Background: Within Australia there are presently some 40,000 cafes and restaurants and about 250,000 workers. More than two thirds of employees are un-skilled or semi-skilled, and comprise the bulk of the wage cost. IR challenges which concern this group have the potential for significant impact on restaurant earnings and operations.

The restaurant industry has been chosen because it is representative of many of the challenges facing small business. The challenges are significant especially when it is considered that the restaurant industry consists of many small operators, sometimes at the mum and dad level, and there are a few resources to tackle the rising IR complexity, especially in rural areas. Restaurant businesses lack human resource management skills and resources and in turn employees lack union representation

Industrial relations issue

A penalty rate is an issue in the industrial relations facing by the restaurant industry (taken to also include café operators and catering providers, but excluding large franchise operators). Penalty rates in particular have apparently caused restaurant owners cost difficulties. The employer pays the penalty for requiring workers to work at unsociable times such as late at night, weekends and public holidays. In the restaurant industry Saturday penalty rates are 1.25 times ordinary earnings, on Sundays the rate is 1.5 times, and on public holidays the rate is 2.5 times. Overtime, that is work beyond ordinary hours, also attracts penalty rates. The union view is that staff should not have to work at minimum wages during unsociable hours. The essential point of conflict for the restaurant industry is the need for some protection of the unskilled and vulnerable workforce contrasted with the need for restaurant owners to achieve an adequate level of business profit and return on equity in a very competitive and low margin business. This type of IR framework increases staff hiring pressure, because owners and managers face increased employment risks. The above trends indicate that penalty rates are likely to increase the risk of a restaurants failure. Small restaurant operators are very likely to use family members or ‘safe’ employees extensively to avoid industrial risks.

Theory to address the issue

The pluralist approach assumes that any employment relationship automatically has the potential for conflict and this is why effective conflict management so important, and this is the aim of Fair Work Australia. The role of the state is to protect the weak and to try and reconcile conflicting opinions and to keep conflict within acceptable bounds. At the present time the restaurant industry operates under the pluralist approach whereby industrial peace needs to be achieved through some type of adaptation to the different stakeholder perspectives. Restaurant employers, if it were possible, want to rewrite the entire industrial award. This type of IR framework increases staff hiring pressure, because owners and managers face increased employment risks. The above trends indicate that penalty rates are likely to increase the risk of a restaurants failure. Small restaurant operators are very likely to use family members or ‘safe’ employees extensively to avoid industrial risks. Employer opposition against penalty rates places it in direct confrontation with the union and the government. These last two parties are unlikely to agree to any changes until unemployment in the industry increases. The employees, and the union, want penalty rates to remain. The government has continued on its task of promoting industrial stability and protecting the workers in the restaurant industry

Recommendation

Ideally, restaurant employers and trade unions and the government should be able to come to an agreement. Each side has something that they want (employers want to reduce staff hiring pressure while trade unions want above minimum wage for any overtime worked), so they should compromise and come to an agreement as soon as possible. It is in the best interest of both parties to come to an agreement because restaurant employers do not want to have a failing business while employees want higher wages. More so than employers and trade unions, it is also in the interest of the government to do something about the situation so that stability returns to the industry and workers’ rights are also protected.

If collective bargaining agreements cannot be reached between employers and trade unions and the government, then labour laws should dictate the number of hours that employees can work each week. In addition to regular working hours, there should be a provision that employees can work overtime but not more than three hours per week. The penalty rate for this overtime can be a standard 1.75 across all weekends and public holidays. If an employee has already worked three hours overtime in a week and is needed to work more, then the penalty rate can increase to 3. Because this will likely be not attractive to employers because of the extra cost involved, the employers can find someone else to fill in with the overtime. If there is no one else available to work overtime, then employers should consider hiring more staff because the amount of work that they have requires it.

Human being’s attributions are also expressively driven by their emotional and motivational initiatives. Accusing other individuals and avoiding personal recrimination are merely self-serving explanations (Harvey & Weary, 1985). A human being will often make attributions to support what they perceive as attacks. They will even try to accuse victims of their fate as they seek to distance themselves from thoughts of suffering the same predicament. A human being will also try to ascribe little variability to other individuals than themselves, looking at themselves as more complicated and less foreseeable than others (McLeod, 2010). To establish the effects of attribution theory, it vital to look at the elements that influence humanity in explaining their world. Some of these elements include correspondent inference theory, common sense psychology, covariation model of attribution, and a three-dimensional attribution model. These elements are discussed in the following paragraphs (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2003).

Correspondent inference theory state that individuals conclude an individual when his/her deeds are freely selected is unforeseen and causes a small number of anticipated impacts. According to researchers, in this element of attribution theory, individuals make conclusions by investigating the conduct context. It demonstrates how individuals tend to figure out an individual’s characteristics from behavioral evidence. Human beings make conclusions based on three influences. predictability of conduct, degree of choice, and impacts of someone’s actions (Harvey & Weary, 1985).

Common sense psychology tries to explore the nature of relationships amongst different individuals and expose the concept of what is known as naive psychology. Researchers believe that individuals observe, analyze, and interpret behaviors with attributions. However, individuals have different attributions for humanity’s behaviors (Harvey & Weary, 1985). Researchers find it vital to put attribution into two categories. Personal and situational attributions. When a personal attribution is established, the cause of the given conduct is appointed to the person’s characteristic such as mood, attitude, personality, ability, efforts, and disposition.&nbsp.

A focus group is a research tool used to reach potential users for feedback or comments.&nbsp. An organization is usually used in planning, marketing, or evaluation to improve some specific product or service or during the development of strategic plans or statements (Blank, G. n.d.).&nbsp.

Accordingly, Focus group research aims to
gather opinions, beliefs, and attitudes about issues of interest to your organizationTest assumptionsEncourage discussions on a particular topicBuild excitements from the spontaneous combination of participants commentsProvide an opportunity to learn more about the issue.

The Guide of Focus Group

Activities of a focus group are divided into three phases: Before the Focus Group, Conduct of the Focus Group, and after the Focus Group.
Before the Focus Group is the time for identifying the purpose of the study, establishing a timeline, identifying participants generating the questions, developing a script, selecting a facilitator, and choosing a location. (Blank G. (n.d.)

&nbsp.Along with this guide, we establish the objective of this report that is:
Purpose of the study: The issue that is of utmost importance is identifying people’s perception of the health benefits of drinking Green Tea. Green Tea is one of the fast-moving drinks today and knowing its real health benefits would benefit consumers.Establishing a timeline. Between six to 8 weeks is an ideal period. This is the time to identify participants, develop and test the questions, locate a site, invite the participants, and gather the needed materials.

&nbsp.&nbsp.&nbsp.&nbsp.&nbsp. &nbsp.We are inviting participants. &nbsp.The number of participants is an essential consideration in a focus group. Fewer participants limit discussions while a large number is unwieldy. According to Nagle and Williams, a significant focus group consists of 7-12 participants. This is an ideal size to promote discussion and would be easy for the Facilitator to handle.&nbsp. During this stage, the list of participants’ critical attributes based on the purpose of the focus group should be developed.

Our proposal for the number of participants is six women and six men to have an equal representation.&nbsp. Ages would be between 21-30 years.&nbsp. It is presumed that these belong to a working group, educated, and matured enough to make decisions. &nbsp.

The proposal provides an outline of the way to understand the energy-saving and analysis of commercial buildings. The study intends to use both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather substantial data, which will be analyzed using statistical tools and software. The anticipated time period for the completion of the study is two months.

Energy use in commercial buildings is increasing as the users focus on more energy using strategies in the process of cooling and heating buildings. Thus, a lack of adequate supply of energy would imply that inhibition or operation of the commercial buildings would be minimal. Commercial buildings focus on achieving energy efficiency (Bruce 1977). Energy efficiency refers to the measures of ensuring that minimum energy is utilized in the process of cooling, heating, lighting and powering of equipment as necessary in ensuring that buildings offer comfortable conditions for the occupants. The building envelope influences the energy efficiency level of the building. Such includes walls, foundations, roofs, doors, and windows (Zanenga et al. 2010). These components should work together to ensure that a building remains warm as expected in winter and cool during the summer.

Commercial buildings consume a lot of energy. The existing methods of identifying energy-saving involve building operators who have knowledge of the normal operations of the buildings, but they do not have the resources and expertise levels to evaluate the energy savings. As such, energy-saving measures have to be adopted, which ensures that the building has the potential of maintaining its normal operations while saving on the consumed energy (Roberts 2008). Such involves having an algorithmic approach, which aids in data analysis on the energy-saving strategies of the buildings. However, the adopted approach has to consider that buildings have different operation modes, which indicate a variation in the&nbsp.level of energy consumption based on the operating mode.

On critical examination of the subject matter. It is actually the most probable reason that can be linked to the case. This is so because the one thing which most of the students in the school share is the food. It might be that the food which is being offered right now may be from a supplier who may not be carrying out quality tests on it or at the same time the school restaurant may be having a lacking of quality inspection which it is supposed to carry out. The problem can pose itself in two ways. either internally or externally.

Testable Questions

Question 1: has there been a change in the supplier who supplies the schools with the foodstuff?

Question 2: are the school restaurant departments doing their best in maintaining the quality of the services they are offering?

Question 3: are the students having a change in diet like for example cases of them consuming what they are not used to?

Question 4: what is the hygiene of the eating area of the schools?

Question 5: Have there been cases of anomalies in the schedules of the students and more so those who are currently absent from school?

Question 6: has there been a problem between the management and the members of the catering department?

The statement “The Brentwood Indians basketball team lost the state championship because there is bad stuff in the stars happening with Mars in Aquarius” can be a suitable thesis statement in the course of carrying out research. The main reason for this is because it can be used as a statement from which a phenomenon can be established and in this case getting to know whether it is true or false. After having the statement as the guide it is when it can be established whether the research will fulfill its demands or not.