, out team of specialists was able to get important information through the one on one interaction. The specialists were able to analyze the responses hence they were able to come up with the source of the problem. Source of the problem Lack of employee motivation It was noted that most of the employees are not motivated to work harder. Despite the large profits that the company makes, the employees are not well rewarded. In addition, the company does not consider the high inflation rates when rewarding the employees. Moreover, disparity in the amount of payment among workers doing the same job was noted. This resulted in some employees protesting on this disparity of payments hence laxity in service delivery to the customers. Long working hours Most of the workers complained of the number of hours they work per week. In a normal week, the workers could work for as many as 68 hours which is far much above the maximum week hours as per the labor laws. In addition, these workers were not given their overwork allowances hence contributing to low working morale. It was also noted that some of the employees were college students who had to balance their work and their education life. Some of these students were over worked hence could not be efficient in the delivery of service to the customers. Low numbers of employees The low numbers of employees contributed to the poor service delivery to the customers. The Toto’s Gourmet Pie and coffee company is a well-known company whose products are cheaper when compared to its competitors. Due to the trademark developed over the years, more and more customers would still keep coming to these shops. The number of available employees is therefore not able to handle the increasing customer base of the company. Moreover, due to the large coverage area of the restaurant, the employees have to walk a long distance so that they can be able to reach the customers. With the small numbers of employees, each worker has to serve many customers hence delay in the taking of orders. Table identification Table identification is one of the reasons that affect quality service delivery to the customers. It was noted that the restaurant had a wide area with many similar tables. This makes it hard for both new and old employees to identify the type of orders for specific customers. The presence of similar tables has contributed a lot to the misplacement of orders to customers hence bad service delivery. Harassment of employees Through the research that our consultancy firm carried, some employees complained of harassment by the management. The forms of harassment included use of in-appropriate language by the management, issuance of warning letters without proper grounds, sexual harassment, pay cuts etc. Such harassment by the employees as prompted them to be less motivated hence promoted laxity in the job. Lack of proper employee training Lack of employee training has contributed to the worsening of service delivery to the customers. For efficient service delivery to the customers, the employees need to be fully trained on how to handle and retain customers. The research showed lack of commitment of the organization to train workers hence the new workers lack courteous method of handling workers. Low employee retention In the research, it was found out that Toto’s company had low employee retention ability. The research found out that out of 10 employees only 2 had been working for the company for the last 12 months. With this rate of employee retention, it would take time for these new employees to get used to the work place. This has greatly contributed to poor service delivery hence customer dissatisfaction. Recommendations and solutions The problems experienced by the company may lead to the collapse of the Toto’s company. This is because customer’s dissatisfaction would lead to loss of market hence increase of overhead costs which result to the company having debts so that it can support itself. However, after the analysis of the research, our consultancy company came up with the following recommendations for the client: Employment of more personnel The company should be able to employ more qualified personnel so as to improve service efficiency. Presence of more personnel would be able offset the work load done by the few employees. Therefore, customers would not have to stay for a long period of time hence customer satisfaction. Edgar Schein in his book industrial psychology stated that, “employment of a qualified human resource manager would assist in the good management of the business” (Edgar 99). With a good manager, the employees would be able to co-ordinate their activities effectively because the outlet manager would be able to ensure full co-operation of the employees hence good customer service delivery. Employee training The employees should be well trained to handle the customers effectively. During the job application, the set criteria for employment of new workers should be set at a higher standard. For this to be achieved, the company should carry the normal employment criteria where those applying for the job are shortlisted and called for an interview. Through interviews, Toto’s company would be able to get employ qualified personnel who are easy to train because of their prior knowledge in service delivery. In addition, the employees should at least have a yearly training program where they are informed on new methods of customer service delivery. In this education sessions, the employees can be made aware of the new technological measures that have been introduced in the company hence improvement of employee service delivery. Increased employee wages The salaries and remunerations of the employees should be reviewed so that the rates of pay go hand in hand with the inflation rates. With improved salaries, the employees would be motivated to work more without complaining. This would result into customer satisfaction because the customers would not wait for long periods to be served. In addition, the company would be able to benefit from improved sales hence increase in profits. Paul Levy states in his book organizational psychology that, “the management can reward the best performing employees by giving awards and other incentives” (Paul, 67). Through such acts, the employees would be motivated to work better and be efficient hence the customers would be satisfied. Numbering of tables In order for new employees to deliver the correct order in the right table, the management should ensure that the tables are clearly marked to avoid the mix up. The employees would be able to take the orders as per the table and delivering the correct foods to the table. Distribution of labor and specialization The distribution of labor and specialization has been shown to improve the amount of sales in a business. The Toto’s Gourmet Pie and Coffee Shop can allow ensure distribution of labor by assigning different employees to different sectors. The employees involved in kitchen work should be specifically in the kitchen while those in serving should only deal with serving the customers. In addition, the employees involved with serving the customers can specialize in different sections of the restaurant. This can be achieved by assigning the employees their sections in which they can serve the customers without waiting for the next employee. This would be a big step in creating efficiency hence customer satisfaction. Constant meetings with employees The company should organize constant meetings with its employees in order to understand the problems encountered by the employees. Through such meetings, the employees would be able to interact with the employer hence solution to any problems that the employees may have. This would result to employee motivation hence good service delivery to the customers. Conclusion In conclusion, the Toto’s Gourmet Pie and Coffee Shop contracted our consultancy firm to find out the reason behind customers’ complaints about their service delivery. First we verified the claims by visiting and observing their outlets and observing the nature and efficiency of service delivery. After confirming the allegations, we embarked on mission to find out the root cause of the poor service delivery by the Toto’s employees. The use of questionnaires and interviews was the method used to collect data from the employees. These methods of data collections found that the employees’ laxity was as a result of: low wages, long working hours, harassment from the management, lack of employee motivation, low employee retention rate and lack of training for new employees. In order to prevent the worsening of the current situation, our consultancy proposed the following solutions: increased wages, employment of more workers, constant meeting with employees, employee training, distribution of labor and numbering of tables to prevent the misplacement of orders. Works cited Edgar, Schein. Organizational Psychology culture. Massachusetts: Massachusetts institute of technology press, 1961. Print. Michael, Aamodt. Organizational psychology: an applied approach. Boston: Cengage publishers, 2009.Print. Paul, Levy. Industrial or Organizational Psychology. New York: Worth publishers, 2005. Print. Read More