Paragraph (3)SMALL IMPROVEMENTSRecent grassroots campaigns and nonprofits such asFight for $15 and Fast Food Justice have had at least small positive impacts on the industry. For example,although fast-food workers still can’t unionize, newlaws in cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and NewYork are helping workers organize, and some citieshave enacted wage protections and scheduling requirements to give employees more job stability and predictability. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringersees the improvements as part of a larger movement of“economic justice” that he hopes will spread to fastfood organizations across the country. ⦁ Please read the case “Motivational Challenges in the Fast Food World” on Page number 498, Chapter 12 “Motivating Employees” available in your textbook/e-textbook “Management: A Practical Approach” 9th edition by Kinicki, A., & Williams, B., and answer the following questions. Q1. What is the underlying problem in this case from the fast-food industry’s perspective? Q2. What are the causes of this problem? answers should be around 100 -125 words own children. 202 Industry employees now describe "un-bearable" work environments that include low pay,harsh physical and emotional conditions, and rapidlychanging technology, combined with insufficient stafflevels and training. 203 Evidence suggests the fast-foodindustry hasn't done much to change its approach tomotivating workers, despite its changing landscape andconsistent revenue growth in the last 15 years.20⁰4A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AFAST-FOOD WORKERThere are four key reasons fast-food work doesn't moti-vate employees. First, these jobs are designed with fewmotivating characteristics, with one study describingthem as "low-skilled, alienating, standardized, and highlyroutinized."205 Some tasks are so repetitive that restau-rants are exploring whether robots can do them. 206 Thereare also few opportunities for advancement. 207 Data indi-cate about 90 percent of fast-food workers occupy front-line jobs (cook, cashier), with most of the remaining 10percent in low-level supervisory positions. Only 2 percentof fast-food jobs are upper-level managerial, professional,or technical roles, compared with 31 percent of the jobsin the United States.208 One former fast-food worker says,"I spent four years working at McDonald's... I neveradvanced up the rungs, never was a manager, neverachieved anything of significance in my time there."20⁹Industry spokespersons tout opportunities for hard-work-ing employees to become top managers and even franchi-sees, but most workers' lifetime earnings would barelycover the $750,000+ required to open a franchise.210Second, fast-food workers perceive strong pay ineq-uity. Most earn minimum wage, and restaurants keepthe majority of their workforce part-time to avoid payingbenefits. Over half of fast-food workers rely on someform of governmental assistance, and many earn extrahours by splitting their time across multiple restau-rants.²¹ Terrence Wise told a reporter about the intri-cate bus-hopping route he'd devised to travel betweenhis jobs at a Burger King and a McDonald's in KansasCity, adding that he was sometimes lucky enough to gettwo 8-hour shifts in a single day. Wise still earned $8 perhour after 11 years with Burger King.212 U.S. fast-foodworkers earn an average hourly wage of $9.09, meaningthat even 40 hours a week wouldn't put a family of threeabove the poverty line. While fast-food CEOs haveearned increasingly higher pay over the years, employ-ees' wages have remained stagnant. 213 Recently, workersat restaurants including Papa John's, McDonald's,Jimmy John's, Chipotle, Taco Bell, and Carl's Jr. havefiled wage-theft suits. These suits allege that employersintentionally underpaid them by failing to pay overtime,taking illegal deductions, forcing people to work off theclock, or paying below-minimum wages.214Third, people often mistreat fast-food employees.According to one former worker, "Customers alwayswait in the wings, ready to scream, throw drinks anduse racial slurs over a lack of ketchup."215 A Starbucks'barista described her job as "incredibly tiresome"because "we're getting screamed at by customers fornot being fast enough, so we try to go fast, and we messup the money, or we mess up the drinks, and then weget yelled at for messing up the money and messing upthe drinks."216 Shantel Walker, a 30+ year Papa John'sveteran, said "customers... don't see the retaliatorymeasures happening behind that counter... they don'tsee your hours getting cut and cut. They don't see yourboss talking to you like you're worthless."217Fourth, high-pressure fast-food environments presentphysical safety hazards for workers. In 2015, employeesfiled federal complaints against McDonald's for unsafework environments, saying understaffing meant employ-ees were pressured to cook food too quickly and withoutadequate time to mop up messes or to allow fryers tocool before changing oil. The employees said this led tofalls and burn injuries and that restaurants didn't pro-vide even basic first-aid supplies, often instructing themto treat burns with condiments. 218INDUSTRY OUTCOMESEmployees and organizations in this industry have ex-perienced two key outcomes. First, workers sufferstress-related health problems. Studies show fast-foodworkers experience more stress than others in equallydemanding careers because of their jobs' characteristicabsence of both job security and control.21⁹ Further,the emotional labor of constantly pretending to behappy and engaged with customers, regardless of what'shappening behind the counter, leads to job dissatisfac-tion, burnout, and even substance abuse. One long-timeworker says she uses illicit drugs to decrease the stressshe experiences from the "fake feelings" she has to ex-hibit on the job. National surveys indicate over 17 per-cent of food service workers use illegal substances-ahigher rate of drug abuse than any other industry. 220Second, the industry is facing record-high turnoverrates. Recent data indicate a 150 percent turnover ratein fast food-the highest ever recorded in the industry'shistory. 221 Some blame restaurants' rapid introductionof new technologies (delivery services, self-orderingkiosks, mobile ordering). Adapting to new technologiestakes time, and many restaurants aren't providing thenecessary training resources to ensure workers feel theycan use the tools proficiently. 222 McDonald's CEOSteve Easterbrook said, "It's going to get increasinglychallenging to attract the talent you want into yourbusiness... and then you've got to work really hardthrough training and development to retain them."223SMALL IMPROVEMENTSRecent grassroots campaigns and nonprofits such asFight for $15 and Fast Food Justice have had at least Motivation Challenges in the Fast-Food WorldFast-food jobs-frying potatoes and flipping burgers inhot, cramped spaces for troves of impatient customers-are generally viewed as temporary gigs filled primarilyby teenagers wanting extra spending money. In turn,fast-food companies needn't worry about paying livingwages, making work meaningful, or providing opportu-nities for growth because workers won't stick aroundlong enough for these things to matter. This was true asrecently as the 1980s, when the majority of fast-foodworkers were teenagers. But today, 75 percent of work-ers are at least 20 years old, and one-third have their

The fast-food industry is facing a growing problem of low motivation among its employees due to a…

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12th Edition

ISBN:9781259929434

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Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment

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