Leadership Style and Performance in UK Restaurants

Executive Summary

There are different leadership styles within the UK restaurant sector. Among the predominant leadership styles within this sector are democratic leadership style, autocratic leadership style, laissez faire leadership style, and participatory leadership style. The research paper will explore these leadership behaviour orientations within the restaurant sector in the UK in terms of their relationship to employee motivation. The paper reviews the impact of these leadership styles on the effectiveness of employee motivation among several restaurants operating within the UK. This research look into helping different restaurants that operates within the UK to effectively implement the most consistent leadership style to guarantee success of different employee motivation strategies. The independent variable is employee motivation while independent variables are autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style, laissez faire leadership style, and participatory leadership style.

Through primary research, the correlation analysis revealed that the highest coefficient of 0.678 was recorded in participatory leadership style. This was followed by a coefficient of 0.652 for democratic leadership orientation. The Laissez faire leadership orientation was represented by a coefficient of 0.498. The least coefficient of 0.439 was recorded on autocratic leadership orientation. From the findings, it clear that the aspects of team work, equity, and proper management have an influence on the effectiveness of organizational motivation. The main challenge identified in practicing different leadership behaviours is the ability to balance efficient and episodic as part of organizational efficiency matrix in a proactive manner in the framework for motivating employees. Apparently, the aspects of proactive employee management environment, healthy work environment, and organization commitment are crucial in motivating employees.

Introduction

This section of the research treatise will review research background, research problem, research objectives and research hypothesis with the aim of relating the same to organizational motivational strategies. The ultimate goal of all organizations is not just to survive, but also to maintain their existence through employee motivation to improve their performance. Past literature indicates that leadership as a functional unit in an organization is critical towards ensuring that the motivation objectives are met within the optimal resource use (Peterson, Smith, Martorana, & Owens, 2003). However, the revelations from some of the studies are conflicting. For instance, some of the findings indicate that leadership role and organizational motivation are dependent on each other. In contrast, some research findings reveal lack of quantifiable link between different leadership orientation and level of employee motivation (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). The conflicting findings indicate the need for supplementary research to establish the clear link between leadership orientation style and employee motivation.

Wang, Tsui, and Xin (2011) agree that supplementary research should be carried out on the link between leadership orientation and employee motivation since the past contradictions from different research findings have made it difficult to establish the relationship. Furthermore, many previous research and studies have put their focus on the leadership role in other sectors (Youngs & King, 2002; Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). This means that limited findings on the link between leadership behaviour and employee motivation within the service industry such as the restaurant sector. The impetus of this treatise is to investigate the quantifiable influence of leadership styles on employee motivation in the service industry, especially the UK restaurant sector. Through research survey targeting 200 participants spread evenly across six restaurants, the results will be reviewed and most dominant leadership style identified and related to level of performance. This impetus was used to design the research questions listed in the next section.

Research background

In the last decade, the restaurant sector in the UK has experienced changes within the scope of leadership styles and approaches in managing operations. As a response to the increasing demand for better services, restaurants across the UK have been proactive in implementing strategies to ensure that the businesses are sustainable through proper employee motivation (Peterson, Smith, Martorana, & Owens, 2003). Therefore, it is critical to carry out an explicit research on the direct and indirect impacts of different leadership behaviour orientation on the effectiveness of different employee motivation strategies within restaurants in the UK. This study aims at reviewing different leadership behaviours and their link to different employee motivation strategies that restaurants apply to sustain business operations (Peterson, Smith, Martorana, & Owens, 2003). It will utilise best practice examples from six UK restaurants (represented by two restaurants each that are privately owned, jointly owned, and government owned).

Research problem statement

Leadership skills are one of the key factors within the hospitality industry as it revolves around a vibrant environment in terms of service orientation and concentrated labour (Gillet & Morda, 2003). Previous researches have showed that leadership style can influence the employee’s behaviour within the customer oriented industry. Leadership in the organization environment is dynamic since it focuses on how manager behave (Flaherty, Mowen, Brown, & Marshall, 2009). For instance, transformational leadership orientation can improve employee satisfaction, dedication, and general behaviour (Gill & Mathur, 2007). Despite these results indicating that various leadership orientations have different impact on the level of employee motivation, there is little knowledge on the ideal leadership behaviour that has the highest impact on employee motivation within the UK restaurant sector.

In most organizations, at the beginning of the 21^st century, organization leadership was packaged as a linear function that is used in a straight feedback channel to pay messages to the subordinates (Olmstead, 2002, Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee, 2008). In the middle of the 21^st century, the focus was shifted to transactional process that is characterised by direct interaction between the leader and the subordinate through encode-decode process. Organizational leadership as practiced in the current business environment encompass cultural balance, healthy employee relationship, and complete system of organization review (Olmstead, 2002; Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee, 2008). Several leadership behaviour orientations are proactively practiced in the UK restaurant sector. Among the predominant styles include participatory, democratic, laissez faire, and autocratic leadership.

The need for organization performance sustainability as influenced by good leadership informed the need for this research that aims at relating leadership behaviour and employee motivation effectiveness. Specifically, this research will attempt to link different motivation programs in the UK restaurant sector to organization leadership behaviour.

Research hypothesis

Null hypothesis

Different organization leadership behaviours have a direct impact on the level of employee motivation within the restaurant sector in the UK.

Alternative hypothesis

Different organization leadership behaviours do not have a direct impact on the level of employee motivation within the restaurant sector in the UK.

The research aims and objectives

Considering the significance of different leadership behaviours on employee motivation, this research treatise will attempt to analyse the extent to which these leadership styles influence the effectiveness of different organizations within the UK restaurant sector. The objectives are summarised below as;

1. To review the significance of different leadership behaviour orientations within the restaurant sector in the UK.
2. To review the impact of different leadership behaviour orientations on the level of employee motivation within the restaurant sector of the UK.
3. To investigate different ways of measuring employee motivation within the restaurants that operates within the restaurant sector of the UK.

Research significance

The study will relate leadership behaviour to employee motivation within the restaurant sector of the UK. The case study restaurants will be reviewed in terms of long term and short term growth as part of their leadership strategy enacted by the management of such establishments. This study will also look into different leadership behaviours and their impacts at the restaurants within the UK restaurant sector. Therefore, the outcome of this research study may be instrumental in improving the general level of employee motivation through proper human resource policies and critical management in goal setting and execution.

Organizational leadership effectiveness influences the sustainability of organization operations since all factors of production are optimal at this point. Specifically, the outcome of this research will be instrumental to case study organizations in implementing effective leadership styles to guarantee optimal employee motivation, thus optimal performance. The research findings will also suggest to the case study organizations on the best employee motivation strategies that may be instrumental in creating an idea work environment for employees.

Research Justification

Employee motivation is a key component of leadership behaviour orientation and largely determines the efficiency of any particular organization. From the literature review, there is a gap on the irrefutable impacts of different leadership styles on the effectiveness of employee motivation within the UK restaurant sector. The rationale for the entire analysis is based on the above research gap.

Limitations of the study

There is little literature on the link between leadership behaviour orientation and the level of employee motivations within the restaurant sector of the UK. Although the study aims at addressing the above research gap, it will only add literature on the research topic within a specific business environment. The findings will reveal the underlying variables to effective employee motivation as influenced by different leadership styles. This means that the case study restaurants will have to review other significant factors that may interact with leadership styles to either increase or decrease the level of employee motivation (Olmstead, 2002). Therefore, there is need to regulate any emphasis on a trend that may emerge to ensure that the case study restaurants embrace practical leadership practices that guarantee optimal employee motivation.

Research timeline

Week 1: Research Commencement

This stage will involve reviewing the research topic and rationale for the proposed hypothesis. This stage may take one week, since choosing the topic will be dependent on available literature.

Week 2 & 3: Choosing the case study

Choosing the case study will be very challenging as research papers adopt different approaches. Specifically, I will have to choose the most convincing research variables from different research articles with a diverse approach to the research questions.

Week 4 & 5: Background research

Since materials are available for the research topic, I will have an easy time in merging the relevant material to the research question. This stage may take two weeks to accomplish.

Week 6, 7, & 8: Conducting the literature review

This stage will be very demanding, since different sources of information will be searched. The sources of information that will be probed include the internet, the university library, course notes and public libraries with relevant information on the topic of research. I will concentrate on scholarly papers, conference proceedings, and relevant books.

Week 9, 10, & 11: Conducting interviews, collecting data and analysing data

This stage will be the most difficult in the research study. I will have to balance direct interviews, questionnaires, and other methods of research to present information about the topic. Data collected through one-on-one interviews will have to be scrutinised in detail. The research will use open and closed-ended questions in examining the relationship between leadership behaviour and employee motivation. Each question asked will have to be comprehensive to ensure that respondents have an opportunity to give deep answers, which provide an insight into the research problem to solve through the use of Google docs software. Transcription will be done to each of the recorded interview process. For each response, from each participant, the recorded transcripts will be perused to coin relevant and most appropriate response. This part will be more time consuming than any other part of the research paper.

Week 12 & 13: Research conclusion

Emerging themes will be identified and the findings will be interpreted and related to the research question. I will have to manage the data findings and interpretation within the scope of the research topic despite any research dynamics that may arise in the process. The final study will be reviewed to confirm its comprehensiveness in answering the research question before submission. This summarised in the Gantt chart below.

Summary

In summary, the first chapter has explored the background and main concepts that will steer the research paper towards establishing the relationship between employee motivation and leadership behaviour within the restaurant sector in the UK. The entire analysis will be based on the link between leadership styles and the level of employee motivation in different restaurants across the UK restaurant sector.

Literature Review

Introduction

The literature review part will explore different leadership behaviour orientations and employee motivation strategies that guaranteed organization effectiveness. The process of reviewing existing literature on the research project will be carried out through examination of different journal articles, books, and websites. Reflectively, “leadership is the intrinsic ability to internalise a setting with the intention of empowering a group or team to proactively and creatively contribute towards problem solving” (Casimir & Waldman, 2007, p. 48). In order to lead a multi-cultural group, a manager is expected to balance the dimension of power/distance to minimize the degree of inequality when fulfilling the group expectations. In order to achieve this, the leadership approach should embrace the low power/distance score to make the bridge between supervision and other subjects friendly (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). As a result, there will be continuous teamwork that involves as many people of different cultures as possible. The decision made in such environment will not only be friendly to a larger percentage of the group, but also accommodating to different cultures within the local setting.

Leadership theories

Transformational leadership theory

Under transformation leadership, the leader has a proactive role of giving the subordinates in an organization to interact freely and equitably in the process of addressing different needs. This type of leadership orientation is characterised by flexibility since those who practice this leadership style must embrace the elements of commitment, team work, and proactive focus in transforming different aspects of organizational functioning (Bloom & Reenen, 2010; Weinberg & McDemott, 2002).

Leadership expectancy theory

This leadership theory is characterised by decision making process that is devoid of prejudices and negative emotions since it operates in a multi dimensional organization that has competing interests. The leadership theory offers the most viable performance management matrix since the entire idea is angled on ethical behaviour. Among the notable elements of this theory include valence, performance, effort that are balanced by the outcome (Montana & Bruce, 2008).

Leadership motivational theories

Incentive theory

This theory functions on the perceptions of a leader towards creating series of structures for rewarding performance to ensure that the subordinates are not only part of the leadership process, but also part of the performance engagement in an organization. For example, in a multidimensional organization, it is prudent for the leader to create a system that links the relationship between individual performance and rewards expected in order to motivate desirable performance levels (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002).

Arousal theory

This theory is functional in promoting the aspect of communication culture valance in developing the norms and expectations within each behaviour against the guideline for self regulation. For example, in a typical organization, arousal may lead to either positive or negative results when the command plan is incline towards self contempt and supportive approaches, respectively (Andreadis, 2009).

Other leadership theories

According to Andreadis (2009), “expectancy theory in leadership functionality in an organization influences the behaviour of person(s) making decision away from personal prejudice, stereotype, or emotions” (Andreadis, 2009, p. 45). Reflectively, applying individualism dimension as a leader in a multi-cultural setting will create a flexible group culture and feign a common communal connection among the parties functioning within a set of expectations. In order to make the individualism dimension as dynamic as possible, it will be critical to introduce strategies that will ensure that the score is very low. Therefore, the leadership approach will revolve around showing respect to all, promoting harmony through suppressing negative feelings, and introducing changes progressively without having to interfere with the existing traditions (Bloom & Reenen, 2010).

According to Huczynski (2012), “what valence a certain object or activity and partly upon the needs of the state of the person at that time” (Huczynski, 2012, p. 273). As the third cultural dimension, applying masculinity in a multi-cultural organization would involve creating a leadership system that balances the roles between the manager of the expectations and those operating within the expectations. The system will embrace the diverse roles and provide a structure for leadership based on skills and not just ideological or private inclination of a party. For instance, through creation of a task-orientation and transformational leadership skills, it will be easy for the manager to balance the discontent as a result of inferiority or superiority complex among the parties interacting. The skills will ensure that the group has a low score in the masculinity dimension (Davidson, Wood, & Griffin, 2009). Therefore, the elements of equality, job design, and collectiveness will become ideal for proactively managing expectation.

According to Weinberg and McDemott (2002), “healthy ethical communication culture creates structural goals which develop norms, expectations of specific behaviour display, and appropriate guideline controlling interaction with one another” (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002, p.19). The uncertainty/avoidance index dimension within a multi-cultural setting as a leadership strategy is achievable through creating systems that address the sources of stressors and provide coping instruments. Therefore, a low score is ideal for a multi-cultural organization. This is achievable through minimal interference with the group structure, limited emotional response to emergencies, and proactive expression of an otherwise situation that might complicate changes. In order to balance the pros and cons of a lower score, there is need to concentrate on the cultural context for the manager to remain relevant (Lipshitz et al. 2007).

The last cultural dimension in leadership is the long term orientation. This is achievable through promotion of equality, creativity, and self-actualisation. Therefore, the leadership approach should create a uniform behaviour standard within the local context to ensure that decisions made do not interfere with the local traditions and expectations. In summary, the elements of respect, proactive attitude, and freedom of expression will create a steady management when the above dimensions are balanced (Cardenas & Crabtree, 2009).

As indicated in the Vroom’s expectancy theory, motivation attracts different performance levels since the rewards may cue to the perceptions of employees in a positive way to perform optimally (Montana & Bruce, 2008). The visual representation in the form of rewards is important in creating a sustainable work environment (Lipshitz, Friedman, & Popper, 2007; Davidson, Wood, & Griffin, 2009). As a prerequisite for effective valence balance in an organization, it is necessary for the employees to develop confidence and common vision since the applicability of the theory functions on conformity (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002).

Different leadership behaviours

In the last decade, leadership responsibilities in organizations have changed as business environments experience management dynamics. As indicated by Montana and Bruce (2008), leadership orientation involves the patterns and approaches that organization or individuals take to manage a situation. In many organizations, the type of leadership style in use may influence the level of employee performance (Male et al. 2007; Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). In most cases, managers tend to apply the most appropriate leadership style depending on the type of organization in question to ensure that the aim and roles do not mismatch the expirations. Different leadership behaviours are explained below.

Autocratic leadership style

Autocratic leadership behaviour involves sole decision making process by a manager on behalf on an organization without consulting the other subordinates. The decision made by the individual is the communicated to the subordinates as the final choice when handing a situation. In relation to the UK restaurant industry, an establishment practicing this type of leadership style may give a manager the sole responsibility of making major decisions and communicating instructions to subordinates. As presented within theory X and Y, “autocratic leadership style involves supervision after instructions with the belief that the employees are responsible to do what is right” (Arslan & Staub, 2013, p. 34). Generally, this leadership behaviour is healthy in promoting maximum employee involvements as the expectations from each employee is communicated in a comprehensive performance outline (Male et al. 2007).

Democratic leadership style

As indicated by Andreadis (2009), democratic style of leadership functions in a consultative environment where all major decisions or actions in an organization are guided by the principle of equitable participation between the managers and subordinates. This type of leadership embraces the principle of having similar voting right when executing duties in an organization. The “democratic leadership style means facilitating the conversation, encouraging people to share their ideas, and then synthesizing all the available information into the best possible decision” (Anderson, 2009, p. 45). This type of leadership behaviour is characterised by flexibility in the decision environment since it consultative and active participation by all the stakeholders. Since this leadership style is dependent on consultation of all the stakeholders, it has disadvantages such as prolonged decision making process since all the stakeholders must contribute in the final decision (Huczynski, 2012).

Participatory leadership style

Reflectively, “participatory leadership is a system in which employees of a business organization take an active role in the decision-making process as it relates to the way the business operates” (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009, p. 29). This type pf leadership behaviour is characterised by teamwork, high level of personal responsibility, and inclusive decision environment. This type of leadership behaviour is commonly practiced in many restaurants in the UK as it is friendly to the views of the subordinates.

Laissez faire leadership style

Basically, laissez faire leadership behaviour is characterised by, “the manager taking a back seat in proceedings, leaving the staff in charge of their own specific sections or tasks (Lipshitz et al. 2007, p. 21). This leadership behaviour encourages high morale among employees since everyone is his or her own boss when decisions have to be made. Besides, this style is ideal in promoting creativity since each employee is empowered to add his or her input without having to seek approval from the seniors. However, this leadership behaviour may lead to redundancy, when the employees decide to abuse their roles in the organization since there are no structures for regulating any unbecoming behaviour (Mason, 2005). In relation to the restaurant sector in the UK, this leadership approach is not ideal since the sector operates in an environment where the needs of customers are very sensitive.

Impacts of the leadership styles on employee motivation

Reflecting on Lewin’s three-step theory, the unfreezing, transformation, and refreezing determine the level of performance in an organization. According to this theory, the first step involves realization that a challenge exists in the organization. The second step involves transformation of this challenge into a development goal after which implementation step concludes by developing a solution for the challenge (Liu, Combs, Ketchen, & Ireland, 2007). The best way to motivate employees is by giving them responsibilities for achieving something and the authority to do it in their own way. Through this approach, employees will be empowered and they will feel trusted and valued by the management personnel (Davidson, Wood, & Griffin, 2009; Male et al. 2007).

Naturally, human beings would wish for motivation through mutual consent and internalised empowerment and appreciation. Empowerment unleashes plenty of energy and motivation. Reflectively, the motivation and energy aspects of appreciation function simultaneously at micro and macro levels to facilitate optimal functionality or productivity (Andreadis, 2009). Empowering the employees will ensure a stable and sustainable win-win situation as employees will be motivated to work without much supervision from the management or their supervisors. As opined by Maslow, in the hierarchy of needs theory, “primary needs are basic before tertiary needs and must be addressed in that order” (Vaccaro et al 2012, p. 36).

The needs include safety, physical needs, love, self esteem, and room for actualisation. Job satisfaction is as a result of a systematic and continuous environmental and personality interaction that fosters the right attitude as indicated in the objectives of this hospital. In the case of the surgery department, social and highly skilled employees should be allocated the right duties than keeping them in a secluded environment. When assigning duties, personality checks are necessary to promote self satisfaction while the same time improves performance. In addition, periodic self evaluation and interdepartmental rotation ensure change of environment (Vaccaro et al. 2012; Andreadis, 2009; Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009). Overtime, the results will reliable, effective, and profitable to such an organization.

Role of training in an organization’s motivation as a leadership element

Self evaluation skills on individual concentration level during training encompass actual and expected outcome. Through designing relevant program training model, concentration evaluation will remained active in developing dependence of interest attached to an activity, creating proactive relationships, and monitoring their interaction with physical aspects of team evaluation. Eventually, this pays off since that individual will learn to appreciate the essence of learning and need to stay active. Thus, despite training coordination being rated as a high self management assessment strategy, actionable planning is of essence to create solution oriented task and strategy implementation secession for quantifying performance levels (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009).

Since training engages in active process of learning through skill evaluation, facilitation, and rewarding collective learning results, the ideal module for quantifying success will rely on the set objectives. The three building blocks of training evaluation include learning intra personal performance, learning processes, and practices leadership that reinforces performance. Better performance translates into organization growth especially when the training process is continuous (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009).

Naturally, human beings would wish for motivation through mutual consent and internalised empowerment and appreciation. Empowerment unleashes plenty of energy and motivation. Reflectively, the motivational and energy aspects of appreciation functions simultaneously at micro and macro levels to facilitate optimal functionality or productivity (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009). Empowering employees ensures a stable and sustainable a win-win situation as employees will be motivated to work without much supervision from the management or their supervisors. When properly incorporated within and without different departmental segmentations as an active component of the company goals and vision, the complete interaction between the management and other staff will contribute to value addition, good performance and healthy working environment.

Upon empowering employees to participate more in the decision making process, culture of independence in reasoning and consultative approach when handling work related duties will be internalised. In fact, the employees will appreciate the need for free consultation rather than doing the same as a condition imposed on them by their superiors. In the process of carrying out consultative functionalism, the mind will be tuned to appreciate the need for flexibility in decision making science which is compatible with the goals and vision of the organization (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009). In addition, the entire workforce operating under the consultative approach is likely to positively embrace change element that may be introduced in the organization aimed at ensuring optimal output by the employees. Optimal performance translates into sustainable business and promotes organization development (Andreadis, 2009).

Motivation and employee engagement

This Vroom Expectancy Theory suggests that employees earn motivation from what they expect in terms of rewards. The theory bases its argument on operant conditioning. The employees look at the rewards. If the reward is good, the employees put in effort to earn it. This effort leads to good performance. However, the employees want rewards in terms of intangible benefits. This includes special recognitions, learning, and development, involvement in making critical decisions, prompt and detailed feedback and most importantly listening from management (Ernst & Young, 2012).

According to this theory, if employees feel that when they perform well they will get the above-mentioned rewards, they feel motivated to perform. The theory uses terms such as expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Valence is the attachment that an employee feels towards the reward. Therefore, management should create such an environment to ensure these rewards. These rewards should be valuable and have the ability to generate an emotional attachment in employees. For example, fully paid one-week holidays to exceptional destinations. However, this is only true if employees are already satisfied by basics such as remuneration, safety, and cleanliness. The study does not mention these aspects (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009).

Operant conditioning is an old theory that seeks to know the needs of employees. It derives from classical conditioning. Although Expectancy Theory omits the fact that employees do not really want tangible things to look forward to, the study above explains this very well. The author says that employers should seek to know what employees look forward to from them. Additionally, the environment should be conducive to enable employees to state what they want. He says that this should be the employer’s initiative. This is because leaving this responsibility to employees is challenging. The study and the theory agree on this fact. This is because employees do not have power to structure their work in a different way (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009).

The need for change is inevitable, and the processes for an organizational change can be counterproductive (Andreadis, 2009). The employee is reluctant to leave his or her old job description for a new assignment (Male et al. 2007). Sometimes, the resistance could be fear of losing his or her relevance in the organization (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). Some employees perceive a loss in their inheritance should the change succeed. Andreadis (2009) suggested the importance of equipping each employee with the required training prior to an organizational change. Employees who communicate with the executives are likely to accept the change without resistance. Employees without attachment to the management may resist any change in the organization (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). When the management gathers employee’s opinions prior to the organizational change, the chances of resistance from the employees are slim. Consequently, the level of education of the employee influences his or her perception towards the organizational change. The impact of employee’s inclusion in the decision-making of an organization influences the smooth transition during the change process (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009).

The employee’s profile influences his or her feelings towards the organizational change. The belief of a better job description may influence his or desire towards the change. Change management could be achieved when the feelings, perceptions, and attitudes of the employees are captured in the processes of change. The feelings of the employees towards change affect their performance, thus, employee’s inclusion in decision-making during the management of change will provide a positive response (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002).

Employee’s inclusion in the decision-making of change projects can be accessed by the success or failure of the organizational change. The consequence of an employee’s inclusion can be determined by the success of the organizational change (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). When the employees provide support to the change management, the change project will be successful. Employees’ inclusion will influence their perceptions towards the change process; their attitudes will influence the process of change in the organization. The staff strength will be utilized to improve and cushion the effects of the change. Organizational change comes with its challenges; the process is not an easy one. The plan must be achievable, and the challenges can be reduced when the employees are included in the decision-making process (Davidson, Wood & Griffin, 2009).

UK Restaurant sector

Series of literature reveal that the restaurant sector in the UK has been growing steadily in the last two decades (Hospitality Catering News, 2015). The growth has been influenced by increasing customer demand, increasing expansion of the industry, increasing customer base, and better management skills (Hospitality Catering News, 2015; Ernst & Young, 2012). In order to cope up with the growth, it is necessary for the restaurant to create sustainable leadership models that are proactive in promoting effective employee management and motivation (Hospitality Catering News, 2015). This may be achievable through implementation of effective organization communication within the ideals of optimal organization performance (Ernst & Young, 2012).

Due to the fact that series of organization leadership orientation have direct impact on the level of performance, “restaurants’ choice of leadership styles greatly depends on the effectiveness of the management that a particular leadership style could offer” (Lipshitz et al. 2007, p. 48). For example, when autocratic leadership is applied, there is a gap between the communication channel that connects employees to the managers, since the employees are not empowered to participate in any decision making (Elearn, 2006; Dasgupta et al. 2013). Therefore, application of different leadership styles may definitely determine the level of employee motivation, especially in the UK restaurant sector since it is characterised by sensitivity to market dynamics (Davidson, Wood, & Griffin, 2009; Collis & Hussey, 2003).

Proper leadership and effective motivational strategies in a business

Proper leadership ensures improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the current mode of communication between the employees and the organization through incorporation of multicultural training. It also ensures that the various available methods appeal to the employees (Ernst & Young, 2012). Proper leadership is a prerequisite for organizations that want to improve the standard of services that employees receive. Basically, proper leadership ensures effective employee motivation through balancing the elements of emotions, attitudes, personalities, and values (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). Through “promoting the principles of specialisation, standardisation, and predictability in organizations, classical theorists have essentially attempted to minimise the occurrences of misunderstandings in organizations” (Modaff, DeWine, & Butler, 2008, p. 27).

Since all the personnel in any organization are professional adults, the issue of negative emotions is rarely sighted. However, the need to develop policies for informing positive outlook in this intensive work environment is assured through proper leadership (Bloom & Reenen, 2010; Wang, Tsui, & Xin, 2011). Majority of employees in any organization have positive attitude in their duties. However, there are few individuals with relatively negative attitude. There are several employees who portray different personalities. There are some personnel who are introverts and extroverts. Some of the employees are social while others are not very social. Since all the employees share the value of professionalism, communication is relatively stable (Eriksen, 2009).

However, there is need to revise the values in intra and inter-personal communications to ensure that personal beliefs do not interfere with service delivery. Emotional intelligence has significant contribution towards general wellness and good health since it facilitates the development of personal and social competence (Bloom & Reenen, 2010). Developing personal and social competence through emotional intelligence will improve an individual’s self esteem and self efficacy (Montana & Bruce, 2008; Huczynski, 2012). Emotional intelligence orientation module has remained active in developing dependence of interest attached to an activity, creating proactive relationships, and monitoring their interaction with physical and psychological health (Janus, 2008; Weinberg & McDemott, 2002).

Properly balanced attitude pays off since the personnel will learn to appreciate the essence of tolerance and need to stay active. By encouraging a hyperactive tolerance levels, the personnel will be able to internalise the need for optimizing output level through pre-planning of activities and accommodating extras (Wang, Tsui, & Xin, 2011; Powell, 2005). There is need to establish universal values at the department. Therefore, it is critical to balance the feedback with the efficiency goals as a remedy towards inclusiveness and active participation which translates into desirable performance (Janus, 2008; Wang, Tsui, & Xin, 2011). Through focus performance management, the surgery department will be in a position to create clear goals on performance appraisal, manage a positive feedback channel, and offer a continuous and systematic coaching to ensure that employees perform at optimal productivity level (Drucker, 2007). Thus, “strategic leadership planning consists of one overarching principle and three separate strategies, or practices: contain, cope, and construct” (Modaff, DeWine, & Butler, 2008, p. 21).

The Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour encompasses the elements of subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, intension, and the behaviour. It is important to promote positive personalities among the employees in the surgery department (Escrig-Tena, Bou-Llusar, Beltran, & Roca-Puig, 2011). Thus, management may promote productive behaviour in the organization. The intension of the productive behaviour is to micromanage any challenges that might interfere with employees’ productivity. As a result, the employees will perceive such organization as supportive of their welfare. Thus, “as salience, time, and willingness to communicate increase, coping and constructing, further along the continuum, may be chosen” (Modaff, DeWine, & Butler, 2008, p. 23).

Lack of motivation implies that the needs of the workers have not been fully met and thus they are not encouraged to work hard or to continue working in such environment. For instance, some workers might not be given an opportunity to air their grievances to the CEO and are not in good terms with the personal assistant who might be seen as an obstacle to accessing the CEO (Escrig-Tena, Bou-Llusar, Beltran, & Roca-Puig, 2011). In addition, facilities for working might not as up to date as compared to those of the young workers, which might be given everything that they need in order to work effectively. On the other hand, the new workers might not be fully motivated. They might be denied basic needs such as snacks, which are being provided by the company. In order to restore the faith of workers, the two factor theory might be employed to boost the morale of all employees. The theory asserts that the needs of workers may be divided into two categories, including hygienic factors and motivators. Hygienic factors are issues that affect the satisfaction of workers while motivators are factors that are integral pertaining to the jobs (Modaff, DeWine, & Butler, 2008). Thus, they should enlist the factors in the two categories and then implement them accordingly.

The hygienic factors lacking in many cases are ample working conditions for the old workers since they have been denied access to the latest facilities and budget. As noted from various articles, new workers office is always renovated and the budget is often met promptly. This is in contrast to the case of old workers who are always given insufficient budget meaning that the facilities are inadequate and their office place is not often considered for face-lift. Another hygienic factor that misses in many organizations is good relationship. This affects the perception, attitudes, and feelings of workers since new workers do not bode well with the old ones. Additionally, the old workers do not bode well with the company’s personal assistant to the CEO. The motivators to be considered in many cases are recognition for the good work done. The old workers are not always recognized for their efforts at work and this might impair their motivation for work. Employee’s feelings, attitude, and perceptions can be used to access the level of success achieved during the management of change. A positive attitude towards change reduces the obstacles during change management. Employee’s inclusion in decision-making provides a platform for individual cohesion. The cohesion influences a positive attitude and feeling towards change (Modaff, DeWine, & Butler, 2008).

Leadership and motivational strategies in restaurant organizations

The for employee motivation require organizations to take a collaborative perspective in dealing with the subject matter. In essence, this aspect means that the plan requires the management and the staff to work together at various levels. The main requirement for the creation of such a set-up is an exchange of information and knowledge relevant to the project (Gordon, 2005). Actualisation of the tactics requires the management to work closely with the staff and allow the staff freedom as they accomplish their duties. It also enables the staff to seek advice and any other forms of aid (Janus, 2008). In most cases, organizations tend to apply the use of service-for-service method. The method is an innovative way through which organizations can greatly reduce operations costs, improve employee performance, improve organizational efficiency, and job satisfaction (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002).

Reflectively, the motivational and energy aspects of appreciation functions simultaneously at micro and macro levels to facilitate optimal functionality or productivity. When properly incorporated within and without different departmental segmentations as an active component of the company goals and vision, the complete interaction between the management and other staff will contribute to value addition, good performance, and healthy working environment (Male et al. 2007). The main problem is that some motivational strategies are not effective for the employees. As a result, most organisations’ employee motivation programs may not equate to improved organizational performance (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002).

Restaurant organizational effectiveness

Organization effectiveness is an essential part of firm’s value orientation. Value in a firm emanates from the employees’ satisfaction level since they develop loyalty (Weinberg & McDemott, 2002). The satisfaction of the employees results from quality management practices, policies, and support services that enable them to satisfactorily serve customers. A special leadership tool that emphasizes on employees’ satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and quality management practices are necessary to a firm’s productivity and increase its performance. In addition, staffing involves establishment of attractive rewards and remuneration. Rewards increase employee satisfaction, which subsequently influences their performance. Reward is a management tool that contributes to the effectiveness of the firm by influencing group and individual behaviours. A common practice of most of the organizations today, is to use promotions, pay bonuses and other rewards to encourage and motivate high levels of employees’ performance. When this is absent in the staffing process, performance is likely to be below standards (De-George, 2013).

Firms should therefore come up with their own models since firms differ in the way they define customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction as part of staffing strategy. Employee satisfaction cannot contribute to productivity directly. Other than employee satisfaction, other proactive measures of productivity include brand engagement and motivational levels. They should undertake several career development programs, such would be necessary for attracting and retaining human resource base. Organizations should consider providing a job compensation structure that supports the organizations as well as individuals’ growth and development perspectives. The firms should also evaluate employees and produce succession pipe-lines for vital job positions in the organization before assigning roles (Dasgupta et al. 2013).

Research gap

The findings in the literature review reveals that there is little information on irrefutable impacts of different leadership styles on the effectiveness of employee motivation within the UK restaurant sector. The rationale for this research paper is to establish the scientific impacts of different leadership styles on the effectiveness of employee motivation within the UK restaurant sector through focusing on the following questions.

Research questions:

1. What is the level of leadership styles’ effectiveness in promoting employee motivation within the restaurant sector of the UK?
2. How relevant are the different leadership styles on the employee motivation strategies that the case study restaurants apply?
3. What is the effectiveness of the different leadership styles, in terms of role, in promoting employee performance sustainability within the restaurant sector of the UK?

Summary

From the literature review, it is apparent that there are several leadership behaviour orientations that are applied in the UK restaurant sector. Each of the leadership styles has different impacts on the level of employee engagement in the running of the restaurants. From a theoretical perspective, it is apparent that restaurants that use laissez faire leadership style have the least performance matrix.

Research Methodology

Introduction

This part of the paper will review the appropriate method of collecting and analysing data. The focus of the research will be through survey. The qualitative research is significant in facilitating knowledge on individual attributes that contribute to poor performance. Through research survey targeting 200 participants spread evenly across six restaurants, the results will be reviewed and most dominant leadership style identified and related to level of performance. This methodology will help in identification of statistical patterns in the data on different leadership styles within the UK restaurant sector using questionnaires and interviews.

Qualitative and quantitative research methods

Questionnaire

The research will be carried through open and close ended questions (Anderson, 2004). Managers and employers within the UK restaurant sector will express their views on the research topic. This method was chosen because it is cost effective and easy to apply. To minimize any weakness of this approach, simple language and sentence structure was adopted.

Interviews

The interview approach was also adopted since the research topic was focused. The research ensures that the questions in the interview approach are clear and does not attract ambiguous answers. Since the researcher is expected to accord the research project professional seriousness, the willing respondents are likely to reliable, credible, and informed responses to questions asked.

Research Approach

This research was conducted through research survey approach. The researcher chose the quantitative approaches because the scope of the entire research was discovery based (Anderson, 2004). The quantitative approach was ideal to create further knowledge on the subject matter (Anderson, 2004). The researcher used direct interviews with open-ended and close-ended questionnaires to target respondents.

Data was collected through one-on-one interviews (Blaxter, Hughes, & Malcolm, 2005). Use of the quantitative research approach will facilitate understanding of the individual attributes that contribute to poor performance. Attributes of the subjects under study will be q quantitatively studied through observation where the researcher will collect data using an observation schedule during the interview process. This will allow the researcher to enter observed quantitative behaviour indicative of lack of motivation in an organization (Janus, 2008).

Primary research entails carrying out an investigation on a problem by collecting data from the study participants and analysing them, which contrast secondary research that focus on already collected and analysed data. It includes first-hand information gathered afresh through primary data collection methodologies, including direct observations, surveys, and even interviews. Primary data enrich secondary information and even establish facts about the existing theories. For the purpose of the proposed research, primary data will come from direct interviews targeted at participants from the case study restaurants. The organizations have the required capacity to provide information pertaining important primary data. Akin to this proposed research, structured interviews with a set of predetermined questions will aid in collecting the needed primary research information, with the researcher employing highly standardized recording techniques.

Research Samples

Sampling

This research will target managers and supervisors randomly chosen from restaurants in the UK, since they have the knowledge of the strategic planning and system leadership strategies that determine the level of employee motivation. A sample space of 200 participants will be interviewed through random sampling. The sampling criterion that will be used in the initial sampling plan represents the true picture of the activities on the ground. To begin with, the sampling plan considers several managers and concentrates on different shifts. Besides, this sample plan is representative of the UK restaurant sector management styles and it is not biased, since the results generated are from different sampling units with a sample space of one. Moreover, adaptation of this sample plan as authentic would not compromise the aspect of comparative study in decision making, that is, it gives room for comparison to another set of data.

Sampling Formula

n=N/ (1+N (e²))

Where:

• n = sample size
• N= Target population
• e= Degree of freedom
• n=200/ (1+200*0.05²)
• n=200/1.075
• n= 187.907

Data analysis

The primary data collected was passed through SPSS and series of cross tabulation generated to gain insight into the research topic (Groves et al. 2009). The surveys will include questions with statements about the inquiry and the research expects that the participants will comprehend and provide their ideas meaningfully. Immediately, after the data collection process is the data analysis in which qualitative data analysis assumes the use of simple analytical approaches, and narrative analysis will be imperative in this study. The study will analyse the perceptions of the participants, examine the statistical data provided, and examine the judgments and arguments presented by the respective management teams of various organizations. Content analysis will also aid in analysing the data provided, as it is imperative to identify how the participants construct the meaning of the ideas regarding the inquiry. The qualitative discussion will involve a comprehensive, detailed discussion of the ideas, facts, opinions, and arguments presented by the participants and observed. The study will report the findings, with results presented in argumentative form depending on the conceptions presented by the participants about the research problem.

Generalisability and vigour

This sample chosen for survey presents clear, scientific and verifiable criteria for making decisions in the dynamic restaurant sector of the UK. Putting into consideration the above strengths, it is more representative of the sample space chosen randomly within a specified interval (Anderson, 2004). The survey will be a success and a true representation of the subject of the study.

Validity and reliability

Understanding of scientific research principles and the identification of research participants are the most crucial aspect in the process of undertaking primary research. The main study participants for the project are employees and manager of the case study restaurants. In addition, comprising the study participants are the top management officials, who possess a pool of knowledge pertaining the research topic. The intended research targets about 200 participants from both organizations, a number that is quite appropriate for this research. Using purposive sampling, the study will select individuals who deem appropriate for the study in that they can answer the research questions professionally (Groves et al. 2009).

The way in which an event is experienced is related to the way in which the person, who has experienced this event, can give a different perspective. However, in this quantitative study, the researcher will have the opportunity to get the perspective of the participants. Utilising these experiences as a framework from which to develop the study, the work is likely to reflect the unique understanding that the personal experiences bring to the development of case studies (Miller et al. 2012). The interviews will be conducted by the researcher because of common characteristics of culture, sector, and country. This type of relevant personal experience must be used objectively in order to further the work and not to colour it with personal prejudices (Paul, 2010).

The mixture of questionnaire and direct interview will present a number of pre-specified competencies and best practices based on findings from a review of literature, and participants will be asked to indicate which of the practices they use or rely on most. Some items may be listed for comparison and respondents asked to rate them in terms of frequency of use in order to gather their relative importance (Persily, 2013). Some basic information will be requested to identify demographic characteristics of the sample and to confirm eligibility of respondents with respect to meeting criteria for participation (Anderson, 2004).

The researcher will send the questionnaires the targeted companies and schedule a direct interview with participants who are flexible and can afford a fifteen minute break to answer the interview questions. In the collection of data procedure, the research will adopt a drop and pick module for the sample population. Each respondent will be given a time frame of a week to respond to questions in the questionnaire. Where necessary, further clarification will be accorded to participants (Anderson, 2004).

Ethical considerations

According to Anderson (2004), the insider perspective is quite troublesome for the quantitative researcher, as it is purely posited upon interpretation. Therefore, the validity and reliability can come into question. The validity of quantitative research can come from several safeguards put into place by the researcher in order to balance the subjectivity of the interview format which develops the insider perspective. Developing questions from theoretical foundations can elevate the level of responsible reporting since the questions provide a basis for further research in order to prove or disapprove the theory further. Obtaining feedback from the participants can also increase the validity of the research. As well, it is important to write solid descriptions of the interview experience so that readers of the research are open to their own interpretations of the perspectives presented by the insiders as well as the interpretations of the researcher (Anderson, 2004).

In order to create relevant case studies, quantitative research needs participants who are purposive. These participants are not selected randomly, but have characteristics that provide a foundation from which the stories of their experiences are relevant to the purpose of the study. This type of purposive sampling is done through the outlines of criteria which the participants have successfully fulfilled (Janus, 2008).

Critical research methodology

Research methodology implies all the processes involved in undertaking a research, with the focal aspects being between data collection, data analysis, and discussion of results. The entire research methodology of the proposed study will entail a qualitative survey methodology that seems more feasible in evaluating the existing problem from the participants. Qualitative research provides researchers with an opportunity to explore their interest in understanding the meaning that people have constructed or even how they view their world and the real experiences of the world. Qualitative researchers have a unique opportunity of studying issues in their natural phenomenon. “It is qualitative research and understandings that provide scholars with the insights to conceptualise issues and problems differently, thereby providing the foundation and building blocks for theoretical advancements, refinements, and even initiations” (Janus, 2008, p. 56). Examining the stated problem requires more participation from the participants and qualitative research is suitable in this case as it locates the main observer of the real world.

Research Techniques

The researcher will be fully involved in preparing quantitative research phase, implementing the survey and interviews, and analysing the data gathered. A sense of neutrality will be maintained and the researcher will conduct research as an explorer whose goal is to establish the link between employee performance and motivational strategies that organizations implement. It will specifically seek to gain insight from employees and employers who are the subjects of motivation, as this will enable the researcher to gather views about differences that may exist between how these two groups interact as well as gain knowledge about two quantitative questions that the research will use (Anderson, 2004). The question is;

What is the management strategy that your restaurant practices to ensure that you are motivated to perform optimally?

The null hypothesis to be tested will be the following:

Null hypothesis: Different leadership behaviour orientations have impact of the effectiveness of different employee motivation strategies within restaurants in the UK.

The large scale questionnaire will identify competencies and best leadership practices that are more common while the interviews during the quantitative phase will help focus on actual methods used based on a few real cases. Two quantitative questions that the researcher will use are:

1. How relevant are the different leadership styles in employee motivation strategies within the restaurant sector in the UK?
2. What is the role of organizational culture in sustainable leadership within the restaurant sector of the UK?

The first quantitative question addresses the quantitative phase of the research and is intended to understand how leadership t strategies and styles are applied in general within the UK restaurant industry. The second quantitative question should identify the perceptions of the employees and the managers on the organizational culture in performance sustainability in their organization. The quantitative phase of the study will involve the administration of questionnaire survey to identify existing leadership styles and strategies and their effectiveness in the UK restaurant industry (Anderson, 2004). The researcher will use drop-and-pick survey tool. Potentially, 200 survey participants will be obtained randomly in the two organizations.

The questionnaire survey will be designed to be completed by a sample comprised of managers and employees within the same industry, whereas a limited number of 5 participants will participate in interviews. This number is justified based on Anderson’s recommendation to have a sample size no more than ten participants for interviews in mixed methodology studies. If it appears that the survey responses will be less than 20, an email request will again be sent to the participant pool used in order to satisfy the minimum of 20 required for the Q-statistic to be used.

The quantitative phase of the study will use open-ended interview questions. One-on-one semi structured interviews allow for presentation of open ended questions which attract diverse open ended answers. This is a plus on the side of the interviewer who will have an opportunity to gather expansive answers as the respondent has freedom of speaking widely on problem statement. Thus, a pilot study will be carried out which represents 10 percent of the population of the study. This is necessary as a precaution against using a data collection tool in full research before determining its relevance and efficiency. Demographic information will include areas of content expertise, length of experience in related field of work and current performance grading (Paul, 2010).

Justification of the methods to be used

Use of the quantitative research approach will facilitate understanding of the individual attributes that contribute to poor employee motivation in different restaurants. Attributes of the subjects under study will be quantitatively studied through observation where the researcher will collect data using an observation schedule during the interview process. This will allow the researcher to enter observed quantitative behaviour indicative of different leadership styles. For interviews, as long as an interviewee agrees to be recorded, the interview will be recorded. This will ensure that all points made by the interviewee are documented and available for consideration in the analysis (Anderson, 2004).

ANOVA analysis

ANOVA analysis is critical in establishing the variances between means in collected data. This statistically tool will be instrumental in establishing the variances between the sets of data in the case study restaurants (Anderson, 2004).

Scope of the study

There is need to concentrate a research on a specific target of audience. This is what is referred to as the scope of the study in an academic research work. Generalization of research findings only applies within the scope of the study. The main target sector in this survey comprises of players within the UK restaurant industry. The main aim is to analyse the degree to which different leadership styles influence the quality of employee motivational strategies in the UK restaurant sector. This means that all findings and recommendations will be limited to the different leadership styles within the UK restaurant industry.

Different biases and minimization

The responses from the participants will be analysed to determine which research question and research objective they are addressing. They will then be coded accordingly. The major strength of the methodology is that it helps in analysing all themes, which have implications on the research questions; hence the bias will be minimal. In spite of its inability to highlight themes that are external to the research questions conclusively, the methodology is appropriate for this study. In other words, the researcher will study the texts from the data collected trying to identify the concepts that relate to the research questions and objectives. Content analysis and thematic analysis are closely related, especially in the context of the current study. Both of them hinge on the research questions.

Summary of the methodology

The evaluation methodology will be used in completing this paper. The research design will be a mixed-methods blueprint, emphasizing strategies from a quantitative model, including the importance of observation, the quality of the evaluation in context, and the use of subjective human interpretation in the evaluation process. The theory used in this evaluation will be the organization performance effectiveness. Another strategy that will be used in this research involves the participant-oriented model, which emphasizes the central importance of the participant evaluation through the use of a survey (De-Rada, 2005).

Quantitative information will be gathered through a 3-part survey. The survey will include open-ended questions and a Likert-type scale to rate specific information on a 1 (not influential) to 5 (extremely influential) in answer to research-based questions. Five restaurants have been selected as the locations where the surveys will be administered. In the review of literature, the research questions will be addressed through discussing similar models. Information on these models and programs will be retrieved from the university’s modules. In addition, theories and methods related to the evaluation of the data collected, methods, and a survey used in the evaluation will be used to help determine the effectiveness of the research design and relevance of the research outcome.

Findings and Analysis

Introduction

This part of the research will review the data collected with aim of creating a scientific analysis within the scope of the research topic. Fortunately, the response rate recorded was 100%. This is discussed below.

Description of the data

This section provides a summary of data that is used in the analysis. A sample of 200 people was interviewed to give their opinion on the impact of the leadership styles on the effectiveness of employee motivational strategies.

This is summarized in the tables below.

(Summary of variable dynamics of respondents: Source; Self-generated).

Response by restaurant category

(Source: Self-generated).

Number of respondents per restaurant

(Source: Self-generated).

Quantitative analysis

T-test

The t-test will be used to compare the means between different groups on the same explanatory variables. The t-test will be used to ascertain if there is any predominant leadership style in the UK retail industry. The table below gives a summary of the number of respondents, mean, standard deviation, and the ranking of the four leadership styles used in the analysis.

The table above shows that the highest mean was recorded under participatory leadership style (5.2939). The lowest mean was recorded under laissez faire (4.1757). This is an indication that participatory leadership style predominates in the UK restaurant industry. Besides, the standard deviation is an indication that variation of the values observed from the mean is less. This answers the research question which asks the most predominant leadership styles in the UK restaurant industry. A t-test will be used to establish if the results above are statistically significant.

Null hypothesis

H₀. There is no difference between the mean of the four leadership styles

Alternative hypothesis

H₁: There is no difference between the mean of the four leadership styles

The test will be carried out at the 95% confidence level. The results for the t-test are presented below.

In the table above, it can be noted that p-value (sig. (2-tailed) is greater 0.05 which is the value of alpha for all the leadership styles. Therefore, the null hypothesis will not be rejected and this implies that the differences between the means of the leadership styles are not statistically significant at 95% confidence level. Therefore, from a statistical point of view, there is no predominant leadership style in the UK retail industry.

ANOVA analysis

A multivariate analysis will be used to test the differences and relationships in leadership styles among the groups in the UK retail industry. The three groups that will be analysed are private companies, government owned companies, and jointly owned companies within the UK restaurant sector. The table presented below gives information on the leadership style that is prevalent in the three groups.

Based on the mean, standard deviation presented in the table above, it can be observed that the Democratic leadership is most predominant leadership styles among the privately owned companies in the UK retail industry. In government owned companies, autocratic style is the most predominant while in jointly owned companies; participatory style is the most predominant. Thus, it can be noted that the prevailing leadership style differs across the three groups. Therefore, the ANOVA will try to establish if the differences in leadership style across the UK restaurant industry are statistically significant. The hypothesis of the ANOVA test is presented below.

Null hypothesis

Ho: µ₁ = µ₂ = µ₃

The null hypothesis implies that there are no differences in leadership styles between private companies, government owned companies, and jointly owned companies within the UK restaurant sector.

Alternative hypothesis

Ho: µ₁ ≠ µ₂ ≠ µ₃

The alternative hypothesis implies that there are differences in leadership styles between private companies, government owned companies, and jointly owned companies within the UK restaurant sector. The results of ANOVA analysis are presented in the table below.

In the table above, the F-value is 4.21 while the P-value is 0.001. Since the p-value is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis will be rejected at the 95% confidence level and this confirms that there are differences in leadership styles between private companies, government owned companies, and jointly owned companies within the UK restaurant sector. This implies that leadership differs across the three groups of companies. Thus, it can be concluded that the predominant leadership style in a given category has an impact on employee motivational strategies. Apparently, the participatory leadership style was identified as the most ideal in promoting efficiency in the UK restaurant sector.

Correlation analysis

Correlation analysis is a tool for measuring association degree that exists between two variables. The technique will be used to ascertain the relationship between leadership styles and organisation communication. There are various indicators that give information on the quality of organizational communication. Some of these indicators and a summary of descriptive statistics are indicated in the table below.

Based on the data collected from a sample of 200 employees, it can be noted that employee satisfaction had a high mean of 4.8094. This shows that it is a good indicator of effective organizational communication. This is followed by financial strength and corporate image. Growth of revenue had the lowest mean. This implies that it is the weakest indicator of organizational performance. The standard deviations are also quite low. This implies that the results provided by the respondents are consistent. Therefore, employee satisfaction will be used as a proxy of organizational communication. The null and alternative hypotheses are presented below.

Ho: There is no significant relationship between leadership styles and organizational communication.

H1: There is a significant relationship between leadership styles and organizational communication.

The table presented below gives the results of correlation matrix between leadership style and organization performance effectiveness.

In the above table, it is apparent that there is a positive link between the leadership styles and employee motivation. The highest score was recorded under participatory style (0.678). This was followed by the democratic style (0.652). The third position was taken by the Laissez faire (0.498) with the autocratic style taking the past position of 0.439. The positive relationship is an indication that leadership style has a positive influence on employee motivation. This implies that there exists a positive relationship between leadership style and organizational communication. Besides, it can be noted that there is a high correlation between the predominant style and organizational communication. The results also reveal that different leadership styles have an influence on the quality of employee motivation in the UK restaurant sector.

Qualitative analysis

Answers to the close-ended questions

Summary of the responses

(Closed ended questions: self-generated).

The distribution of the closed-ended questions percentage score

Analysis of each question

To what extent are you knowledgeable or aware of different leadership styles as practiced by different companies in the UK?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

From the above pie chart, it is apparent that more than 70% of the respondents acknowledged the use of different leadership strategies within the UK restaurant sector?

Does your organization have a unique leadership style(s) in managing its operations?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

In answering question two, 80% of the respondents acknowledged that their organizations have unique leadership styles. The respondents were aware of these leadership styles as applied by the restaurants they work in. However, forty respondents were indifferent.

Is the primary focus of the leadership style towards organizational efficiency is effective in your opinion?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

90% of the respondents agreed that the primary focus of the leadership style practiced by their restaurant is very effective. As a result, most of them are inspired by the ideal leadership strategies that these restaurants practice.

How do you grade the leadership style(s) in terms of being good and reflective of the actual products?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

90% of the respondents graded the leadership styles as very effective in their organization. However, ten percent were indifferent.

Is it factual that the success of these leadership styles is based on the strategy of implementation?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

80% of the respondents agreed that the successes of these leadership styles are based on the strategy of implementation.

What do you think of the leadership styles in terms of their effectiveness in motivating employees (general)?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

80% of the respondents identified the success of the different leadership styles as dependent on the management approach. However, 10% of the respondents had a divergent opinion on the same in relation to how the leadership style influences effectiveness. 13 respondents were neutral.

Do you agree with the content of the leadership style(s), now that you are one of the stakeholders in the UK restaurant industry?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

82% of the respondents agreed with the content of the leadership style(s), now that you are one of the stakeholders in the UK restaurant industry.

Generally, the leadership style in our organization is successful because it allows the stakeholders to discuss thoughts, opinions, and become an active part of the organizational operations.

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

89% of the respondents agreed that their organizations are successful because they allow the stakeholders to discuss thoughts, opinions, and become an active part of the organizational operations. The other percentage indicated that some of the strategies within some different leadership styles were not proactive.

To what extent, are you knowledgeable or aware of the existence of other restaurants in the UK who practice distinct leadership styles? I am aware of such companies.

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

95% of the respondents were aware of the existence of different leadership styles in other restaurants within the UK restaurant sector. The high percentage in awareness is a clear indication of active impact of leadership styles in the UK restaurant sector.

What do you think of the companies’ leadership styles in terms of representing their corporate balance?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

91% of the respondent had positive response to this question. This means that majority of the respondents are proactive in their organizations’ corporate culture. This is a clear indication that different leadership styles have an impact on the performance of organizations within the UK restaurant sector.

Do you think that the leadership styles are within the dynamics of the UK restaurant industry?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

94% of the respondents agreed that the leadership styles practiced within the UK restaurant industry were dynamic enough to accommodate the swings in the sector. However, the rest of the respondents were indifferent.

Do you think that the leadership styles promote proactive employee participation?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

93% of the respondents agreed that the leadership styles practiced in their restaurants promoted their participation in the decisions and strategies for managing the operations. The rest adopted the indifference approach.

Discussion and Recommendations

Introduction

This part of the paper offers comprehensive recommendations for the case study restaurants in order to maximize the level of employee motivation as part of different leadership behaviour application.

Leadership styles within the UK restaurant sector

Human sustainability refers to the ability of an organization to align its business goals with direct and indirect interests of the employees. Therefore, sustainable practices are only achievable when human sustainability is aligned to organizational strategies. Through understanding the organizational sustainability, organizations need to comprehend the dynamics that prevail, drive, and support essential programs within its workforce to accomplish the strategic objectives, while ensuring that the employees are comfortable. The physical structures in any organization interested in sustainability should promote positive relationship between favourable and effective job performance and work environment, as attributes of motivation and congenial conditions. This proposal presents ideas which the company may use to create a comprehensive sustainability practices through a proactive organizational communication plan.

Proposed organizational sustainability through a communication plan

When communication plan is not structured in the goal policy, as is the current case in the company, the outcome might be lethal since change will lack accorded seriousness. In order to understand the operations of these channels, it is essential to investigate the personal views and effects of the communication plan. The organization should establish a stable culture in order to enjoy mature formal communication. Mature information exchange is a product of a well organized ad properly executed communication plan, which is inclusive of the various levels of communication from the top and bottom of the organizational administration pyramid.

Measuring factors such as interpersonal relations, working conditions, support and trust, welfare provisions, and work environment may greatly contribute to the organizational sustainability as well as employees’ satisfaction, especially when technology is secondary to human input. For instance, technological modifications within an organization are sustainable when the human factor is equipped with appropriate skills for ensuring its operational efficiency. Therefore, the company may introduce a comprehensive communication plan.

The communication plan is likely to affect various individuals in their interactions with the organisation. The main stakeholders involved include the organisation’s clients, the management, and the staff. The main effect the plan will have on the clients is that it will create better quality services and possible opportunities to earn an income as trainers, depending on the organisation’s needs. The management would have to restructure the organisation in a way that allows for the implementation of the plan, including financial support. The staff would need to adapt to the new requirement of learning new communication system in a bid to accomplish the organisation’s goals.

Goals

1. Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current mode of communication between the clients and the organisation through incorporation of multicultural training.
2. Ensure that the various available methods appeal to the financial health of the organisation.

Objectives

For goal I:

1. To ensure that the organisation improves the standard of services that clients receive (output objective).
2. To increase the number of clients that the organisation handles on a daily basis in a bid to accomplish the organisation’s objectives (impact objective).
3. To ensure smooth flow of information within and without the organisation (output objective).

For goal II:

1. To avoid expenditure that would jeopardise the running of the organisation’s basic activities (output objective).
2. To increase the number of staff available to attend to clients without creating undue pressure on the finances (impact objective).
3. To improve accountability towards the involved stakeholders (output objective).

Key messages

The plan does not aim to disseminate any particular message, as its core purpose is to improve communication between the organisation and its clients in the daily running of the organisation’s affairs.

Implementation

The strategies in this plan require the organisation to take a collaborative perspective in dealing with the subject matter. In essence, this aspect means that the plan requires the management of the organisation, the staff, and the clients to work together (Avolio, 2010; Youngs & King, 2002). The main requirement for the creation of such a set-up is an exchange of information and knowledge relevant to the project (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011; Powell, 2005). Actualisation of the tactics that this plan proposes requires the management of the organisation to work closely with the staff and allow the staff freedom to associate with clients and form networks with other organisations as they accomplish their duties. This aspect allows the staff to collect feedback from clients (Baxter, 2014; Slack, 2012).

Focus performance management

It is difficult to establish the exact timeframe within which the organisation shall complete the communication training program due to the variation of learning capabilities among trainees. Most options available for incorporation into the training program are cost-effective and they work towards the sole purpose of furtherance of the organisation’s goals and objectives. The solutions also cater for the main stakeholders, the organisation’s management, staff, and clientele. When properly implemented, the current production, human resource, and organizational culture will become more proactive and sustainable (Harrison & Wicks, 2013; Sinclair, 2010). This is summarized in the table below.

(Source: Self-generated).

Balancing organization environment and leadership augmentation

In order to lead a multi-cultural group, a manager is expected to balance the dimension of power/distance to minimize the degree of inequality when fulfilling the group expectations (Cardenas & Crabtree, 2009). In order to achieve this, the leadership approach should embrace the low power/distance score to make the bridge between supervision and other subjects accommodative (Vaccaro et al 2012; Lipshitz et al. 2007). As a result, there will be continuous teamwork that involves as many people of different cultures as possible (Aamir, 2008). The decision made in such environment will not only be friendly to a larger percentage of the group, but also accommodating to different cultures within the local setting (Cardenas & Crabtree, 2009).

Reflectively, applying individualistic dimension as a leader in a multi-cultural setting will create a flexible group culture and feign a common communal connection between the parties functioning within a set of expectations (Davidson, Wood, & Griffin, 2009; Montana & Bruce, 2008; Huczynski, 2012). In order to make the individualism dimension as dynamic as possible, it will be critical to introduce strategies that will ensure that the score is very low (Carson, 2006; Chen, Tsui, & Farh, 2002). Therefore, the leadership approach should revolve around showing respect to all, promoting harmony through suppressing negative feelings, and introducing changes progressively without having to interfere with the existing traditions (Weinberg & McDermott, 2002).

As the third cultural dimension, applying masculinity in a multi-cultural organization would involve creating a leadership system that balances the roles between the manager of the expectations and those operating within the expectations. The system will embrace the diverse roles and provide a structure for leadership based on skills and not just an ideological or private inclination of a party. For instance, through the creation of a task-orientation and transformational leadership skills, it will be easy for the manager to balance the discontent as a result of inferiority or superiority complex among the parties interacting (Davidson, Wood, & Griffin, 2009). The skills will ensure that the group has a low score in the masculinity dimension (Cardenas & Crabtree, 2009). Therefore, the elements of equality, job design, and collectiveness will become ideal for proactively managing expectation among the employees.

The last cultural dimension of leadership is the long term orientation. This is achievable through the promotion of equality, creativity, and self-actualisation. Therefore, the leadership approach should create a uniform behaviour standard within the local context to ensure that decisions made do not interfere with the local traditions and expectations. In summary, the elements of respect, proactive attitude, and freedom of expression will create a steady management when the above dimensions are balanced (Montana & Bruce, 2008; Huczynski, 2012). As a result, it is easy to manage and sustain optimal organizational performance. Organizations function best when the intra and inter communication systems are perfect. Therefore, successful organizations manage information continuously. The practice of information management involves the science of processing information to facilitate informed decision making among managers. However, the channels of this information should be protected to ensure protection of the organization’s private information that may lead to the unwanted third party interference. In information system implementation planning strategy, culture defines all aspects of a business, both internal and external relationships.

Area of future research

The focus of this research was based on the impact of different leadership styles on the effectiveness of employee motivational strategies within the UK restaurant industry. The research was entirely based on determinant of satisfaction level based on policy oriented auditing responsibility strategies. Thus, little is mentioned on the cost constraints and planning rationale on the side of strategic plans and control systems. Hence, further study should be carried out on the need to incorporate the cost constraint and planning rationale before making an inclusive conclusion on the level and determinants of success in the company as part of the strategic leadership style.

Conclusion

The entire process of organizational development encompasses a comprehensive research action model that endeavours to identify the immediate and future requirements for change. The process commence with identification of the need to solve a particular problem after which the situation is assessed. After assessment, the problem is clearly defined and an intervention plan is hatched. The process of implementation involves collection of relevant data which is later used in authenticating intervention effectiveness. The first step involves realization that a challenge exists in the organization. The second step involves transformation of this challenge into a development goal after which implementation step concludes by developing a solution for the challenge. The conditions for success of organizational development plan include creation of a healthy working culture, structuring of communication channels, and existence of quantifiable monitoring procedures. Apparently, participatory leadership behaviour has the highest positive impact on employee motivation since this style embraces proactive employee engagement in managing the operations within the case study restaurants.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Questionnaire

To what extent are you knowledgeable or aware of different leadership styles as practiced by different companies in the UK?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Does your organization have a unique leadership style(s) in managing its operations?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Is the primary focus of the leadership style towards organizational efficiency is effective in your opinion?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

How do you grade the leadership style(s) in terms of being good and reflective of the actual products?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Is it factual that the success of these leadership styles is based on the strategy of implementation?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

What do you think of the leadership styles in terms of their effectiveness (general)?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Do you agree with the content of the leadership style(s), now that you are one of the stakeholders in the UK restaurant industry?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Generally, the leadership style in our organization is successful because it allows the stakeholders to discuss thoughts, opinions, and become an active part of the organizational operations.

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

 To what extent, are you knowledgeable or aware of the existence of other restaurants in the UK that practice distinct leadership styles? I am aware of such companies.

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

What do you think of the companies’ leadership styles in terms of representing their corporate balance?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Do you think that the leadership styles are within the dynamics of the UK restaurant industry?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Do you think that the leadership styles promote proactive employee participation?

1. Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree
3. Slightly Disagree
4. Neither Disagree nor Agree
5. Slightly Agree
6. Agree
7. Strongly Agree

Appendix 2: Consent Letter

Dear Correspondent,

This is an invitation to take part in a research being conducted by (name) under the supervision of (instructor) at the (institution).

The main aim of paper work below is to get the whole impression of leadership style and level of performance of your organization. In addition to that, it will also focus on the main problems and challenges that an organization is likely to come across during its implementation of leadership styles and the most likely expected hindrances.

The study involves responding to questionnaires and additional background information where necessary. These questionnaires basically involve the relationship and the reason towards implementation of strategic leadership styles in organizations. Answering the questions is expected to take not more than 15 minutes to complete and it is necessary for them to be answered genuinely in order to come up with a consequential research.

Participation in the questionnaire is optional; one can answer or withdraw from completing the whole questionnaire. Moreover, your name is not required on the questionnaire, hence the information provided will be lacking individuality, after the completion of these data it will form a huge database, which will be eventually be reported as group data. (Name) and (instructor) the researcher and the supervisor respectively, will be the only people with access to these data.

The completion and return of the questionnaires are a clear indication of your understanding of the kind of the research and voluntary agreement to take part in the study.

You may be faced with the challenge of privacy intrusion and having to respond to some questions which you consider sensitive.

You may not have any direct benefits as a result of participating in the study. Nevertheless, the results of the study may be of help to your organization on ways of improving your performance as a result of proper leadership strategies. You may have the alternative of accepting phone interviews, especially when your schedule may not give room for physical interaction. You will be briefed on any other future alternative available as the study progress. We will ensure that any information you give will be kept very private within the law. However, the analysts of the study will have controlled view of your information for scientific analysis purposes.

Throughout the study process, your real identity will remain anonymous. You will not bear any cost for being a participant in this study. You will have the opportunity to seek refund for any cost that is related to the study upon tabling proof of the same. We will not guarantee a compensation plan for any study related injuries. However, we will provide the necessary treatment when such cases arise. Nevertheless, the sponsors are not liable to provide other compensations besides injuries. Whenever you identify any concern or questions, we encourage you to contact (insert name) at (insert phone number). We can also be reached at the email address (insert email address). Kindly be informed that you are not relinquishing your legal rights upon signing this document confirming your informed consent and commitment to the study.

Appendix 3: Gantt chart