Fast food refers to a type of cuisine produced in mass and marketed by some eateries, presentation stands, and service establishments for fast and effective production and delivery. Given that accessibility and speed are essential, quick food is most commonly linked with fast food joints such as Subway, Burger King, Starbucks, Taco Bell, and McDonald’s, frequently providing takeaway and drive-through options. Examples of fast cuisine include sandwiches, french fries, burgers, pizzas, hot dogs, and burritos. Quick-food establishments are frequently a component of a network of eateries or a business that distributes regular ingredients and partially produced items and transports them to each location via regulated distribution channels.
Staff empowerment is among the components of a personnel management development plan. Therefore, the fast food sector must value and focus on employee motivation. Reasonable compensation, efficient coaching and skill enhancement, a suitable incentive and recognition program, and personnel growth possibilities are some strategies that can boost inspiration in the quick food sector. Even though motivation controls staff performance and empowers them to reach a company’s objectives, fast food sectors face the challenge of motivating their employees. Additionally, workers experience stress-related health issues, and the sector is dealing with high turnover. This paper will explain about motivational issues in the fast food sector, the source of the inspirational problems, Herzberg’s hypothesis regarding hygiene and inspiration, Maslow’s hierarchy, and McClelland’s acquired requirements.
Problem-Solving Perspective
Motivational Problem
Fast food industries face a lot of motivational issues as most of the positions are short-term. Quick-service restaurants are not concerned about providing personnel with livable wages, making work meaningful, or offering possibilities for development because of a lack of employee retention. In the 1980s, several fast-food employees were teenagers, but currently, one-third of personnel are parents, and 75% of individuals are about 20 years old (Kinicki & Soignet, 2022). Fast food workers complain about unbearable conditions, including poor compensation, unpleasant physical and psychological conditions, quickly evolving technology, and limited staffing and training. Despite the sector’s shifting environment and sustained sales growth over the past 15 years, the fast food business still needs to alter its strategy for inspiring employees.
Cause of Motivational Issues
Fast-food employments are low-skilled, unpleasant, standardized, and heavily routine, with few motivational attributes. There are no prospects for promotion, and as a result, specific jobs are so monotonous that eateries think of completing the tasks using robots. Approximately 90% of outlet employees hold frontline ranks such as cook and cashier, while the remaining 10% of the personnel work in low-level management roles (Kinicki & Soignet, 2022). In the United States, about 2% of quick-service restaurant employees are top-level technical, administrative, and professional positions compared to 31% of occupations (Kinicki & Soignet, 2022). Fast-food employees believe there is significant pay inequality because most get minimum wages and are retained part-time. Individuals frequently handle fast-food workers unfairly as if they do not have value.
Application of Theories
Herzberg’s Theory Concerning Hygiene and Motivation
The fast food industry’s responsibility includes ensuring high personnel satisfaction to attract and retain top talent and boost output. Herzberg’s two-factor hypothesis is among the most well-known concepts about workplace motivational forces. Motivational components improve individual engagement, and hygienic aspects govern employment safety and stability. According to Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene hypothesis, quick-service restaurants must raise organizational hygiene standards while raising personnel motivation levels (Chiat & Panatik, 2019). Some essential hygiene elements include payment, benefits, job stability, and working conditions.
Substandard compensation can lead to displeasure among personnel in the eateries. In order to reduce the discontent of workers in fast food, they should receive proper compensation. Quick-service restaurant employers must ensure that their incentives are comparable to those offered by other businesses in the same sector. Drive-in restaurants should let workers feel they are respected and that their employment is secure if they want to enhance workspace hygiene (Chiat & Panatik, 2019). Furthermore, personnel must have a fundamental right to expect a secure and pleasant workplace environment from outlet owners. The fast food sector should maintain worker well-being and safety to preserve high hygiene standards.
Fast food outlets should motivate their workers to improve their performance by providing a better feeling of purpose and relevance in their present role. Some inspiring aspects that boost employee engagement include freedom, productive work, and acknowledgment. Quick-service eateries must appraise their personnel for their exceptional work (Chiat & Panatik, 2019). However, there is some mindless, mundane labor involved in fast food employment, but the more individuals feel their work has value, the more inspired they will be to perform their tasks. Eateries must provide their workers with more freedom and accountability within a company. Whenever individuals realize that they have better work with much self-motivation, they are more likely to feel a sense of accomplishment and motivation.
Maslow’s Hierarchy and McClelland’s Acquired Needs
Maslow’s hypothesis is predicated on the idea that people’s motivation is derived from hierarchically arranged demands. Some of the necessities for people include physiological security, a sense of belonging, respect, and identity. Individuals start looking for higher-order requirements when a fundamental need is met (Ali, 2019). The fast food industry needs to give employees basic physical requirements for air. Personnel must work in a conducive environment to boost morale and productivity. Quick food restaurants must guarantee the protection of their staff, including their physical safety and well-being and the security of their jobs. Workers in eating houses must be able to connect with other employees. One of the most basic human motivations is the desire for compassion. Eateries must learn to respect and treat their personnel fairly because they want to feel significant and recognized. Fast food outlet employees must allow their staff to take on new tasks when they arise and chances to develop new abilities that can enable them to grow.
David McClelland’s acquired requirements hypothesis helps to forecast managerial performance. Drive-in restaurant managers must understand the various demands of their employees and how those desires affect motivation (Souiden et al., 2019). The needs for success, affiliation, and authority coexist and are the product of an individual’s abilities throughout existence. Eateries require personnel with strong desires to succeed because they have an excellent want for accomplishment, which can lead to a high sense of fulfillment. Employees motivated by affiliation will excel in team environments, be good contributors, and be ready to meet new colleagues. Personnel with an intense craving for authority are driven to exert influence over others and manage their surroundings. Nevertheless, inspiration may positively impact staff performance and productivity as well as corporate culture and satisfaction.
References
Ali, A. B. (2019). A Study on Impact of Motivation on Employees’ Performance in Fast Food Industry. Journal of computing and management studies, 1(1), 2–3. Web.
Chiat, L. C., & Panatik, S. A. (2019). Perceptions of employee turnover intention by Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory: A systematic literature review. Journal of Research in Psychology, 1(2), 10-15. Web.
Kinicki, A., & Soignet, D. B. (2022). Management: A Practical Introduction. McGraw-Hill Education. Web.
Souiden, N., Chaouali, W., & Baccouche, M. (2019). Consumers’ attitude and adoption of location-based coupons: The case of the retail, fast food sector. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 47, 116-132. Web.