Excerpt
Undergoing the project fifteen Jamie Oliver has had to assume multiple roles in creating and managing not only the organisation but also the staff he employs. Jamie Oliver would have worked with many applicants and then finally settling with his final fifteen. Jamie Oliver will have assumed interpersonal roles, informational roles and also decisional roles. These are the managerial roles set out by Mintzberg’s classification of 10 specific managerial roles (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007) (Fifteen, 2002).
In terms of interpersonal roles Jamie Oliver has played the leader, the leader role is largely important and focuses on maintaining staff, motivating them and also guiding them. Jamie Oliver has shown leadership qualities when he took his group of fifteen out on a field trip to local suppliers, this shows that he has provided the group with motivation as he is providing them with a hands on experience where all members of the group can take part and gain valuable knowledge. Jamie Oliver has also shown positive hands on leadership skills due to his emphasis he puts in to rewarding staff that put in the extra effort, this therefore promotes motivation further within the group and shows he is providing positive guidance. With leaderships comes authority and Jamie Oliver can be seen to inform his fifteen members of staff whenever they are misbehaving and any faults and failures they may stumble across (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007) (MindTools, N.D.).
Jamie Oliver has also played the Liaison which is another interpersonal role between not only his fifteen members of staff but also to external stakeholders in his business such as suppliers and other chef contacts, showing how he handles suppliers and co-workers. Mintzberg’s classification of managerial roles can be applied here too, this is where you can manage links inside and outside the business whilst also maintaining equal relationships between each member of staff as well, and this can also be seen with how he handled the situation of the employees that were late due to personal issues. Jamie Oliver can be seen as a good liaison as he creates strong relationships between him and his suppliers, he believes that a long-term relationship between growers and suppliers who share his values is important. This can be seen with Jamie Oliver’s investment of £1 million to local suppliers (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007) (The Guardian, 2012) (MindTools, N.D.).
In terms of informational roles Jamie Oliver has played the monitor receiving and seeking information, Jamie Oliver undertook this role during the initial application of the fifteen, putting them through various taste tests and recording their views on food. Using this information Jamie Oliver decided who would progress through the application stages; this shows how he used the role as a monitor to decide who was more suited to the job. This also shows how Jamie Oliver received information and sought it. The monitor role is key in finding information out about the organisation and the environment surrounding it. Jamie Oliver also received information from placements on how his employees were doing and used this information to help improve their performance or praise them. (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007) (MindTools, N.D.).
Jamie Oliver has also played the role of disseminator, this role largely comprises of delivering information and Jamie Oliver can be seen to excel at this management role as well. Jamie Oliver demonstrates basic cutting and food preparation techniques to his fifteen employees, he also provides them with various other skills and techniques to help them progress through the course. The disseminator role of Mintzberg’s classification of managerial roles is an important role to take into account in this situation because of the importance and emphasis on teaching from Jamie Oliver to the others who are there to learn (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007).
In terms of decisional roles Jamie Oliver has played the disturbance handler, whereby it shows how Jamie has responded to unpredictable events. This role also stems from Mintzberg’s classification of 10 managerial roles. Jamie Oliver has shown he is a capable disturbance handler in terms of disciplining his members of staff; he conducts a disciplinary interview regarding two members of the group not showing up and missing practical placements. Jamie Oliver demonstrates positive disturbance handling as he is quick and consistent in dealing with these such issues and points out faults and tells those involved in order to correct them for future reference (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007) (YouTube, 2012).
Jamie Oliver has also played the entrepreneurial role whereby Jamie Oliver will have to initiate and plan controlled change and ensure that problems are being solved and the required action is being taken in order to maintain future improvement. Jamie Oliver has been seen to undertake this role well when it came to problems with budget and the possibility that the restaurant won’t open in time, he brought his energetic personality to the table and provided logical solutions to the problem whilst delegating responsibilities. The entrepreneurial role is also another of Mintzberg’s classification of managerial role’s and is again key to being a successful manager, the removal of one of these ten managerial roles can be seen to have an adverse effect on how successful a manager and organisation will be (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007).
McGregor’s X and Y theory is a theory that states how a manager approaches there job; this will then decide how their behaviour will be whilst at work and that there styles of management will be influenced by their attitudes towards work colleagues and their behaviour whilst at work. Ouchi’s theory Z places more reliance on trust within an organisation and is more employee focused, it also focuses more on the Japanese model of management and involves less bureaucracy (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007, p. 444) (Oxford Leadership Journal, 2010)
Jamie Oliver can be seen to be an X manager because within the project Fifteen he can be seen as a hard taskmaster and makes unusual demands in order to get the objective completed. This can provide a positive outcome as it will keep his employees on their feet and give them motivation to work faster and harder, this also demonstrates a theory X approach as Jamie Oliver is telling his employees what to do showing that his employees need to be directed and controlled. However this could have a negative effect if his employees only rely on him to give out instructions and therefore avoid responsibility (Fifteen, 2002).
Jamie Oliver also shows traits of an X manager as he tries to motivate his staff to work with the fear of consequences in the form of disciplinary interviews if staff are absent and late for work, he will also tell them what they are doing wrong in order for them to improve. This can provide positive results however it relies on the fact that employees need to be controlled and threatened in order to work to their best possible ability. On the other hand some employees, especially the unskilled workers that Jamie Oliver manages are used to being told what to do and possibly the fear of being disciplined won’t have much effect as their use to breaking rules (Fifteen, 2002).
Jamie Oliver can be seen to be a Y manager as it can be seen from the project Fifteen that he places trust in his employees to work hard and get the job done, he also asks them to trust him in return, this shows that Jamie Oliver can be seen to form a co-operative relationship with his staff, this can have a positive outcome as it would allow his members of staff to feel as though they have more responsibility, however some employees could abuse this trust (Fifteen, 2002).
Jamie Oliver can also be seen to use Ouchi’s theory Z approach in that he gets his staff to greet one another before work and to say goodbye at the end of each shift, Jamie Oliver shows that he respects them as individuals and that they in turn should all respect each other. This can provide a positive effect as this would help to enhance teamwork and cause less conflict within the group, however they are being asked to greet each other by Jamie so this could also show some influence of the X theory in terms of management style (Fifteen, 2002) (Sullivan, 1983).
This therefore shows that Jamie Oliver can be seen to take into account all of the different management styles in some form or another, but leaning more towards McGregor’s theory X due to the nature of the work and the dangers and pressures his employees could be under if things went wrong or staff begin to slack. However he does put trust into his members of staff and promote friendly relationships between employees, this would make them feel more valued and expresses Ouchi’s theory Z. Jamie Oliver also incorporates McGregor’s theory Y in that he does give his staff responsibility and forms a co-operative relationship with them too (Fifteen, 2002) (Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 2007).
Adair’s action centred leadership model has three parts to it and can explain what makes an effective leader. These three different parts comprise of task needs, team maintenance needs and individual needs. If a leader can incorporate all of these factors they can be seen as an effective leader (Adair, 1973) (Mullins, Managment and Organisational Behaviour, 2010).
[...]