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Taylor Certain

PSY-B 358

Project Section 4: Bob’s Burger’s

December 2, 2016
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Project 1: Introduction

The restaurant industry provides a great platform for I/O psychologists to study

how employees perform within the workplace. For the purpose of this project, Bob’s

Burgers is the restaurant that will be looked at. Bob’s burgers is a small, family-owned

restaurant that serves burgers and fries to customers, often with a “burger of the day”

special. Employees include Bob, the owner; his wife, Linda; and their three kids, Louise;

Tina; and Gene. It is located next to the local morgue on the main street of the town. Bob

manages Bob’s Burgers with the help of his wife Linda.

Systems framework

Open systems framework explains an organization as a serious of inputs and

outputs. According to Landy and Conte (2016), “The organization takes in (i.e., inputs)

resources, transforms those resources, then sends out (i.e., outputs) the results of that

transformation” (p.522). The inputs to an organization are supplies as well as

competition, government regulations, customers, etc. In the case of Bob’s Burgers, inputs

include produce and other kitchen supplies, Jimmy Pesto’s (their competition), industry

standards enforced by the health department, and customers who eat there. All of these

things go together to produce good food with competitive food prices and good service.

This is enforced by feedback from the health department and customer complaints that

keep the restaurant in running condition.

Problem and intervention

One problem that is evident throughout the restaurant is Bob’s leadership abilities.

Leadership would fall under the input category; without efficient leadership the

transformation to a good product would be difficult to produce. Since employment is

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comprised of family members, they rarely do what Bob asks them to do. He often is stuck

doing the work himself because his employees are unwilling to do it themselves. When

they do complete the tasks themselves, in it usually done wrong or not finished.

Therefore, to solve this problem, Bob should receive management training and learn

some employee incentive and punishment techniques.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Bob’s Burgers is a great organization to look at under the industrial

psychology microscope. It is a local, family-owned restaurant that seems to have

leadership issues. Since good leadership is important to a successful business, it is

suggested that Bob, the owner undergoes leadership training. The goal of this training

will be to better control his employees. Overall, with the help of I/O psychology, Bob

will become an effective leader within Bob’s Burgers.

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Works Cited

Landy, F. J. & Conte, J. M. (2016). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to

Industrial and Organizational Psychology. New York: Wiley.

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Project 2: Introduction

The restaurant industry is widely known as a very stressful workplace

environment. Due to all of the physical and emotional demands of the job, employees

often face high amounts of stress that often impact their job performance. Bob’s Burgers

is a perfect example of a job that requires high emotional and physical demands through

serving customers quickly and effectively while maintaining the practices of safe food

service. Therefore, it is suggested that all employees should be required to attend regular

stress-reduction training in order to deal with high amounts of stress related to fatigue and

poor job performance.

Research article 1

When reading, Affect Spin and the Emotion Regulation Process at Work by

Beal, Trougakos, Weiss, and Dalal (2013), it is evident that there is a clear connection

between restaurant employees and fatigue from interacting with customers. Empirical

evidence was found by asking servers to complete a survey four times a shift (over a

three weeks) that asked about strain and fatigue in relation to interacting with customers.

This study focused more on how hiding true emotions in order to please the customer is

often a source of strain on the employee. This study concluded that, “…Results help

clarify the emotion regulation-fatigue link and therefore have great relevance for

employee burnout and its associated consequences (e.g., turnover, reduced effort on work

tasks, etc.)” (Beal, Trougakos, Weiss, and Dalal, 2013, p.602).

Therefore, this study is important in regards to stress-reduction training at Bob’s

Burgers because it provides information regarding how stressful interacting customers

can be. Specifically, how dissonance can create stress and poor job performance for the
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employee. Taking in this information would be beneficial because it can provide specific

ways for eliminating stress knowing dissonance is a main cause.

Research article 2

When the Customer is Unethical: The Explanatory Role of Employee Emotional

Exhaustion onto Work–Family Conflict, Relationship Conflict with Coworkers, and Job

Neglect by Greenbaum, Quade, Mawritz, Kim, J., and Crosby (2014), takes a closer look

at the specific relationship between how workplace stress in the customer related jobs

(including the restaurant industry) correlates performance and other measure of daily life.

For this study, 192 participants who represented multiple different customer service fields

were asked to rate many components of their jobs in the categories of customer unethical

behavior, emotional exhaustion, work-family conflict, and relationship with conflict with

coworkers (by Greenbaum, Quade, Mawritz, Kim, J., and Crosby, 2014, p.1192).

Overall this study provided proof that working with “unethical” customers creates

emotional exhaustion and creates strains in these other aspects of their daily lives

(relationships at home, with employees, and job performance). This shows a better

insight to how stress-reduction training may be beneficial in the workplace and how to

better provide suggestions on how to relieve said stress. This will be beneficial to Bob’s

Burgers employees because management can better understand sources of stress, how it’s

affecting them, and how to come up with tactics to relieve it.

Research Article 3

In the last article, The Development and Validation of the Incivility from

Customers Scale by Wilson and Holmvall (2013) suggests that bad customer behaviors

are a direct link to workplace stress. There were two studies done and the first one had
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participants in a focus group discuss common customer behaviors that were rude and

stressful. These answers were then combined and compacted into questions that

participants in study two could rate on a scale of incivility. Other questions about the

behavior were asked to be rated as well such as customer psychological aggression, job-

specific strain, customer justice, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and general

psychological strain (Wilson and Holmvall, 2013, p.316).

Overall this study showed that certain rude behaviors by customers highly

affected those in the service industry in each category except in general psychological

strain. This will be beneficial in the Bob’s Burgers’ stress-reduction training because it

pinpoints specific behaviors of customers that add to employee stress. By showing ways

to deal with these behaviors and even implementing steps on how to correctly behave

when a customer acts like this, training will provide exponential help to the employees of

Bob’s Burgers.

Conclusion

Overall this research shows distinct connection between bad customer behaviors

and employee stress. Employees in the service industry often experience dissonance

because they must succumb to horrible requests and do so with a good attitude. The

training I suggest for Bob’s Burgers is stress-reduction training for all employees. This

training can benefit in providing ways for employees to deal with difficult customers and

finding ways to relieve that stress before it affects their job performance and other aspects

of their lives. Overall this research will be beneficial in narrowing down stressors so that

stress-reduction training can have a greater impact in helping employees.

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Works Cited

Beal, D. J., Trougakos, J. P., Weiss, H. M., & Dalal, R. S. (2013). Affect spin and the

emotion regulation process at work. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 98(4), 593-

605.

Greenbaum, R. L., Quade, M. J., Mawritz, M. B., Kim, J., & Crosby, D. (2014). When

the customer is unethical: The explanatory role of employee emotional exhaustion

onto work–family conflict, relationship conflict with coworkers, and job neglect.

Journal Of Applied Psychology, 99(6), 1188-1203.

Landy, F. J. & Conte, J. M. (2016). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to

Industrial and Organizational Psychology. New York: Wiley.

Wilson, N. L., & Holmvall, C. M. (2013). The development and validation of the

incivility from customers scale. Journal Of Occupational Health Psychology,

18(3), 310-326.
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Project 3: Introduction

The restaurant industry is a highly stressful environment According to the

literature review in project two, there is a distinct connection between bad customer

behaviors and employee stress. Employees in the service industry often experience

dissonance because they must succumb to horrible requests and do so with a good

attitude. Stress-reduction training can benefit employees by providing ways for

employees to deal with difficult customers and finding ways to relieve that stress before it

affects their job performance and other aspects of their lives. Bob’s Burgers should

implement a series of stress-reduction training in order for employees to improve job

performance and improve the lives of their employees overall.

Training Program

1) This training program will take place once a month on a date agreed upon by

management. It will address the following: What is stress? What is bad stress,

and what is good stress? Stressors that appear in the work environment and how

to manage them.

A) Bad stress vs. Good stress: Not all stress is bad for you; stress can even lead

to great results in your job performance. Bad stress can come in many

different ways. It can be co-worker related, management related, customer

related, even personal life related.

Co-Worker stress – This is occurs when there are bad relationships

between coworker, since it is impossible for everyone to get along at work.

We are here to get a job done, not necessarily to make friends. If this is
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understood and implemented employees can greatly reduce the amount of

stress in regards to working with someone they don’t want to work with.

Management stress – This is caused by altering views with management.

It must be understood that management and staff will not always agree on

every policy and rule. However, management always has an open door policy

when it comes to talking about problems in the work place. Staff must not

allow themselves to get stressed out over decisions and actions that they

cannot directly control, but understand there is always a time and a place to

bring those issues up with management.

Customer related stress – This is one of the most common stressors

among restaurant staff. You are there to do a job, and are expected to do that

job to the best of your ability. But, you cannot control every complaint a

customer has. Therefore, it is important to remember that you have done the

best you can and that there are always some people that will be impossible to

please.

Personal stress – This is the result from situations outside of work that are

brought into the work environment. These are problems such as: problems

with money, family, significant others, and school. These are problems that

are not going to be solved in the amount of time it takes to work a shift, so

staff must learn how to leave this type of stress at home.

Good stress – This type of stress can is beneficial to work performance.

This type of stress is beneficial because adrenaline kicks in and allows you to
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get more done and can lead to better customer satisfaction and higher tips.

This can also lead to a greater sense of self-satisfaction.

2) Now that you know what causes stress, take a quick survey on how these types of

stressors effect your day on the job. Grading each type of stress using a scale of 1

to 10 on each type of stressor: 1 meaning that it doesn’t affect you at all and 10

meaning that it is unbearable. Once you have each stressor labeled 1 to 10, put

them in order of worst stress to least stress. At this time, employees should also

make goals in relation to stress for the next meeting.

15-MINUTE BREAK

3) Now that we know the types of stress and which one effects us the most, lets

figure out how to handle these stressors to help us through our days and increase

job performance, which will ultimately create higher tips.

4) Co-worker stress is easily manageable. We do not need to become friends; we

only need to be able to work together. It is common that working together can

increase customer satisfaction, increasing tips. If there is an issue between co-

workers, it should be taken to management and addressed in privacy.

5) Management stress is common when restaurant staff feel that they are not kept in

mind when decisions are made. Always bring the issue up with management to

see if it can be resolved. Afterwards, if the issue persists, human resources would

be a great tool to ensure that your voice is heard.

6) Customer related stress, is the most complicated because there will always be

difficult customers who are not easily satisfied. The best way to deal with
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customer stress is work as a team. Team members should not be afraid to ask for

help from other servers or management.

7) Personal stress is one of the most complicated to deal with. Identifying this stress

and being able to deal with it before work can help make a better work

environment for everyone. Things happen outside of our control but we must be

able to put those aside to be successful

8) Now staff will take part in a stress-relieving activity, which changes each month.

A) Breathing techniques, meditation techniques, etc.

Activity Description Time Allotted

Education
 What is stress
 Types of stress
Survey and Goal setting
Dealing with stress
Educate employees on 1 hour
stress including how it can
be good and bad and the
types of stress they can
undergo.
Each staff member will take 30 min
a survey on how they are
affected by stress then write
a few goals they wish to
complete in relation to
stress by the next meeting,
15 Minute Break
How employees can deal 1 hour
with stress in relation to
each type of stress.

Stress relieving Activity Every month, management 1 hour 15 min

will introduce a new type of
stress-relief activity to staff.
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Describe Training Methods

These training methods will be beneficial because stress is a huge concern for

restaurant staff. According to Beal, Trougakos, Weiss, and Dalal (2013) “…Results help

clarify the emotion regulation-fatigue link and therefore have great relevance for

employee burnout and its associated consequences (e.g., turnover, reduced effort on work

tasks, etc.)” (p.602). Meaning, it is important for employees to learn how to deal with

stress related issues at work. Goal setting is an important part of this program because,

according to Landy and Conte (2016), “Goal setting can strengthen trainee motivation

and self‐efficacy, which in turn are helpful in enhancing learning and skill acquisition in

training” (p.266). By setting goals for the program, employees will realize how the

training is allowing them to enhance their lives through the skills it teaches. Overall,

stress-reduction training will be very important because it will help employees improve

their work lives and setting goals will be additional help for them to achieve this.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The biggest disadvantage of this program would be that some employees may not

take it seriously. However, once they see how it is affecting the lives of their coworkers

and improving the restaurant’s atmosphere, they will be forced to see how beneficial the

training is. The biggest advantage of this training is that it helps employees recognize

stressors, how to deal with them within the work place, and then additional methods they

can practice outside of the workplace to relieve stress.

Conclusion

Overall, Bob’s Burgers would highly benefit from implementing this stress-

reduction training program. As the restaurant industry is an extremely stressful job,

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employees would benefit greatly from techniques that would assist them in identifying

stressors and how to deal with them both in and out of the workplace. This program

would improve the lives of the employees as well as their work performance, and the

overall atmosphere of the company.

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Works Cited

Beal, D. J., Trougakos, J. P., Weiss, H. M., & Dalal, R. S. (2013). Affect spin and the

emotion regulation process at work. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 98(4), 593-

605.

Landy, F. J. & Conte, J. M. (2016). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to

Industrial and Organizational Psychology. New York: Wiley.

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Project 4: Introduction

It is widely known that the service industry is a highly stressful job setting for

employees. After observing Bob’s Burgers, a local, family-owned restaurant, it is clear

that something must be implemented to reduce stress on employees and improve overall

job performance in relation to stress. I have proposed a training program that will educate

employees about what stress is, the different types of stress, and how to cope with that

stress. However, in order to determine if this training is effective there must be an

evaluation of the training program based on Kirkpatrick’s taxonomy which will

determine its effectiveness.

Reaction

Reaction criteria are important to understanding the employee’s reactions to the

training program (Landy and Conte, 2016, p.280). Initial reactions to the training

program may make it seem like it is not useful. Many employees will most likely

complain and think that it is a waste of their time. However, reactions after the training

will be more useful for evaluation because it will show how truly beneficial the training

was for them. It would be helpful to ask that if employees begin to feel that the training

has improved their stress levels, they let management know so management can then

determine its usefulness.

Learning

According to Landy and Conte (2016), “Learning criteria assess how much

trainees learned in the training program” (p.280-281). One way to assess how much they

learned from the program is to ask questions throughout the training program in order to

ensure that they are learning the information as it is given to them. The more questions
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they can answer correctly as management moves on to the next section of the training, the

clearer it will be that employees are learning the material.

Behavior

Behavioral criteria measure how well they implement the material learned from

the training program into their work (Landy and Conte, 2016, p.281). This will be able to

measure simply by watching the employees. By seeing how the employees deal with

stressors after the training program, management will be able to see how well it is being

implemented into their lives. It may also be beneficial for management to ask that

employees fill out a survey regarding whether or not they’ve been able to handle on the

job stressors better as a result of the training.

Results

According to Landy and Conte (2016), “Results criteria provide measures of how

well the training can be related to organizational outcomes” (p.281). Two ways to

determine how beneficial the training was can be checked through customer satisfaction

and employee satisfaction. In the survey asking employees whether they are able to

handle on the job stressors better, asking a few question in regards to job performance

may be beneficial. Also by following up with customers and asking about their service is

also a great way to consider the benefits of the stress training because improved job

performance by employees will result in improved customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Overall, the productiveness of the stress-training program will be evident in both

the employees’ opinions and performance and customer satisfaction. It is important to

help employees relieve job related stress because it is often related to job performance.
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By alleviating employee stress, job performance increases and overall customer

satisfaction increases.