A Case Study Of TGI Fridays

Abstract

The modern marketplace is crowded like anything. Not only the firms are fighting for the share of the clutter, but they are also trying their very best to safeguard their intellectual assets i.e. the employees. So many executive disciplines like relationship marketing, consumer affiliation marketing and customer connection management have come to the forefront. Most firms today stick to TQM programs in order to be viable in the international market. Complaints about the decline of both excellence and customer service have grown to be widespread.

The idea of this study is to see how knowledge possessed by employees can be rationalized to enhance the quality management. Total Quality Management is a subject that organizations confront face in the cut-throat marketplace. Name any industry ranging from fashion to hospitality, to education to the food industry: first and foremost demand that consumers now make is quality.

This dissertation will research into the facts of total quality management with respect to all the facets in the restaurant industry. The core study will revolve around TGI FRIDAY’S Total Quality Knowledge Management through employee participation that will ultimately help corporate objective of the organization. The phenomenon of knowledge management takes information from people who are the main unit of input. Knowledge Management emphasizes knowledge formation, and transmitting and embedding it to serve different organizational purposes.

CHAPTER 1

Initial Review of the Literature:

The advancement of knowledge management has surely impacted the Total Quality Management process. This has become a unique phenomenon as the knowledge possessed by employees is as significant as overall quality of the work procedure. Therefore, organizations deem it a necessity to incorporate it as a differential advantage.

Knowledge Management is a 360- degree approach used by the management to streamline its activities. The philosophy of Knowledge Mananagement is to focus on achieving the organizational objectives. The objectives may include improving performance; enhance the quality of the product or service, i.e. implementation of TQM values bearing in mind the philosophy of kaizen. The philosophy of Knowledge Management views the employees as strategic assets. Employees can make a great difference to the quality of the work process. Therefore, a workforce that is more goal-oriented is more likely to achieve the strategic objective of the organization.

In this paper I will use the example of a renowned restaurant named TGI Friday’s and its application of knowledge management. TGI Friday’s is a classic example of an organization that inculcates the idea of empowerment across their entire organization. At Friday’s empowerment is a good strategic tool for the organization to assemble the entire organization on one single platform and sharing the knowledge and the pertinent information for the betterment of products and services. A devoted and reliable employee is an asset. The competitor can replicate everything, but not the employee’s commitment.

The value of an organization can be valued by two ways. Either, by taking into considerations that impact the pockets of the share holders. And the second factor is the presence of an intellectual asset that upholds the thriving culture of the organization.

As Hofstede (2001) states that culture is a structure which provides a direction to humans on how to think and work. It is regarded as a problem-solving tool. All in all, the corporate cultural is the set of beliefs, values, norms and attitudes acquired at workplace.

The organizational environment is becoming more and more multifaceted. In a vastly competitive environment, where organizations are always experiencing a change, it becomes more and more difficult to keep strict control. In the presence of a large workforce, the need for control becomes increasingly crucial. Leavitt (2002) states that Knowledge Management along with the Six Sigma is the two most recognized practices in managing the business. Six Sigma intend to rectify the deficiencies in the process, while Knowledge Management is the intellectual use of resources to make a rationale decision. The knowledge that a company generates may come through the organizational activity, or the company may generate knowledge from the customer. This can help the marketers to formulate an efficient strategy to make improvement in the products and services.

Knowledge management in any case is a demanding exercise. In case of issues surrounding TQM, the challenge becomes even larger as a high intensity of volatility is involved. For this basis, the responsibility of organization comes to the vanguard of this topic. Managing knowledge of human beings is not a simple work. Unlike characters with diverse egos are not straightforward to handle. Therefore comes the important role of the Human Resource Department. One way or the other every employee is a human resource manager. Human Resource is very important to a business development and success is gaining and retaining competitive gain Schuler, MacMillan (2006). Therefore, the core idea of managing the resource is founding high performance systems through useful human resource practices.

Knowledge management practices are becoming more challenging in an increasingly competitive work environment. Lorsch and Allen (1973) emphasize that managing the knowledge of the employees strategically is vital as it determines the business strategies and helps in the improvement of organizational performance. Therefore, the Human Resource Department should be held accountable if the staff is not content and happy. The interests of the employees should be taken seriously as it is not only the employees experience of a certain product or service, but also the knowledge that an employee possess is invaluable, and just cannot be measured. In a study by Mercer Consulting, it was estimated that one most important factor that the CEO’s considered vital was the presence of a knowledgeable workforce. (Human Resource Competencies study).

Empowerment is another factor has a direct bearing on the knowledge management. In the restaurant industry, as the employees are having a face to face interaction with the customer, their knowledge can be handy in implementing future strategies. The managers should be conscious of importance of employees’ enthusiasm that can change in a volatile service industry. Oudtshoorn and Thomas (1993) analyze that employees have a superior sense of personal power together with the independence to exercise that authority. By paying attention and explaining to employees is a crucial practice to encourage them about the likely benefits that are anticipated from the change. This encourages an open trade of ideas and information between all parties. (Levasseur) 2001 believes that by being considerate, managers can determine to what degree change affects employees and take corrective actions straight away to sustain them. Every business has different set of norms. In various research studies it is observed that if employees are given a chance to become more knowledgeable about a product or service, they get closer to the organization Greenberg (1986).

Aims, Objectives & Research Questions

Aim:

The study is being carried out to emphasize the importance of Knowledge Management and its impact on the overall quality of work. After giving it a serious thought, I have taken into consideration the service industry. The issue of staff’s loyalty and commitment cannot be directly controlled. Hence, they cannot be changed with a magic wand. Organizations tie staff loyalty and commitment to its policies and actions. Therefore these should be dealt with sheer prudence.

Objectives:

In the long run, the organizations that succeed are the ones that recruit and encourage people who are able to counter to and respond to challenges ahead of them. The prime intention is to look into the applications of knowledge management that can motivates the work force at TGI Friday’s and compel them to stay attached with the organization..

Furthermore, we will delve into the details how they can build a competitive advantage for their firm. And how they create an environment to build and influence long-lasting and effective partnerships.

Research Questions:

The questions are as follows:

1. To assess the importance and effectiveness of Knowledge Management that can motivate the work force..

2. To what extent the empowerment is necessary for employees at TGI Friday’s to be knowledgeable enough to implement TQM Practices.

3.Does empowerment helps in bringing the best out of employees.

4 And last but not the least, how the organization can use knowledge management as an effective tool to strengthen their HR system and to achieve organization’s mission and goals.

CHAPTER II

2.1 Methodology

In order to be able to apply the theories a practical example is necessary to develop a methodology which will allow its application on research. In this chapter we will talk about the techniques that we will be using for the research. This chapter will recognize the key methodology approaches used in order to wholly achieve our goals and will describe a more defined course to the research, allowing the researcher to thoroughly plan the project with greater focus on the detailed research question.

The research style is straightforward. It will comprise qualitative as well as quantitative investigation. For primary data, research will be conducted in the forms of questionnaire, and interviews with the management. This study will take intensive review of available literature in the form of books, journals and articles from Internet. Through this paper we seek to understand the viewpoints and meanings of a range of indigenous communities and people, who are employees, distributers, marketers, customers, or potential customers. In order to design effective representations of information, one needs to understand what knowledge management is and how the lasting expression it can make.