SUMMARY OF CASE

This case entails the decision of a manager of the Perfect Pizzeria in South Ville,
Illinois. The chain pizzeria restaurant manager is forced to make certain decisions in
order to receive his bonus. The manager is paid this bonus only if the damaged or
unsold food percentage is low at the end of the month and must devise methods to
ensure that the employees don’t abuse their six hour benefits and give away extra food
at no cost to their friends. If the manager does not achieve this bonus he is paid his
normal wages. In the case scenario, the manager found that the more restrictions he
put on the employees food allowance or punitive action he took, the higher the
damaged or unsold goods margin at the end of the month will be. This would indicate
that the less they were allowed to eat, the more they ate and gave away to their friends
when the manager was not present.

GOAL STATEMENT

The outcome of the analysis and subsequent recommendations has led to the pizzeria
operating profitably, all employees are motivated to perform and wastage at the
restaurant has decreased. The relationship between the managerial staff and
employees has become cordial and professional and everyone’s job satisfaction has
improved.

ANALYSIS

1.
Where the manager changed the time period required to receive free food and drink
from 6 to 12 hours, the theories that best describe this scenario is Reinforcement
Theory. When punishment is properly enforced by combining with positive
reinforcement should lead to an undesirable behaviour being curbed. But, in this
case the opposite of what was needed occurred as the employees perceived the
manager’s action as being harsh. This leads to the Equity theory as the employees
took the step of increasing the food wastage percentage in retaliation of this
perceived inequity (Paragraph 7).
Insert Maslows diagram here!
As the situation is, both managerial staff and employees seem to be stuck in
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as they are not dependent on the pizzeria for their
survival and existence, but due to the job market (paragraph 3- few job
opportunities) they are motivated to perform out of a need for security.

In Herzberg Two Factor Theory the incentive of having a job and keeping same is
one of the dissatisfiers, or hygiene factors and as such does not encourage the
employees to perform.

Vroom’s Expectancy theory offers the most appropriate explanation of this scenario,
since only the manager has the only performance motivation(to attain a bonus), only
he has a major stake in attaining low wastage, whilst the rest of the employees
receive no such reward.
 Outcome 1

Effort Performance Outcome 2

Outcome 3

E=P P=O

Since the theory posits in the first part a given level of performance will be
achieved given a certain effort, thus E=P. Secondly, that any given level of
performance will lead to certain outcomes, each having various level of benefits or
non-benefits for the individual. Thus P=O. The level which the manager want the
employees to perform will lead to a favourable outcome for him, but the employees
effort and performance led to an outcome where the manager did not get a reward.
The only benefit for an employee other than having employment was to abuse the
free food allowance.

2.
In the case where the manager worked alongside the employees for a time and later
returned to his office saw for that period the percentage returned to a low level and
the manager was able to receive a bonus. This emphasizes the Reinforcement
Theory, whereby the employees by virtue of the manager working alongside was
itself a form of punishment as it had the effect of weakening the behaviour of the
employees as previously there was high wastage. The advent of the manager
working alongside the employees also had the effect of authority and supervision
which is lacking in this case scenario.
3.
The situation that exists at the end of the case again emphasises the manager’s
punitive approach in dealing with the employees. Had he resorted to imposition of
punishment with positive re-enforcement, thus combining the punishment with an
explanation of what they doing wrong or right would have minimized the tension at
the end of the case scenario. Also, the usage of good interpersonal skills is needed in
dealing with diverse individuals, the manager was not specific in meting out
punishment (only offenders), but tried to punish all the employees. Equity Theory
suggests that in order to reduce any perceived inequity one would change inputs
(work less) or change the outcomes (pilfer company’s property as is in this case).

4.
Since the relationship between the manager and staff has broken down, a
motivational programme based on performance based rewards should be
implemented. This has the effect of rewarding the individual on hoe he performs
and what is achieved. The potential of a reward programme can discourage the
wonton wastage as the staff will try to attain the organisational goals and the
personal rewards that accompany them.
 Firstly, the manager should reinstate the free food allowance and attempt to
influence higher management to increase the hourly rate of the employees. Other
rewards should be non monetary such as gift certificate and coupons and even the
establishment of an employee of the month award.
Secondly, job descriptions and job feedback should assist the employees in knowing
the requirements of the job and an effective communication process developed in
order to facilitate two way feedbacks. This gives the advantage of forming closer
working relationships amongst parties and an avenue for the employees to
communicate suggestions on how the Pizzeria can be operated more efficiently.
This also negates the fact that the employees would do their job as they please.
Another aspect that would facilitate the ability to achieve various competencies
within the fold can lead to better decision making, and also create a multi-skilled
and dynamic workforce. All these aspects can lead to appropriate behaviour while
working and encourages everyone to follow along the lines of teamwork and
teambuilding. Common consensus among the team would lead to a unified
workforce that creates an environment whereby the organisational goals can be
attained.

These factors can assist in alleviating the situation as it exists at the end of the case,
but also the Pizzeria being one in a chain has the ultimate decision making at the
corporate level. The person at this level can ensure that managers salaries
commensurate with experience and qualifications. Thus in order to motivate the
manager of this branch, the salary and rewards must be increased. Equity theory
posits that people will act to eliminate any felt inequity in the rewards received for
their work in comparison with others, thus managers and employee’s salary must not
be the same. Also, a proper training programme for the managers should be
implemented; this could elicit a higher degree of loyalty from managerial personnel.

CONCLUSION

The crux of the case study entails the lack of motivation, both for employees and
managerial personnel. The policies of the organisation did not give the employees
sufficient motivation to perform as the organisation desired of them, unless a large
measure of overall supervision was executed. The aforementioned motivational
programme seeks to alleviate the problems within this branch of Perfect Pizzeria, thus
ensuring with implementation the problems at the end of the case study may cease to
exist.
Frederick Herzberg two factor theory accentuates this problem in the Pizzeria of
motivation, as many hygiene factors such as work conditions, salary, quality of
supervision, and relationships with peers and subordinates lend to the de-motivational
state of the employees of this branch of Perfect Pizzeria. Therefore the proposed
solutions as in (4) with the cooperation and willingness of all employees and
managerial staff will auger well towards a more efficient and productive enterprise.
Reference:

1. Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn (2004) Organisation Behavior, 7th Edition, Wiley.
2. Foot, Margaret. Hook, Caroline (2005) Introducing Human Resource Management,
4th Edition, Prentice Hall.
3. Dessler, Gary (2008) Human Resource Management, 11th Edition, Prentice Hall.