Organizational Management

Introduction

         Wendy’s is a fast food chain restaurant, founded in 1969 by Thomas Dave in Columbus, Ohio (Wendy's International, 2012). The fast food chain has grown to become an international fast food chain with branches in different countries. The chain is owned by the Wendy’s Company (formerly, Triarc) and is the third largest hamburger chain with more than 6,600 outlets, second only to McDonald’s 31,000 and Burger King’s 12,000 (Wendy's International, 2012). While it provides the most realistic competitions with sales overcoming Burger King’s in 2011, it still remains the third in the list in terms of number of restaurants The Company’s 77% of restaurants are franchised with a majority in the North American continent. The company also employs about 46,000 people worldwide (Wendy's International, 2012).

         Wendy’s main products are chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, beverages, and French fries (Wendy's International, 2012). However, until the recent launch of The “W”, Wendy’s did not have a signature sandwich, except for the square burger patties which dominated its sandwich sales (Wendy's International, 2012). The company is known for its flexibility in terms of operations. For instance, the global headquarters have control on standard setting for appearance of the store’s exterior, menu, and the quality of food (Wendy's International, 2012; Anonymous, Analysing the micro-environment, 2007; Gomez-Mejia, David , & Robert , 2008). The rest of the operational factors such as hours of operations, wages, staff uniforms, interior décor, and pricing are left to the owners of the restaurants. This has greatly promoted flexibility in management and enabled the business to thrive against the competition through provision of quality fast food in all its restaurants worldwide. However, the most important aspect of its success is its ability to outsmart Burger King and make more sales than the latter in spite of the fact that it has twice the number of restaurants that Wendy’s have.

Environment of Wendy’s Restaurants

         Since its inception, Wendy’s restaurant has transformed its organizational framework and operations to enable it initiate many such frameworks in different parts of the globe (Emerson, 1962; Robbins & JUdge, 2007). The various micro environmental factors affecting Wendy’s include suppliers, distributors, customers, and competition especially from Burger King and MacDonald’s. The concept of power dependency relations has made the fast food chain to rely heavily on locally available resources to develop menus for each restaurant in their own distinct environments in order to maintain a proper business and cultural relationship with the localities that the restaurants are situated. Dependency, as the reliance on a third party for the fulfillment of organizational goals as well as the promotion of proper working relationships inspires many store owners to promote their products worldwide (Emerson, 1962; Gomez-Mejia, David , & Robert , 2008). Aside from the suppliers, distributors, and customers, who promote Wendy’s through acceptance of the products, timely supply of raw materials, and proper distribution of raw materials and products, their micro environment has also included their competitors, some of whom have grown more than twice its size. The competition normally proves to be a very critical determinant of a business’s success and Wendy’s restaurant is no exception (Anonymous, Performance Appraisal Biases, 2009). However, statistically speaking, Wendy’s has outdone its competition as in 2011 when its profits exceeded Burger King’s despite having less restaurants. Performance appraisals through micromanagement of employee duties, promotion of work ethics through quality food, and management of work stress through training and rewards are some of the key ways of promoting the success of a business  (Heathfield, 2012; Anonymous, Analysing the micro-environment, 2007; Egbu & Botterill, 2002; Heathfield, 2012). Wendy’s is able to motivate its employees through the autonomy provided to the store owners at each location such that the local dynamics, rather than organizational policy, can be used to maintain a proper understanding and promotion of business relations with employees.

         The external environment has also been a key factor in the expansion of Wendy’s particularly since the external environment normally influences the business more than the business influencing the external environment. The factors contributing to these are sociocultural factors, political and legal factors, economic factors and international factors. Accordingly, basic examples include population changes, rising educational levels, norms and values, demand and production processes, legislation, balance of payment and business cycle, and economic associations (Emerson, 1962; Robbins & JUdge, 2007; McGuire, Garavan, Saha, & O'Donnell, 2005; Joseph , 2000). These factors introduce aspects of corporate power politics, organizational behavior, ethical considerations, and a confluence of emerging trends versus the old norms of Wendy’s restaurant. Technological factors for instance have promoted efficiency and effectiveness in monitoring supplies, keeping electronic inventories and exchange of information between different market segments that the restaurants deal in (Egbu & Botterill, 2002). Additionally, social factors such as norms and population changes have enabled Wendy’s to promote great local fast foods in order to be relevant to the localities in which the restaurants are situated. Furthermore, there are significant results that have been realized on the international front, especially in terms of sale since Wendy’s international connection has made it gain in sales returns since its economic associations with different suppliers provide business through franchising hence promoting local communities and economies (Anonymous, Analysing the micro-environment, 2007; Robbins & JUdge, 2007). Moreover, while its balance of payments has been favorable, Wendy’s is also able to maintain a continuous business cycle which enables it to gain more by being consistent. Finally, the political and legal factors have been a determinant factor and while others have maintained a very positive outlook, it has nonetheless been a challenge to promote proper business interactions in some countries (Emerson, 1962). Nevertheless, Wendy’s legal position with regards to ownership of the stores enables the organization to promote its brand by granting autonomy to store owners in terms of internal organizational functions.

Impact of the Functions of Management

         The effective management of the micro and macro environment has been made possible through the proper application of the different elements of the functions of management. These include organizational culture, leadership, management theories, and motivation theory (Robbins & JUdge, 2007). To begin with, Wendy’s restaurant promotes a distinct organizational culture in order to ensure the proper operations of management functions such as planning, directing, and organizing. Wendy’s restaurants maintain a strict adherence to international standards and integration into the locality of a restaurant. Additionally, retreats of store managers and regional managers are crucial in reinforcing commitment in organizational values and developing new market trends to be adapted to new circumstances and Wendy’s restaurants maintain a regularity of these as part of the organizational culture (Wendy's International, 2012; Joseph , 2000). Finally, an organizational culture has been developed through well planned activities that enable employees to provide technical solutions in relation to their specified training geared towards the attainment of specified organizational objectives. The value and importance of training in a much broader perspective is therefore maintained at Wendy’s through a personalized approach.

         The second aspect is leadership and Wendy’s restaurants promotes good leadership by delegation to store owners who are able to trade with the brand while having the freedom to carry out their internal organizational processes with minimum interruptions (McGuire, Garavan, Saha, & O'Donnell, 2005; Gomez-Mejia, David , & Robert , 2008). Additionally, regular trainings encompassing current trends also promote good leadership which in Wendy’s case has led to its record profits ahead of Burger King, despite the number of stores held by both.

         Finally, management theories like management by objectives, Theory of constraints, and agile software development are some of the prevailing concepts used in the science and art of management. Specifically, management by objectives has been a key pillar of the success of Wendy’s in the fast food business. The key objective of wendy’s is to satisfy the customer and promote its brands as well as its architecture in areas of operation. This enables the headquaters to leave normal daily operations and its details to the restaurant owners and focus its attention to the details related to management of the image of the organization on a global scale.

         Organizations like Wendy’s also need to manage change as they plan their various activities. The management of change reflects how well an organization manages its key elements of success and promote the creation of proper mechanisms for recruiting people in order to improve its value proposition.





Elements of Change Management

         There are certain key elements of change that are applicable to Wendy’s restaurants and that have a probable influence on the promotion of organizational success. These key elements of change that they handle include broad long term planning, establishment of forums and communication methods for participatory decision making, delegation of duties in order to inculcate accountability, use of workshops to review organizational priorities and adjustment of training and development, and recruitment in order to accelerate the growth of people contributing positively to the organization (Gomez-Mejia, David , & Robert , 2008). Participatory decision making makes employees engage in self-evaluation and promote the understanding of the dynamics affecting business. Additionally, delegation of duties promotes increased positivity among workers who get motivated to deliver and foster organizational growth (Emerson, 1962; Heathfield, 2012). Finally, workshops and seminars on priorities enable each and every employee to grasp their value in the business and as such evaluate themselves on the basis of factual information received from this end.

Conclusion

         In conclusion, it is important to note that organizational management of the business environment is a very fundamental aspect of its success that need to be managed with proper care and efficiency which guarantees the attainment of desired goals and adaptation to new influences (Heathfield, 2012; Gomez-Mejia, David , & Robert , 2008). The Wendy’s International, since its founding in 1969, has navigated the different prevailing trends that have promoted the growth of the fast food franchise business into a Multi-million multinational business entity. Its effective change management strategies, adherence to specific organizational cultures and promotion of good working environments ensures its success to date.































References

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Anonymous. (2009). Performance Appraisal Biases. Retrieved May 30, 2012, from Management Study Guide: http://managementstudyguide.com/performance-appraisal-bias.htm

Egbu, O. C., & Botterill, K. (2002). Information technologies for knowledge management: their usage and effectiveness. ITcon, 125-138.

Emerson, R. M. (1962). Power-Dependence Relations. American Sociological Review, 27(1), 31-41.

Gomez-Mejia, L. R., David , B. B., & Robert , C. L. (2008). Management: People, Performance, Change. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Heathfield, S. M. (2012, February). Understanding Stress and Workplace Stress. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from Human Resources: http://humanresources.about.com/od/stressandtimemanagement/a/stress_time.htm

Joseph , J. (2000, October). Ethics Resource Center. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from Ethics in the Workplace: http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13073

McGuire, D., Garavan, T. N., Saha, S., & O'Donnell, D. (2005). The impact of individual values on the importance attached to training and development by line managers. In E. Queen Margaret University (Ed.), UFHRD/AHRD Conference. Leeds: Leeds Metropolitan University.

Robbins, S. P., & JUdge, T. A. (2007). Organizational behavior. Upper Saddle: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Wendy's International. (2012). The Real Choice in Franchising. Retrieved May 17, 2012, from The Wendy's Company: http://www.aboutwendys.com/uploadedFiles/Content/Pages/International/Internation...