Cincinnati Super subs is one of 300 restaurant franchises throughout Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. Each operation has one manager, an assistant manager, a few team leaders, and many employees (mostly college and high school students who work part-time). Most employees earn minimum wage. The manager and assistant manager get a bonus for keeping costs (wastage) low. However, employees raise costs by helping themselves to food, and by adding free ingredients when their friends order a sub. Errors are supposed to be charged back to the responsible employee, but the night manager rarely writes this up because of peer pressure. The manager tried to reduce costs by reducing the free food allowance only to staff who work six or more hours (most work less than that minimum), but employees still nibbled whenever the manager or assistant manager were away. Morale fell and about 20 percent of the experienced employees quit. The high turnover and resulting staff shortages required the manager and assistant manager to train staff and spend more time in food preparation (even managers are discouraged from working directly in food preparation.) Accidental wastage increased due to new staff but deliberate wastage feel while the managers were in the restaurant. However, wastage increased again almost immediately after the managers stepped back from daily operations. In response, the manager withdrew all free food allowance and threatened to fire employees caught consuming food.

1. What symptom(s) in this case suggest that something has gone wrong?

2. What are the main causes of these symptoms?

(a) Lack of Motivation to Minimize Food Costs. The level of food wastage at Cincinnati Super Subs was high because employees had little motivation to reduce food costs. This can be explained in terms of the P-to-O expectancy in expectancy theory.

(b) Team Leaders Lacked Motivation (and Power). The team leaders were given legitimate power by the company, but employees continued to eat and give away food because they had more power over the team leader (ostracizing at school) than the team leader had over them.

(c) Ineffective Use of Punishment. This case clearly illustrates the problems with using punishment to change behavior, as well as the negative consequences of punishment. The manager’s use of punishment strained relations with employees.

3. What actions should Cincinnati Super Subs’ managers take to correct these problems?