Thesis on "Job Assessment"

Thesis 6 pages (1632 words) Sources: 3 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Job Assessment

The position of cashier/donut finisher at Dunkin' Donuts can be a hectic job which, combined with low pay, can lead to a high turnover rate. To combat this, the company and its franchisees have sought to find ways to motivate the workers to improve retention, lower training costs and ultimately increase profit.

For such positions, it can be difficult for employers to retain quality employees. The high degree of turnover means that a lot of personnel are relatively new to the workforce. At Dunkin' Donuts, this is viewed by management as a challenge to be overcome. They have set up systems to encourage workers to be their best. Motivation and rewards systems at Dunkin' Donuts encourage employees to not only perform the tasks and perform them well, but also to stay with the company longer. This paper will examine some of the motivation and rewards systems at Dunkin'. These will be assessed as to their effectiveness in providing motivation employees and increases job satisfaction and workplace productivity.

Job Description

The core of this position is the role as cashier. A Dunkin' Donuts cashier is the front end contact with the public. He or she takes orders, handles cash, and delivers orders to the customers. There is a high level of responsibility for customer service in this position, in addition to the stresses of handling cash. There are several components to the job. These include working with other team members to ensure rapid and accurate handling of customer orders and requests. When handling food, and especially in the donut finisher role, food safety standards must be adhered to. The workstation, uniforms and personal appearance must be kept to the company's standards.

The job is demanding in terms of the employee's ability to meet the narrow performance, tidiness and customer service standards. In addition, this must be done with a good attitude and friendly manner. Strong customer service skills and teamwork are required in this position. In addition, a basic level of knowledge regarding food safety is also required.

Motivation and Rewards Systems

Dunkin' Donuts franchisees typically run a high-volume, low-margin business. Profits at Dunkin' are largely derived from increasing sales and containing costs. With this is mind, the rewards systems at Dunkin' Donuts are focused on low-cost rewards and motivators. This is not inherently a bad thing, as it can meet many employee needs.

One basic theory of motivation is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. This states that humans have needs that meet one of five categories. They seek to meet the needs of the lowest order and once those are filled will then seek out needs of higher orders (NetMBA.com, 2007). The lowest order of basic survival needs are a given at Dunkin', since the job allows employees access to food and water. What Dunkin' management then focuses on is the provision of two particular higher order needs. One is for social needs. Dunkin' emphasizes teamwork. The rewards to the company are that the customers receive better service, but more importantly the rewards to the employees are that the store is a fun place to work. When teamwork is strong, the working environment is pleasant, which will increase the employees' length of stay on the payroll and will improve their job satisfaction. Because teamwork allows workers to be constantly performing tasks, even if that worker's core task is finished for the moment, increases overall employee productivity as well.

Thus, we can see that the job design itself leads to the meeting of this need. The extensive use of the teamwork setting not only benefits the company, but provides the strong social environment that many employees desire. If the job was designed in such a manner that there was little employee interaction, the job would be less satisfying and the workers less productive.

Another order of need that is met is for esteem. Systems are in place to recognize employees with superior performance. This can come in a variety of forms, including some weak extrinsic motivators such as slightly higher pay or the possibility of promotion. Stronger extrinsic motivators include public recognition for a job well done.

Both of these methods demonstrate a high degree of extrinsic motivation at Dunkin' Donuts. This is necessary because the cashier/finisher position lacks self-management. The company and its franchisees determine and control tightly every aspect of the job, from setting employee appearance standards to enforcing standards with respect to the workstation and the tasks. This high degree of extrinsic control must be matched with a high degree of extrinsic motivation.

However, the motivators used by Dunkin' also demonstrate a degree of intrinsic motivation. The company relies upon workers' desire to be a part of a successful team and upon the workers' desire to impress their bosses for motivation. Among Dunkin' cashiers who do not have these intrinsic traits, the company is forced to rely more on extrinsic punishment as motivation rather than extrinsic reward. That said, because the position is tightly controlled, the overriding theme is of low intrinsic motivation and relatively tight control by the company.

The company sometimes ties the rewards programs that meet higher order needs with those that meet lower order ones as well. For example, during the launch of Dunkin' bagels, the company provided rewards for employees who demonstrated "Brilliant Bagel Behavior," that is those who did the best job of promoting the new bagels. This program blended the intrinsic reward of achievement with extrinsic rewards such as instant prizes, money and a grand prize trip to Bermuda (Incentive Performance Center, 2008). This rewards program was a success, causing bagel sales to exceed expectations. With a relatively limited supply of extrinsic rewards, the employees clearly responded more to the challenge to promote the product and be selected as one of the best at the task.

Company-wide Rewards

Dunkin' does not offer company-wide rewards for its cashier/finishers. There is no bonus plan or other extrinsic reward tied to company performance. Part of the reason is that the cashier/finishers are hired by the franchisee, and franchisees seldom offer such rewards to non-managerial staff. There are certain implications for motivation inherent in the lack of a bonus plan or profit-sharing. Employees at the non-management levels have little ability to feel a sense of pride in the company as a whole. There is a sense that few individuals can rise organically through the ranks into management and that such a path, if possible, would be long and arduous.

The lack of such plans has a demotivational effect on employees. While they remain motivated by individual achievement, they have little reason to feel that they have an impact on the company as a whole. For example, during the successful bagel launch, the employees who contributed heavily to the corporate-wide success (Dunkin' is now the #1 bagel-seller in America) saw little extrinsic benefit. This can discourage employees from performing as well in future promotions, particularly if they were unable to win even a moderate reward from the company.

Goals

In the cashier/finisher position, there are two main types of goals. Positive goals are set with respect to performance expectations and negative goals are set with respect to failure to adhere to certain standards. The negative goals are the more prominent in the position. There are many minimum standards that must be upheld, or the employee risks sanction from a manager. These goals are used to prop up minimum standards at the company. They are effective because they set a baseline of behavior, performance and appearance that the employee must theoretically meet. In doing so, these negative goals do meet the company's end objective of providing a strong and consistent customer experience.

The positive goals are downplayed. Performance reviews are based around the ensuring that minimum standards are met. When an employee excels, there are few… READ MORE

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