Nonno's Italian Coffee Parlor Case Analysis

As my junior year in high school was quickly approaching, I realized that I needed to find my first "real" job so that I could start saving for my future. At this point, I was extrinsically motivated for a job that paid well and decided to take the job as a barista/cashier at a local coffee shop called Nonno's Italian Coffee Parlor. Although I would be starting at minimum wage, a current employee I knew told me that the cash tips made on weekends substantially made up for the low pay, and the hiring manager vaguely mentioned pay increases the longer I stayed on the staff. I also chose the job because it had seemed the "easiest;" I was told that the staff was rarely reprimanded at for making mistakes, and when the shift became quiet, we were …show more content…
Every staff member was friendly and treated the customer as highly as possible. Expectancy Theory can also be applied to this aspect. Employees recognized that it was easy to successfully execute good customer service, and furthermore when they provided this service, they would be rewarded with a larger tip as well as the gratitude from customers. This recognition from customers is also proof that the Nonno's staff was faced with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. However, this only applied to tasks that concerned directly helping the customer. Since there were no extrinsic nor intrinsic rewards associated with extra cleaning and organizational tasks, minimal effort was put forward. The lack of involvement of the owners who did not communicate with managers and other employees on ultimately resulted in a confused staff with no motivation and a team with no clear goals. Midway through my employment at Nonno's, the owners decided to sell the parlor to new owners. Although employees were promised they would not be let go, it still caused commotion because employees knew their actions would be under the watchful eye of the new owners, who were perceived by the staff as prying and overbearing. Upon meeting the staff, it was made clear that the procedures would be run with much more precision and the staff would have to put forth more effort. This initially upset employees, but fortunately, overtime they began to like the new owners because the overall work environment