Abstract

Domino’s Pizza is considered to be the second largest restaurant chain globally, owning more than 12,900 restaurant locations in an incredible 80 markets. They are a well recognized global brand that dominates in the pizza delivery and sales service. The highest sales margins however come from their carryout customers who frequent the restaurant chains across the world. The undercover boss television series made a whole show to find out how the company runs its business and find out what its strengths and weaknesses in its operations. It features the CEO of Domino’s Pizza Don Meij, going out and about in the show. He is placed at the busiest Domino’s place in the world, which was amazing and gives and in depth look in to how the business functions. The report will be detailing on the undercover boss findings on the company weaknesses and strengths, and evaluate the major changes that are needed for Domino to perform more efficiently.

Introduction

Domino’s Pizza according to the series showed that they have always believed in their brand and the delivery of quality products and services throughout their restaurants across the world. Their target customers are those consumers whose dinner is usually a spontaneous event. It is the reason why the company CEO went out to work in the different Domino restaurants in the show and monitored the product and service quality and how the employees handled the clients. Core strengths and weaknesses of the business are based on the company strategy and structure. The paper will be evaluating the key business strengths and weaknesses of the organization’s structure. Evaluation of the leadership and management is also a key concept of the business that will discussed in this paper.

Organizational Structure Strengths and Weaknesses

Domino’s Pizza is a multimillion dollar franchise and has a very solid organizational structure. It has a ownership concentration of shareholders who monitor closely the business to ensure that it runs smoothly. The board of directors at Domino helps review and ratifies any important decisions for the organization. They also have the power to oversee the compensation of the CEO and also know when to replace the CEO. The corporate office and the board all monitor the strategic decisions made by the managers. The main goal of the managers is to increase wealth for the company. The corporate takeover caused an upset in the company balance but had to rely on effective transformational theories to be able to manage the situation.

In the Undercover Boss television series, the Meij goes out to delivery pizzas with a delivery expert. He is reminded of how the Domino’s Pizza brand is recognized by different kinds of customers, which is one of the most crucial strengths of the organization. The customer delivery service is one of the quickest in the market and they always try to deliver a quality product to the customer’s doorstep every time. It has made Domino’s Pizza stand out from the rest of the competitors. They have also focused on an intense marketing campaign, which ensures that they are always in the customer’s perceptions of the best pizza product and service. Their newest market introduction of an online platform, offers their customers online menus to choose a variety of pizza packages. It is based on an organizational structure that is looking to improve on quality and price for their customers.

One of the greatest weaknesses as witnessed in the show is the way that the ambience of some of the restaurant chains is not as its competitors. The company structure has also loop holes in the communication to its employees who are managed by a single manager in each restaurant franchise across the world.

Management and Leadership Styles

Leadership and management in most cases may end up having similar qualities, but that not usually the case. It is because leadership has more to with standing out. Management however, is more bureaucratic in nature. Domino chose to go with a less bureaucratic structure and has endorsed the work of the leaders that it has. It has looked to behavioral theory to find leaders who are made. The behavioral theory takes a more participatory approach to management, where the employees are involved in the making of important decisions.  

The leadership style observed in the business through the series showed Don Meij trying to build a relationship with his employees. His leadership style aims at encouraging his employees to share their ideas and suggestions in how the business should be changed in order to run smoothly. He is open to any ideas and innovations that his employees have to offer. The role played by Meij is important and tries to show his employees that their work is valued and celebrated and commends his employees on a good job done.

The leadership shown here also demonstrates a concept of team player where he agrees to work with the team and provide services to the business customers. As a manager Meij creates an environment where the employees can interact freely and builds a spirit of trust among them. Giving special attention to each employee as he goes about the business is also a good leadership trait, and has great potential to good corporate effectiveness and business operations. This is evident of a leader who is participatory and a naturally made leader.

What needs to be addressed however is the building of interpersonal relations where employees should feel at home when they are working in the franchise. Another, problem is the lack of better employee monitoring platforms where the leader can keep an eye for each employee and address problems as soon as they arise. 

Organization Motivation of Employees

Domino’s Pizza seems to have a very solid and well organized leadership structure, as witnessed in the Undercover Boss series. The CEO Don Meij, enters the scene and is sent to work in one of the busiest restaurants Domino has. He is also involved in several delivery services where he analyzes the way that the employees of the company handle their deliveries and the response from the customers. At one point he comes across a problem with one of the delivery service employees whose delivery car is out of shape and doesn’t even have air conditioning. He takes charge and decides that that is a problem that needs to be fixed so as the employee can work more effectively.  He is seen to have a mentality of team work and a leader who challenges his employees to emulate his example. It is an important element in leadership where the manager becomes a team player and leads by example.

Business Conflict/Issue

One of the greatest areas of conflict with Domino’s Pizza comes from customer feedback as witnessed in the show. At some point they were dealt with an issue of a customer who was unhappy with the delivery service. This is not an uncommon thing for a business that deals with both product and service. This type of problem can be perceived in two ways where a customer may call the business and express their feedback on the poor service directly or may choose to speak to their colleagues about the issue.

In this way they will be able to keep track of what the customers want and how to better the services and make better the customer experience. When customers see the change has been made where they had a problem in the first place they will look at the business as a caring organization and will keep their loyalty to the business (Thompson et.al, 2012). It may seem like a small issue, but customer feedback should be a key priority if the business will want to be at the top of the market.  

Business Strength

One of the greatest business strengths for Domino’s Pizza is its global brand that continues to grow across the different countries it has ventured into. Growth in the market is attributed to the brand that the company endorses and has invested a lot of resources in ensuring that brand stays on top of the market (IBIS World, 2013). They are faced with continuous competition from different other companies in the same industry. Through expansion they are able to create larger market space and increase their market share. They have also aligned their business strategy with offering of better services and improving product quality to their customers.  

Business Recommendations

The company has to commit itself to refining and bettering its distinctive strengths and competences. They have to organize their resources to work on the remaining problematic issues that the company needs to solve. Especially, when it comes to working on customer feedback and the level of quality demanded by the customers. It is an important factor and will allow them to have an understanding of their customer’s needs.

Under Cover Boss Business Practise Recommendations

The Under Cover Boss form of evaluation is centered on the leadership aspect and employee relationship. It also doesn’t complement the whole business aspect in terms of business financial performance and objectives of the business. They are considered to be a one dimensional platform where a CEO or Manager of an organization monitors the business processes and activities by his/her employees. Even though it is a good way of helping the management knows what is going on in their organization, it also needs to help a company become better at improving its sales and also boost their innovative strategy for the future sustainability of the business.

Recommendation for Uncovering Problems in an Organization

A better method of identifying any problems in the business would be to have direct interview sessions with employees of the company and also the customers. The focus should be turned to them for a more accurate and comprehensive feedback in to what should be change and what needs to remain the same for the company to remain competitive. The franchise also has many restaurants in different location monitoring these place requires an online platform to get feedback and retrieve information from across the franchises around the globe.

Conclusion

Domino’s Pizza was a good basis for company evaluation on the business strengths and weaknesses of a big franchise. It showed the viewers of how the business entity works and the way it is able to dominate the market with its quality of service and product delivery. Led by a good leader they have showed the way forward for other companies and how important it is to have a motivational leader.