Instructions:

1- Executive summary Description of the situation: an overview of the entire report, providing a clear and concise synopsis of the main issues and recommendations

. 2- description of the situation: provides thorough yet concise description of the Situation facing the organization. identifie the problem(s) facing the organization and individuals involved.

Reference: Stop, Pronto! Introduction Dr. Emma Matthews was thrilled! She had just finished a virtual meeting with Martin Cooper, the owner of Pronto Pizza, Inc. Mr. Cooper told Dr. Matthews that he would let the professor's students design a field experiment with his company to test aspects of goal setting theory, in exchange for helping the company improve their safe driving behaviours. Such opportunities are rare; and, as an experienced work motivation researcher and consultant, Dr. Matthews could not help but feel excited about this opportunity. Soon, however, her excitement turned into tension. Her BUS 2880 students now had to develop a research proposal for a field experiment or quasi-experiment that satisfied both her high academic standards and Mr. Cooper's business objectives.

The Food Delivery Market Modern online platforms and a diverse array of devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops, tablets, desktop PCs, gaming consoles, smart speakers, smartwatches) allow consumers to order food for convenient delivery to many different locations. Restaurant-to-consumer delivery revenue has been estimated to be over $4.3 billion in Canada (Statista, 2022a). In addition, digital platforms that do not produce food but do handle deliveries account for at least another $3.3 billion of the Canadian online food delivery market (Statista, 2022b). These recent trends in online food delivery may obscure the fact that pizza restaurants have been in the delivery business for many decades (e.g., via telephone orders), and have adapted their processes over time. Telephone orders continue and represent additional revenue for pizza restaurants beyond the data regarding online orders noted above. Pizza delivery can be a dangerous occupation. Industry observers have expressed concerns about robberies and other violence against drivers (e.g., Fitz-Gerald, 2013). But attacks on drivers are far from the only source of danger. Traffic safety is also a concern. Traffic collisions can (and have) resulted in fatalities, injuries, and property damage. Such crashes are costly to individuals, to companies, and to communities at large. During their virtual meeting, Mr. Cooper summarized points from a journal article that was published years ago, which he could only vaguely recall. That article had discussed some likely reasons for high collision rates in the industry - rates that were three times higher than average (if he remembered correctly). Driver inexperience (i.e., young drivers), pressure for speed, "fast- or-free" guarantees that were popular at that time, and commission-based pay systems for drivers (which reward fast driving) were all listed as contributing factors to these safety problems. Mr. Cooper expects that many of these risk factors still apply to the modern food delivery sector, which he thinks is becoming increasingly crowded and competitive. A Statista Global Consumer Survey (Kunst, 2022; N = 993) about online food delivery bookings in Canada over the past 12 months found that almost half of the respondents had used Uber Eats (48%) or SkipTheDishes (46%). DoorDash ranked third (37%). In addition, the two largest players in the Canadian online pizza orders market - Domino's (32%) and Pizza Hut (24%) - ranked above chicken-focused operators KFC (22%), St-Hubert (14%), and Swiss Chalet (12%). "Other" brands were used by 15% of the 18-64-year-olds who were surveyed. Pronto Pizza is one of those other brands.

Pronto Pizza, Inc. Pronto Pizza provides good pizza at fair prices via efficient, friendly service from each of its three locations in Ontario: Kingston (approximate population 135,000), Belleville (50,000), and Peterborough (85,000). Pronto's stores do not offer table service. Most customers either take-out their order (approximately 33%) or have it delivered (approximately 66%). There is at least one post- secondary institution located in each city that has a Pronto store. Many staff members and a large percentage of Pronto's customers are linked to those institutions. Each store is located within 5 km of a post-secondary campus, and each have similar layouts, parking lots, and traffic control measures (e.g., speed limits, stop signs, traffic lights) on the surrounding streets. The Kingston store has 55 part-time drivers, whereas Belleville has 40 and Peterborough has 45. Drivers' demographic profiles (e.g., age), driving experience, and collision rates are similar across all three locations. Most of their shifts occur during the 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm peak business period.

The Situation:

Martin Cooper purchased Pronto Pizza five years ago, after a successful career in information technology and e-commerce. He has transformed Pronto's digital presence, online ordering, and production processes. Back in university, Mr. Cooper had delivered for Pronto's previous owner - and even chose to a couple of papers about the industry as part of his course assignments. Mr. Cooper feels an obligation for the safe delivery of his company's products. It is a sense of responsibility for the communities that Pronto serves, as well as for his drivers' well-being. Pronto has never offered a "fast-or-free" guarantee; however, Mr. Cooper certainly encourages drivers to complete their deliveries as efficiently as possible. Pronto's compensation practices are "industry standard" and beyond the scope of this project. Instead of investigating compensation policies, Mr. Cooper and Dr. Matthews focused this project strictly on goal setting. The reason Mr. Cooper wants to focus just on goal setting is that an intervention that might benefit Pronto at no or little cost seems the most realistic for his firm at this time. Mr. Cooper is particularly concerned that his drivers may not be obeying stop signs at intersections. Complaints from the public - as well as Mr. Martin's informal observations of intersections near all three locations - indicate that drivers too often fail to come to a complete stop (i.e., wheels not moving). Instead, drivers will sometimes "roll through" at fast speeds, even when other vehicles are nearby. Mr. Martin recognizes that Pronto's safety climate and other safe driving behaviours could also be improved, even if his focus for this project is intersection stopping. He wonders if a goal setting intervention might help improve intersection stopping behaviours (and possibly other indicators). He is also curious if the way in which goals are set would make a difference. That's where Dr. Matthews' team comes in (i.e., your 2880 team).

Goal Setting Theory and Dr. Matthews The basic idea of goal setting theory is simple. The assumption is that people perform better when they pursue a goal that is specific and difficult, yet is still attainable. In contrast, Dr. Matthews explained to Mr. Cooper that encouraging each driver to "try best" to drive safely is unlikely to be an effective goal. Extensive research in both psychology and management has supported this fundamental principle, and has extended our understanding of goal setting and how it works (e.g., Latham & Baldes, 1975; Latham, Erez, & Locke, 1988; Latham & Saari, 1982; Latham & Yukl, 1975; Locke & Latham, 2002; Lock & Latham, 2019; Ludwig & Geller, 1997). This research has included multiple debates about different aspects of goal setting, and about how it can most effectively be applied to boost both individual and organizational performance. Dr. Matthews has researched extensively in the areas of motivation and goal setting. She knows that the positive impact of goal setting interventions on behaviour is one of the most replicable findings in the motivation research literature. She also knows that this positive impact has been found both in situations where the goal was assigned to the individual by another person (e.g., a supervisor gives their employee a goal) and in situations where the goal was "participative" (that is, the employee actively participated in the goal-setting process). Dr. Matthews also knows that questions about the relative effectiveness of assigned versus participative goals extend all the way back to Latham's doctoral dissertation in the 1970s (Locke & Latham, 2019). Controlling for goal difficulty and providing rationales for assigned goals, influential scholars have concluded that assigned and participative goals are similarly effective (Latham et al., 1988; Locke & Latham, 2019). However, despite this conclusion, Dr. Matthews believes that there is still a need for more extensive research on the idea of "response generalization." Specifically, Matthews is intrigued by the idea that the positive effects of participative goals specifically may spill over to behaviours that are not directly targeted by the original goal-setting intervention.