Barrie Super Subs is one of the larger takeout restaurants in the Super Subs chain, which includes 300 locations across Canada. This outlet has a restaurant manager, an assistant manager, and several part-time team leaders. The restaurant manager rarely has time to serve customers, and front line work by managers is discouraged by the head office. The assistant manager serves customers for a couple of hours during the busy lunchtime but otherwise assists the restaurant manager with purchasing, accounts, hiring, and other operations. Most team leaders are college students and serve customers alongside other employees, particularly from late afternoon to night closing. Most employees are also students who work part-time; a few are in high school. All regular staff earn minimum pay rates.

Barrie Super Subs has experienced below average profitability over the past 18 months, which has reduced the monthly bonus paid to the restaurant manager and assistant manager. This bonus is calculated by percentage of "wastage" (unsold, damaged, or unaccounted for food and drinks) relative to sales; the lower the percentage of wastage, the higher the bonus. Wastage occurs when employees drop or spill food, cut up more toppings than are sold, burn heated subs, prepare an order incorrectly, and eat or give away food without permission. When employees make mistakes, the expense is supposed to come out of their paycheque. Unauthorized eating and giving away food are grounds for immediate dismissal. However, team leaders are reluctant to report any accidental or deliberate wastage, even when confronted by the restaurant manager about the store's high wastage over the previous week and month. One team leader who reported several accidental wastage incidents eventually quit after being snubbed by co-workers who attended the same college classes.

Barrie Super Subs gives employees a food allowance if they work continuously for at least four and a half hours. Staff complain that the allowance is meagre and that they are often ineligible for the food allowance because many shifts are only three or four hours. Employees who work these shorter shifts sometimes help themselves to food and drinks when the managers aren't around, claiming that their hard work justifies the free meal. Some also claim the food is a low company expense and makes up for their small paycheque, relative to what many of their friends earn elsewhere. Several (but not most) employees give some of their friends generous helpings as well as occasional free soft drinks and chips. Employees say handing out free food to friends makes them more popular with their peers.

Five months ago, the Barrie restaurant's wastage (mainly deliberate wastage) had risen to the point where the two managers no longer received a bonus. The restaurant manager reacted by giving the food allowance only to those who work for six or more hours in a single shift. This action excluded even more staff from receiving the food allowance, but it did not discourage employees from eating or giving away food. However, almost 20 percent of the experienced college staff left for other jobs over the following two months. Many of those who stayed discouraged friends from considering jobs at Super Subs. Morale declined, which dampened the fun atmosphere that had existed to some extent in the past. Relations between employees and managers soured further.

With relatively low unemployment, the restaurant manager found it difficult to hire replacements, particularly people with previous work experience of any kind. Temporary staff shortages required the two managers to spend more time working in food preparation and training new staff. Their increased presence in the restaurant significantly reduced deliberate wastage, but accidental wastage increased somewhat as the greater number of inexperienced staff made more mistakes.

After three months, Barrie Super Subs' manager and assistant manager were confident that the situation had improved, so they spent less time training staff and serving customers. Indeed, they received a moderate bonus after the third month in the store. However, wastage increased again soon after the managers withdrew from daily operations. The experienced employees started eating more food, and the new staff soon joined in this practice. Exasperated, the restaurant manager took bolder steps. He completely removed the food allowance and threatened to fire any employee caught consuming or giving away food.

Wastage dropped somewhat over the next month but is now creeping upward again.

Discussion Questions

What symptoms in this case suggest that something has gone wrong?

What are the main causes of these symptoms?

What actions should Barrie Super Subs' managers take to correct these problems?

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Four-drive theory recommends that companies must keep fulfilment of the four drives in balance. What is this "balance" and why is it important? Give an example (real or hypothetical) of how a company maintains balanced drive fulfilment. Also describe a company that does not provide this balance, including the consequences of this imbalance on employees' attitudes and behaviour.

2. Learned needs theory states that needs can be strengthened or weakened. How might a company strengthen the achievement needs of its management team?

3. Everyone who works as an electronic game developer has extrinsic sources of motivation, and most also experience some degree of intrinsic motivation. Considering the dynamics of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, what should companies in this industry do to ensure that their game developers are highly motivated at work?

4. The opening case study for this chapter describes how many companies have shifted from traditional annual performance appraisals to frequent, constructive, and future focused development reviews. Apply expectancy theory to explain why the more frequent feedback and more strengths-based future focus of the new performance review process might motivate employees more than the traditional judgment-oriented, problem-focused, annual performance appraisal process.

5. Describe a situation in which you used organizational behaviour modification to motivate someone's behaviour. What specifically did you do? What was the result?

6. Using your knowledge of the characteristics of effective goals, establish two meaningful goals related to your performance in this class.

7. Most people think they are "worth more" than they are paid. Furthermore, most employees seem to feel that they exhibit better leadership skills and interpersonal skills than others. Please comment on this human tendency.

8. You are an external consultant hired by a large organization to investigate possible causes of employee perceptions of procedural and interactional injustice regarding various management decisions (promotions, vacation rostering, assigned tasks, office location, and so forth). Many employees have complained that management is unfair in how it makes these decisions. Even those who say they get a fair deal in these decisions agree that the process is suspicious and therefore subject to doubt by those who receive less than they expected. In a few instances, employees have also complained about the information (or lack of information) they receive about how the decision was justified, as well as how they have been treated when trying to discuss the decision with management. As an external consultant, identify specific activities and issues you would investigate to pinpoint the ways in which management can improve employee perceptions of procedural and interactional justice.