Masala restaurant is situated at mission bay, Auckland. There are totally 8 branches of the restaurant all over New Zealand and plans are in the pipeline to open more. The place is becoming popular as it provides cheap and good quality food apart from the large menu. The restaurant and its other branches are solely owned by Mrs. Jyoti Jain. It caters to wide number of people and of various cultures. I had an interview from Jaspreet jassi who is the manager of masala restaurant, mission bay. Hence the menu contains food from various countries but the speciality of the restaurant is mainly Indian. To capture the market and have a diverse group of customers some of the spicy Indian foods are made light and sometimes sweet to cater to the New Zealanders. The service towards the customers too is very professional.
Objectives of the restaurant
1. The main objective of the restaurant is to provide a wide range of food at reasonable prices.
2. Within 3 years the restaurant became popular in Auckland and few other places, so they would like to expand and have more branches in other places in New Zealand.
3. Their current strategy is to have 25 branches in whole of New Zealand by the year 2015.
4. They would like to be an active and vocal member of the community and participate in various community activities.
5. To help in financial contribution through continual re-investment.
Finding and Analysis
Organization Structure and communication channels
Masala restaurant is one of the leading Indian restaurants in New Zealand. Earlier it was a small food joint with limited Indian food catering only to the Indian community in Auckland. Later the owner realized that there were many people apart from Indians who also liked the Indian food but opted for little less spicy food. So the management decided to make their foods at three levels of spiciness, less, medium and hot. Through feedback from regular customers, they realized that they needed to increase the varieties on the menu. Then they added many new dishes and each time a new dish was tried out the customers feedback was taken into account and further decisions were made based on this.
The employees understand their role and responsibilities towards the company. There are opportunities for both top-down & bottom-up communication as it is necessary for the restaurant use both ways for communication. Bottom-up is moves as per the system and used in several area like: Motivation teams, mounting knowledge opportunities, replicating human development, increasing communication, improve confidence.
A business needs to develop a strategy that is a balance of both the top-down and bottom-up in order to be effective. The top-down approach includes leadership development, equal employment and zero tolerance policies, training, recruitment and retention programmes, social responsibility initiatives, linking diversity to business goals and cultural-change initiatives. This approach is required for top level leaders in order to visualize and articulate the creation of an inclusive environment inside the organization. Implementing of these requires hard work and the ability to ‘see’ the restaurant from the bottom-up. Bottom-up strategies is more process focused. It focuses more on an individual. To identify that every person is different and it can happen only one person at a time. Hence different learning solutions and strategies have to be made as per each individual. Most often it is the responsibility of the top management during an issue or problem but in bottom-up approach it’s the responsibility of each individual (Winters, 2010).
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In a zero tolerance policy the employees will hesitate to say anything thinking they might get fired but in a bottom-up approach it is a natural work team where there is more of learning in order to understand better and hence helps the team to perform more effectively. By using the bottom-up approach every leader right from the team leader to the top position all are teachers. Through their own behavior they project themselves as thought leaders or primary teachers. Top-down approach is more for the office while the bottom-down is more for the team. Everybody has a say in the organization hence more chance of improving the restaurant (Winters, 2010).
Due to all these above reasons the restaurant has to balance the two approaches and not follow just one. From the study on Masala restaurant it is found that the restaurant does not have a balance between the two approaches.
In order to make this a success every member should get involved in the restaurant. If the restaurant uses only the top-down then there are chances of the diversity initiative stopping in the middle or even before it starts. By the time the messages or information reaches the lower level it could have changed, issues misunderstood and an important goal or strategy may reach in the end as a mere thought. In such a case the restaurant will lose time and money of all those who are involved.
Work teams and group dynamics
The work environment in the restaurant is a bit relaxed and everything depends on the line manager who is currently responsible for everything. There are two types of managers: – those who exercise their power and show their leadership qualities obtained through experience and the other type are those who in order to get their team work done will take everything upon themselves and do most of the team members’ tasks.
In most cases the managers tend to be calm and are indistinguishable from other employees. Team work is categorized based on different field of specialization. Some are appointed according to different experience and some as per the requirement. The manager creates a team and defines their roles and responsibilities. They focus on what they have to deliver and what their final destination is. Every team has a team leader, who always creates or subdivides task for the team and manage his/her group members in helping them achieve their goal and create doorways by motivating them to get them to better success which will help in their promotion path.
The processes which have to be followed by an organization to ensure productive team performance are:
By developing goals and plans for everyday use.
Enhance communication among every member in the team
Decision making and solving problems
Building and maintaining positive relationships with crews.
Resolve conflicts.
Managers always initiate the task, whatever the task may be. The first step is taken by the manager and he decides the allocation of teams and schedules. General Manager has the superior authority because Manager reports to the General manager and he given all the ideas about task maintenance and role performance, Once he allocates them then manager has the authority to distribute it. There are several ways to get the team output but generally the Masala restaurant use audit tools to see the performance parameter and get the team resolutions.
Stakeholder communication
A stakeholder is any individual or organization whoever is affected by the business’s activities. They can be directly or indirectly be interested in the company. They can be in contact with the company on daily basis or on certain occasions. It can be the owners, the employee, the customers, the suppliers, the marketers or the advertisers and more.
Every stakeholder’s priorities are different. The owners want good profit and sell quality food at cheap prices. For the suppliers it is to supply good quality ingredients and other necessities at competitive price to the restaurant and as well make good profit. For the customers it is good and tasty food at cheap price. For the marketers and advertisers it is profit. For the employees it is a totally different reason a good salary, regular pay hike and scope for growth within the restaurant. Health inspectors too are stakeholders as their analysis result and certification is what builds up the confidence in the customers mind that the place they are eating in is as per the quality standards and hygiene.
There are various such stakeholders as mentioned above who are directly or indirectly linked by the activities of the restaurant, but out of all these the most important one is the customer. The running of the business and its profits depends on the customers.
Organization culture & employee obligations
The culture and ambience in the restaurant is very friendly. The manager and its team of employees are very happy and satisfied working in the restaurant. They are content with their own responsibilities but it is not helping the restaurant. The manager being at the higher level is in a position to exercise his power, take decisions and act accordingly. When there are new employees who are in the learning process, the manager usually takes charge. He patiently does the work of the employees whenever required. He sometimes deals with customers till the employees learn. In most companies the managers use various approaches to sell their products and give utmost customer satisfaction. It is the role of the manager to be able to take orders, feedback and other alternatives in order to make their decision, not just to give orders. The more a manager is close to the team the better are the results at later stages of development and the employees become comfortable to go beyond the actual role activities. (Northhouse, 2007).
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Communication Technologies and tools
Effective communication is required for any business to function properly. If workers don’t communicate with one another the business cannot go a long way. This could result in the form of missed or wrong deliveries, mix up of food and customer specification. Nowadays companies use sharepoint, intranet sites, instant messaging and email. Intranet sites are helpful for small businesses to update or keep their employees in the track of communicating new information. The workers can add about business wins, post job opportunities and sometimes put up periodic surveys (Conrad, 2012).
The most important and valuable form of communication among businesses is instant messaging. This has become more superior then email. The managers and supervisors can keep a check on their workers such as if they have signed in and if they are at their desks or work. The answers for the business are also very instant and quick compared to emails. However emails are still effective and widely used, especially if it is one to one communication. Through online marketing the businesses can also let visitors and others outside New Zealand to know about their restaurant and can give them international offers.
Conclusion
Masala restaurant is a small and growing business in New Zealand. The restaurant has a good and tasty menu catering to people from various countries with their various foods. In the beginning the restaurant was open only during the weekends but now is open seven days a week and have customers throughout the week. After introducing the bar section there has been more people visiting the restaurant. The restaurant is a medium scale restaurant and the food is affordable by all, but the staff appointed are not very educated and do not come from the food industry. There are no growth opportunities in the restaurant for the educated people hence those with no experience and required qualifications do not join the restaurant. The manager is the one leading the whole show. If the people appointed are from the industry and have certain knowledge of the food industry, it will help reduce the burden on the manager and make it easier to deal with the customers. The workers will not approach the manager for everything and will be able to decide and sort out things in a better way. The restaurant has a huge scope and potential to grow if there are more investors and the business moves away from being a sole proprietorship. Opening of franchises will help the restaurant to grow and reach a large number of people. Introduction of recipes using seasonal foods too will be an added advantage. An in-house training if provided will give the workers scope for a better future and hence people from the industry would think of joining the restaurant. From the field study done it has been observed that there needs to be a change in the company’s values and objectives. A change in the work culture will greatly help the restaurant in future growth.
Recommendations
Organization structure and communication Channels
On doing the research I found that there is still scope for the restaurant to perform much better in future. I would like to recommend that the managers can make the employees perform and enjoy their work if there are many activities involving both the management and the employees. This way the employees will be freer to convey better and give customers feedback to the restaurant. The manager’s constant support does not get the utmost from the employees. The manager for better performance of his team puts more effort where the employees are not doing a committed or serious work.
Communication Technologies and tools
Masala restaurant does not have a proper website. There is a need to have a new website with constant updating. They can send emails to customers informing them of latest offers and new additions to the menu. They can also market through social websites like facebook and other networks. Apart from all these they can also advertise in papers or through pamphlets and flyers. The restaurant can go global and also open more franchises. Each branch can be owned independently. This way the restaurant can grow. They need to install new machinery like latest baking machines and upgrade as high tech as possible taking care of the financial aspect. By developing their website they can also introduce door delivery and undertake small contracts such as birthday parties and social get together.
Work teams and group dynamics
The environment has to be friendlier and knowledge based, so that the team works well and communicates effectively among themselves. Sometimes there are issues where one employee does not tell the other employee what feedback a customer has given. It is very important in the food industry to know the tastes, likes and wants of the customers. Every conversation is an important feedback to better the restaurant.
The food has too much sweetness, which is not liked by many Asians. Care should be taken on this. Handling of the bar too requires attention. Staff needs to be trained. Most of the employees are Indians it will help if they have a few locals or a multi-cultured environment. This will bring diverse customers through the employees too.
To motivate the employees they can introduce rewards like incentives, food coupons, free weekend trip. This is the way to keep the entire employee up to date and attentive. There is another way to create Employee of the month and team of the month in the restaurant.
Stakeholder Communication
Stakeholders involvement is very important. The restaurant is not very involved or interested in communicating with their suppliers. Regular meetings with them will give better feedback. Discounts on certain days kept aside for the family and friends of suppliers and the employees will bring in more people. Stakeholders are the fastest mode of communication. By Word-of-mouth more people are likely to visit the restaurant as it builds confidence in new visitors who are trying the restaurant for the first time. Apart from profits other goals like quality and hygiene are to be taken care of too.
Following the above recommendations will help Masala restaurant to reap better profits and expand their branches. Better strategies and company policies involving the recommendations will also to a certain extent bring down the issues faced in the restaurant and develop an interest among the employees to learn new things. Apart from that there is scope for the employees to grow.
Value to the Organization
This business report is really helpful to the organization because in this I worked out on the various issues related to the communication have some points which can be helpful to the organization with the help of the report they can improve their communication process or they also come to know about the problem at their communication system. In my report I also recommend some ideas, which I learn during my study. According to me, it will give some more benefits and clear communication system.
During my report I found many things, like masala restaurant have their 8 branches all over the new Zealand, It is family owned business, now the owner of masala is jyoti jain. She looks after all the branches. My report helps them in many ways because I analyze all the categories and provide the best recommendations. If they use that ideas it may help them to become a challenger to their competitors.
So according to me they make a specific person or way to convey the messages or communication. Email, video calling is good example for clear communication. It helps the organizations into many ways
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