Operations Management and Social Responsibility

The assignment provides an analysis of the operations management practices of a restaurant called Nothing Fancy. It identifies major issues such as dust accumulation, dim lighting, loud music, and untrained staff. The report suggests that the company should prioritize operations management techniques to achieve its goals and provide best quality products and services. It also emphasizes the need for corporate social responsibility.

NOTHING FANCY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Operational management can be defined as the administration of all practices under
businesses in order to produce best efficiency in the organisation (Fitzsimmons, Fitzsimmons
and Bordoloi, 2010). This is related with evaluating activities within the organisation in order to
produce best products and services. This will definitely help the customer to get best quality of
products and services as per their market demands. As far as this report is concern about,
Nothing Fancy is a restaurant and located in city at 31 Hope Street. It has recently opened and
meant to provide a number of experience in dining. On the basis of the given case study, it can
be evaluated that Nothing Fancy is a restaurant located in Robe, South Australia. It has opened in
order to provide best quality food with nothing fancy but a taste of good, healthy and home made
food. The unique concept of this restaurant can be seen from so many ways. For example, they
are providing a comfort food. Their other unique concept is to place the dishes on the centre of
the table in order to help the guests. This is not a common way of delivering at restaurant in
Australia. Third most attractive feature of this restaurant is the pattern of their decoration. Their
main aim behind décor is to make it simple just like their food. Therefore, they are having a
number of features which probably makes them more valuable in the market. On the basis of the
case study, given below are the major issues faced by the company:
MAIN BODY
Major problems with the company in respect of operations management
Apart from all the benefits of the given restaurant, there are also some loopholes that are
found on a famous restaurant review website. It was mentioned on the website by a old visitor of
the restaurant that whatsoever have promised by the restaurant is quite different from their
reality. There are so many issues in terms of operations management that can be detected in the
company (Cases and Case, 2011). Given below are some of the issue being faced by the
restaurant:
1. Problem of parking- One of the major issue that is seen by one of the visitor of the
restaurant is related with parking facility. As per the website of the restaurant, there were the
facility of free parking but the reality was quite different. The restaurant parking was full and
there was no. space of parking in near 1 km. This made the consumer to switch to some other
alternatives. This is a loss for the company as they are continuously loosing their customers just
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because they are not working upon their operations management. They need to make a proper
plan with the help of which this problem of parking can be resolved.
2. Tables were not ready for serving the guest- Once the customer reached into the
restaurant after pre-booking, it was found that tables were not at all ready for consumers. It was
taking a lot of time to serve the table. This is just a careless approach from company's side to it's
targeted consumers. They need to ensure the way of treating their customers. They are working
in order to provide food to the customers and hence other factors like serving the dishes on time,
taking orders, welcoming the guests are all part of operations management. That is why, pre-
orders must be given consideration so that customers do not face any difficulty at the time of
their arrival.
3. The problem of cleanliness- After an hour of struggle, guest finally gets seated. But
soon they realised that the condition of floor was not at all good (Heizer, 2016). It was totally
ripped up thus It is required by the company to maintain their cleanliness specially at a place
where customers are coming to have food. Whosoever customer visited to the mentioned
restaurant have pointed out the issue in the cleanliness.
4. Dim lights and problem of loud music- Once the customers were encountered with
the menu, they found that it was very different to read it due to the dim light. Moreover, the
contemporary loud music was not matching with the atmosphere as customers were facing
difficulty in conversation with the other individual. One of the major drawback of maintaining
dim light and loud music at the restaurant is that guests find it difficult to communicate with the
other individual and also due to dim light system, the content of the menu was not clearly read
by the guests. This was made them feel unhappy.
5. Waiter were not trained- This is so far the most ridiculous issue of the restaurant,
waiters are not at all aware about their duties and also they were not cleanly dressed up. Their
hands were dirty and they were even not aware about the way of serving the customers. Some of
the waiter bring wrong order to the wrong place and still arguing to with the consumers. This
made such a wrong impression on the visitor (Allen and Tynan, 2013). One of the major factor in
a restaurant is the way by which their staff interact with the guest. As in the given case study, the
waiters were not at all meeting the exceptions of the customers. There were so many dirty marks
on the tablecloths and also the table were not clean. The knives were also not clean properly.
There were also the problem of serving uneven quantity of foods to different -plates.
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6. Billing system was taking so much of time- After so many issues faced by the
customer at the restaurant, next problem comes at the the time of billing. Waiters were not
available for the consumer at the time of billing. Customers need to spent their valuable time just
to pay the bill. In this way, guest will made a wrong image about the restaurant and they will
doubt in visiting the same place again or not. This is a failure of the company because each and
every customers is important. If any single guest will be unsatisfied with the facility provided by
the company, this will make them unhappy. They will further tell their friends and family about
their bad experience. This will lead to affect the overall customers of the company.
Thus, on the basis of above mentioned issues, it can be concluded that operations
management plays major role in determining and improving the efficiency of the company
(Heizer, 2016). It has to be ensured by the organisation that their operations management team
should work in the most efficient manner because this will lead to meet the target of the
company and also customers will get their desired kind of product and services.
Issues of Corporate Social Responsibility faced by the restaurant.
CSR can be defined as the way by which each and every working organisation shows
concern towards various issues of the society by giving a part of contribution from their profit
margin. This can be better understood by the means of opening any trust or donating in some
NGOs. It is important for companies to give focus upon CSR activities. This is because it helps
the organisation to improve their image of company in the market and in the mean while, it helps
to provide a level of sustainability in the organisation (McWilliams, 2010). One of the major
issue of corporate social responsibility in context of the given case study is the problem of
unhygienic condition and cleanliness problem at the interior of restaurant. It was evaluated by
the visitor that the interior condition of the restaurant is not appropriate. There were cleanliness
issues as floors were not clean. In case of wash rooms, the dustbin was filled with garbage. That
is why, its the core responsibility of the company to provide hygienics conditions to their
customers in any manner. Another major issue of CSR that can be tapped is the wastage of food.
It was seen by some of the guest at their restaurant that people are not fully consuming the food
that they had ordered (Frederick, 2011). Possible reasons could be the quality of food as it is not
meeting the demand of the customers. People are not finding the taste of food good and that is
why, it has made them to leftovers.
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Hence it has been suggested that the mentioned restaurant have to ensure a level of
cleanliness at their ambience. This will lead to give a more safer and healthy atmosphere to the
customers.
Recommendations
On the basis of above issues, given below are some of the best recommendations:
1. The owner of the restaurant first of all needs to ensure that whatever has been said by
them would be true to their knowledge. They need to update their website as it was
mentioned that there were the facility of free parking but the reality turn out to be
different. They need to expand their area of parking so that visitors do not find any kind
of difficulty over there. If they can not expand parking area then they need to update
their website about the facility of free parking which is being exhausted. Hence, there is
an immediate requirement of making new plans for setting down the issue related with
parking facility. They need to provide free parking facility to their consumers in such a
manner so that they can attract a number of customers.
2. The operations management of the company have to ensure that the tables must be ready
prior to the arrival of any guest. If there are any booking then they need to arrange table
on time so that guest do not face any kind of trouble after their arrival at restaurant. This
can only be done if each working unit conveyed by their major duties. There has to be
plan made by the company in order to assign task to their staff to ready the tables that is
being booked earlier. This will lead to save the time of the customers as well as the
company.
3. In any restaurant, the core function is to deliver the best hygienic food to the guest. That
is why, it is required by the company to maintain and clean their ambience (Heizer,
2016). This has to be ensured by the operations department so that the visitors finds the
place more healthy and attractive in term of hygiene as well. This can be achieved once
there were proper slots for cleaning the floors and removing the mess from the table.
Their as to be proper coordination between various working unit at restaurant.
4. It is important for the management of the company to maintain that atmosphere which
will be pleasant for the guest. As there must be the facility of proper lightning so that
guest can read the menu properly. Also the background music must be soothing so that
customers do not face any kind of difficulty in having some common conversation with
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the other person. Company needs to make such concept which can be easily accepted by
the customers and they do not find any trouble.
5. Another major issue that is being faced by the company is the untrained staff (Scott and
Nelson, 2010). Waiters were not properly dressed up and thus, they were not looking
presentable in front of guest. Someone of them were lost in such a way that they were
putting wrong orders to the wrong tables. Some guest complaint that the working staff
were serving with dirty hands. This leaves a very bad impression to the consumers.
Hotels and restaurants must be clean in order to attraction a number of customers (Allen,
and Tynan, 2013). If they would not be able to maintain a good level of hygiene then it
will may result in loosing current number of guest to the mentioned hotel.
6. Last but not the least, guest were facing a serious issue in the billing time. Customers
need to wait a lot when it comes to billing part. Waiters were not concern about providing
bill at the right time. This makes the guest somewhat irritated. That is why, it must be
ensured by the management system of the restaurant to trained their staff in such a
manner that they would present the bill without any delays. Company can use ongoing
training methods which will be beneficial for improving the performance of the waiters
and staffs.
On the basis of above report, it can be concluded that operations management is one of
the core function of any organisation. It is required by the company to take such decision and
formulate those strategies and plans with the help of which the target of the company can be
achieved. In the same manner, Nothing Fancy is on of the restaurant situated in Australia. It is
currently going through with some major issues that must be resolved in order to maintain the
efficiency of the company in the market. They are facing problems such as inappropriateness in
parking facilities. They are not having sufficient place to provide free parking facility to their
guests. This will lead to disappoint customers and they will move to some other restaurant.
Second issue is related with the arrangement of tables. Even after pre- booking, customers were
not found any place to sit at the restaurant (Cadbury, 2010.). They waited so long in order to let
the staff clean the mess at the table and make it ready for the guest to sit. Third, the company
were facing a major trouble that is related with cleanlinesses. Their ambience were not properly
clean (Cleanliness and hygiene in restaurant. 2017). Many customers claim that they found so
much of dust around their table. This will create anxiety in the customers. Another major issue
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was related with their concept of dim light and loud music inside their restaurant. They have not
checked its feasibility. As people will get disturbed if any loud music were played at the
background. Also at the time of taking orders, menu should be clearly visible but due to mid
lights, it was very difficult fr the consumers to read the menu. Another issues is their untrained
staff. As workers are the most important assets of any company. In case of a restaurant, it is
essential for the manager to trained their staff and waiters in such a manner so that they can full
fill aim of their company. It is necessary for them to behave properly with the customers. They
hold know the way of taking order and welcoming the guests. The time of billing must be
accurate. That is why, it has been suggested to Nothing Fancy that should first of all strict with
their promises of exactly proving the same food and facility that is being mentioned in their
websites.
CONCLUSION
Hence it has to be ensured by the company to use such operations management
techniques with the help of which they can achieve the target of their company by providing best
quality products and services. This can only be done if management takes such decision with the
help of which they can achieve a level of efficiency in the market. They also need to give proper
concern towards their corporate social responsibility.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Allen, D. and Tynan, H., 2013. Responding to aggressive behavior: impact of training on staff
members' knowledge and confidence. Mental retardation. 38(2). pp.97-104.
Barber, N. and Scarcelli, J.M., 2010. Enhancing the assessment of tangible service quality
through the creation of a cleanliness measurement scale. Managing Service Quality: An
International Journal. 20(1). pp.70-88.
Cadbury, A., 2010. Corporate social responsibility. Twenty-First Century Society. 1(1). pp.5-21.
Cases, T. and Case, F., 2011. Operations management.
Fitzsimmons, J.A., Fitzsimmons, M.J. and Bordoloi, S., 2010. Service management: Operations,
strategy, and information technology (p. 4). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Frederick, W.C., 2011. Corporate social responsibility. In The Oxford handbook of corporate
social responsibility.
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
McWilliams, A., 2010. Corporate social responsibility. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management.
Scott, T.M. and Nelson, C.M., 2010. Functional behavioral assessment: Implications for training
and staff development. Behavioral Disorders. 24(3). pp.249-252.
Online
Cleanliness and hygiene in restaurant. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<https://possector.com/hygiene/cleanliness-and-hygiene-in-restaurants>. [Accessed on
4th September 2017].
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