- The issue in this case is about a distracted business man by the name Sam Moretti the owner of Sam’s Pizzeria. The pizzeria business is located at one of the busy towns in London a place called Orillia Ontario Canada. The business man is distracted after finishing preparing pizza dough for the next day when he realizes Halloween is approaching and he hasn’t prepared enough.
A Halloween night is one of the busiest nights in every year as it involves many activities in the region. In this night Sam expects numerous orders from clients other than usual hence an extra hand is important in delivering services and pizzas to their customers. The previous year Sam was challenged by the excessive demand that caused him to panic and not deliver quality as he values it in his business. Moretti was aware that he needed a better plan so that he could not fail to deliver quality to the customers which may negatively affect his business.
The time remaining before Halloween as stated in the case study was less than two weeks therefore Sam needed a quick plan that was to solve or prevent errors from happening. Sam Moretti is the owner of the business and he is required to make business decisions that are important to the business. An error committed by him or failure to plan will make the business to fall hence he will make losses. In this case a very sensitive decision was needed to be made which would involve large sums of money, huge resources, relatively long experience in the industry. Therefore an important stakeholder in the business is required to make it who is the owner of the resources and capital employed.
Decisions of less urgency can be made by junior staff in the organization such as kitchen operators, cashiers, delivery men. Usually these types of decisions do not affect the organization in a huge extent therefore they can be made by them without consultation. In the less than two weeks left to Halloween a mature and most appropriate plan and decision needs to be implemented. The plan will help in the success of the business or if it is poor it will plunge the business in huge problems that may make it to fail. In this case the business may lose customers who are very essential in a business. The decision should be carefully made in the consideration of its objectives to satisfy customer needs.
- Process Flow Chart for Sam
The process flow in Moretti’s pizza business starts when a customer orders pizza from the company. This can be done in form of one on one order when the customer comes to the business premises or when the he or she directly calls the company. The cashier then takes an average of 90 seconds to give the order to the kitchen depart to work on it. Experts in this area start by making a pizza crust that is added dough that is usually prepared a day before. His pizza crust is added other ingredients such as cheese and sauce to make it tastier and sweeter when eaten. The raw pizza is added toppings in accordance to the customer needs. The one with cheese doesn’t require topping however the one with toppings requires more time to prepare than the one without. Still pizza in this stage is termed as raw hence cannot be eaten; therefore it is taken to an oven for baking. After it has been baked pizza is ready to be packed and ready for delivery to the customer. It is packed in boxes that are relevant and appropriate to the size of the made pizza. The customer then may personally pick it or requests to be delivered in his or her desired location. That’s the end of the process involving pizza preparation up to when it is ready to be consumed.
Question three
Determine the capacity and capacity utilization for all resources in the process.
Capacity is the maximum amount that something can be used in achieving certain economical goals whereas capacity utilization it is effective utilization of a resource in an organization so that maximum benefit is obtained from it (Zhang, 2020). Capacity utilization can be determined by getting the percentage of capacity that is actually used. It is calculated using actual output and capacity: capacity utilization = (actual output / capacity) × 100.
Capacity utilization is represented in percentage form in any calculation relating to a firm. Therefore it is important for any firm to know its capacity utilization as it helps it to know how effective its human resource power compared its output. This will help owners and management to know if they are making a profit in their investment or they are losing.
Question 4
When there is an increase in demand of products in a market, producers also need to produce more to march the demand. In Moretti’s case he needs to add more employees to help in the production and avail ailing the pizzas to their esteemed customers. First I think he should organize his workers to work in shifts that may run even 24 hours of the day so that when others are at work others are recovering. This will ensure continuous production of pizzas without stoppage due to lack of human power in the production process. Alternatively he can include overtime work that is accompanied by slightly better pay to encourage individuals to work in more hours hence they will be able to provide for the increased demand of pizzas from their clients. He can also motivate hardworking individuals by including commissions in every work done that exceeds the average work rate.
Also in part of staffing the organization Moretti has place his workers in where they work best despite being cross trained. This will ensure that experts handle their work hence he may be assured of quality in every level of production rather than average performance that may be given by the cross trained staff. Cross trained staff should work when it is necessary or it is the only means available so that it will ensure continuous production rather than stoppage to wait for various job holders. In this life no one is assured of the next minute what will happen and not happen , in his staffing plan he should include emergency team that comprises of cross trained workers who can work anywhere in the production of pizzas. This is very essential in case something unexpected happens to one of the staff therefore the other individual who is standby will jump in immediately to cover for the absent employee.
Departmentization is also important in the staffing process and organization of work in the Tom’s pizzeria so that it can march with the increased demand of pizza. Jobs with similar or related works may be placed near each other hence utilize resources effectively. For instance there are some areas that use waste products of others in the production process therefore the wastes can be converted to raw materials in this section. To make this recommendation more effective employees handling these jobs should be near the others so that a short time is used in the passage of pizza from one level to another. I also recommend Sam to employee a manager or supervisor whose role is to oversee all activities in the organization. He or she will be able to solve problems that require immediate response. This staff must be a very knowledgeable person in the production process, delivering quality and satisfaction to all.
Sam should measure accurately in staffing various departments available in the production process so that the staff can be able to handle their jobs without struggle. He should not employ more than the capacity a department needs since it may lead to serious problems that will make the organization fail to archive its objectives. Overstaffing affects profit making in the pizza business since Sam will be paying individuals who don’t contribute relative to what he gives the firm. Therefore a lot of money will go to a waste rather than help in creating money during the Halloween night. Besides that it may lead to diversion of roles and making the individual to do other activities such as crime which may cause problems to the company.
Question five
What are the cost and benefit of cross-training? Would the implementation of cross-training change how you would add capacity to meet the expected increase in demand?
Cost training is the teaching of an employee who was hired to do a specific job other jobs other than the one he was mainly hired for (Nestoroska, 2014). The employee becomes skilled in other areas that he had not trained before so that he can perform those duties when need arises. Cost training is relatively expensive to any organization as it requires the organization to use some of its resources in training those workers who aren’t skilled in that area. Below are some of the areas whereby resources are incurred during cross training process in a firm.
To begin with financial resources that are incurred in the training process of these individuals. A lot of money will be spent in training employees’ new skills other than the ones they possess. The organization has to plan and acquire materials to be used in the training process as the employees seek understanding of the roles and how to perform the new jobs. Other than financial needs to purchase resources to be used in the training process, the business firm has to incur expenses to pay facilitators of the information to their employees. This may be locally acquired facilitators such as fellow employees such as heads of departments who are conversant with the area. Alternatively the organization can seek external facilitators whom they are required to hire so that they can train the employees. In most cases external facilitators are more expensive compared to locally acquired resource persons. This is because locally acquired persons may be paid from their salaries that the organization already the organization is aware of and budgeted for unlike the external ones the organization has to make a quick budget.
Not only, financial costs will be incurred in cross training, but also, time will be spent during the training process of these employees. Time is very important in any organization as it has a financial implication or effect in the way it is used. When time is appropriately utilized the organization will gain economically hence it is able to convert it to money and financial gains.
Cross training is very important in any organization because it is associated with many benefits that help a firm grow and achieve its goals with ease. First cross training reduces production gaps when certain employees are not present in the work environment. Therefore when certain employees are present the production process continues regardless the person to undertake the roles is present or not. This is because there is the availability of alternatives that can do the job in a similar way than the other. Cross training also helps to reduce ego in some employees who may think when they are absent nothing will go on in their places of work. Also cross training helps employers to hire internally and facilitates transfers within the organization. As a result it is very easy to employ workers in the organization and saves on time to employ new workers especially from outside the organization. Additionally it saves on costs of training new employees since the cross trained personnel doesn’t have to undergo training again when he or she takes a new office.
Cross training is essential in any organization as it helps in utilizing the available human resource of any organization and as a result the organization reaches greater heights (Crabb, 2017). In the case of Sam’s pizza business that is faced by increased demand of their products, cross training will boost the organization efficiency in delivering quality services and products to their customers. For example if an employee falls sick or something happens that will prevent him or her from working as required, others will jump in and perform those roles. Rather than waiting to consult Mr. Sam who may be occupied in other management activities. The cross trained workers will be able to provide services to the increased demand from customers hence there will be no gap in the production process.
References
Crabb, M. A. (2017). The Effects of Cross-Training in Small Organizations on Employees and Organizational Development (Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).
Nestoroska, I., & Petrovska, I. (2014). Staff training in hospitality sector as benefit for improved service quality. In Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija. Biennial International Congress. Tourism & Hospitality Industry (p. 437). University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism & Hospitality Management.
Zhang, J., Cai, W., Li, H., Olanipekun, A. O., & Skitmore, M. (2020). Measuring the capacity utilization of China’s regional construction industries considering undesirable output. Journal of Cleaner Production, 252, 119549.
