Leadership and Change Management

Leadership and Change Management

Introduction

The restaurant industry is an important part of the hospitality industry and is greatly affected by any type of external environmental changes (Sparks et.al, 2001, pp. 17). It is very important for any restaurant to be able to comply to the needs and preferences of its target market in order to remain competitive and generate revenue to increase profitability. Just being in business is not important, survival also requires hard work and profitability in order to maintain and continue. Employee of the restaurant must also be adaptable and quick in response to the change process as human resource is the most important means for implementation of change process and for that acceptance and understanding on the part of employee is extremely important for successful change management. Additionally, there is a strong relationship between change management and leadership. Effective managers and leaders are the ones who can initiate this process and work towards implementing successful change in any restaurant. The management team of the restaurant must have business acumen, knowledge, skills and leadership qualities that will guide the employees and restaurant towards meeting its goals through effective change management process (Pagon et.al, 2008, pp. 1). The distance between the managers and workers in restaurants is very less. Since they work in close coordination with each other, their relationship and attitude towards changes can greatly affect the performance and reputation of restaurant. The aim of this paper is to analyzed the changes that took place in fast food restaurant by the name of Chicago Chicken and Burger and how the managers, employees and leaders worked together to bring positive changes in reponse to it environment.

Discussion

Chicago Chicken and Burger is a small fast food restaurant that provides customers with variety of chicken items and burgers. It recently made some drastic changes in its menu, management, staff and look and feel of the restaurant. It revamped almost every area related to service and food of the restaurant. Additionally the cooks of the restaurant were also replaced with regards to improvement in the quality of food. The restaurant served to the age group of people ranging from 13 years to 30 years mainly. It had burgers and different varieties of chicken dishes on its list, chicken being its main ingredient and item in all dishes made it appealing for the kids and adults in a similar manner. It has also been suggested by a report that fast food restaurants mainly target the young people and spend as much as 300 million on promotional and marketing activities that address the young generation mostly. There had been a decline in its sales and revenue which is obvious from the fact that the restaurant was mostly empty. Customers are the drivers behind any business and decrease in the number of customers pointed towards some serious issues and problems with the services and food of the restaurant. With increasing competition and choices for customers in the surrounding area, Chicago Chicken and Burger need ...