Red Robin Proposal Outline
I.
Audience: The managers and employees at the Red Robin in Livonia.
II.
Introduction: The issue within this community is poor communication between
managers and employees. Specifically, divergent forms of communication are being
implemented whether it is verbal, written, or visual which creates confusion among
employees. The high turnover of managers causes confusion because they all have
different verbal communication; therefore, what is acceptable to one manager may
not be to another. Also, the verbal communication is lacking in the training process of
employees, which also causes a new server to become confused on his or her job.
Finally, the written and visual communication implemented on the employee bulletin
board causes confusion for the employees because important information is missing
such as dates for promos and detailed job descriptions. This problem was discovered
by members of our group that work at Red Robin and have observed the conflicts and
issues that arise due to a lack of clear communication methods.
III.
Proposed Idea: Create effective communication methods through educating
managers and employees about open and cooperative communication skills. Also,
create clearer visual and written communication through improving the work bulletin
board and generating employee handbooks.
IV.
Why
a. Manager and employee communication is an evident problem in many work
environments.
i. For instance, Donald McNerny states that the old ways of communicating
with employees through using command and control methods are no
longer acceptable (McNerny). In addition, a study was conducted by
William M. Mercer Inc. a New York based consulting firm which
interviewed fifty-three CEO’s of large companies and 19% reported that
employee motivation is an obstacle and 17% stated that poor
communication is an issue within businesses (McNerny).
ii. Not including employees in decisions is a main reason why training
programs could fail or fall short of expectations (Van Warner).
iii. Additionally, Mayfield and Mayfield stated that deficiencies in
communication between managers and employees ranked among the
major disadvantages in part-time work (Luke). Marisa Luke states that
increases in employee morale result from open communication practices
(Luke).
b. Hence, there is an issue with communication within businesses in general, and
these issues are exemplified through researching communication practices at Red
Robin. The issues at Red Robin involves the lack of communication among new
and existing employees and the use of conflicting forms of communication.
i. Inconsistency with managers can create issues and mixed ideas among
employees. An interview with a Red Robin employee Shannon Monahan
and she described her thoughts about the manager situation. She stated,
“We have had several new managers hired and then quit. It is shocking
because we are never informed about having a new manager, they just
seem to appear and eventually they will disappear and no one will tell us
what happened” (Monahan).
ii. Unclear communication techniques, communication between new
employees, trainers, and the managers is lacking. An interview was
conducted with Alyssa Frankowski. When I asked her about the role the
manager had with her successfully becoming a server she stated, “The
managers were not effective in preparing me to become a server. The only
time I actually had a one on one conversation with them was when I was
being interviewed to work here” (Frankowski).
c. In addition to issues related to verbal communication, there are also issues
associated with visual forms of communication implemented by managers. The
new promos and menu items were displayed on a poster board in the break room
with a list of each items ingredient. Unfortunately, there were several key pieces
of information missing on the poster board. For instance, employees did not
know what day the new promos would be available for sale and they did not know
what items were being replaced or altered.
V.
Benefits
a. As new written genres are implemented, instances of miscommunication will
decrease which will decrease costly mistakes.
b. Effective respectful communication will increase employee morale which will
increase employee productivity and attendance.
c. Open communication will allow employees to feel comfortable asking for
clarification and communicating ideas that could improve the restaurant
environment.
VI.
How: These changes would have to be made by all four main managers and the mid
manager at Red Robin. They would have to change their communication methods
through their delivery techniques. The managers will have to alter their forms of
communication by enforcing open communication between all employees. They
would also have to work with the corporate Red Robin and certified designated
trainers to gain support to help create effective communication tools.
VII.
Obstacles
a. Managers are set in their ways. Therefore, it will be a challenge to convince them
that this change is good and necessary. They will argue that their way of
communicating is the best and achieves the best results.
b. In addition, this proposal will be fought by managers because it will require them
to put more time and effort into their already busy jobs. Increasing the
communication by having one on one meetings with employees, creating a
handbook, and redesigning the bulletin board will require more of their time.
c. Another challenge would be trying to get all the different managers to collaborate
with one another to make the necessary changes.
d. The last obstacle would be increasing employee and management relationships.
There is such a high turnover of employees and managers that a set relationship
and form of communication is hard to create
VIII. Refutation or addressing of obstacles
a. Showing the managers the difficulty that the employees are having with the lack
of communication should help to prove to them that changes need to be made. By
using our interviews with employees and showing the decrease in job
performance will support our argument. Then, if that is not sufficient a two week
trial will be suggested. During those two weeks the changes suggested would be
implemented and at the end of those two weeks the managers will hopefully be
able to see that the employees work performance increased.
b. The extra time the managers put into improving communication is well worth it.
According to the Management Study Guide increased employee relations and
communication lead to more efficient, motivated and productive employees which
lead to an increase in sale levels (Employee Relations – Importance).
c. The different managers at Red Robin should be meeting regularly to discuss what
has been going on and make a plan for that week. Adding a topic to the agenda
should not be too difficult. Also, they should only have to meet one time to makes
these changes, the handbook and the bulletin board only need to be created once
and then updated over time.
d. The high employee and manger turnover rate is more incentive to increase
communication with the employees. Marisa Luke found that communication can
have an enormous impact on employee motivation. She also found that managers
who communicate openly and regularly see large increases in employee morale
(Luke).
IX.
Conclusion: Communication between managers and employees must increase at Red
Robin in Livonia. The managers must decide to improve their ways of
communicating with the employees both visually and verbally and sacrifice a little
more of their time to increase employee morale, relationships and overall sales.
Work Citied
“Employee Relations – Importance and Ways of Improving Employee Relations.” Management
Study Guide. n.p. Web. 30 Oct. 2012.
Frankowski, Alyssa. Personal Interview. 1 November 2012.
Mayfield, J., and Mayfield, M. (2006). The benefits of leader communication on part-time
worker outcomes: A comparison between part-time and full-time employees using
motivating language. Journal of Business Strategies, 23(2), 131-154.
McNerney, Donald J. "Creating a Motivated Workforce." HR Focus 73.8 (1996): 1-. ProQuest
Research Library. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.
Monahan, Shannon. Personal Interview. 1 November 2012.
Van Warner, Rick. "Creating Real Employee Loyalty Relies on Open Communication." Nation's
Restaurant News 29.41 (1995): 21-. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.