Burger Kings usually advertise their vacancies in job centres or paste a poster in the restaurant windows and at times employees come in voluntarily to pick up application forms without any advert. In their most recent advert they are seeking a kitchen assistant.
A job description sets out the purpose of a job, where the job fits into the organisation structure, the main accountabilities and responsibilities of the job and the key tasks to be performed. A business usually writes the job description before they advertise the position, this helps determine the employee’s performance and salary level. A job description is usually drawn up by the line manager in conjunction with human resource manager.
The main purpose of the job descriptions are listed below
Organisation- it defines where the job is positioned in the organisation structure, that is who reports to who.
Recruitment- It provides essential information to potential recruits (and the recruiting team) so that they can determine the right kind of person to do the job.
Legal- The job description forms an important part of the legally binding contracts of employment.
Appraisal of performance- Individual objectives can be set based on job description.
The job description also allows the firm to tell candidates for a job what is expected of them. It also helps personnel offices to decide on the qualities that a successful candidate must have. When candidates are appointed, the job description can be used to know whether the employee is doing the job properly by comparing their activities with the description.
In Burger kings example of a job description is the Cook, which include instructions like must turn, never flip hamburgers once, never two at a time. Cashiers should always make eye contacts and smile at every customer.
A person specification describes the requirements a jobholder needs to be able to perform the job well. The main purpose of the person specification is to help managers decide what type of person would ideally suit the job.
The person specification normally covers some areas of candidate’s requirements
Physical demands of the job in terms of health, strength, eyesight and physique.
Intellectual requirements in respect of the level of academic ability.
Aptitude, that is any special skills or abilities which the job demands e.g. numeracy, communication, foreign languages
Education and qualifications- often a minimum of attainment is set, e.g. four GCSEs Grade C and above.
Experience which may be broad or specific to the job e.g. at least two years’ relevant experience.
Personal attributes, which covers the personality, characteristics, social conditions and other significant factors
Pay, working conditions and prospects.
Person specifications are usually sent out to potential candidates for jobs, together with job descriptions and application forms. Managers can also determine what potentials jobholders will be able to contribute. The person specification can also be used to draw up copy for a job advertisement for the post should be advertised. Finally, the person specification is a detailed source of information for candidates to the post.
Benefits and Constraints of using application forms
Growing use is being made of application forms in selection. They have many benefits for a business. All applicants give details in a standard way, rather than the different approaches of letters of application. The company gets to find out what they need to know about applicants. The application form is quick and easy to process. This makes sorting applications and short-listing far easier. The application form usually covers the following.
- Personal details (name, nationality, etc.);
- Educational qualifications;
- Hobbies and interest;
- Past job experience;
- Reasons for wanting to join the company;
- References.
The constraints of using application forms.
- Forms take too long to complete may be completed haphazardly or not at all.
- Some questions may be illegal, offensive, or not essential
Legal aspects to be considered when designing an application forms
When companies recruit staffs care must be taken. There are different legislations employers must follow when recruiting staff. Firstly
Equal opportunity laws make it illegal for employers to discriminate on the grounds of sex or race when recruiting staff. For example, questions on application forms or at an interview about a person’s marital status, domestic circumstances, ethnic views or physical appearance are all potential forms of discrimination and should therefore be avoided. It is however, legal to advertise for a particular sex or race where such requirements are a genuine occupation for the job concerned. These include
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Authenticity, e.g. where a coloured actor is needed for a part in a play.
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Provision of care, e.g. female housemistress in a residential girl’s school.
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Privacy or decency, e.g. a female attendant for a ladies toilet or swimming pool changing room.
Some of the legal aspects organisations should consider are
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The Sex Discrimination act 1975, which makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the grounds of sex or whether he or she is married.
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The Race Relation Act1976, when dealing with recruitment, states that it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate on grounds of race:
-In making arrangements for deciding who should be offered the job;
-In the terms offered;
-In refusing or deliberately omitting to offer employment.
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The Disabled Persons Act 1944 & 1958, which requires employers with 20 or more full-time staff to employ a proportion (currently 3%) of registered disabled persons.
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The Companies (Directors’ Report) Employment of Disabled Persons Regulations 1980 which requires every directors’ reports to contain a statement describing the company’s policy for disabled persons in respect of recruitment, training and career development.
When organisations prepares a job description and person specification and advertises a post, it is essential that the information given is both accurate and honest. Usually employees could sew companies if they do not abide by these laws.
The curriculum vitae
A curriculum vita (CV) is a summary of a person’s career to date. A CV should be divided into several and suitable headings and sub headings, for example.
- Name
- Date of birth
- Address
- Telephone number
- Education and training
- Qualifications
- Other relevant achievements
- Interest and hobbies
- References
Advantages of CV’s
- To see how well presented it is.
- To find out additional information.
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It reduces the company’s cost of producing application forms.
Disadvantages of CV’s
- Some information listed might not be needed by the organisation.
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The organisation might not get all information from the applicant.
Techniques used during interviews
Interviews are carried out in many ways depending on the size of the organization. In smaller businesses it may be the owner or a personnel officer, usually with the help of a panel of senior executives who have appropriate techniques of conducting interviews. Many employers ask candidates to take an aptitude test so that they can assess whether or not someone is suitable for the type of work, nurses, and engineers. Sometimes the selection process, particularly for very senior posts, may take place over several days, often involving aptitude test and personality tests, practical exercise or presentations followed by an interview with directors or other senior executives.
During an interview or immediately afterwards, panel members will usually make notes on the candidate’s answers. This serves both as a reminder when selecting at the end, while also providing a record for future reference. This is useful because any candidate could ask for feedback and if this is not provided by the organisation, the candidate could sew them.
An interview should clearly give the candidate the opportunity to do most of the talking. Interviewers should only ask questions, keeping their contribution to a minimum.
Usually in Burger King the one-on-one method is usually used when a candidate is being interviewed.
Methods of testing
Recently businesses have been taking a greater interest in testing. There are number of tests that are used in selection. These are often associated with different levels of staff.
- Aptitude tests measure how well a candidate can cope when faced with a business situation or problem.
- Attainment tests measure an individual’s ability using skills they have already acquired. For example, a candidate for an administration post may take a word processing test.
- Intelligence tests aim to give an indication of overall ‘mental’ ability. A variety of questions are asked in such tests covering numeracy and literately skills, as well as general knowledge. It is assumed that a person who scores highly will be able to retain new knowledge and to succeed at work.
- Personality tests examine the traits of employees. The use of these depends on whether the business wants to use this method of selection and whether qualified personnel are available to carry out the tests. Such tests do have problems. It is dangerous to assume that there is a standard personality profile of the ‘ideal employee’. Another problem is that they rely on an individual being honest. Candidates often try to pick out the answer that is wanted. Also some traits measured by the test will not be relevant in terms of job performance.
Training and development
Training is the process of instructing an individual about how to carry out tasks directly related to his or her current job it involves employees being taught new skills or improving skills they already have. However, training is not limited to the new employees of the business. Training courses are likely to be targeted at all employees in the restaurant at all stages of their career. Training is very important to a business because if the employees are not correctly trained then they will be inefficient and cause the business not to run smoothly and loose profit. If employees lack in training customers will recognize this and will feel that the business is not sufficient for their needs.
Development involves helping an individual to realize his or her full potential. This concerns general growth, and is not related specifically to the employee’s existing post. By helping individuals to develop themselves, they will be more inclined and better able to contribute to helping burger king meets its objectives.
Coaching involves providing individuals with personal coaches in the workplace. The person who is going to take on the coaching role will need, first, to develop coaching skills and will also need to have the time slots for the coaching to take place. The coach and the individual being coached will need to identify development opportunities they can work on together - ways of tackling jobs, ways of improving performance etc. The coach will provide continuous feedback on performance and how this is progressing.
Mentoring involves a trainee being 'paired' with a more experienced employee. The trainee carries out the job but uses the 'mentor' to discuss problems that may occur and how best to solve them.
Internal training is where an organization such as Burger king has its own training department. External training is where employees are sent on other external courses, or are trained in other ways, away from the organization.
On-the-job training involves instructing employee at their place of work or within the premises on how a particular task should be carried out. Some jobs require no experience so the training will be done on arrival. On-the-job training could be done by an experienced worker demonstrating the correct way of performing a task, or by a supervisor coaching an employee by talking them through the job stage by stage.
Off-the-job training is done off the premises or takes place away from the immediate work place like another branch. This is usually done to widen the employee’s skills and develop the ability that the individual already have. This will improve the general skills and knowledge of the individual.
Importance of training and development to a business
- A well-trained worker will be more productive. This will help Burger king to achieve its overall objectives, such as increasing profit.
- Training motivate employees and increase job satisfaction their by reducing absenteeism and labour turnover.
- Reduce wastage rates by creating a consistent performance across the workforce.
- Help to create a more flexible workforce if the employees are trained in different areas of the business.
- Accidents should be reduced if employees are trained in health and safety.
- May improve the image of the business. Customers are more likely to have confidence in personnel who are confident, competent and have knowledge of products or processes. Good applicants are also more likely to be attracted if a training programme is part of the job.
- It can improve the employees’ chances of being promoted.
- It will help the introduction of new technology. New machinery or production processes can be introduced more quickly if workers are trained to use them effectively.
Training is needed within a business; it is needed at different stages within a business:
The organizational level - employees may need to be retrained if there have been changes made to the businesses aims and objectives
The department level - an indication of training needed may be shown through absence levels, turnover levels, production levels and customer complaints.
The individual level - different employees may lack in different areas of training, employees usually are able to recognize their own training needs.
Appraisal
After a period of time working in job, Burger King may appraise the employee. This is an attempt by Burger King to find out the qualities, usefulness or worth of its employees.
Appraisal can be used by a business to:
- Improve performance;
- Provide feedback;
- Increase motivation;
- Identify training needs;
- Identify potential for promotion;
- Award salary increase
- Set out job objectives;
- Provide information for human resource planning;
- Assess the effectiveness of the selection process.
Good appraisals have a positive effect on an employee’s motivation, but bad appraisals can be costly, time consuming and have a negative impact on the manager-employee relationship. A poor approach is to simply appraise employees by rating their performance against specific factors such as knowledge of the job, accuracy, reliability and output capability. This system discourages employee involvement and does not identify the means of overcoming weaknesses. Much better is the personal performance review interview; this allows solutions and objectives to be identified by both the manger and employee.
Types of appraisals
- Superiors. The employee’s superior carries out most appraisals. The advantage of this is that the supervisor usually has good knowledge of the tasks that a worker has been carrying out and how well they have been done.
- Self-appraisal. This is relatively new idea and not greatly used. Individual do carry out self-appraisal in traditional appraisal schemes, although the superior’s decision officially counts. The ratings that the employer has given may be changed, however, in the light of the employee’s comments.
- Peer appraisal. To inform the performance review process, many organizations also look at peer evaluations of the individual. This is based on the idea that the best people to provide feedback on an individual’s performance are those who operate at a comparative level. Obviously this can work if it is carried out in complete confidentiality, so that the people making the peer evaluation do not feel that there can be any come back. There are dangers about objectively, peers may be in competition for a promotion or they may favour a friend in order to promote their own interests. Obviously, this process suffers from the same potential weaknesses as the peer review, but because so many different views are incorporated into the assessment the danger is bias is reduced. It also helps to identify clearly the areas of individual performance that need attention and so an appropriate training and development plan can be established.
Government support for training
4% of a document profit should be put into training. 25% of UK population can’t read, write or do basic maths. This is why SAT’S tests in school have being introduced age 7, 11, 14 years. For literacy and numeracy hours.
Investor in people
Investor in people (IiP) is a national quality standard which sets a level of good practice for improving an organization’s performance through its people. Investor in people UK was established in 1993 to provide national ownership of the Investors in people National Standard and is responsible for its promotion, quality assurance and development.
Training for staffs is usually done by the top managerial positions like manager, assistant mangers. Induction training is usually done for new employees showing them where they are going to work in the restaurant. Training new employees is usually done locally that is the training is done in the restaurant branches not necessarily the head office. Training the top managerial position like a new manager is done generally in groups, burger king usually train about five managers at the same time in the same place usually the head office.
To start off at burger king induction is usually given. This tells the new employee the basics of his/her job and allows them to do it.
To inspire new recruits they may be introduced to key personnel. Burger king holds in house training in all branches.
Performance management
Managing the performance of your staff to ensure that 100% of the time employers are working hard. Committed to their work and motivated.
- This will help increase productivity
- Ensure staff are happy
- Increase customers
- Increase profits
- Less staff turnover
- Company has ‘good’ reputation.
Employee Motivation The motivation of burger king for employees to perform well is hard to ascertain from just observing, but it appears somewhat obvious. The Employees working appear to have a lower social economic status, and the fact that a paycheck is coming at the end of the week may be part of motivation that enables them to work hard also burger king usually celebrate staffs birthday this is also another type of motivation done by burger king.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
The first comprehensive attempt to classify needs was by Abraham Maslow in 1954. Maslow’s theory consisted of two parts. The first concerned classification of needs. The second concerned how these classes relate to each other.
Maslow suggested that ‘classes’ of needs could be placed into a hierarchy. The hierarchy is normally presented as a ‘pyramid’, with each level consisting of a certain class of needs.
Physiological Needs
Physiological needs are those required to sustain life, such as:
According to Maslow's theory, if these fundamental needs are not satisfied then one will surely be motivated to satisfy them. Higher needs such as social needs and esteem are not recognized until one satisfies the needs basic to existence.
Safety Needs
Once physiological needs are met, one's attention turns to safety and security in order to be free from the threat of physical and emotional harm. Such needs might be fulfilled by:
- Living in a safe area
- Medical insurance
- Job security
- Financial reserves
According to Maslow's hierarchy, if a person feels threatened, needs further up the pyramid will not receive attention until that need has been resolved.
Social Needs
Once a person has met the lower level physiological and safety needs, higher level needs awaken. The first levels of higher level needs are social needs. Social needs are those related to interaction with other people and may include:
- Friendship
- Belonging to a group
- Giving and receiving love
Esteem Needs
Once a person feels a sense of "belonging", the need to feel important arises. Esteem needs may be classified as internal or external. Internal esteem needs are those related to self-esteem such as self-respect and achievement. External esteem needs are those such as social status and recognition. Some esteem needs are:
- Self-respect
- Achievement
- Attention
- Recognition
- Reputation
Maslow later refined his model to include a level between esteem needs and self-actualization: the need for knowledge and aesthetics.
Self-Actualization
Self-actualization is the summit of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It is the quest of reaching one's full potential as a person. Unlike lower level needs, this need is never fully satisfied; as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow.
Self-actualized people tend to have needs such as:
- Justice
- Wisdom
- Meaning
- Truth
Self-actualized persons have frequent occurrences of peak experiences, which are energized moments of profound happiness and harmony. According to Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches the level of self-actualization.
Herzberg’s two-factor theory
In 1966 Fredrick Herzberg attempted to find out what motivated people at work. He asked a group of professional engineers and accountants to describe incidents in their jobs that gave them stronger feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. He then asked them to describe causes in each case.
Results Herzberg divided the causes into two categories or factors.
- Motivators. These are the factors that give workers job satisfaction, such as recognition for their effort. Increasing these motivators is needed to give job satisfaction. This could be argued, will make workers more productive. A business that rewards this workforce for, say achieving a target is likely to motivate them to be more productive. However this not guaranteed, as other factors can also affect productivity.
- Hygiene factors. These are factors that lead to workers being dissatisfied, such as pay or conditions. Improving hygiene factors should remove dissatisfaction. For example better facilities may make workers less dissatisfied about their environment. Improvements in hygiene factors alone are not likely to motivate an individual. But if they are not met, there could be fall in productivity.
The Hawthorne Studies (or Hawthorne Experiments) were conducted from 1927 to 1932 at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), where Professor Elton Mayo examined productivity and work conditions. These experiments started by examining the physical and environmental influences of the workplace (e.g. brightness of lights, humidity) and later, moved into the psychological aspects (e.g. breaks, group pressure, working hours, managerial leadership).
In essence, the Hawthorne Effect can be summarized as "Individual behaviors may be altered because they know they are being studied." In the Hawthorne experiments, an increase in worker productivity was produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out, involved, and made to feel important.
Additionally, the act of measurement, itself, impacts the results of the measurement. Just as dipping a thermometer into a vial of liquid can affect the temperature of the liquid being measured, the act of collecting data, where none was collected before creates a situation that didn't exist before, thereby affecting the results.
Pavlov’s dog theory was based on a dog and he felt that the theory would apply to humans as well. The gist of the experiment is this: Pavlov presented dogs with food, and measured their salivary response (how much they drooled). Then he began ringing a bell just before presenting the food. At first, the dogs did not begin salivating until the food was presented. After a while, however, the dogs began to salivate when the sound of the bell was presented. They learned to associate the sound of the bell with the presentation of the food. As far as their immediate physiological responses were concerned, the sound of the bell became equivalent to the presentation of the food.
McGregor motivational theory
Douglas McGregor published "The Human Side of Enterprise" in 1960, in which he suggested that traditional management methods (which he called Theory X) might not be the only way to get people motivated. Instead, you could take a different approach (based on Theory Y) and achieve the same if not more.
Theory X is the traditional view of direction and control, based on these assumptions:
- The average person inherently dislikes work and will avoid it if at all possible.
- As a result, most people have to be coerced, controlled and threatened if they are to put in enough effort to achieve the organization’s goals.
- In fact the average person prefers to be directed, avoids responsibility, isn't ambitious and simply seeks security.
Theory Y based on the integration of individual and organizational goals, assumes:
- The physical and mental effort of work is as natural as play or rest, so the average person doesn't inherently dislike work.
- We are capable of self-direction and self-control, so those factors don't necessarily have to come from elsewhere.
- Our commitment to an objective is a function of the rewards for its achievement.
- The average person learns not only to accept but also to seek responsibility.
- Most people have a capacity for imagination, ingenuity and creativity.
- The intellectual potential of most people is under-used in modern industrial life.
Theory Y is not a soft option. In fact it can take as much management effort as Theory X, but the effects of a Theory Y approach will last longer. The Theory X manager is a dying breed (although it has to be said he's not yet extinct), and Theory Y lies behind most modern approaches to motivation. Nowadays the terminology is used as a polite way of referring to the old command-and-control approach to management: the trouble is the diehard Theory X manager won't pick up the subtle criticism!
