Understanding the Work Culture at Jamie’s Italian

This report analyzes the work culture at Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden using theoretical perspectives, discusses how work culture can increase effectiveness in an organization with a focus on communication, and explores how Jamie’s Italian can use its work culture to enhance its performance.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Organizational Behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
1. Understanding the Work Culture at Jamie’ Italian using Theoretical Perspectives...........2
2. Understanding how Work Culture can Increase Effectiveness in an Organization with a
Focus on Communication..........................................................................................................3
3. Understanding how Organizational Culture can influence Employee Performance..........5
4. Understanding how Jamie’s Italian can use its Work Culture to Enhance its Performance
even Further...............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Organizational culture has a very important role to play when it comes to influencing
the performance and the business outcomes of an organization. The type of work culture that
is fostered and practiced within the four walls of a business enterprise go a long way in
affecting things such as employee behavior, employee performance, productivity and overall
business output (Borkowski, 2015). It is imperative for all business enterprises around the
world to create a positive and dynamic work culture that will give employees and the
management of the organization the motivation and the incentives that are required in order
for them to always be able to do well. This report looks at the case of Jamie’s Italian in
Covent Garden, a well known Italian gourmet dining destination run by celebrity chef Jamie
Oliver that is situated in Covent Garden in London, the United Kingdom (Brickley et al.,
2015). The report analyzes the type of culture that is prevalent at this restaurant using
theoretical perspectives, arrives at an understanding of how work culture can contribute to the
overall effectiveness of an organization with focus on communication, states how work
culture can influence the performance levels of an employee and discusses how Jamie’s
Italian can use its existing work culture in order to enhance its performance suitably.
1. Understanding the Work Culture at Jamie’ Italian using Theoretical
Perspectives
Jamie Oliver is one of the most well known chefs in the whole world and he is
particularly renowned for his larger than life persona as well as his tendency to look for new
and interesting ways to come up with cooking food and making it accessible for all types of
people. Jamie is an adventurous cook and is seen to appear on television quite regularly,
where he provides an international audience with useful tips and suggestions on how to whip
up the most delicious of meals (Jamies Italian 2019). Apart from being adventurous in his

3ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
approach to cooking, Jamie Oliver is a man who is extremely approachable, kind and caring
and is much loved by the staff at his restaurants, by his customers and by the people he is
seen to work with in the media (Jamies Italian 2019). When it comes to understanding the
work culture at Jamie’s restaurants all over the world, and especially at Jamie’s Italian in
Covent Garden in London, the theoretical perspective that can be put to use is the theory of
adhocracy. This is a theory that lays a lot of emphasis on creativity, innovation, uniqueness
and boldness when performing business operations or when carrying out business agendas. A
work place that functions on the theory of adhocracy is a work place where the employees are
encouraged to think on their own, to innovate with the work that they do, to come up with
new ideas and suggestions always instead of being discouraged and this is something that
Jamie’s Italian at Covent Garden in London is all about. Jamie has instilled in each and every
one of his employees at the restaurant in Covent Garden the element of inquisitiveness. All
the chefs working under his supervision over here are encouraged to come up with brand new
ways of cooking food, whether be it new ways of poaching an egg, new ways of making
mayonnaise, or new ways of making delicious pizzas which are healthy and nutritious at the
same given time. Jamie is also much loved by his staff, as mentioned earlier, which is why
his chefs and other staff members at Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden feel motivated at all
times, to do their best for him, meeting and greeting guests in the most pleasant of ways and
serving them with exotic gourmet food that simply melts in the mouth and which customers
are likely to remember for the rest of their lives (Jamies Italian 2019).
2. Understanding how Work Culture can Increase Effectiveness in an Organization
with a Focus on Communication
The most productive and thriving of business organizations are those that are
characterized by a positive and vibrant work culture. If the work culture of an organization is

4ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
positive, then employees will feel motivated to do their best on their own and the
management will not have to take recourse to methods such as coercion and intimidation in
order to get the best out of their employees. An organization which is serviced by a positive
work culture is one that is likely to make sufficient progress in the market as employees are
going to have the go and the zeal that they need in order to complete all their tasks and duties
on time and to fulfill their responsibilities without having been goaded to do so (Kinicki and
Fugate 2017). A positive work culture is one that is usually created with the help of
transformational leadership. Transformational leaders lay a lot of emphasis on
communicating well with their subordinates instead of being dismissive of them.
Transformational leaders engage in one on one communication with their employees, getting
to know them on a personal level in order to arrive at an understanding of their merits and
demerits and what it is that such employees can do best for the organization. The
transformational leaders always take the opinions and suggestions of employees into account
when taking a business decision (Lazaroiu 2015). This positive work culture, where positive
interactions or communication is carried out among employees and between supervisors and
employees is something that can really contribute to the effectiveness of an organization,
making it an enterprise that will stop at nothing in order to achieve its goals simply because
all members of the organization are well aligned with the business aspirations and objectives
of the organization. Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden is definitely a restaurant that is
characterized by a positive work culture, which is why it is one of the most successful
restaurants in the United Kingdom at the moment. Jamie Oliver is a kind, generous and
friendly man who always interacts beautifully with his employees and customers alike,
making his employees particularly feel included always in the work that they do and
motivating his employees to reach for the sky at all times (Miner 2015).

5ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
3. Understanding how Organizational Culture can influence Employee
Performance
Motivation is something that is key to getting an employee to perform well in the
office space. Organizational culture if it is positive in nature can have an important role to
play in giving employees the motivation that they need to steer ahead and achieve their
personal goals and objectives, attaining the goals and aspirations of the business organization
in turn (Musriguddin et al. 2017). A positive work culture is one where the leaders are not
overtly critical of the workers at the organization, where leaders encourage their workers to
come up with ideas and suggestions that will allow business operations to be carried out more
effectively, where the opinion of every worker is given plenty of value and where workers are
provided with the flexible and dynamic environment that they need in order to perform to
potential. It is such a positive environment that will have a very powerful impact on the
performance of each and every employee in the organization. Employees in an organization
that is serviced by a positive work culture will feel motivated at all times to be at their
productive best all around the year. They will be willing to work night and day to please their
supervisors if the latter is kind and encouraging instead of being cruel and autocratic, and
they will not stop until they have achieved what they set out to achieve. Work cultures where
positive and healthy relationships are enjoyed between subordinates and managers and
among co workers are the type of work cultures that get employees to really come out of their
shell and show their potential in the work space, instead of remaining behind the scenes and
being not sufficiently utilized in the process (Podsakoff et al. 2016).
Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden in London is an organization that is characterized by
a positive work culture which is why the employee turnover is low and which is why it is one
of the finest restaurants in the UK today. The soux chefs at the restaurant as well as other
staff appointed here share healthy and positive vibes among themselves and with the director

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of the restaurant, Jamie Oliver, and are always encouraged to come up with new and
innovative ways to cook food and to serve food, making this restaurant one of the most
dynamic dining destinations in the United Kingdom today (Podsakoff et al. 2018).
4. Understanding how Jamie’s Italian can use its Work Culture to Enhance its
Performance even Further
Jamie Oliver is definitely one of the most beloved of restaurateurs in the whole world
and is much respected and revered by his staff and chefs at Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden.
There are definitely ways and means by which the restaurant can make use of the positive
work culture that prevails over here in order to enhance its performance even further and
emerge as the top dining destination in the United Kingdom. Jamie for instance can make it a
point to give his staff members more paid leaves than what he does at the moment. This is
because working in a restaurant is a very hard job, and the waiters and waitresses as well as
the chefs in the restaurant have to be on their feet all of the time in order to be able to serve
their clients in the best way possible (Tasselli et al. 2018). Jamie Oliver should allow his
staff to take paid leaves for a decent period of time in order for them to recuperate well and
gain the energy and the zeal that is needed to do well for the organization. Rewards and
recognitions in the form of appraisals, bonuses and incentives is also something that Jamie
Oliver should introduce at Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden in order to get the staff at his
restaurant to do their best for the organization. The appraisals at the restaurant should be
carried out on a quarterly basis rather than a yearly basis and incentives should be provided to
staff members at the restaurant who work after hours and are willing to work on extensive
night shifts even though they have families to return to at home. Bonuses should also be
announced from time to time for chefs who are able to come up with the most sumptuous and
innovative of gourmet meals and who receive a five star rating from customers consistently

7ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
over a certain period of time, say for three months or six months (Tasselli et al. 2018). This
is one of the ways by which the restaurant owner will be able to get his employees to perform
their best and encourage innovation and uniqueness at the same given time, all of which will
contribute to Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden being one of the finest places to dine at not
only in London but in the United Kingdom as a whole (Vasu et al. 2017).
Conclusion
Thus, there are quite a few ways by which work culture in an organization is seen to
have a role to play in ensuring effectiveness in terms of organizational productivity and
employee performance. The organizational culture always needs to be positive in nature if it
is to encourage employees to do their best. If the work culture in the organization is
autocratic and negative in character, then this will lead to a high employee turnover, with
workers wanting to leave the organization at the earliest instead of staying on and serving the
organization well. Jamie’s Italian in Covent Garden is a prominent gourmet dining
destination in the UK that is well known for its positive work culture. Such a positive culture
has been initiated entirely by the transformational leadership of Jamie Oliver who is one of
the most beloved of personalities in the food industry today and who works tirelessly to
provide its employees with the flexible and dynamic work culture that they need to be at their
productive best at all times. By introducing rewards and recognitions, and by paying more
attention to the allocation of paid leaves, Jamie Oliver can make his restaurant in Covent
Garden the best place to work at and dine at in the UK.

8ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
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