Case Study: Delicious Delivery

Rob Maura is the Founder and CEO of Delicious Delivery, a delivery service that is outsourced by several restaurants in the Washington DC metropolitan area. A privately held company, Rob began his company with a small group of part-time workers who were primarily college students seeking extra money. Outsourced delivery service was fairly new at the time the company was formed, and Delicious Delivery only delivered in the evenings, which accommodated students' schedules. The company started 5 years ago, and grew to 20 part-time employees who delivery from restaurant to door. Rob also has two (2) full-time employees, Mike Buchannan, Operations Manager, and Michelle Andrews, who handles Accounting and hiring. Mike ensures scheduling and full oversight of employees, including training. Michelle posts for hires, and handles finance of contracts, including payroll. Rob solicits restaurants and secures new clients. He is the "face" of the company. The company has earned a reputation for being an exclusive evening delivery service that is reliable, trustworthy and on time - every time. Delicious Delivery employees are known for being professional and courteous. Client contracts are form year-to- year. The competition has grown over the years to include daytime delivery, and other perks such as deep discounts for new and returning customers. Also, in renewing contracts recently, Rob has lost several bids due to the competition. In fact, some of his employees now work for other competitors delivering during the day.

Mike runs a "tight" ship and has been the sole reason Delicious Delivery has earned its reputation in the industry. He is efficient and is a key player in the company. With a strong work ethic, employees think of Mike as a tough Manager, who cares about the job and not his employees. When employees are not on time, are behind schedule, Mike will "dock" their pay, or insist that they make up for the lost time, resulting in late work hours. Employees have friends that work for other companies with more flexible hours and terms. They also offer Management training programs and some tuition assistance for student workers. Several ideas have been presented to Mike, but he says that understands, but that there is no time. To help alleviate some concerns, Mike gave a slight increase in hourly rates that not only made Delicious Delivery salaries competitive, but one of the best in their industry. As a former Captain of the Army, Mike upholds the value of hard work, and hoped that employees would continue to provide friendly, customer service and uphold the company's brand for superior service.

Employees are paid twice a month and pick up their paychecks at the office. Michelle is usually onsite and is available to employees. Employees like Michelle's calm and positive demeanor.

They have complained to her about Mike's management style, and as a result, some employees have left to work for competitors, even with the increase in pay. Over the past 2 years, Michelle now equally spends her time posting for delivery workers and interviewing, not allowing her to focus on how she can help the company thrive and grow. And while Rob does a great job at winning new client accounts, profits and employee morale continue to decline. Michelle has brought these issues to Rob to raise awareness. If this trend continues, the company will be out of business in the next 5 years.

Rob is aware and has now set aside time for the Management Team (Mike and Michelle) to have work sessions to discuss the state of the company and how they can resolve these issues. Rob's goal is to continue superior service, meet the needs of employees, reduce in-house time recruiting, and effectively compete to raise profit margins. To help facilitate this process, Rob has solicited your team as Organizational Strategists to help resolve key issues and make final recommendations.

1. Include Executive Summary (introduction of case)
2. Follow the 3-stop journey of Integrative Framework:

i. Define the problem.
ii. Identify potential causes using Organizational Behavior (OB) concepts and theories.
iii. Make recommendations and take action.

3. Incorporate at least three OB concepts and/or strategies as part of your approach and final recommendations.

FORMAT:

1. 3 PAGES Maximum
2. Simple and clear writing, no complexity.