Introduction
Cherng, the co-chairman of Panda Express, supports continuous learning by encouraging employees to commit to self-improvement. The company allows the employees to offer their opinions during training. Cherng and his wife, Peggy, the co-CEO, keenly observe little things such as tidiness, which they believe are noticeable by customers. The approaches raise critical questions on whether the business and society would benefit. Establishing the methods to develop the appropriate employee attitudes to support the culture would be vital. Employers should constantly encourage employees who must have the right attitudes to work.
Review of the Critical Elements
Cherng founded the restaurant business on the Asian culture and managed to see Panda Express earn huge success. He focused on enabling continuous learning and self-improvement among the employees, focusing on the total person. The complete person insight is founded on setting goals and establishing action plans. Self-improvement refers to the exercise of an individual’s effort to improve one’s knowledge, character, or status. Armstrong (2018) states that continuous learning entails the relentless attempts of a person to expand their skill set and expertise. Based on this approach, Cherng encouraged all restaurant employees to eat a well-rounded diet and exercise regularly. He borrowed much of his management skills from Stephen Covey, the publisher of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and Don Miguel Ruiz, who developed the Four Agreements. Stephen Covey developed an “inside-out” philosophy that people initiate change that is manifested by observable actions. The four agreements by Don Miguel represent the forces that constrain personal freedoms and create suffering, which takes away emotional energy and value.
Cherng employed the management philosophies to grow the restaurant business based on a personal drive facilitated by better service, environment, and execution. With Peggy, Cherng paid great attention to the little things around the store area. They appreciated the impact of ensuring that little things are observed in their business, most notably because the customers can quickly notice them. In particular, they controlled that the vegetables were cut daily, washrooms were tidy and clean, and the sidewalks had no dirt. The ability of the management to observe such little things enables them to have a deeper insight into their employees’ actual performance on the job. The desire for efficient management helped the business to support the human touch. Employees felt encouraged to commit to self-improvement and offer their opinions in front of their colleagues during training sessions.
Recommended Solutions
Even as Cherng promoted continuous learning, different strategies could be used to propel employee development by having an impact on improving every aspect of the business and making a notable contribution to society. Employee development remains the ultimate approach to ensuring that a company remains competitive in the market (Hirsh & Crow, 2017). Indeed, employee development is acknowledged worldwide as a strategic tool enabling organizations to realize increased productivity, continued growth, and employee retention (Hirsh & Crow, 2017). Therefore, it should be the preferred strategy instead of constantly scanning the labor market for new staff. It implies providing employees with the pieces of training, opportunities for promotions, and rewards for their success. Encouragement in the form of financial bonuses and visible benefits of progress such as promotion or higher salary can enable workers to enhance their skill set and ensure that they become as educated as their peers from other companies.
Employee attitudes are highly critical in managing employees who need support to be positive in their work. Positive attitudes contribute to the decrease in employee turnover rates, better performance on the job, and increased productivity. Individuals shape their perspectives through the judgments and decisions they make through life that are influenced by those in authority (Dutton, 2018). The store manager, who bears the responsibility for ensuring the little things are observed, influences employee attitudes at the restaurant. He should be able to drive positive attitudes by using leadership skills that inspire employees (Dutton, 2018). The manager could make Andrew and Peggy role models or authority figures that the employees can emulate in ensuring they also pay attention to the little things. Additionally, the store manager can create the appropriate attitude toward observing small details by promoting the trend as organizational culture. Culture can direct the employees’ beliefs, objects, values, knowledge, and ethnic customs to adapt to the current environment.
Justification
Organizations adopt employee development strategies that they feel are aligned with their needs, goals, and objectives. Continuous learning and corporate culture are established ways to enable a business to grow in every aspect, benefit the wider society, and promote a positive attitude among employees. For example, the two specific approaches helped Panda Express to realize huge benefits. They were promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion through interaction during training sessions where the individual employees were encouraged to voice their plans. Workers could actively participate in corporate life and feel their importance to the company, which enables them to perform better. Moreover, management facilitated continuous learning by allowing employees to demonstrate their proficiency. That’s why 71 employees of Panda queued and waited for their turn to provide their opinions wearing t-shirts labeled “I’m feeling saucy.” In addition, the store manager can implore the employees to look at Andrew and Peggy as role models. The management team has tremendous influence in championing positive employee attitudes towards observing the little things, which can positively affect the customer’s perception of the organization. A corporate culture enables the business to attract and retain people with a positive attitude to adapt to the working environment, which allows the company remains competitive in the restaurant business.
Conclusion
In general, companies continually search for ways that can enable the business to grow and contribute positively to society. The challenge is in determining whether the preferred approaches will work and finding suitable ways to shape employee attitudes to fit the desired corporate culture. In the case of Panda Express, continuous learning helped to drive employee development that enabled the business to remain competitive in the restaurant business and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. The store manager could use the management team as an authority figure to ensure the culture of observing little things is sustained. Institutionalizing the culture would help the employees develop the positive attitude needed to enchant a good image among the customers.
References
Armstrong, M. B. (2018). Gamification of employee training and development. International Journal of Training and Development, 22(2), 162–169. Web.
Dutton, K. (2018). Professional development: Investigating the relationships between employee motives, learning opportunities, and activities. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal, 32(5), 32–35. Web.
Hirsh, S., & Crow, T. (2017). Becoming a learning team: A guide to a teacher-led cycle of continuous improvement. Learning Forward.