Factors Influencing Group Effectiveness and Selection Methods
Dominos is an American pizza restaurant chain that offers its services across the globe. The company operates in food delivery, franchising and restaurant industry and it is known for its fast services with delicious food (Dominos 2018). This report will analyse the case of Dominos in which the company wanted to increase its employees along with their remuneration to expand its operations in Australia and New Zealand. This report will be divided into three parts; the first part will focus on determining factors which influence group effectiveness and selection methods for hiring team members in Dominos along with validity and acceptability of the company and applicants. The second part of this report will evaluate cultural and leadership factors to assess various leadership styles that enable Dominos in managing a culturally diverse workforce. The third part of this report will evaluate the connection between conflict and stress and their impact on the organisation and employees. Recommendations will be included to address the challenge of managing diversity in the workplace.
Factors that influence group effectiveness are mentioned below which should be evaluated by Dominos.
- Individuals:A group is considered as good as it people are who form such group. If the group comprises dedicated, talented and consciously aware individuals who know about their responsibilities towards accomplishing organisational objectives, then they are more likely to form an effective group (Yidong & Xinxin 2013).
- Group size:The selection of the group size is based on the type of complexities of problems faced by the group members. In the case of Dominos, the members directly deal with customers to serve them better. If the group is too small, then it cannot handle the pressure. If the group is too big, then its waste resources and leads to conflicts.
- Group Norms:A group or team should be directed based on certain norms and principles which guides its members how to act. The code of conduct along with unwritten expectations assists in avoiding conflicts between group members which leads to its effectiveness.
- Leadership:The quality of leadership affects the effectiveness of a team. If a positive connection is not established between the leaders and the group members, then it becomes difficult to direct the group in a particular director to achieve organisational objectives (Hoon Song et al. 2012).
- Cohesiveness:Cohesiveness is referred to the degree of connection and interpersonal attachment between group members which leads to positive results. A group with high degree of cohesion have motivated employees, and they are loyal towards each other which are key attributes for their success.
Based on these elements, the following is a list of selection criteria which should be used by Dominos while hiring Dominoids.
- Excellent communicator:Dominoids should be excellent communicators because they have to deal with customers and other members during their job and without good communications skills, they cannot improve their effectiveness.
- Attitude:Dominoids should have a positive and welcoming attitude during their job. The customers should feel unwelcomed when they visit Dominos, and the employees should provide them appropriate services. The attitude of employees towards each other also affects their performance which influences the outcome of the team (Elci et al. 2012).
- Honesty:Dominoids should be honest towards other members and customers while discharging their duties. If they are dishonest, then it creates a negative image of Dominos which could adversely affect its sales.
- Respectful:Dominos has a positive reputation in Australia and New Zealand, therefore, its employees should be respectful, or its public image can become negative.
Selecting a team member is a difficult job because the member must match the requirements and expectations of the organisations and other members to ensure that a strong team can be built. In the case of Dominos, validity and acceptability of the company and its members is important to ensure that the new team members are welcomed in the team. Following selection methods can be used by Dominos to address this issue.
Personal Interviews
This is a traditional way of assessing new applicants and evaluating whether they have the skills and knowledge to perform the job (Miles & Sadler-Smith 2014). While taking interview of new candidates, the management of Dominos should take the interviews with team leaders as well who are able to assess and give their feedback regarding whether or not a particular candidate should be selected for the job. This process will enable them to get the validity and acceptance of the management and the team members.
Ability assessment
The corporation uses an ability assessment test in order to know more information about the candidates for the job (Roth et al. 2016). The ability assessment should showcase the abilities of the person to evaluate whether they meet the requirements for the job. In Dominoids, abilities such as friendliness, positive behaviour, welcoming nature, respectful and other traits should be evaluated by the company.
Cultural and Leadership Factors
Situational tests
Dominos can rely on the situational test to give difficult situations to their candidates to understand how they handle such situation. The situation analysis can be based on issues relating to customers or other team members to understand how the candidate will react in such situations. Based on the reaction, the management can ensure whether the candidate is suitable for their job or not.
Dominos have over 670 stores in Australia, and the company has hired employees from different cultures to perform their operations (Statista 2017). By managing employees from different cultures, the company can promote diversity at workplace. Selection of an appropriate leadership approach or behaviour is necessary to ensure cultural appropriateness in the workplace and achieve organisational effectiveness.
Supportive
The leaders who are empathetic and approachable are considered as supportable leaders. They show concerns regarding the issues faced by employees and treat them with dignity and respect. This leadership approach promotes diversity in the workplace because people can simply approach the leader they face any issues relating to unfair practices relating to diversity (Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy 2014). This approach fosters diversity because the leader provides appropriate support to employees who are from different cultural background which creates a positive working environment.
Transformational
Leaders who lead through their vision are known as transformational leaders. This leadership approach focuses on modelling and communicating forward-thinking commitment by the leader. In this approach, the leader handles diversity issues by inspiring employees to improve their performance by focusing on major issues rather than engaging in unfair behaviour based on different cultural background of an employee (Onorato 2013). The leader is the inspiration for employees who set the standard for high standards in the company which supports diversity in the workplace and employees follow the leader and embrace diversity policies because they believe in achieving common goal.
Servant
The servant leadership style is gaining popularity among corporations as leaders of multinational companies started to adopt this leadership approach. This style focuses on serving as per employees’ needs rather than using them to achieve organisational objectives (Choudhary, Akhtar & Zaheer 2013). These approach emphases on embracing diversity in the workplace because the leaders focus on creating a positive working environment for employees without discrimination. This leadership approach ensures that employees are not mistreated based on their cultural background, and they receive equal opportunities in the company as well. This approach ensures cultural appropriateness while at the same time enable the organisation to achieve effectiveness.
Role of Conflict and Stress in the Workplace
The nature of group conflicts in organisation leads to a hostile working environment in which employees find it difficult for work property. Conflicts arise between employees due to any disagreement between them or contradiction with other employees or the management (Wolever et al. 2012). Workplace conflicts are a major issue in multinational corporations such as Dominos because they lead to decreasing the performance of the enterprise. Conflicts are a major source of stress among employees which imbalance their professional and personal life. They start to hate other employees and deliberately made plans to hurt them or decrease their performance. Most of the times, other employees who are not a part of the conflict have to suffer from its impact as well. Conflicts divide the team between different groups which hinder is effectiveness.
The key impact of conflicts on employees is that they stop working, or they prefer to stay at home. Unresolved conflicts resulted in threatening the psychological safety of employees and the management, and they find it difficult to work with efficiency in such hostile environment. In workplace conflicts, employees remain in a defensive mode in which they feel that they have to protect themselves. Absence from work, mental pressure and inability to achieve targets are some example of negative impact of workplace conflicts on employees (Sonnentag & Fritz 2015). The workplace conflicts also hinder the performance of a team if one or more of its members are not performing well, or they despise one another. The effectiveness of a team is based on collaboration between team members and cohesiveness, and workplace conflicts result in adversely affecting these factors which hinders the performance of the team (Romer et al. 2012). Organisations also face negative consequences of workplace disputes. Due to conflict among employees, customers receive poor service because employees on finding ways to fight back rather than focus on the quality of their work. In the case of Dominos, effective customer service is a major success point for the organisation, and group conflicts lead to adversely affecting the brand reputation of the company.
Dominos can adopt various techniques to manage workplace conflicts and stress among employees that are related to communication challenges of a culturally diverse workforce. Open and constructive communication is the key to resolving disputes among the organisation and embracing diversity policies. Following are three recommendations which lead to establishing effective workplace communication in Dominos which will enable the company to manage conflicts and stress among employees.
- Craft an invitation to meet:The first technique for the management is that they should take the initiative to connect with the employees by sending them an email or an initiation for a meeting (Spaho 2013). This meeting should be conducted with each employee, and during these meetings, the leaders should be empathetic. They should carefully listen to the issues faced by employees in the workplace relating to diversity issues, and they should focus on going to the root of the problem rather than making up their mind after just hearing the case. The meeting should be confidential, and the conversation between the employees and the management should be leaked outside.
- Strategically approaching the conversation:The managers should consider the interest of employees and focus on the potential point of alignment during conversation. They should focus on finding a middle ground to end the conflict between employees. The managers should also focus more on listening rather than telling the employees to resolve their dispute.
- Educating employees:The management of Dominos has to understand that they deal with employees from different cultural backgrounds, and they should focus on increasing awareness regarding their culture so that employees did not mistakenly offend each other (Patrick & Kumar 2012). They should focus on increasing communication between employees who are from different cultural backgrounds to ensure that they learn about the cultural aspects of each other. This will enable the management of Dominos to reduce the stress among employees and encourage them to embrace difference between their cultures.
Recommendations for Managing Diversity in the Workplace
Conclusion
Based on above observations, it can be concluded that Dominos should focus on finding the right employees for their organisation to increase the effectiveness of the team. The human resource department should identify key traits of candidates to ensure that they meet the requirements of the Dominoids before selecting them in the organisation. The implications of diversity on the industry practice are identified in the report along with the evaluation of key leadership styles which can assist Dominos in embracing cultural difference between their employees. Conflicts result in workplace stress which hinders the performance of individuals, teams and the organisation, thus, they should have address properly. Effective communication strategies, strategically approaching the issues and educating employees regarding different cultures can assist Dominos in managing conflicts based on diversity and promoting its effectiveness.
Reference List
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