BU7039 Understanding and Managing People, Assignment 1, UK

Assessment Task

This assessment is based on a case study which provides a realistic business challenge and has four questions of equal value to answer. 

Assessment Task:

The new leadership team at Flasks Coffee Shop (case study) have asked for your assistance to conduct thorough analysis of the challenges that the business is facing.  They would like you to provide an evidenced-based essay to help them to prepare for discussions at the next Board Meeting.

Case study:

Flasks Coffee Shop (to be known as FLASKS) is a privately owned company that runs an established chain of cafes in sixty locations around the UK. Most are located on high streets and in shopping centres, but there are also units located in large railway stations and some airports. The company sells a wide variety of speciality coffees, cakes, sandwiches and other beverages. It markets itself as a sustainable business with high standards of business ethics, which the business is committed to. 

Throughout the Twentieth Century there was a single FLASKS coffee shop located prominently in Central London. This was then taken over by a by a company that was keen to profit from the fast growth in the UK’s coffee shop market. Much money was invested in building the chain and for several years good profits were made. After 2015 though, problems started to arise. Sales began to slump in a number of locations as competition from ambitious independents and other coffee shop chains became more intense. Issues arose concerning unpaid debts and the company started to struggle financially. By the time of the Covid pandemic it was in serious financial difficulty and in danger of becoming insolvent. In 2021 the company was sold to a consortium of four former FLASKS managers with finance largely provided by a venture capital fund.   In 2022 the aim of the new leadership and management team is to expand and open more stores nationwide.  However, they first need to ensure that FLASKS meets stakeholder expectations, reclaims its reputation and returns to profitability in the next two years.  

To enable these aims the leadership have made the following commitments to be achieved over the next 3 years:

• Pay greater consideration to diversity and inclusion in everything they do, at all levels of the business and across departments. 
• Grow and develop employees at all levels and provide opportunities for progression.
• Role model an inclusive work environment in our stores, a place where every employee feels empowered and consideration of every person’s wellbeing is demonstrated.
• Listen, check in with teams and act on feedback with the key objective of making FLASKS a more collaborative, open minded and inspiring place to work.

“A policy or written statement in itself is not enough and we know that engaging with all levels of our business is absolutely critical if we are to deliver on our promises and have an positive and lasting intrinsic impact on our teams and employees of the future.”

The leadership team recognise that to achieve their aims, they first need to:
•    Assess the current situation and the challenges in the hospitality labour market
•    Examine the current approach to leading and managing people and the impact this has had on employees
•    Establish a preferred approach to leading and managing people and the benefits this will have
•    Identify the learning and development needs to enable the new approach to managing people

To do this, the leaders particularly want to address the poor management of people which has been a major problem for some time. Their main concerns are that staff turnover was running at over 100% in 2019 and employee engagement levels have been very poor in several coffee shops for some years.  Both ‘employee turnover’ and ‘employee engagement’ have significant implications for the business which is causing considerable concern for the leaders, and if not addressed their ambitions for the next 3 years are at risk.  Evidence of these matters is found on the Glassdoor website where hundreds of current and former employees have written troubling reviews of their experiences working for the company. Overall ratings have been below 3 out of 5, which is considerably lower than the scores typically achieved by FLASKS’s major competitors.

The following are a representative sample of some of the recent comments that have been left in the Pros and Cons section on Glassdoor: 
“Lovely regular customers. Met some good friends” 
“Friendly and supportive staff who were happy to swap shifts. Tips” 
“Staff discount on cakes and food” 
“The only good thing was that it was located only three minutes walking from the place that I used to live.” 
“You learn basic management tasks and can improve your communication skills. Free lunch and cakes.” 
“I guess it pays your bills if you're single and live in shared accommodation” 
“If you want a culture where the quality of the product, the customer, the brand and the staff are key to how the business works, avoid FLASKS.” 
“Nothing at all was positive” 
“No real opportunities for advancement” 
“Never put enough staff on shift. Bad at giving breaks, you can work an 8-9 hour shift and not be given a 30-minute break. Never know when your shift will end.” 
“Every unit is understaffed, always.” 
“It was soul-destroying, you're taken advantage of and paid very little and you are spoken to by management like you’re a child (in front of customers)” 
“No gratitude for anything, lazy people get paid the same as hard working employees”

“Payroll is terrible, consistently mess up pay and will throw the blame on each other rather than own their own mistakes.” 
“Head office only cares about the numbers, not the people” 
“Some managers are controlling to the point of bullying. While others couldn’t care less. The unit managers and HQ are also incompetent. Nothing gets resolved quickly or accurately.” 
“Horrible management, no training at all” 
“Terrible company to work for expected to give absolutely everything for nothing in return. Won’t pay for overtime.” 
“A lot of unfairness. If the manager is your friend you'll have advantages Senior managers tend to be offensive and won't think twice before humiliating you.” 
“Customers can be super nasty. They will call you names and shout at you for the smallest things.” 
“The staff at my store are nice. You get free food and drink, even though you aren't officially allowed it. You get to keep your tips if you are a waiter.” 
“Management are underqualified and not trained. Many health and safety violations, especially regarding food. Equipment doesn't get fixed, and the lack of training means things break a lot” 
“Management are more concerned about reaching unrealistic goals than the wellbeing of their staff or the quality of service provided.”
“Longstanding staff are not appreciated or rewarded. Low pay. Little to no training.” 
“Managers don’t listen, they tell us what to do with little or no consideration for us.”
"Rude customers sometimes, repetitive and same tasks most shifts." 
“Managers seem to treat staff as a machine, they don’t know how to treat us.”
“People do not stay with the company for long and there are not enough trained people to work in the shops.”
“A very poor company on SOOOOO many levels - they won't care about you - don't go & work for them - they are full of the proverbial !!”

Assessment Questions:

Question 1:  What are the current challenges for the UK hospitality sector and what approaches would be the best for leading and managing people within the sector?

Question 2:  After completing your analysis of the Glassdoor feedback what do you think is the existing approach to leading and managing people, and what would you suggest as a new approach to support staff and the organisation’s performance?

Question 3:  Now that you have completed your analysis of what the new leadership approach should be, use the L & D cycle to outline what management skills need to be developed and what methods will you use to do this?

Question 4:  Reflecting on your learning and experience throughout this module, and using a reflective model, critically assess your response which should include the following, this is the template for question 4 of your assessment:

(i)  Which session was of particular interest to you?  How did this session challenge your thinking?
(ii) How did this session and/or any other concept help you to develop the discussion in your assessment?
(iii) Discuss your engagement with study skills support, include the content of the support activity, how you responded, and how you applied this to your assignment, provide evidence.
(iv)   From your reflection and performance in this module, identify what you will do differently in the next module to continuously develop your academic performance.

Learning Outcomes 

This assignment will show that you are able to:
LO1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of leading and managing people in the current and future world of work.
LO2. Critically evaluate a range of theories in relation to leading and managing people to resolve organisational challenges. 
LO3. Apply a comprehensive understanding of techniques to develop leaders and managers to address organisational challenges and drive success.
LO4. Critically evaluate personal performance through the application of reflective practice.

Key Resources.

Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2012). Making sense of management: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). Sage.
Armstrong, M. (2022). Armstrong's handbook of performance management: An evidence-based guide to performance leadership (7th ed.). Kogan Page.
Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S (2020). Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (15th ed.). Kogan Page.
Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice (6th ed.). Palgrave.
Clutterbuck, D., & Megginson, D. (2005).  Making coaching work: creating a coaching culture. CIPD. 
Collings, D.G., Szamosi, L.T., & Wood, G.T., (2019). Human Resource Management A Critical Approach (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Garvey B., Stokes P., Megginson D. (2014). Coaching and Mentoring, Theory and Practice (2nd ed.). Sage. 
Hook, C., & Jenkin, J. (2019) Introducing Human Resource Management (8th ed.).  Prentice Hall.
Hooper, A. (2016). Leadership perspectives. Routledge.
Keegan, S. (2015). The Psychology of Fear in Organizations. Kogan Page  
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., & Kynighou, A. (2020). Human resource management at work: The definitive guide (7th ed.). Kogan Page.
Mullins, L., & McLean, J. E. (2019). Mullins : Organisational behaviour in the workplace. Pearson.
Taylor, S., & Woodhams, S. (2016). Managing Human Resource Management-People and Organisations (2nd ed.). CIPD.
Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Sage.

Journals:
Industrial relations journal
Journal of occupational and organizational psychology
Management today
People management
Human resource management journal
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595-616.
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2014). Do Role Models Matter? An Investigation of Role Modelling as an Antecedent of Perceived Ethical Leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(4), 587-598.