University of Texas at Dallas

Improving
Team
Conditions
at Palios
Pizza Caf








Name: Group 7:
Trevor Dupree
Parash Gyawali
Leng Houth
Eric Jackson
Cindy Osorio
Andy Tran


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction..3

Background.............................3-4

Complication4

Plan 5-6

Recommendation........................................6-8

Conclusion...8-9












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Introduction

Palios Pizza Caf is a Limited Liability Company (LLC) known for its gourmet pizza.
The Palios brand has consistently differentiated itself from the competitors by providing an
exceptional casual dining experience and a family friendly environment. This restaurant strives
to provide you with the highest quality foods, made fresh from the finest ingredients, serving
homemade gourmet pizza to fresh pastas and salads.
The first Palios Pizza Caf initiated in 2001 and has evolved into many communities
throughout Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Today, Palios Pizza Caf has 25 locations in the
Dallas/Fort Worth area, which are individually owned family operated. Since this restaurant is a
LLC, all locations are managed independently; there are differences in how the food is prepared,
the operations of the establishment, and the policies each store implements. Because one of our
group members works as one of three managers at the Richardson location, we believe that this
location would be the best match for our group to investigate and improve the conditions of
Palios Pizza Caf.
Background

Like many other restaurants, Palios Pizza Caf has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Because Palios is individually managed, this has caused the management team to operate
independently of one another. Deeper issues within the establishment stemmed from
management not operating on the same level, preventing Palios from reaching its full potential.
Not only was keeping track of inventory in an efficient fashion a big problem, the lack of
communication among the team contributed to ineffective leadership by management.
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Initially, Palios management team was composed of three managers. In the beginning
stages, the owner identified these inconsistencies in the management team and hired new team
members. He sought to amend the irregularities in management and this resulted in the
termination of two out of three managers. He hired two new managers and promoted a current
member to serve the new roles in management in hopes of improving team conditions.
Complication

Despite hiring a new management team, inconsistencies persisted within the management
positions for this aspiring restaurant. Although the owner of Palios believed that hiring a new
management team would improve team conditions, Palios inconsistencies in management did
not improve even after hiring new managers. Moreover, they still faced lower customer
satisfaction because newly appointed managers did not operate as one unit, but rather
individually. Some of the key issues contributing to the persistence of the problem are:
1.) Team members were not sufficiently equipped with the proper work conditions to
help employees better serve customers.
2.) The lack internal communication between managers and team members regarding
company standards and objectives, caused managers to operate independently of
one another.
3.) Palios newly appointed managers did not have the resources available to order
just in time amounts of inventory within a new restaurant environment, causing
customers to be discontent when Palios is unable to provide their requested
orders.
Given the current situation, the question we seek to investigate is How can we improve
conditions for the new management team?
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The Plan

Initially, we observed the work environment and business functions under different
members of management and communicated our findings with our client. Working with our
client, we researched various methods best suited for organizing companies in the restaurant
industry to increase consistency. To better understand the ineffectiveness and lack of
organization of our client, we used a two-step approach employing Hackmans conditions for
team success as a comparison. The first step was to run a diagnostic tool where we compared the
five principles for team success to what was actually going on at Palios. After we analyzed our
diagnostic test and found what was causing our team to be disorganized, we formulated three
recommendations that would lead to a possible solution.
After running our diagnostic test we found that Palios Pizza Caf did not support the
basic conditions for their team to be successful. After interviewing current managers and random
employees we were able to identify that the only condition Palios met was they consistently had
a team that was willing to lend itself to teamwork. While this was surprising, this was mainly due
to the fact that many of the employees we interviewed were still committed and willing to work
as a team, the managers just failed to provide the other conditions necessary and were causing
the employees to be unmotivated and ineffective. Figure A shows the findings of our diagnostic
test:



Number Hackman: Condition:
1. A Team that Lends Itself to Teamwork
2. A clear and engaging direction
3. A group structure
4. A team friendly educational and reward system
5. Coaching to help employee performance
Figure A:
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As you can see from Figure A, our client supported the first condition but failed to
supply the other conditions necessary to encourage a consistent team environment. According to
Hackman, managers must provide a combination of items to ensure their employees can do their
job to the best of their ability. After drawing up our conclusions based on the table above, it
became clear that in order to improve team effectiveness among managers and employees, we
had to get the managers working on the same level. To accomplish this task, we proposed three
recommendations to help our client implement Hackmans conditions in their workplace:
1. Inventory Order Guide
2. Formal Training Procedures
3. Monthly Meetings
Recommendations

1. Inventory Order Guide:
As we mentioned earlier, newly appointed managers did not provide the basic
resources necessary for their employees to complete their daily tasks. Additionally, there were no
formal training procedures for the proper ways to order food from distributors. This forced
employees to take the initiative of managing under their own discretion and to order anything
they believed necessary. As a result, employees began to order inadequate quantities. To combat
this problem, we proposed to our client that he adopt an inventory checklist as a method to help
ensure accurate ordering, regardless of experience level. By this we mean, that any new manager
could enter the establishment at any given moment and would be able to have an exact check on
inventory. With the help of our client, we devised a simple inventory checklist based on a par
system to help educate employees on how much food should be ordered. A par is the amount
of product that should be in stock at all times. With the help of the managers, we were able to
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assign every product Palios orders a par number; therefore, when employees have to order
food all they have to do is count the number of products on hand and make adjustments to attain
the par amount.
After introducing an inventory order guide, the management team agreed to use this
tool for new and current employees to reference when they lack direction or have not been
trained on how to properly order products and ingredients. Having this checklist available will
help ensure all employees are given the proper resources to complete their job to the best of their
ability. Although checklists are not meant to be relied on, we find this preliminary step essential
for a team to be successful.
2. Formal Training:
In order to increase team consistency and establish clear directions, we recommended
that Palios Pizza Cafe implement formal training procedures in key areas such as preparing
food, taking customer orders, and working different workstations. Initially, the managers and
employees operated with too much freedom. By investing in training for all levels of employees,
this would help promote a group structure that is needed to do their job effectively. This would
also give managers a way to train under the same manner and develop consistent team norms for
all members of the team. By increasing training, this would improve employees comprehension
of what is asked of them and the proper work etiquette expected of them while in the work
environment. Moreover, management would benefit from investing in training procedures for
employees because they are at the forefront of the company and they serve as Palios most
valuable asset. Without these valuable employees, the objectives managers strive to accomplish
would not be possible because after all, the employees are responsible for carrying out the
agenda.

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3. Organization Meetings:
Lastly, to target our clients lack of communication, we proposed for our client to
incorporate meetings to help increase dialogue among all members of the team. First, we
recommended that Palios establish monthly meetings among all members of the organization
and manager-only meetings once a week. Since we concluded that the managers lack of
communication was one of the main contributors to the inconsistences, it was necessary to
recommend that managers communicate with one another more frequently. Although all
members of the team play an important role, the managers should meet once a week and discuss
any problems that they may have encountered since the last meeting and determine future
company goals and objectives. These steps will allow management to communicate to staff
consistent goals and directions, and provide a more stable work environment. When the
management team does hold meetings with the other employees, they will be able to go over the
current plan of action. Also, the meetings will serve as time for managers to coach and motivate
employees on areas of improvement, and congratulate them on things they have done
exceptionally well.
Conclusion

In the beginning, our client presented us with many potential problems we could help
solve. As we began to communicate with staff members and to analyze what was causing Palios
to be inconsistent, we realized that even under new management the problems still existed. After
comparing Hackmans Principles for Team Success, to our clients current environment we were
able to develop potential solutions. We concluded that in order to ensure the success of this
organization, it is important that the leaders provide the environment and conditions necessary
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for employees to perform their best. This means the managers need to consistently communicate
clear directions, encourage their staff to do the best of their abilities, and provide the basic
information and education that is needed to do the job successfully. Although we recommended
Palios implement formal training procedures to help stabilize inconsistences, training is never
solely enough to sustain a healthy organization. Organizations are complex entities that require
that all of the basic conditions be met to ensure long-term success; thus, we put strong emphasis
for our client to focus on the intangibles: coaching, encouraging, motivating, rewards, incentives,
directions, clear objective, and norms to help guarantee success for the future.