Running head: MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

BarNone, Inc., Management/Leadership Component Revision to Ensure Success

Shannon M. Scarpello
Florida SouthWestern State College
Professor Hoffman

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

Introduction
BarNone, Inc. has been steadily growing since it established its first location on Clark
Road, in Sarasota, FL in 2001. Since then, BarNone, Inc. has grown to twenty (20) locations
throughout southwest Florida, including two franchise locations. The business just announced its
plans to open two locations in both Venice, FL and on popular Main Street in downtown
Sarasota. Part of that growth was built on a steadied focus of its foundation and purpose to
provide our patrons with the best neighborhood bar experience humanly possible. Seems simple
enough right? However, an increase in the number of locations meant an increase in
management/leadership opportunities and challenges. Unfortunately BarNone, Inc., is struggling
to find suitable candidates for key managerial positions resulting in inefficient use of resources
and higher turnover. The issue for BarNone, Inc., owners seems to be a lack of understanding
about what constitutes an effective manager/leader.
Issue
The ability of an owner to recognize and/or differentiate between what constitutes an
effective manager/leader as opposed to an ineffective manager/leader is crucial to operational
success. Currently, BarNone, Inc., is facing two issues, high turnover of management positions
and inefficient use of resources, compounded by a lack of communication surrounding both staff
and vendors. Turnover of employees is sometimes unavoidable, however, a high degree of
turnover amongst management/leadership positions can lead to undesirable consequences. The
bar industry is considered a social institution in which both staff and patrons develop personal

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

relationships and familiarity; neighborhood bars become an extension of ones home and as such,
these bonded relations are a crucial component in value creation and profits. High turnover
ultimately limits a businesss ability to maintain a strong rapport with its customers.
Equally concerning is managements failure to maintain adequate stock/inventory
resulting from inefficient use of resources. Customers in general expect that the product they
seek will be provided upon request. Inadequate inventories will drive customers to seek their
desired products elsewhere. Over the years, BarNone Inc., has developed a specialized identity
of consistency, cleanliness, high quality customer service, with a friendly neighborhood
experience; however, rapid expansion has hindered its ability to promote effective
management/leaders into key positions. In order for a business to maintain operational success,
especially during times of expansion, employers must understand the varying attributes to look
for when hiring employees to fill these key positions. Some significant attributes are integrity,
skill and ability, and personality. However, perseverance, focus, flexibility, adaptability, and
communication are critical requirements for a managerial/leadership position. There are a
number of online sources dedicated to defining leadership qualities and traits, however, it is
crucial to understand what makes a leader and how to identify a leader. Organizational
leaders and effective management go hand-in-hand. Some noteworthy attributes, qualities, and
skills are communication, team building, vision and goal setting, motivation and risk taking, each
traditionally associated with strong leadership traits required for success.
Another key component owners must consider when promoting individuals for
management/leadership positions is a leadership trait known as emotional intelligence. Daniel
Goleman was the first to introduce emotional intelligence as a relevant tool for distinguishing
effective leaders from their traditional counterparts. This unconventional way of characterizing

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

effective leaders identifies potential leaders based on an individuals self-awareness, selfregulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. For example, self-awareness is the first of the
five components of emotional intelligence and distinguishes a persons ability to recognize and
understand ones moods, emotions, and drivers, as well as their effect on others as being neither
overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful; rather they are simply honest with themselves and
others (Goleman, 2004). Self-regulation enables a person to manage their biological impulses
and redirect those emotional impulses in constructive and beneficial ways to achieve greater
performance. Likewise, it is important to recognize and understand the various qualities that
combine to create ineffective leaders/managers. You do this by identifying what qualities make a
bad leader and understanding why these qualities create ineffective leadership? Examples of
negative leadership qualities would be a leader without a clear and achievable vision, leaders that
lack character and integrity and often behave in a rationally unethical manner, and leaders who
lack communication skills.
With that said, the first step for BarNone, Inc., is to identify the problem by analyzing the
internal environment using value-chain analysis and a resourced based approach. Assessing its
human capital (intellectual assets) and developing and encouraging a learning organization that
breeds talent and creativity is crucial to sustaining a competitive advantage in a growing industry
and essential for an expanding business. Currently, BarNone, Inc., owners, have repeatedly
promoted individuals into leadership/management positions who lack the strong leadership skills
essential for motivating staff performance, inspiring teamwork, managing inventories and vendor
relations, and ultimately achieving long-term sustainable organizational value. Many of the
issues faced by BarNone, Inc., are caused by poor communication by its leaders/managers. Poor
communication can strain the productivity of and obstruct the efficiency of the organization. For

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

BarNone, Inc., poor communication has caused distention in the ranks amongst employees and
co-workers. Employees currently lack enthusiasm and are often confused as to expectations and
goals. This lack of direction raises many unanswered questions and fails to inspire confidence in
everyday activities leading to demoralization of employees.
As if that is not bad enough, poor communication is impacting customer satisfaction and
reducing the quality of service many have come to expect from the BarNone brand. Proactive
customer communication policies must be established and implemented in order to improve
customer satisfaction and eliminate customer confusion, which leads to dissatisfaction and the
loss of customer retention. Likewise, mismanagement of inventories has created uncertainty
amongst vendors. Failure of management to properly track inventories, sales, and purchases has
led to mishandling of the addition and subtraction of inventory adjustments. All too often the
establishment is out of necessary everyday items and key inventories. For example, a
miscalculation of inventory in regards to orange juice, pineapple juice, lemons or limes can cost
an establishment hundreds of dollars, if not more, in loss of sales. Likewise, mishandling of key
inventories such as a key selling top shelf liquor can result in lower sales when that same
customer chooses a well or a call liquor as a substitute. This type of error can hinder customer
satisfaction especially for those customers that are repeat customers that seek the same brand or
drink on a daily basis and will turn around and leave if their brand or preference is out-of-stock.
Customer satisfaction is crucial in the bar industry. Therefore, in order to maintain success,
BarNone, Inc., must revamp its hiring, recruiting, and training processes to better distinguish
between prospective leaders/managers within its growing business. Establishing management
development programs and proper training protocols will decrease turnover rates amongst

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

management and teach efficient use of resources ultimately saving the business money, while
increasing sales, but more importantly ensuring strong customer retention and satisfaction.

Recommended Solution
Proper human resource practices directly impact organizational performance especially
when recruiting for key management positions within the organization. Properly assessing a
candidate for a leadership position is crucial to the decision making process when it comes to
hiring effective leaders/managers; however, without clear job specifications in place and
effective human resource planning practices, such as, management development, BarNone Inc.,
will continue to have trouble securing effective long-term leaders/managers for its growing
business. Job analysis involves creating sound job descriptions and detailed job specifications.
Having a clear outline of the nature and requirements necessary for a specific position make it
easier to identify strengths and weaknesses not only for each position within the organization, but
for the recruitment of qualified candidates to fill any vacancies in a timely manner. Developing
and utilizing a HRIS Human Resource Information System in order to keep a skill and talent
inventory for succession planning in an effort to identify potential individuals for future
responsibilities and considerations can be a cost effective tool for any organization.
Consolidating information about the organizations human resources will ensure the recruiting
process is more effective. Therefore, step two for BarNone Inc., is updating human resource
practices to include sound planning, recruitment, and selection practices, as well as, instituting
management training programs.
Step three is the use of strategic management by implementing organizational control
using strategies that exercise informational and behavioral control to address the internal and

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

external environment, while having the ability to make modifications where necessary, to
continue to meet or exceed desired standards. Effective managers and leaders must understand
the benefits of influencing the actions of employees through culture, rewards, and boundaries.
Managers and leaders must include the use of informational controls to create, implement, and
monitor the performance to determine whether or not it meets the desired outcome. Effective
managers must establish clear and precise objectives for the day-to-day operations and
expectations of employees. This is accomplished by formulating an objective-setting process
known as management by objectives (MBO). Understanding the value of effective strategic
controls and how it relates to managements effectiveness in organizational performance will
ensure a better fit when recruiting for key leadership/managerial positions. BarNone, Inc., should
at the very least create a management training program in which prospective leaders/managers
are required to complete prior to taking on the responsibility of the position. For BarNone,
managers who fail to understand how to process orders, update and maintain inventory, and
create proper orders based on supply and demand, will continue to run out of inventory when it is
needed most resulting in unhappy or lower customer satisfaction and a failure to maintain
customer retention.
Implementation
Time-line to implement sound recruiting, hiring, retention, and succession planning
policies and programs is roughly six to nine months. However, results can be visible within 3-4
months provided necessary steps are taken to increase training. Additionally, leaders/managers
should be required to attend a management training curriculum designed to give them the
insights into every aspect of the business. It is essential for managers to recognize customer
needs, manage personnel, maintain purchasing and inventory, and understand beverage

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP COMPONENT REVISION

management and industry law. It is not enough for a person to be hired into such an important
position with only basic knowledge of operations. Additionally, each candidate should be
required to shadow a top performing management personnel from a sister-location, for no less
than one week, in an attempt to recreate acceptable management and leadership practices already
established and proven successful within the organization.
Time-line to implement a management training program is roughly three to six months.
However, the actual training program itself will consist of four weeks of management training,
together with one week of shadowing, and followed by a two week follow-up training program
in which sound policies and practices will be translated throughout the entire organization
resulting in a uniform leadership practice for all current and future locations.
At the same time, the implementation of a functional HRIS Human Resource Information
System will take time to establish. The installation process, can take approximately six to eight
weeks and the training and overview of the system, entering and configuring the data currently
on-hand, and taking the time to properly update the system can take an additional eight weeks.
Therefore it is understood that this investment is time-consuming and will take approximately six
to nine months before the unique needs of the company will be met.
Conclusion
Provided that BarNone, Inc., takes the necessary steps to ensure the above measures are
taken into account during its hiring and recruiting process, for management/leadership positions
within the organization, it is likely that it will resolve most of its key issues. Proper management
development programs and training protocols are key to increasing sales, customer satisfaction
and retention, improved communications between various parties (customers, employees and
vendors), establishing clear and precise objectives for day-today operations, and effectively

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utilizing resources and maintaining inventories. The results of implementing the above programs
will likely improve vision and goal setting within the organization, expand strategic thinking and
decision making, and encourage motivation and team building skills. Simply wanting to earn a
profit is not enough this industry. Therefore, understanding what constitutes and effective
manager/leader is a crucial component to developing a strong and everlasting brand that will
continue to attract and retain customers and quality employees.

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10

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