Bagel_Hockey_Case

Bagel Hockey Case | MGMT 365 Group Project #2 | | | | The Bagel Hockey Case deals with personnel issues at the Toronto Training Academy Cafeteria. It describes a situation where Mrs. Laraby, the ___ walks in on half of her staff messing around while others are furiously working to handle customers. What has led up to this event and what should follow, can all be described under organizational behavior. I. Describe the Emergent System in the Case: At the Toronto Training Academy (TTA) Cafeteria, the social system is based on age, or time employed at the cafeteria.  Ernie Slim as senior student supervisor is top management during the weekends because he has been working at TTA for four years.  The cash register is occupied by a housewife in her thirties because she is a more mature, older woman.  The lower level positions are all held by students who are in high school or attend TTA.  This system would seem to have been put in place to ensure that those in higher positions were more reliable and responsible.  However, there are many differences between the ways the system should work and how it is working in the TTA case being studied. The first difference is the performance of the supervisors.  In a correct system, those supervising the cafeteria would be required to be helpful, knowledgeable, and responsible.  At TTA Cafeteria, Ernie Slim is the reigning supervisor, and instead of monitoring the work of those under him, he is introverted and spends his time out of sight working on take-out and banquet orders.  The next level of management is Henry Delano. As junior student supervisor Delano is more personable, but lacks the knowledge to make him appear in charge.  The cashier, though older and more mature, turns a blind eye to any indiscretions.  Overall, those supervising on the weekends either encouraged or ignored the act of playing games instead of working.  Consequently, the cafeteria lacked the management system needed to remain effective. The second difference is in job satisfaction.  For a business to be successful, its workers need to have certain levels of gratification on the job.  This was lacking at the TTA Cafeteria.  All the workers, besides the supervisors, at the cafeteria considered their position to be a very undesirable one.  The case even stated that it was a “last resort choice” for the employees.  There seemed to be no organizational commitment in the weekend workers for this reason.  They did not value their position, and because of this, goofed around and did their work without enthusiasm. The third difference is the missing motivational or fairness factors.   If only age and seniority are factors in advancement, other motivators should be in place in order to maintain equity and encourage the lower level employees to remain productive.  These factors were not in place at TTA.  At the TTA Cafeteria, pay scales were established based on position, time employed, and if the worker purchased a meal ticket.  Supervisors were being paid double what grill and fountain workers were making, even though they too were taking part in “horsing around.”  The fountain workers were left to handle the business rushes while workers in the back did not.  Overall, there were no rewards for work performance, which meant the employees were unmotivated to stay productive.  Instead of putting their energy into attaining a goal, the Cafeteria employees spent their time on the intrinsic benefits they received from taking part in “baseball” and “king of the eggs” games. II. Social System and Group Dynamics The social system of the cafeteria employees is heavily determined by the lack of external interactions during the weekend versus the heavy utilization of the cafeteria during weekdays.  Throughout the week, the cafeteria is used as a social center and for food, while during the weekends its use is limited unless there is a special workshop.  This limited use has led to different norms and subgroups as well as increased cohesiveness among the weekend workers.  Although cohesiveness has increased, productivity has diminished because of the lack of satisfaction and work. Because of the large difference in the use of the cafeteria on weekends, the group dynamics are dramatically different for the weekend workers than they are for the weekday employees.  The cohesiveness of the group is largely determined by the similarities among the members.  They are all students except the cashier, who is a housewife in her mid 30s.  The job is known to be a last resort for all of the employees except for the supervisors.  The combination of similarities within the group and lack of motivation towards the job created cohesiveness but very low performance norms.  The norms during the week call for strict adherence to the general regulations which include, “horseplay will not be tolerated.”  These rules were the same for the entire week, but since the subgroup of weekend employees were very cohesive, the supervisors were lax on the rules. Since there was so much idle time on the weekends and the employees were close in age with common interests, floor hockey was played using stale bagels and brooms, and other games were created to pass the time.  Supervisors were treated as equals and partook in these games as well.  This behavior had become a norm during lulls in workload and only occurred on weekends.  There had never been any crackdown because the general attitude of the employees towards these games was favorable except for “when you get stuck doing all the work while the others are out back having fun.” III. Productivity and Satisfaction of the members The weekend crew at the TTA cafeteria is seen as a crew where they play around with each other often not working to its fullest potential.  It seems to be a good system until the slow times approach the cafeteria. During the slow times most of the younger employees tend to go to the back room to play games such as bagel hockey and egg games. The biggest problem they have with these games is when the cafeteria starts to pick up they are busy in the back room playing games, not doing their jobs. The older middle age cashier’s lines of the check out are overcrowded, which negatively impacts the quality of service she can offer. It is apparent the two supervisors were just too young and inexperienced to be managing the other students that were currently working there. Their immaturity is shown when they play around with the other employees in the back room, and it reflects on them as being bad managers.  For the basic tasks, they can manage the crew fairly well, but they do not monitor the productivity of their staff well.  They need to improve their manager skills and keep working when on the clock, not horse around with their employees.  This shows the other workers they need to work when they are there and to continually do so throughout the entire shift. Overall, the low productivity of the cafeteria seems to be a result of little job fulfillment. The employees find more satisfaction in messing around than in completing cafeteria tasks. This may be the side effect of management that is not motivating, or perhaps just laziness on the part of the employees. Either way, the output is obviously being negatively affected by the laid back attitude of all working in the cafeteria, along with the lack of job satisfaction. IV. Basic Conceptual Scheme In this case, the cafeteria lacks the environment that encompasses timely management feedback and understanding of job goals and priorities. As a result, the workers’ behaviors do not show much motivation towards positive job performance. As mentioned in the case, employees are not performing their work with enthusiasm; this is because they have not been assigned any certain identifiable work responsibility. As it is very slow on the weekends, the employees are used to wasting their time in something else other than accomplishing goals. They have been completely ignoring the rules of the cafeteria as they don’t even bother to come outside the kitchen and check if things are alright. Use of eggs and bagels to play games shows the violation of work place ethic as considerable amount of food is being wasted just for the sake of entertainment, which was obviously not the management’s goal. Workers seem to have informal relations with each other, which can be good if it enhances interpersonal relationships. In this case, however, the laid back atmosphere has limited productivity and encouraged social activities instead. The female employees working in the fountain and deli bar end up handling the business rush themselves, while other employees are playing inside. This shows that an appropriate level of freedom and responsibilities has not been developed yet. Individual behaviors of the employees are definitely shaped by their external environment. A vital part of a business is the manager’s role in protecting their employees against hostile working environment. Mrs. Laraby, being the manager of the cafeteria, could have motivated and assisted the supervisor to cope with certain norms that cannot be violated at any cost. Mrs. Laraby is friendly, but encourages a relaxed working environment that gives too much freedom to the supervisors and employees. Higher level employees should be empowered through higher responsibility, but in this case, they needed to be evaluated by Mrs. Laraby more often. V.  Immediate Action As the kitchen manager, Mrs. Laraby has the responsibility to oversee everyday tasks that occur within and around the kitchen. Scheduling, hiring, and firing are all done by Mrs. Laraby, so she has complete control over the workplace; that is when she is around. In this case, Mrs. Laraby shows up unexpectedly, and finds some of her employees horsing around in the back room.   The first step that Mrs. Laraby needs to take is immediate discipline, according to the hot stove rule. She should instruct the three men and supervisor who were involved in the game, to get back to their duties. When Mrs. Laraby notices the unruly behavior, she needs to immediately discipline the act; not attack the individuals committing the unruly act. Being that Mrs. Laraby hired the individuals who were clearly undermining the kitchen policy, she knows this individual act is not a reflection of their character. The supervisors should all be asked to attend a meeting to review the kitchen policy. This meeting should be separated from the meeting all employees will attend. After instructing the individuals to get back to their jobs, Mrs. Laraby should inform all employees that they will need to have a brief meeting at the end of the day with her to discuss the negligent behavior. After instructing employees to return to their duties, she should not mention anything further about the incident until the meeting, in order to preserve their performance. During the meeting, Mrs. Laraby should inform the three male employees of their wrong doings, as well as inform them that there will be changes put in place in the near future. During the separate meeting Mrs. Laraby has with the supervisors, she should directly address how the conduct which she observed was in no way acceptable in regards to the kitchen policy. She should review the kitchen policy with all supervisors and ask if they have any concerns to address with her. Mrs. Laraby should remind the supervisors that they are role models. She should confirm with the supervisors that there should be open communication between the supervisors and her. Mrs. Laraby needs to express that in order for the supervisors to continue working for her, there needs to be trust amongst everyone present in the kitchen. Trust, meaning she can be confident with her supervisors when she is not present, that they will behave as if she was. VI. Long-term There are two actions that should be taken to help the TTA Cafeteria. The first action will be to reprimand those who participated in the games. The supervisor should lead by an example. Instead of the supervisor leading his employees to partake in horseplay and a lack of productivity, the supervisor should lead to serve. He should be leading to serve the café, its employees, and ultimately its customers. To help get the attention of and to hold those responsible, all participants should be reprimanded. The participating employees should be written up for a first offense. Mrs. Laraby should instill a new policy outlining specific punishment for such activity. She should also require all employees and supervisors to attend monthly meetings to discuss job satisfaction and any problems. Since the jobs are very minimal and hard to fill, it is important to be stern without driving the person to quit. This is where job rotation could be put in place to maintain motivation for all employees. Keeping the interests of all employees in mind could increase job satisfaction, and avoid indiscretions. The fountain, deli bar, and grill position should be rotated among all employees in order to keep workers engaged. In order to keep employees busy during slow times, measures could be put in place. For example, security cameras in the back would allow Mrs. Laraby to monitor the weekend employees.  By doing this, she would raise the accountability of every employee, even if the managers were not present.  Other ways they could enforce the cafeteria is to hire an older and more mature supervisor for the weekends.   All of these recommendations will help to improve the quality of the service offered by the cafeteria, as well as give their employees satisfaction if they can be rewarded for hard work. Mrs. Laraby should come in at least twice a month, in addition to special events. This can help keep the employees in line and actively participating in their respective jobs. Lastly, there should be some changes made to the number of staff working on the weekends. Since the Café is overstaffed there happens to be a lot of unproductive time. During this time, many employees feel the need to play games and not contribute to work. An overall cut in amount of workers can help alleviate this problem. The Café should cut staff to one supervisor, one cashier, one grill person, one fountain person, and one floater to help in all positions when times get busy. This will not only increase productivity among workers, but also cut down on expenses for the café. VII. Conclusion The Bagel Hockey Case is a classic example of the need for motivation and goal setting in work environments. It also outlines the necessity of knowing how to handle problems of disobedience when in a managerial position. Overall, it explains that hiring competent employees is not enough to ensure efficiency. Success, instead, is determined by how motivated and rewarded those employees are by the work they do and the positions they hold.