Many organizations have spent years trying to determine how to build a successful company. They have concluded that employee engagement is one of the major influences of how successful a company can be. When employees feel as if they are involved in the company’s decision-making, compensation rewards, and recognition, their motivation to put forth more effort into their work activities increases. Motivation drives employee behavior and performance. Cincinnati Super Subs, one of many outlets in the chain of restaurants, has experienced extremely low profitability within the past two years due to the lack of employee motivation. Even though the performance behavior of all the employees caused the profit level to decrease, action was not taken until it directly affected the restaurant manager and assistant manager.
The reduction of profit caused a reduction of monthly bonus given to the managers. Wastage has increased causing the lack of bonuses given to managers. The bonus is determined by the calculation of wastes in relation to sales. Wastage involves the dropping or spilling of food, burnt subs, incorrect orders, eating or giving away food without permission, and preparing more toppings than are sold throughout the day. The main causes of the company’s profit level decreasing are lack of employee involvement, organizational comprehension, organizational justice, and feedback. For the Cincinnati Super Subs’ managers to correct these problems, they must help employees fulfill a balance between all four drives within the four-drive theory to ensure employee motivation and well-being, which includes goal setting.
The first action taken by the Cincinnati Super Subs’ managers occurred quickly after their monthly bonuses were reduced secondary to the reduction of profits. Bonuses are calculated by the relation of wastage to profits. Employees are unauthorized to eat or give away food without permission. Also burning subs, preparing too many toppings that do not sell, incorrect food orders, or drop/spill food or drinks all fall under the wastage category that cost the managers their bonuses. The employees’ drive to do purposely do these things is because of the limited resources and needs for employees produced by the company. Profit levels of the company have decreased because of lack of managerial involvement on the frontline, comprehension of the organization throughout every position, fairness of procedures in the company, and visual feedback.
When low employment and difficulty hiring new employees, the restaurant and assistant managers found themselves working on frontline of the Cincinnati Super Subs organization. “Their increased presence in the restaurant significantly reduced deliberate wastage”. Employee engagement influences the employee and organizational performance levels. When the managers thought the situation improved, they removed themselves from the forefront, eventually causing wastage to increase again. The employees were unable to eat or give away food when managers were around to watch. Also, the employee’s mistakes decreased because they knew if the manager saw them, the expense would come out of their paychecks. The wastage increased when managerial observation was gone, and employees could do as they wish.
When employees believe they are receiving much lower wages compared to other similar companies, their feeling of inequity creates another motivational problem. Treating employees fairly is morally and ethically correct in business, but the feeling of injustice that is felt by employees at Cincinnati Super Subs have been one of the causes of wastage increasing. Employees at this major sub company are given a food allowance if they work at least a four and a half hour shift, but the issue that arises is the average amount of hours employees work which is three or four. Employers are still hungry when working these shorter hours, causing them to eat or drink when managers were not around. Some employees claimed their hard work justified the wastage while others claimed the food was compensation that made up for their minimum wage salary paychecks. It is unfair for Cincinnati Super Subs to create a food allowance for 4.5-hour shifts, when the average hour shifts provided by the company are three to four.
McShane and Von Glinow explain feedback as “information that lets us know whether we have achieved the goal or are properly directing our effort toward it” (2015). The lack of feedback by the sub company has not made it clear that behavior and actions of the employees have consequences. Feedback should be precise and significant to the actions. Credible feedback, such as those from managers, should be given to the employees frequently. If employees may have known about the increase in wastage and how it affects their job, they are less likely to do it if it involves negative consequences, such as immediate dismissal.
Employees sometimes betray the company they work for because of their lack of understanding the organization’s strategic direction, social dynamics, and physical layout (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015). Employee commitment to the Cincinnati Super Subs business has been an influence in the company’s success. The lack of forefront managers has allowed the staff to be in the dark about organizational events. Furthermore, the mangers are unaware of how their coworkers are feeling and do not know what is going on within the forefront department. “Lack of information produces uncertainty, and the resulting stress can distance employees from that source of uncertainty”. Job satisfaction influences employee turnover rate. So, if employees are stressed, uncertain, and unhappy, they are more likely to remove themselves from the company causing low employment rates.
Cincinnati Super Subs has acquired below average profitability in leu of the many issues throughout the organization. For the employer to correct these problems, emphasis should be placed on the four-drive theory which includes the drive to acquire, drive to bond, drive to comprehend, and drive to defend (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015). The four-drive theory originates from how feelings guide decisions and behavior. Cincinnati Super Subs should provide enough rewards, social interaction, and learning opportunities to be a great workplace for employees to fulfill each drive. Fulfilling these drives allows the company to be the “best workplace for employee motivation and wellbeing” .
When employees interact and bond in a fun way, it creates a positive work environment. This improves job satisfaction and employee retention rate. Setting and achieving goals motivates employees to perform better. For example, if Cincinnati Super Subs were to create a contest where the employee with the least amount of wastage gets a reward or prize, employees would waste less to win. This improves the company’s wastage and increases their profit while improving employee performance levels. Feedback should be given from managers to let the employees know whether the goals of the company have been met or if they are on the right track of being met. For example, feedback can be given by Cincinnati Super Subs by making a list of employees that have wasted least daily and displaying it to every employee. This motivates employees to be number one on the list.
With employee engagement and motivation, Cincinnati Super Subs is more likely to become a successful company. However, their lack there of has reduced their profitability causing motivation compensation to managers to be reduced. This lack of incentive inspired the managers to work on the frontline to decrease the wastage amount, which it did. Once the managers went back to their administrative duties, the wastage amount by employees increased again. Employees were creating a high wastage percentage because of organizational injustice and lack of managerial involvement on the forefront of the company. Also, employees were unaware of the organization’s standing with wastage and were not given feedback on how the wastage amount affects their jobs. Cincinnati Super Subs can fix these problems by creating a work environment that motivates employees, gives training opportunities, provides social interaction, and rewards for great performance. Setting goals and given feedback can boost the employees’ performance levels as well, decreasing the wastage level and increasing the profitability for the company.
