Recommendations to Improve Employee Motivation in a Fast Food Restaurant

Job characteristics model implies to the process of collecting information of how the work process can be streamlined while identifying possible ways of improving employee motivation (Robbins & Judge, 2019). The main idea behind the model is that the task itself is integral in improving employee motivation. For instance, if the restaurant employees find task monotonous and boring it is bound to affect their motivation. Therefore, making the tasks versatile or challenging such as having an opportunity to design the fast-food restaurant’s new menu can immensely improve motivation.

Employees in the fast-food industry often face challenges of low motivation mostly because of the nature of their jobs. Most of the employees earn a minimum wage. The management of most fast-food chains have devised a method of avoiding to pay employee benefits such as medical cover by employing them part-time and not full-time. The result is that most fast-food restaurant employees rely on some of government aid and have to take multiple jobs to make ends meet. There is also a lack of career progression as most will never reach management levels regardless of how long they have worked. The factors lower morale levels with most feeling they have not achieved anything of significance in their time working at the restaurant.

The model suggests five job characteristics to improve employee motivation, and thereby job productivity. It also includes individual variables that may function as moderators to determine the correlation between job characteristic and outcome variables. The five job characteristics include task identity, skill variety, autonomy, task significance, and feedback. The characteristics are responsible for outcomes such as absenteeism, motivation, performance, satisfaction, and turnover. Skill variety implies to the level to which a job requires different activities to complete a task. It implies to level to which a task demands employees to utilize their skills and talents. In this particular case, most of the tasks performed at the fast-food restaurant are repetitive and monotonous. The implication is that the employees do not develop a variety of talents. The outcome is that their low performance, motivation, and job satisfaction. The solution to solve this problem in the restaurant assigning employee different tasks, for example, management can identify duties where job rotation is possible. another solution can be assigning employees more responsibility and autonomy in decision making will help increase motivation.

Task identify refers to level to which work demands a complete process. Allowing employees to work on a complete process rather than completing only a small bit can immensely improve their morale. In the case of the restaurant, allowing chefs to come up with a special dish, prepare it, and even price it can make them feel very proud because employee value performing a complete process. There is low motivation, performance, and satisfaction in the fast-food restaurant because employees cannot identify with any product or process currently in place. The solution to the problem will be allowing employees to perform tasks to completion such as designing a menu to make them feel more responsible. The solution will work because employees will feel more part of the restaurant by feeling they have achieved something of significance.

Task significance is level to which tasks performed impact the lives of other people, society, and those within the company. The improvement can be financial, psychological, physical, and many other ways. Some employees in the restaurant currently do not feel significant because they perform monotonous and repetitive tasks that they feel are not significant. However, some such as the chefs feel very satisfied whenever a customer complements the food, hence feel they have made the lives of others better. Task significance generally results in low motivation, performance, and satisfaction in the restaurant. The solution would be reiterating frequently to the employees how significant their tasks are and without them performing them, the whole process will fail. The solution will work because people like to be reminded that they are important.

The characteristic of autonomy refers to degree to which employees are allowed to work independently. It entails things such as freedom to plan their workday and set up new procedures. Employees who are not in management level in the restaurant feel a weak sense of responsibility. They feel they no freedom to complete tasks autonomously through their personal initiatives resulting in low performance, motivation, and satisfaction. The solution would be involving all employees in decision making. Similarly allowing employees to perform tasks independently will help improve motivation. The final job characteristic that affects the restaurant is feedback, which is informing employees of their effectiveness. There is a weak system of communication in the restaurant with performance reviews nor completed in years. To solve this, the recommendation is for management to put in place a system of reviewing performance and recognizing high performers, for example, having an employee of the month award.

The expectancy theory aims to explain why individuals choose one behavior over another, for example, a person will choose to engage in action if they believe it yield desired results (Robbins & Judge, 2019). Therefore, the theory suggests motivation at work depends on the association between performance and expected outcome. Therefore, employees will model their behavior based on the anticipated outcomes. The expectancy theory can be useful in solving the high turnover rates in the fast-food industry through designing motivational programs and reward systems.

Frying potatoes and flipping burgers in hot and cramped spaces for impatient customers is often viewed as temporary jobs and primarily for teenagers seeking to earn a little side income. In turn, the industry does not have to worry about paying a living wage, job satisfaction, or offering career growth opportunities. However, the rate of turnover is beginning to fast-food chains as finding suitable replacements is becoming increasingly difficult.

The manager of the fast-food industry complains of having difficulty retaining his best employees for long. The expectancy theory can help alleviate some of these problems related to high turnover the restaurant is facing. The first solution is fair pay practices. Eliminating the notion that fast food restaurant work is for teenagers with limited skills through paying reasonable wages, which are above the minimum wage will help the restaurant retain its best employees. Another solution is offering reasonable work schedules. The employees should have necessary working hours per week, for example, by not having the same employees always working on weekends. Although overtime is popular, too much of it can lead to burnout. Another solution is recognizing high performing employees. High-performing employees should be recognized for contributing to the overall success of the fast-food restaurant. Reinforcing a potential career path is another solution to solving the high turnover. Although they may not potential for advancement explaining to them that they can one day be managers of the restaurant will convince them to stay. The final solution is offering proper training. Well planned training programs can help make employees feel empowered and ultimately convince them to stay longer.          

 

 

Reference

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2019). Organizational behavior. Pearson. Print.