The relationships and forms of leadership within the group at Lenards are examined in relation to exercising initiative in a business environment.
Background Information
Employees of an organisation are currently uninvolved in the organisations decision making process, therefore influencing the members of the team to continuously feel left out and affecting the team’s cooperation. This effects the management decisions because the group cannot work together and situate their ideas to resolve the decisions. Much progress can be made by understanding the essential nature of leadership as it is a powerful influence in organisations and societies.
The Organisation
The organisation is Lenards, located in Middle Park, Queensland. Lenards, is a well-known poultry shop, which serves a variety of fresh chicken. “It is a multi-award winning company, considered to be one of Australia's leading fresh food retailers and a pioneer in the kitchen ready market”(Dias, 2002). The organisational structure is made up of a hierarchy of the CEO, supervisors, and the employees. There are approximately 10 employees working in this specific location and there are two different types of employees, the higher employees, which are the more experienced who cut up all the chicken, prepare the more complicated food, serve the customers, etc. and there are the lower employees who also serve, but also clean and prepare the more simple food. Serving over 10 million customers a year, Lenards is a business built from the customer’s perspective.
The Situation
The workplace at Middle Park Lenards consists of 10 employees who do not generally work well as a team. In relation to output, the team members are expected to serve in a respectable manner, prepare the food carefully and hygienically, and to clean as you go, keeping the place a clean environment to reach The Workplace Health and Safety requirements. The company’s policies, procedures and practices are attached (in Appendix 1).
Element NO1: Model high standards of business practices.
1.1 Agree roles and responsibilities and work practices consistent with organisational requirements.
At Lenards Poultry; roles, responsibilities and work practices are achieved individually or as a group performance. Three work outputs that have a negative outcome on the roles and responsibilities in the workplace are the lack of cooperation from employees to contribute to successful attitudes towards cleaning tasks, customer service and food preparation.
Due to the fact that chicken is involved, cleaning tasks are essential to reach the Health and Safety regulations that are required. Employees at Lenards are responsible for the health of customers and at this present time this criteria isn’t met. Currently this is impacting upon the group because they show a lack of morale and initiative. The employees at Lenards have the role to keep the workplace tidy and the correct methods should be used to ensure the environment is kept to the compulsory standard.
In the retail industry customer service is an important aspect to running a successful business. A friendly, knowledgeable and efficient manner should be portrayed at all times. On occasions the staff at Lenards lacks efficiency which delays proper customer service. In any industry customers expect efficient, friendly service; when the staff at Lenards does not work together when serving customers this discontinues the importance of a working team environment.
In the retail industry food preparation is also important to the successful running of a business. Dealing with the health of our customers, the team at Lenards needs to consider that careful hygiene steps need to be taken when preparing food, especially raw chicken. In this circumstance, the employees do follow the hygiene requirements however they should do so in a team to insure that the completion of food preparation is fulfilled accurately.
Therefore employees can contribute to achieving the work objectives by:
- Applying the correct methods required with the cleaning standards
- Working together when serving customers to ensure more rapid service
- Work in teams to ensure the hygiene requirements are followed properly
1.2 Identify priorities and pursue personal work goals in accordance with organisational goals and objectives.
In accordance with the organisational goals and objectives the employees priorities are based on the customer’s satisfaction and willingness to return to our company. This method should be followed in a way which is believed to be a ‘linked sequence’ between customer service, store appearance and food preparation which if correctly accomplished the result of our objective that customers will return and will be fulfilled with the service. The customers should always come first, therefore if employees are busy out the back e.g. cleaning, preparing chicken, and a customer approaches, the employee should drop the job they are doing and then serve the customer straight away.
1.3 Amend own work practices and behavior to reflect performance feedback and promote continuous improvement.
Work practices and behaviours strongly reflect on customer’s feedback. At Lenards the main qualities are customer service, food quality and store appearance. The employees influence the store appearance by wearing the uniform incorrectly (e.g. un-ironed, unbuttoned). The customer service also becomes an issue when employees do not work as a team resulting in inefficient service. I believe that these issues can be performed more efficient and effectively by firstly compelling the uniform policies more strictly and influencing employees to work in a team.
1.4 Identify and communicate practices detrimental to the organisation and within organisational requirements.
The business as a whole; service, food quality and store appearance promotes positive reactions from the public, therefore when the employees convey effective communication and enthusiasm, the business’s sales increase. Consequently, the better the business’s attributes, the higher the sales and reputation.
Element NO2: Influence individuals and groups positively.
2.1 Agree roles and responsibilities consistent with initiative style and organisational requirements.
The rules and responsibilities initiate the most important organisational requirements which are the ‘linked sequence’ between customer service, food preparation, and store appearance. Negative service generates from the lack of team environment, knowledge of products and the employees level of morale. Hygiene deficiency and poor food appearance result in bad food preparation. Lastly, the appearance of the store is affected by how the staff dress and their attitudes towards cleaning up after themselves.
2.2 Identify opportunities used to raise awareness and commitment to the goals and values of the organisation.
Certain aspect of the working environment at Lenards form opportunities to assist in commitment to the goals and values of the organisation include encouragement from the employer, a supportive working environment and a provided list of products required to be prepared. In any industry, any form of encouragement helps us as individuals to help reach our ultimate working capacity. A supportive working environment promotes self esteem and a feeling of belonging; ultimately, this helps the outcome of the attitudes of staff members. By providing staff with any sort of a ‘to-do-list’ assists them as a reminder of what work is required that day so as a team all tasks are completed.
2.3 Use appropriate negotiation skills to promote group consensus and common understanding of organisational requirements.
A working team environment consists of a group of staff members who use certain skills to embrace an understanding in which the organisation requires. In a successful business the environment must be of a friendly and enthusiastic nature with a group of people whom are also willing to work together to complete tasks that come together to make a positive impact on the business’s reputation. “Therefore, teams bring together the knowledge and skills of individuals from various work areas in order to come up with solutions to operational problems.” (Robins, Bergman, Stagg and Colter, p414, 2003).
2.4 Provide coaching and mentoring assistance to individuals and groups to support the achievement of work priorities.
Some of the barriers that could arise when working in a team environment are a clash of characteristics along with lack of knowledge of products and technical skills (e.g. Cash register). In order to support the priorities in the working force these barriers must be overcome. These hindrances can be conquered throughout the “training period” when an employee is first hired. However, if this isn’t the situation a higher member of staff needs to co-operate with the problematic member’s lack of skills and give visual instructions on how to complete tasks properly.
2.5 Provide encouragement to others to develop initiative practices and strategies consistent with organisational requirements.
“Encouragement shows concern for subordinates, wellbeing and personal needs. Leadership behaviour is open, friendly and approachable and the leader creates a team climate and treats subordinates as equals.” (Daft, p90, 2002)
Employees need encouragement to feel as though the work they are doing is of a high standard, to ensure that the employees feel that the work they are doing is being noticed and to maintain harmony between all employees and the employer.
The purpose of a strategy is to make an informative decision that applies to the entire organisation. A strategic plan promotes the business’s goals and priorities overall and to help optimize the establishments environment.
2.6 Provide regular feedback to individuals and groups in accordance with organisational requirements.
Feedback is an essential tool for leadership communication; it occurs when a leader uses evaluation and communication to assist individuals and the organisation learn and improve. Feedback comes in two forms, negative and positive. Negative feedback is helpful in a way which helps the staff member understand what he/she has done wrong so it can be improved. Positive feedback is a form of encouragement which informs the employee that he/she has completed a task well.
Element NO3: Make informed decisions.
3.1 Use participation decision making processes to review work of the group and to allocate appropriate responsibilities.
An important decision making process is ‘brainstorming’ which is a procedure which encourages divergent thinking. It produces many different ideas in a short period of time and at the same time gains full attention of the group. Brainstorming provides an opportunity for free association of ideas and opens up new ideas of thoughts.
This decision making process involves participation and creation and is a means of getting most ideas in short period of time. It also reduces the need to look for the right idea in order to impress.
3.2 Ensure parameters for decisions are clear and options are based on valid and reliable information.
In the working force, certain circumstances need decision making. There are certain ‘formal’ decisions that can only be made by the employer to help reach the business’s maximum potential and reputation, for example; promotions, hiring new people and wage problems. An employee has the right to make ‘informal’ decisions, these decisions can be made without the input of the employer, for example; going to the bathroom, getting change for the till and preparing orders.
3.3 Ensure decisions are consistent with applicable ethical and regulatory obligations and organisational requirements.
The code of ethics at Lenards (attached in Appendix 2) is the standards of behavior which guide individual managers and all employees of the work environment. The regulatory obligations which refer to organisational policy or government legislation may have an impact on the ethical standards at Lenards by confusing the team with having to refer to the regulatory obligations which may also clash with the code of ethics.
3.4 Give feedback to clarify the impact of decisions.
All decisions have an impact upon an organisation and individuals within the organisation because all decisions made have an effect on all employees, e.g. Change of uniform, promotional decisions and new employees that need to be trained. Decision making is an important issue in running an establishment, and especially in this case because Lenards has fewer employees and the environment is more tense.
Conclusion
All in all, a successfully run business follows strong work ethics and has a supportive working environment for all staff members. By simply understanding the nature of leadership a business can use this as a strength to guide employees and the employer through a successful working journey. The strengths of the organisation are that there is an obvious attempt to create a working team environment. However, one of the main weaknesses of the organisation is that the team rarely discusses any problems that they are having with the running of the establishment. The main limitation inside the organisation is the inability to perform tasks to their full capabilities and as a team.
Changes which must be implemented to allow employees to exercise initiative in a business environment could include such activities as brainstorming, activities which influence the team to work together will help towards team bonding and working as a team, therefore resulting in beneficial decision making.
By getting the team together at the end of each day for at least fifteen minutes to half an hour, will assist the group to discuss their problems, and state each others strengths and weaknesses. Monthly meetings incorporating the various store managers of Lenards around the state should be accomplished to discuss the benefits and problems that each store is experiencing.
The cost to these changes would include at least $150 each week for the team who stay back after work, and another $150 each month for managers of the organisation to travel to the location of the state meetings. Together this comes to the budget of approximately $750 extra every month to help contribute to the stores major success.
Recommendations
- Involving the team in activities which influence them to work together to help towards team bonding and working as a team, therefore resulting in beneficial decision making.
- Getting the team together at the end of each day for at least fifteen minutes to half an hour, to assist the group to discuss their problems, and state each others strengths and weaknesses
- Monthly meetings incorporating the various store managers of Lenards around the state
Appendix 1: Policies, Procedure and Practices
Appendix 2: Code of Ethics