LO1: Critically apply a range of management theories to specific organisational challenges
LO2: Demonstrate a critical understanding of approaches to leadership in context
LO3: Critically evaluate how leadership approaches for employee retention and success, can be employed to respond to workplace challenges
LO4: Identify and design appropriate development plans in response to a learning intervention e.g. coaching and mentoring
This assessment is based on a case study which provides a realistic business challenge and has five questions of equal value to answer.
Assessment Task:
The new leadership team at C&C (case study) have asked for your assistance to conduct thorough analysis of the challenges that the business is facing. They would like you to provide an evidenced-based essay to help them to prepare for discussions at the next Board Meeting.
Case study:
Coffee and Cake (C&C) is a privately owned company that runs an established chain of cafes in sixty locations around the UK. Most are located on high streets and in shopping centres, but there are also units located in large railway stations and some airports. The company sells a wide variety of speciality coffees, cakes, sandwiches and other beverages. It markets itself as a sustainable business with high standards of business ethics, which the business is committed to.
Throughout the Twentieth Century there was a single C&C coffee house located prominently in Central London. This was then taken over by a by a company that was keen to profit from the fast growth in the UK’s coffee shop market. Much money was invested in building the chain and for several years good profits were made. After 2015 though, problems started to arise. Sales began to slump in a number of locations as competition from ambitious independents and other coffee shop chains became more intense. Issues arose concerning unpaid debts and the company started to struggle financially. By the time of the Covid pandemic it was in serious financial difficulty and
in danger of becoming insolvent. In 2021 the company was sold to a consortium of four former C&C managers with finance largely provided by a venture capital fund. The aim of the new leadership and management team is to meet stakeholder expectations, reclaim its reputation and image and return to profitability in the next two years.
While there are many factors behind C&C’s recent poor performance, it is clear that poor management of people has been a major problem area for some time. Staff turnover was running at over 100% in 2019 and employee engagement levels have been very poor in several coffee shops for some years. Good evidence of these matters is found on the Glassdoor website where hundreds of current and former employees have written troubling reviews of their experiences working for the company. Overall ratings since 2015 have been below 3 out of 5, which is considerably lower than the scores typically achieved by C&C’s major competitors.
The following are a representative sample of some of the recent comments that have been left in the Pros and Cons section on Glassdoor:
“Lovely regular customers. Met some good friends”
“Friendly and supportive staff who were happy to swap shifts. Tips”
“Staff discount on cakes and food”
“The only good thing was that it was located only three minutes walking from the place that I used to live.”
“You learn basic management tasks and can improve your communication skills. Free lunch and cakes.”
“I guess it pays your bills if you’re single and live in shared accommodation” MAY 2021: “If you want a culture where the quality of the product, the customer, the brand and the staff are key to how the business works, avoid C&C.”
“Nothing at all was positive”
“No real opportunities for advancement”
“Never put enough staff on shift. Bad at giving breaks, you can work an 8-9 hour shift and not be given a 30-minute break. Never know when your shift will end.”
“Every unit is understaffed, always.”
“It was soul-destroying, you’re taken advantage of and paid very little and you are spoken to by management like you’re a child (in front of customers)”
“No gratitude for anything, lazy people get paid the same as hard working employees”
“Payroll is terrible, consistently mess up pay and will throw the blame on each other rather than own their own mistakes.”
“Head office only cares about the numbers, not the people”
“Some managers are controlling to the point of bullying. While others couldn’t care less. The unit managers and HQ are also incompetent. Nothing gets resolved quickly or accurately.”
“Horrible management, no training at all”
“Terrible company to work for expected to give absolutely everything for nothing in return. Won’t pay for overtime.”
“A lot of unfairness. If the manager is your friend you’ll have advantages Senior managers tend to be offensive and won’t think twice before humiliating you.”
“Customers can be super nasty. They will call you names and shout at you for the smallest things.”
“The staff at my store are nice. You get free food and drink, even though you aren’t officially allowed it. You get to keep your tips if you are a waiter.”
“Management are underqualified and not trained. Many health and safety violations, especially regarding food. Equipment doesn’t get fixed, and the lack of training means things break a lot”
“Management are more concerned about reaching unrealistic goals than the wellbeing of their staff or the quality of service provided Longstanding staff are not appreciated or rewarded. Low pay. Little to no training.”
“Rude customers sometimes, repetitive and same tasks most shifts”
“A very poor company on SOOOOO many levels – they won’t care about you – don’t go & work for them – they are full of the proverbial !!”
Assessment Questions:
LO1: Critically apply a range of management theories to specific organisational challenges.
- The leadership team believe that the world of work has changed over recent years in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the role of technology has changed the way businesses operate, the economy has provided opportunities for some businesses whilst for others they have not survived, social issues and ethical practices seem to be receiving more attention, placing pressure on organisations to operate in fair and ethical ways. The leadership also believe that expectations of employees have shifted, and traditional leadership styles are being questioned, which will affect the way organisations lead and manage their people.
Assessment Task: (20%) Construct an evidenced-based critical discussion to demonstrate how leadership and management approaches affect the performance of people and as such the performance of the organisation.
LO2: Demonstrate a critical understanding of approaches to leadership in context.
- The management team at C&C acknowledge that the leadership needs to change, they want to build a team that is motivated, engaged with their work and committed to the organisation. To make sure they make the appropriate choice, they have asked for a critical evaluation of the current leadership approach.
Assessment Task: (20%) Using your analysis in (1), critically evaluate the existing leadership and management approach at C&C, and the impact this has had on the retention and performance of employees and as a result the performance of the business.
LO3: Critically evaluate how leadership approaches for employee retention and success, can be employed to respond to workplace challenges.
- The leadership are conscious that the turnover is high which is likely to be affecting the quality of customer service and affecting profitability. They are looking to assess the extent to which a new approach leading and managing people would help to reduce the high staff turnover, retain valuable workers.
Assessment Task: (20%) Using your analysis in 1 and 2, critically evaluate the effectiveness of leading and managing people at C&C to retain employees and achieve organisational aims and objectives.
LO4: Identify and design appropriate development plans in response to a learning intervention e.g. coaching and mentoring
- The leadership are aware that some learning and development is required to help drive future change. They would like some guidance on learning and development good practice that would address the challenges and to drive the business aims and objectives.
Assessment task: (20%) Using analysis in (3) critically assess the key learning and development requirements for the leaders and managers at C&C and justify how this would help to retain valuable employees and drive business success.
- Assessment task: (20%) Reflecting on your learning throughout this module critically assess:
- Which session was especially valuable and helped you to develop the discussion in your assessment?
- To what extent did this and/or another session expand or challenge your current thinking?
- What did you find difficult about this assessment, what skills do you intend to develop for future assessments?
- What could you do to benefit more from the sessions, identify what you will do to improve your learning experience in future sessions?
Guidance for your personal reflection (assessment task 5)
You are expected to critically reflect on your learning experience and identify practical ways in how YOU can improve your learning in future sessions, for example:
- In what ways has your knowledge of relevant management theories and practices helped you to make sense of your learning experience on the module.
- Consider ways in which the understanding of yourself, and the practice of leading and managing people has changed or developed.
- Consider how you gained the learning, the processes of learning and to what extent you engaged with the learning materials and sessions.
- In what ways, and why, did the experience generate learning at the time? Did others contribute to your learning – either at the time or afterwards? What happened at the time? What did you feel? What did you think? What assumptions were you making?
- Has further reflection helped you to develop a deeper understanding of your learning experience to help improve this in the future? What could you do differently in the future to improve your learning experience?
