Assessment Of Bigfoot’s Management Style And Tools Used In Operational Management

Bigfoot’s management style in relation to operational management strategies

Honesty and Faithfulness

Bigfoot management style is based on an efficient, smooth, faster, and cheaper means of running a business that aims at increasing the long-term survival and profitability of the company. Bigfoot’s management style and practices show the operational management and cost control strategies that most corporations use in the daily running of the business that ensures the achievement of the goals and objectives of the company. In bigfoot’s company, honesty and truthfulness are an essential element that every employee must poses. He considered lies as a form of deception, trick, and scam that can easily affect the performance of the organization. Moreover, honesty between the employer and employee help to identify the weaknesses of every worker making it easy to solve issues that arise in the corporation. Bigfoot developed a system of appreciating and complimenting his employees on the job well done which act as a motivator and improved the morale of employees even to work harder. The increased employee morale consequently results in high productivity (Miner, 2015).

Proper Record Keeping and Procurement of Raw Materials

Record keeping of activities that occurs within the restaurant was part of Bigfoot’s daily activities. He kept a record of cooks’ attendance and individual’s average performance. Before accepting stock from the suppliers, he would weigh them to identify the exact quantity and weight of the raw materials to ensure cost reduction and to prevent losses. With good record keeping in business, it is easy to track down theft cases that may occur during stock supply and in stores hence reducing the chances of the company gong at a loss (McKemmish and Gilliland, 2013). Operational management requires the procurement of raw materials from a trusted and highly dependable supply that can provide supplies cheaply and sometimes on credit. Such services enable the company to be more competitive in the market than their counterparts that lacks such special services (Ben-Dayi, As ‘ad and Seligman, 2013). According to Bigfoot management style, he knew where to source the best avocados cheaply giving him an upper hand than other restaurants that sell the same product for its customers.

Time Consciousness

Time consciousness is a vital tool in the day to day operation of the business. The operational manager should ensure that all the employees report to work on time and any lateness or failure to report for work should be said. Maintenance of time helps to keep the workers on toes thus increasing the productivity of each (Blyton, Hassard, Hill, and Tarkey, 2017). Moreover, managing time and avoiding idleness helps to ensure that a given piece of work is completed on time and with the adequate resources. Bigfoot has a policy whereby if you come late for a shift you are sent back home thus helping the employees to keep on time and to do away with lazy workers. The company also makes its payments to employees, suppliers and other shareholders on time which helps to maintain a peaceful relationship with the management. As Bigfoot engages in various activities such as laying of tiles and digging the foundation, he acts as a role model to the staff which changes the workers take on him. Being a role model in management enables the employees to work with minimal supervision which in turn increases their productivity and lower the cost of production (Hameed, Ramzan, and Zubair, 2014).

Proper record keeping and procurement of raw materials

Market Research

As an operational manager, it is essential to carry out market research that will help the company in being updated with current changes in the market and identifying the consumer needs. Being equipped with such information enable the business to be more competitive in the market and win more customers that result in high profits. Information such as frauds in the market can only be known through carrying out market research (Burns, Bush, and Sinha, 2014). For instance, in Bigfoot restaurant, it was possible to know the exact price paid for meat by carrying out market research and enquiring original receipts on sales. Such activity helped the restaurant from paying a high cost for beef which the suppliers claimed to be offering at low prices. Every operation in the Bigfoot restaurant was carried out by an employee that was available since all were trained on different activities, for example, a chef could also dig foundations and clean toilets. The company was able to lower down the cost of used in hiring professionals which would demand more pay.

Employees Development and Training

Employee development and training is part of activities carried out in operational management where unskilled and semi-skilled employees are taught different tasks and new technologies. Most employees are more motivated and willing to work in companies where their personal development is considered, and they reward the corporation back through being loyal, hardworking and maintaining trust that results to increased production (Elnaga and Imran, 2013). Concerning Bigfoot restaurant, employees were taught a variety of tasks like refrigeration repair, plumbing, necessary metal works, electrical repair and maintenance, and glazing. Inclusively, Bigfoot considered workers’ character more important than the skills or the employment history for the achievement of the business goals since skills can easily be taught. An employee with good behavior and no skills will show up to work on time, never give excuses of being sick, and will do what he or she pledges to do than a skilled employee (Kehoe and Wright, 2013). In most cases, such employees are more productive and easier to manage than lousy character employees who are likely to cause conflicts and resist changes in the organization resulting in low productivity.

Business Structural Arrangement

In operational management and cost control, the manager has the responsibility to ensure that the business structure minimizes the time spent moving from one place to another. The location of the structure should be such that each activity in one department is related to the other. Furthermore, structural arrangements prevent idleness among the employees since every worker has his or her job assigned (Wickel et al., 2013). The structure of the Bigfoot restaurant did the work to be done in comfortable, efficient, faster, and in a more smoothly way. It had features such as the convenient location of hot water hose where the bartenders can easily melt down their ice, and cute plastic handles on any electric plug near the station in case the workers’ hands are wet. The pots were carefully hanged from the overhead racks and in the same place and the bottles arranged in a classical pattern and equal distance from one another. Such an arrangement was used to display the products that the restaurant marketed, and the customers can quickly get what they want.

Time consciousness

Customer Service and Satisfaction

The provision of free and extra services to the customers is a way of winning the loyalty and grabbing more customers from the competitors (Day, 2014). Shareholders are always attracted to carry out the transaction with businesses that provide additional services that other companies cannot offer like giving discounts on bulk purchase. In bigfoot restaurant, other entertainment services such as football pool, television, a courtside seat for playoff games, presents for wife or girlfriend were readily available to keep the customers warm and unexhausted. Through such services, the company can increase its market share by winning more customers thus growing sale which eventually results in high profits. Business identity is crucial for the success of any company operating in a perfectly competitive market (Murnieks, Mosakowski and Cardon, 2014). It enables the customers to quickly identify the products, services, and employees of a company. Bigfoot improved its identity by having the waiters put on the uniform of the same color, and all other activities were unique in their way.

Division of Labor and Specialization

In the rapidly changing economic world, having employees to carry out any task in the business as in the case of Bigfoot restaurant lowers down the productivity of the firm. Division of labor and specialization is considered to improve the performance of the employees since each worker is assigned specific work and does not have to move from one workstation to another which may result to time wastage (Strauss, 2018). Inclusively, being specialized in a specific task increases the speed, quality, and rate at which an employee does the assigned job. Division of labor also discourages the wastage of resources such as human personnel and lowers production cost which may be too high when the work is not assigned to specific employees. Also, the aspect of recognizing character to be more important than skills when hiring employees cannot work efficiently in the current situation. With the rapid changes in technology and increased consumer demand, it is vital to employ skilled workers who can use the current technology in satisfying the wants of the customers.

Continuous Monitoring and Supervision as a Positive Control

Positive control occurs when the planned action or activity is achieved or when the standards are met (Sechilariu, Wang and Locment, 2014). An aspect of positive control in Bigfoot restaurant involved continuous monitoring and supervision of ongoing work and processes which is essential in preventing a problem from occurring or worsening. In the extract, it is said that Bigfoot worked for hand in hand with his employees in activities such as laying tiles, mopping toilet, cleaning, digging the foundation, and building armoire. Being in the field when the work is ongoing helped him to supervise and prevent errors that may occur resulting in more cost of production. Supervision of the work prevents idleness from the workers thus reducing the time spent in doing a specific task (Kadushin and Harkness, 2014). Through the utilization of time in performing particular job, it is possible to use the time in other productive activities thus lowering the cost of production when making payment to individual employees. Concurrently, the manager or the supervisor can monitor and evaluate the productivity of a project through the supervision of the processes involved in the production.

Market research

Feedback Control

Negative control results when any planned action does not result in any change or maintain the standards that are needed and, in this case, does not control the cost of operation. An appropriate example is the feedback control which involves gathering information of a particular activity that has been completed, evaluating it and then taking into consideration the measures to prevent future occurrences (Rieckhof, Bergmann, and Guenther, 2015). In the case of Bigfoot restaurant, taking feedback control on avoiding the next problem of city sewage pipe bursting is an example of negative control. The restaurant used the presidential guards to tackle the problem that occurred resulting in the imposition of the cost involved in paying the labor and in buying the new sewage pipes. In such a condition, the control does not lower the production cost but rather increase it making it a negative control.

Repairing of the city sewage pipes is a wrong decision to make and results to more cost in buying the tubes, the time consumed, and payment of the labor. The best solution to avoid such unnecessary expense is by managing decisions that are likely to impact the business negatively. Since the sewage pipe belongs to the city, it is essential to engage the city council and make them aware of the problem that exists. With such a decision, the restaurant can solve the problem without incurring any cost involved in the buying of the pipes, paying labor and the time consumed in such activity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is evident that operational management and cost control in any business require the application of a variety of practices that will ensure that the company remains profitable and productive. Just like in the case of Bigfoot’s management, it is essential to consider factors such as employee appreciation, record keeping, time consciousness, honesty, market information, and staff development in business for success. Moreover, the structural arrangement, personnel management, provision of free and unique services make the industry more competitive and attract many customers which eventually leads to high profits.

References

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