Motivation

A parallel example to the "Ancient Story" that I have witnessed that shows how employees perceive their jobs differently, was in Disney World. Although Disney is one of the largest corporations worldwide, the example I have came from down the corporate ladder to the amazing "cast members" at Disney World.
After completing College in England, I applied for a gap year to work at Walt Disney World, Florida, and after numerous interviews, I was successful enough to secure a place as a cultural representative, working in EPCOT, at the Rose and Crown Pub, representing the United Kingdom. During the most fantastic year of my life, I made so many new friends and got to meet plentiful interesting people. One evening, I went to a house party, most of which were performers and characters for Disney. From Mary  Poppins to Power Rangers and even Goofy. Many worked in the Lion King show in the Animal Kingdom Park. However, when I asked what they did, the responses varied from 'I'm a character' to 'I play Mary Poppins.' Many seemed very withdrawn and unhappy and not so excited to tell me. But for many others, the responses were so happy and proud of their role and privileged working for Disney. And I will never forget one person, one may say a Disney fanatic, when asked what he did at Disney, he confidently said "I make dreams come true." As Aladdin, this one individual was so proud, happy and loved his position.
In anyone else's opinion outside of Disney, the idea of working as a character in Walt Disney World would be so exciting, having the capability of making lots of children so overwhelmingly happy and making their dreams come true. This in my example, is far and few between in reality in Disney.
Motivation is a key element not just for job satisfaction but also performance. I truly believe, the performance of the characters is never compromised by the morale of the individual but their perception of their role was varied. It seemed that positive reinforcement for Aladdin, whereby playing the role gave so much joy to little children was a motivation in itself, however overs lacked like Goofy, feeling the same way. Covered completely in costume, did not satisfy his social needs, to be recognized for his performing skills, or able to communicate. I think Disney could further motivate these individuals that lack the sense of pride and accomplishment. Disney needs to increase the satisfier factors such as recognition as well as hygiene factors like the base wage as Disney paid very little for characters. If the wage was to resemble the importance of the role, some characters felt a lack of appreciation. Disney needs to focus on both hygiene factors and satisfier factors according to Herzberg Two-Factor Theory as there are elements of both sides lacking. Corporations need to understand that everybody is individual and has different needs to be motivated. Understanding the employees and what drives them to succeed is key to having a well stimulated workforce.

Individual Behavior

When discussing individual behavior this week, Agreeableness was one personality trait from the "big five" that I feel my manager may have too much for a management position. Although my manager shows great aspects of agreeableness, being trusting, helpful and courteous, I believe that being a little tougher,a little more skeptical may enhance her management role and authority. I do believe my manager has a lot of authority but is only tough towards certain individuals and sometimes holds getting along with others, a higher level of importance than being tough and gaining control.

Enhancing her management skills could begin by getting a little tougher, equally towards everybody rather than only a few she feels capable of leading. Whilst still delivering the same qualities of trust and helpfulness, she could have monthly meetings to discuss issues with employees that are too controlling for their position and in a polite way, over time, show them that she is manager and has control. As agreeableness is a great trait that many people like, disagreeableness can be just as important when managing a business, to ensure control and high performance.

Leadership

I believe it is possible for a leader in one organization, to move to another organization and still be outstanding however there are many challenges that will affect whether the individual is able to continue leading successfully. First, it is important to recognize the skill sets that a leader needs to exude  to be outstanding. In my opinion, a successful leader needs to be:

• Knowledgeable
• Great communicator (motivating and inspiring, building morale, understanding, clear, compassionate, public speaking skills)
• Organized
• Reliable
• Honest
• Approachable
• Competent

These are a foundation that take years and experience in order to accomplish and express in an organization. I think that there are two different sets of qualities that are required to be outstanding as a leader. I call them fixed qualities and variable qualities. The difference between the two are fixed qualities are general and easily passed over from one leadership role to another no matter how diverse the subject is. Some examples would include organization, excellent communicative skills, honest, reliable and approachable. Variable leadership skills take time and dedication to understand as they are specific to a leadership role. These would include knowledge, understanding the culture, goals, targets, objectives and strategies of the organization. Variable skills separate the great specific leaders to overall outstanding leaders. I believe its not just skills or qualities that make some leaders greater than others but a mindset, a desire, a want and passion for the role. Barrack Obama did not become president from just having the qualities listed above but also he had a vision, a goal, a drive and passion to lead the United States out of the recession.

One example I feel demonstrates my opinion surrounds Kathy Savitt, the new CMO of Yahoo. As reported in Computerworlduk.com, on 14th September 2012, Kathy Savitt, former CEO of Lockerz, joined the worldwide known brand Yahoo as Chief Marketing Officer. As an acknowledged outstanding leader for Lockerz, a social commerce website and known for her great marketing with Amazon and American Eagle Outfitters, Savitt now pursues a new career forwarding her expertise, aligning with Yahoo. Savitt can also be an outstanding leader if, in my opinion, she can accomplish the variable leadership skills associated with learning the culture of Yahoo, leading the global team creating new objectives, visions and strategies that work well for Yahoo. Learning new knowledge of Yahoo will help Savitt become Yahoo savvy and an outstanding leader in her new organization. Some of her fixed skills that Savitt can take from Lockerz, such as her competency levels, communicating skills and reliableness are just as important. But confidence and creativity will flow once knowledge and understanding is absorbed.

One factor that may deter an individual moving from one organization to another and still showing outstanding leadership could be expertise. For example a CEO of a major organization such as JP Morgan may not lead the Boston Red Sox as outstandingly because he does not have the expertise in the field of baseball. The drive, the passion and vision may get his leadership so far but not deliver and greatly as somebody else when the results are shown. However I feel expertise is predominant when the subject matter is so diverse. 

One example that may show this would be the Celebrity Apprentice . On the show, many celebrity contestants, from Dennis Rodman, known for leading the Chicago Bulls Basketball team, Clay Atkins singer and entrepreneur from Pop Idol, and Lisa Lampinelli, leader in the world of stand up comedy, all failed in being the ultimate leader on celebrity Apprentice. New skills and levels of expertise prohibited these well known leaders in the various fields of entertainment, from being outstanding leaders in many tasks set by Donald Trump. Each had the drive and passion and great leadership skills obtained from there field of work but ultimately, they could not consistently lead one another week to week because they lacked expertise in particular tasks.

Leadership is dependent on many factors as shown and can be transformed from one organization to another but the expertise and rare unique skills can be the one factor that can stop an individual from being outstanding.

HRM Experience

I work at a restaurant in Midtown, Manahattan. For over 2 years I have worked at this upscale restaurant near Madison Square Garden. Whilst the restaurant has many great reviews on-line and from many regulars, we also have a few bad reviews and not fully satisfied customers. This problem has been evident, in my opinion, ever since I began and I highly expect prior to my arrival. The major problem is the level of service.

Firstly, let me explain the issues that can easily be avoided. Almost every night, the restaurant is out of at least one or more items on the menu. There are many wines that are not delivered before we are out of stock as well as liquors. This relevant information is not communicated to the wait staff and many times, when an order is taken, after discovering the "86'ed" item, ( a term used in the catering industry meaning out of stock) the server has to tell the customer causing upset and delays in the dining experience.

Another issue is the specials. During the lunch shift, daily food specials are cooked for the staff to see and try so they can expalin the dish to the customers interested, and upsell the item. However, for evening servers, they do not get to see or taste the specials and cannot explain the dish but only give a mere description copied from the specials board.

The steps of service are inconsistent and vary amongst servers. For example, some servers will not offer any water at all to their customers, either because they are too lazy or don' think its important. Some customers can wait long periods of time without any service. Some customers have the incorrect silverware, are provided with wrong information or even never offered another beverage when clearly there glass is empty.

And finally, customers servers can change without the customer being informed. The restaurant works on a tipping pull basis. This means that every server works together and all the tips are pulled and distributed fairly. As one server leaves, when the volume dies down, the server will pass over his tables to the remaining server(s) to finish and will inform that server at the point of dining the customers are experiencing. However, most of the time the guests are not informed of the change and can strongly affect there dining experience.

The problem in service within the restaurant affects the revenue and reputation of the business. Less guests are willing to return and less revenue can be generated.

In my opinion, there is a very easy way to overcome these challenges that the restaurant has always experienced. It begins with proper training and tighter management communications. Firstly, servers are not trained properly, therefore half a day should be put aside and a training manual created in order to train new servers and current servers to understand the restaurants steps of service. Within the steps, everybody will know to offer water still, sparking or iced water as the first step and a time line should be implemented for every step. For example, water should be offered within 60 seconds, drinks should be offered within 60 seconds of water service, etc. With strict, equal training and rules, can service become consistent so that if a guest returns the service will be the same. It is also a duty of management to keep a very close eye on servers to make sure they are following the steps and to remind those who are not.

Pre-shift needs to be implemented in nightly routines. Here, all the members of staff for the night will come together at the beginning of the shift to discuss key nightly activities. Any items missing from the bar or menu will be informed. The specials will be made for the evening staff to see and taste. And finally, when a server finishes his shift, he would be made responsible to introduce the server that will be taking over the service.

Most importantly, the problem could had been resolved by the selection process. Had the manager selected employees with appropriate experience or even in the future, selects servers with high volume New York City experience, can these processes be far more smooth and faster. In the past, the selection has been based on whether the candidate knows someone already or if they are Irish. For some reason, Irish stick with Irish, no matter whether they have experience or not. This is the fundamental problem with the hiring process. Selecting more experienced candidates can affect the quality of service in the restaurant.