Team-Building Lessons from Chinese Restaurant

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Organizational behavior is the complex concept, which consists of numerous other issues. We have already discussed in the class, how managers can utilize key elements of organizational behavior in their day-to-day practice. Nevertheless, the situation is even more interesting in practice. The paper describes an interview with a woman, who has managed to build a friendly and well-knit team.

The Background Information

For this assignment, I have interviewed a manager, Anina Blecher, who works in a Chinese restaurant, The Congee in Alhambra. That restaurant is very small, old, and cozy. It has the homelike and friendly atmosphere. Both employees and customers have good relationships there. Anina knows almost every customer and likes talking to them. They like her very much as well and give lots of tips. Anina operates in the restaurant industry. The industry is characterized by intense competition since the number of restaurants is huge. Besides, people are more and more prone to have their breakfast, lunch, or dinner outside their homes, which increases demand and supply and makes the competition higher (Jones par. 1). The Chinese restaurant my interviewee works in has its own pool of loyal customers, which gives it a priceless competitive advantage. Anina is a middle-level manager. The paper analyzes how Anina Blecher utilizes the key elements of organizational behavior in her current practice. Anina can be reached at the following contacts: contacts.

Personality

Interviewer: It is believed that personality traits affect the way how managers treat their employees. Can you agree with that?

Interviewee: Surely. Your personality affects everything you do, and management is not an exception.

Interviewer: How would you describe your personality then?

Interviewee: It has always been difficult for me to say something about myself… Well, I am pretty sure I am friendly, easy-going, and can inspire people. I am also demanding on myself and expect others to be demanding on themselves as well.

I think that Anina’s personality in accordance with the Myers-Briggs personality assessment is the Protagonist. The Protagonist is ENFJ personality, where E stands for Extraversion, N refers to Intuition, F means Feeling, and J implies Judging (Our Theory par. 6). Anina Blecher demonstrates many qualities that the Protagonist is expected to have. She is extroverted and full of passion. She can inspire people and makes it every day at work. Her employees are friendly; everybody knows and promotes the values of the restaurant. Anina is a “natural-born leader” (ENFJ Personality par. 1). She can be too demanding sometimes, but she is well aware of that quality, so she tries to use it reasonably.

Motivation

Interviewer: How do you motivate your employees? Would you describe their motivation as intrinsic or extrinsic?

Interviewee: I think that the best motivation is job satisfaction. If employees like what they do, they do their best instead of the required minimum, and that increases the productivity. So, their motivation is basically intrinsic – we are the family here, and we believe in the values we promote. Surely, external factors such as salaries, rewards and bonuses are also present and have their impact. But those are secondary.

Interviewer: And what motivates you?

Interviewee: I love my job, the team I work with, and the people I work for. That is the best motivation.

With this in mind, I am inclined to say that Anina Blecher may be using the Dual-Structure theory. This motivation theory is based on the link between motivation and job satisfaction and determines the factors that contribute to both satisfaction and dissatisfaction of employees (Griffin and Moorhead 97). The workers are attracted because of the recognition, the work itself, the opportunity to grow, and the team they work in. Hygiene factors, in its turn, hardly contribute to dissatisfaction: supervision and working conditions are good, salaries and restaurant policies are satisfying.

Stress

Interviewer: The work in a restaurant is usually believed to be a stress-related one. What can you say about it? Do you or your employees have many stresses? How are those managed?

Interviewee: Frankly speaking, there are not many stresses in our restaurant. It is old, and not much changes from day to day. If something does go wrong, we usually deal with the problem together. We are used to sharing everything equally, both good and bad things.

The restaurant has its own pool of loyal customers, who love both its food and service, and that minimizes the risk of customer dissatisfaction, which is one of the major stress factors in the restaurant industry. The atmosphere in The Congee is friendly, and employees are used to sharing everything equally. As a prime example, the waitresses always share their tips, so there are no fights about it. The workload is evenly distributed, and no one gets exhausted: during shifts when there are a lot of customers, two waitresses work (instead of only one). That prevents fatigue and stresses associated with it.

Decision-Making

Interviewer: What decisions do you have to make as a manager?

Interviewee: I have to control everything to make sure that it runs smoothly. I am in charge of both service issues and the food quality. Since we do not have a diverse menu, I have to guarantee that our customers are satisfied with the quality of food and the way how they are treated in our restaurant.

Interviewer: Are your employees engaged in the decision-making process?

Interviewee: They are. I always try to consult with them or at least inform them of all changes we have. Also, if something goes wrong, the employees are always aware of it.

Considering Anina’s responses to the questions regarding the decision-making process, she seems to be using behavioral style, the most democratic and people-oriented one (Robbins et al. 204). People who use this style are expected to be open to others, consider employees’ suggestions and try to prevent conflicts instead of settling them later on.

Team Dynamics

Interviewer: How many employees does The Congee have?

Interviewee: The restaurant is small, so not many people are needed. There is a director, a manager, a chief, and five waitresses. The restaurant works from 11 am to 10 pm, and waitresses change shifts three times: from 11 am to 3 pm, from 3 pm to 6 pm, and from 6 pm to 10 pm. From 3 pm to 6 pm, only one waitress works (instead of two) since we have fewer customers.

Interviewer: As far as I understand, your team is friendly, isn’t it? Do you have to deal with any loafing?

Interviewee: The team is very close, you are right. Besides, since there are not many of us, everyone is valued, and everyone knows his or her tasks, so there is no loafing actually.

Since the team of employees working in The Congee is small, that helps to avoid many problems. Everyone knows their tasks, no one is undervalued, there is no loafing for a manager to deal with. Everyone knows the boss and can easily speak to him, almost on equal.

Team Building

Interviewer: How does team building occur in The Congee? Do you have any team building activities?

Interviewee: To tell the truth, we do not really need those. I think that team building activities are needed in huge corporations where you can work with someone on the same floor and do not even remember his or her name. Then, such kind of practice helps to bring people together, make them communicate with each other and make them closer. We are already close. Still, we have several good traditions.

Interviewer: What are those?

Interviewee: We always celebrate our birthdays, for instance. Moreover, not only members of our team know about those but even some of our customers do. When we have a new employee, we always make a dinner in the restaurant to celebrate the first of many nights spent in The Congee together. During such evenings, current employees share their experience with the new one and carry on friendly conversations. All of this contributes to the cozy atmosphere in the restaurant and finally makes all of us a family.

Communication

Interviewer: What can you say about the communication in the restaurant? What types of communication are most commonly used (formal or informal, verbal or non-verbal, oral or written, etc.)?

Interviewee: I guess, the communication between employees (waitresses, the chief and me) is most commonly oral and informal. Surely, all of us are aware of subordination but the communication is much more informal. With our boss, it is formal but still friendly to some extent.

Interviewer: What about the non-verbal types of communication? Do you pay attention to the body language? It is believed that our gestures and mimics can tell a lot. What is your opinion about it?

Interviewee: To tell the truth, we do not have much time for that. Additionally, I have never felt the need to do this. I think that you should pay attention to an individual’s body language when you think he or she is hiding something.

According to Anina’s words, informal type of communication, usually oral, is the most common among the employees of The Congee. This form of communication serves the values the restaurant promotes best of all: it helps to build friendly and trusting relationships between workers, avoid stresses in the workplace and increase the productivity since a well-knit team always works better.

Power

Interviewer: Although the team you manage is friendly, you have to use some power to organize them, haven’t you? How do you influence your employees?

Interviewee: Surely, I have to use some power but usually it just happens by itself. Employees just know that the boss is the boss, and the manager and is the manager. They subordinate, even though our communication is informal and rather friendly. Besides, salaries and rewards do their thing, I guess. Finally, employees respect our director and me; they listen to us, and not only on business matters.

Considering Anina’s responses, I tend to conclude that she uses the following types of power: legitimate (because of her position in the restaurant), reward (salaries, bonuses, etc.), expert (employees listen to her on business matters, she is skilled and qualified), and referent (she is a natural-born leader and can lead people) (Lussier 283-285). The only type of power Anina Blecher does not use (or uses rarely) is coercive one (the power to punish) (Lussier 283).

Conflict and Negotiation

Interviewer: What sources of conflicts do exist in this organization? How are those managed?

Interviewee: The most common conflicts in the restaurant industry are those with customers. In our profession, we have to deal with people, and all people are different – it is impossible to please everyone. Even in our restaurant, you can find dissatisfied customers. Some of them just do not like that we have only noodle and congee. Others can even behave inappropriately. If a waitress faces the unfair treatment, she can always call me, and we will deal with the problem together.

Interviewer: How often are such kind of conflicts?

Interviewee: Those are very rare. We have a large pool of loyal customers whom we know for a long time, and they constitute the bulk of our visitors.

Interviewer: Do you have any other types of conflicts to deal with: discrimination issues, leadership conflicts, conflicts based on the dissatisfaction with salary, and so on?

Interviewee: Discrimination issues have never occurred. Also, there have never been serious conflicts between workers. As for the small ones, I prefer not to interfere: those are usually more personal than professional and do not influence the quality of work. The salary is equal for every waitress, and even tips are shared evenly, so no one is dissatisfied.

Leadership

Interviewer: Is it more often for you to make decisions alone or with the help of your employees?

Interviewee: I make a decision alone only if I do not have time or possibility to ask my team for their opinion. Otherwise, they are engaged in the decision-making.

Interviewer: Do you operate according to a particular scheme as a leader?

Interviewee: No, I do not have any schemes or plans regarding how to manage the employees. I usually rely on my own personal and professional qualities, the kind of people I work with, and a particular situation.

With this in mind, I would say that Anina Blecher is a democratic leader. She does not centralize her authority, and never uses coercion power, as autocratic leaders do; at the same time, she encourages informal communication, participation and does everything to preserve the friendly and well-knit team of both employees and customers (Daft 44). She also tries to adapt to the situation while choosing how to act and considers the kind of people she manages, which is why it can be concluded that Anina uses the situational model of leadership as well (Daft 68).

Conclusion

Anina Blecher is a middle-level manager, who works in a Chinese restaurant, The Congee, located in Alhambra. The restaurant serves only two types of meals, but it is famous for the high quality of food and good service. Due to those, The Congee has already attracted a lot of loyal customers. Anina’s team is small and friendly. The communication is informal. The level of stress is low in comparison with bigger restaurants. Conflicts are rare. Even when conflicts happen, the team tries to deal with them together. Anina is a natural-born leader, she uses democratic leadership style and the situational model to manage her employees. She encourages participation and engages her subordinates in the decision-making process. Due to all of this, the restaurant is successful and is able to compete in the industry, although the rivalry is rather high.

Works Cited

Daft, Richard L. The Leadership Experience, Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.

ENFJ Personality (“The Protagonist”). 2015. Web.

Griffin, Ricky W. and Gregory Moorhead. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. 11th ed. 2013. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning. Print.

Jones, Adam. An overview of the US restaurant industry. 2014. Web.

Lussier, Robert N. Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. 4th ed. 2008. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning. Print.

Our theory. 2015. Web.

Robbins, Stephen P., Rolf Bergman, Ian Stagg and Mary Coulter. Foundations of Management. 2nd ed. 2006. Frenchs Forest, Australia: Pearson Education Australia. Print.

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