A essay on how a fastfood job reflects on psychology essay example

Description of the fast food job

An example of a fast- food job is being a manager at a restaurant that deals with food, usually prepared and served quite fast in a packaged form. The job of a manager in such a restaurant is to oversee business operations and ensure that all stakeholders involved in every department are satisfied. In this case, the stakeholders include the supervisors, employees, suppliers and customers (internal and external). The restaurant usually deals with those customers who need to be served fast and efficiently, and it consists of a shelter and several seats for customers who may require sitting for a few minutes while they eat. The manager needs to understand some levels of psychology so that he can use such knowledge to handles different scenarios that may occur during the deliberations of daily jobs.

In the first scenario, children may start complaining that the food does not seem to be sweet even before they take a bite, and visibly become uninterested in the food. In this situation, the manager must evaluate the circumstances that led to such outbursts from children yet most young children love fast foods. To evaluate the situation and come up with measures to counter the problem at hand, the manager needs to know much about taste sensation and perception. Taste is a crucial sense when it comes to eating and enjoying food while sight plays a major in giving people taste perceptions. When it comes to children, the way food looks plays a major role in affecting their willingness to taste it. Sensation refers to the process of passing information to the brain in a passive manner while perception is the active process of choosing, organizing, evaluating and interpreting information brought to the brain through the senses (Bird 2). In this scenario, the manager must understand that the children are judging the taste of the fast food by just looking at it and feeling that the food cannot taste great. Fortunately, the manager can work on that issue by manipulating the foods’ coloring and perfect mouth watering colors for the foods. Color can even fool our taste buds into perceiving taste differences where none exist. The manager can introduce different types of colors for the salads and sauce so as to attract more customers in to the restaurant. This issue was illustrated by a recent study that was expressed in the June 2003 issue of the Wall street journal, “ Taste Perception: More than Meets the Tongue.”

In the second scenario, the workers in a fast food may be under pressure and several workers may quit their jobs around the same time even without a notice, a move that can adversely affect the restaurant. As a manager it would be crucial to understand that it is not normal to have employees shift from a workplace in a few consecutive days. In order to evaluate the circumstances leading to the prevailing moves, the manager needs to possess some knowledge in psychology. The manager must understand that employees are usually under pressure to keep up with the fast service and therefore, their motivation and emotions must be considered. When employees are working hard to meet the needs of the many customers, who keep on streaming into the restaurant, their stress level may become unbearable especially if the manager does not recognize their hard work. In the field of emotions and motivation, the manager should understand the meaning of incentive theories. Incentive theory acknowledges that behavior is usually motivated by a pull of external rewards and goals (Slatten 2). In psychology, behavior is usually based on certain expectations of consequences namely punishments and reinforcements. A manager should constantly motivate fast- food employees by allowing open communication between employees and the management; use salary increases whenever the employees exhibit exemplary performances and introduce incentives to the employees.

In the third scenario, there could be a long queue of people wanting to be served in the fast food restaurant, and a majority of people may start complaining of how slow the service is due to impatience. In such a scenario, the manager must understand social behaviors related to the fast food industry. Studies have shown a link between fast food and impatience among customers and other people working closely with fast food outlets. Feelings of frustrations and impatience are a common form of problems found in psychology. Fast food concept has some elements that induce time- saving behaviors while some previous studies show that social behaviors can be shaped by environmental characteristics. The time- saving behavior can be activated every time a person is exposed to fast food regardless of the time frame he has at hand. As much as the fast food concept has brought about time efficiency, it is crucial to note that it also causes unnecessary haste or impatience in some contexts (Chandler 6). With such kind of psychology knowledge, the manager can easily train the employees on the best way to handle such customers. The customers need understanding since it’s the fast food concept that has brought such haste and impatience. The employees may try and perform their jobs faster and also offer customer service to the customers so as to ensure customer- satisfaction and loyalty.

In the fourth scenario, the busy restaurant’s stakeholders may suffer from stress and health related problems. At one point, as a manager, one may notice some cognitive or emotional symptoms of stress such as lack of concentration and constant confusion. In such a scenario, it would be vital to possess some knowledge in psychology so as to understand the stress- coping and health aspects of the stakeholders. For example, stress can affect the body, thoughts and behavior of the person affected, and this can result to low productivity at work. For example, if an employee is stressed up, he may be unable to work as fast as it is usually the case in the fast food industry. Also, a stressed up supplier may be too confused to deliver the right ingredients. Whatever the case, stress coping and health management would be a necessary part of the management to emphasize on among the stakeholders. In psychology, the body reacts to stress in various stages namely the alarm stage, the resistance stage and finally the exhaustion stage. In order to understand and explain stress, one must involve the related personality, environmental and facial aspects of the affected persons. The manager can then assist in making the affected person to cope with the stress by learning how to manage stressful circumstance and seeking to understand and manage stress. According to Business Editors (12), cognitive structuring may be used to change and modify thoughts so as to produce effective and positive outcomes. The manager may devise other ways to help in management of stress through methods such as emphasizing on healthy exercises and promotion of healthy trends.

Works Cited

Bird, Laura. Obese America: Cafeteria Food Fight: Nation’s kids get while school lunch programs battle fast – food and soda. New York: Wall Street Journal, 14th June, 2002. : 2-3.
Business Editors. Business and Economics: Kraft Foods Announces 10 Members of Worldwide Health & Wellness Advisory Council. New York: Business wire, 2003. : 10-12.
Chandler, Susan. It’s impatience’s turn: Three years after Irene Rosenfeld left the top ranks of Kraft Foods in frustration over the company’s leadership; she takes over, charged with instilling vigor into its growth strategy, Washington: McClatchy Tribune Information Services, 2006. : 6-7
Slatten, Terje. Antecedents and effects of employees’ feelings of joy on employees’ innovative behavior. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2011. : 1-3