Discussion

Decision making in business processes is one of the most crucial elements that need adequate knowledge and consideration and can have extremely dire consequences in case of miscalculations. Since a business process comprises of various level and layers of operations and managing, decision-making plays a very important role in prioritizing requirements and altogether is a very complex procedure involving analysis at various levels (Bryman & Bell, 2015). One very important element in decision making,

especially when it comes to international business, is the ability to think beyond the regular structure. Though the Western society is greatly biased towards individual decision-making, it is being now explored how team-work or group-participation in decision-making processes allow more scope for creativity, innovation and creates a particular “creative tension” in the processes of problem-solving and decision-making (Dobbs, Ippolito & Charner-Laird, 2016).

In order to draw an in-depth analysis of the current position of the chosen business organization, the Seven Seeds Cafe, it is necessary to consider it from multiple perspectives in order to decide on an appropriate and relevant solution that serves the purpose of all/maximum shareholders and also enhances the organization’s sustainability. According to (Sharma, Mithas & Kankanhalli, 2014), decision-making plays a key role in problem-solving processes. In order to understand the concept of individual and group decision-making, this project would emphasize on engaging together in a team for high quality decision-making.

Discussion

This paper investigates and analyzes the current context of the Seven Seeds—a coffee-shop enterprise situated in Australia, and is essentially looking for business cost containment due to its recent loss of profitability due to changing market conditions (McWilliams, 2016). Seven Seeds is In order to create an appropriate and relevant solution to the issues experienced, it is necessary to first understand the issues from perspectives of the various stakeholders of the business. This research aims to study the current situation issue, from an individual as well as group perspective, and critically analyze them against the Company objectives to formulate a relevant solution.

Problem Definition

The Seven Seeds, which comprises of 300 employees in total, has recently gone through a loss of two key products from their product line due to changing governmental policies and regulations. Falling business profitability is another major reason behind the complete extinction of the product from the contemporary market. The management of the particular business organization has identified reducing business costs as one of the chief requirements in order to control the damages.

The Executive Management team of the organization has identified controlling wage-salary costs as a means to reduce business costs of the enterprise and survive the forth-coming period (Fairlie & Fossen, 2018). As the most positive way to deal with the issue, the management team decided reducing their employee base by sacking them on the basis of redundancies (Rosso, 2014). As appointed by the Executive Management, this research aims to analyze the provided information and data on the number of people listed for redundancy and provide recommendations on the list, along with sufficient justifications.

Problem Definition

Situational Analysis

A systematic collection of the various external and internal business situational factors that is crucial for determining the organization’s capabilities, deficiencies, prospects and obstacles (Smith et al., 2014). There are various tools and methods that have been theorized for the accuracy of the situational analysis of businesses and organizations. PESTEL and SWOT Analyses are two such methods that are commonly used to critically analyze external and internal situations of particular organizations. While PESTEL Analysis emphasizes on the external conditions of a business environment, the SWOT Analysis determines the particular strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization, as derived from the comparison of its external environment and the respective requirements for survival in it.

In order to critically analyze the business conditions of the Seven Seeds Café, a detailed PESTEL Analysis would be conducted based on which the SWOT Analysis would be formulated.

PESTEL Analysis

A PESTEL Analysis describes the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors of the organization’s external environment that directly influences the business functions (Rastogi & Trivedi, 2016).

Political: The changing political conditions of the external environment of the organization has a direct influence on the organization’s business processes—for example, the sourcing of the raw materials from all over the world. According to (Baylis, Smith & Owens, 2017), in a dynamic political atmosphere that is taking a turn towards organic farming and global political activism and awareness, the Seven Seeds Café faces a stiff challenge of survival and acceptance.

Economic: Australia being one of the powerful first world countries with flourishing business and economy comprises of a huge consumer base. The demand for various kinds of readymade coffee and coffee-shops amongst consumers, have multiplied over the years—which can be beneficial for the Seven Seeds Café.

Social: The current sociological conditions of Australia indicate towards a trend for “ethical business” and “ethical consumption”, which is being widely accepted by entrepreneurs and consumers alike. Though the population holds a large section of the elite upper-middle class who can both afford and hold demand for the products and services, general awareness regarding sustainability and ethical consumption practices makes it mandatory for the business to adhere to ethical guidelines (Jones et al., 2015).

Technological: Technological improvements have been one of the most remarkable advancements in the global business market. Modern technological gadgets and appliances not only make the production process easy, they enhance the quality, reduce long-term cost and eliminate excessive manual labor. Online presence of organizations is another revolutionary factor that directly affects the performance of the organization.

Environmental: Current environmental conditions are worsening worldwide. Over-consumption of resources, unsustainable business practices are posing major threats to the environment all over the world (Miller, Lee, Obersky & Edwards, 2015). Recent concern of researchers and activists over the deteriorating environmental health has directly affected environmental rules and regulations. Depleting environmental resources also affect the coffee bean farming practices, thus directly affecting the raw supply materials chain of the organization.

Legal: The rapidly changing laws and policies of the country make it quite complex for a business organization to perform independently. The reformed laws for caffeine production and consumption do not only affect the demand of the products offered but also puts the organization in jeopardy. In order to survive the legal conditions, it is necessary to abide by the respective laws and regulations.

Situational Analysis

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT Analysis identifies the particular strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization, as derived from the external organizational analysis.

Strengths: Rising demand for coffee and coffee-shops amongst Australian consumers is one of the biggest strengths of the organization (Yuan, Chang & Tzeng, 2015). Additionally, the organization employs a wide range of workers and employees (both directly and indirectly), creating a diverse workspace with many creative and innovative ideas.

Weaknesses: The major weaknesses of the organization would include the increasing costs of production and changing social and legal conditions of the country, which have caused the removal of two of their products for not fulfilling their required criteria.

Opportunities: The organization stands a good opportunity of applying latest technological developments that would help in replacing human labors with machines, thus enhancing the accuracy and quality of products at a reduced time and cost (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014). Additionally, the organization might make optimum utilization of the rich cultural diversity amongst its employees and strive to create more innovation in its business processes.

Threats: The rising threats to the organization include dire environmental health and resources that not only make the governmental and environmental laws more stringent, but also harms the sustainability of the organization. On the other hand, sacking a good number of employees from the organization to reduce its production costs might have unwanted and dire consequences on the management authorities, on the basis of unethical business practices.

Sense Making

The list of employee names and information provided to the panel by the Executive Management team of the organization contains 60 names, from which at least 60% needs to be made redundant for the cost minimization of organization. However, the panel of researchers working on the project unanimously agrees that the organization requires a minimum of 275 employees in order to function properly with its available resources and capabilities.

The list of employees provided by the management exposed biased and unethical decision-making of the management team of the Company, who has also listed certain people due to personal disagreements, preferences or even social media presence (Furman, de Branden & Spaller, 2018). Not only is this problematic because of the biased governance of employees but also poses a huge risk of violating ethical standards and norms.

Formulation of Potential Solutions

In order to create potential solution for the issues is discussion it is necessary to look at the scenario from the perspectives of the consumers, the entrepreneur as well as the employees. Employees are one of the most vital resources of a business organization and need to be protected in order to ensure survival and sustainability. A relevant solution would be a long-term process of strategizing and utilizing the available resources in more creative and innovative ways to meet the requirements. The various solutions provided by the panel are:

Since the organization is currently going through a low-tide economically, it is advisable to not declare 36 employees “redundant” without a valid cause, as most of these employees belong to the middle-age group and would fail at re-employment programs (Hu & Liden, 2015).

PESTEL Analysis

Since the organization has already been facing issues related to legal and sustainability issues, it would be better to consider alternative options to meet the requirements.

Until the replacement of human labors with technological machines, the loss of 36 labors at once would be a stiff challenge for the smooth functioning of the operational processes of the organization.

Finally, the organization must take care not to get involved in unethical organizational practices and behaviors like holding personal discomforts against colleagues, reservations for preferred members, bias on the basis of class/caste/age/gender or appearance, and more.

Selection between Solutions

In order to strike the most relevant solution for the current issue it is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of all the stakeholders involved in the process. The functioning of a business organization is essentially a team work and therefore requires better judgment in decision-making processes, so as to protect the rights and benefits of the stakeholders and ensure sustainability (Susanty & Kenny, 2015). The selection of employees who need to be made redundant must follow a systematic process based on specific professional criteria.

Decision making based on solutions

Based on the various potential solutions identified by the research panel, it is identified that not more than 25 employees can be declared “redundant” by the organization at the moment. Not does the organization need more resources to meet the expected requirements, but also aims to steer clear of any new issues regarding unethical exploitation of employees and fraud (Costa, Passos & Bakker, 2015). Therefore, in order to ensure sustainability of processes, the decision would be to limit the redundancy list to only the ones who have exposed signs of unprofessional or unethical workplace behaviors, like absenteeism, negative working relations with colleagues, failing to meet quarterly targets and more (Iphofen, 2016).

Implementation of Decisions

The implementation of the decisions would include the following steps:

• Close scrutiny of work processes of the listed employees to measure their efficiency and justify their employment.
• Close adherence to legal and environmental policies pertaining to the business processes, in order to avoid further chaos and expenditure.
• Sacking redundant employees.
• Apply more cross-cultural communication theories in order to make the most use of available diversity of human resources and create a creative tension leading to innovative ideas and solutions (Seeman, 2015).

Followed by continuous discussions and critical analysis of the given situation by all three members of the panel team, a unanimous decision was finally reached (Nemiro, 2016). Though there were differences in opinion amongst the panelists, the intense discussion sessions resulted in re-consideration of several suggestions to agree on specific decisions.

Recommendations

After the successful analysis of the business situation faced by the Seven Seeds Café, a number of recommendations were finalized for the organization, as listed below:

• Enhance employee engagement and efficiency in order to extract their complete potential (Taskov & Mitreva, 2015).
• Eliminate the unnecessary elements that add to the expenditures of the organization without retrieving desirable results.
• Conduct workshops on organizational behaviors and cross-cultural work-ethics in order to avoid unnecessary clashes based on personal/religious reservations (Maalouf & Gammelgaard, 2016).
• Adapt to new technologies and modern appliances that reduce consumption of time and resources.
• Adhere to environmental and other legal policies and regulations to emerge as an ethical and sustainable business force in international market (Costanzo & Di Domenico, 2015).

Conclusion

To conclude, decision-making is a complex process that extensively uses investigation, research and analysis to conclusively reach an agreeable point that is beneficial for all. An efficient decision-making process avoids being reckless and impulsive and rather focuses on the in-depth understanding of the current situation in order to reflect the particular areas that are in need of amendments. PESTLE and SWOT Analyses of the Seven Seeds Café exposed the particular external and internal conditions of the organization, reflecting the pros and cons of various potential solutions to the emerging issue. However, with the help of sufficient knowledge gathered from previous experiences, theorized business literature and current Company conditions, a relevant solution has been provided, focusing on a structural change of work practices.

Grading Matrix

	Member Name/ ID	Maximum Teamwork Mark (%)	Average Participation Score (1-5)
1.	Self	15	5
2.	Other1	15	4
3.	Other2	15	5

Personal Reflection

As one of the three members of the research panel assigned to provide relevant solutions for the issue faced by the Seven Seeds Café, I have gained a significant amount of insight regarding practical experiences of working in a closely-knit team. Not only did I learn to apply the business theories in practical scenarios to produce worthwhile solutions to given problems, but also gathered enough experience regarding the basic essence of working as a team, rather than as an individual. During the research process we had to look at various business factors from the perspective of a multicultural employee base and explored the areas of learning to work in a team, in collaboration with others.

A team work essentially requires providing sufficient space to all the respective team members so that they can put in their best creative minds. This project particularly helped me to connect the theories with my practical experiences as I was working as a part of a team, which came with its own share of disagreements and displeasures. However, the ability to refocus our attention towards the issue in concern and being more flexible to accepting and trying out new, innovative ideas did not only infuse a great sense of thrill and encouragement, but also helped us to successfully provide a relevant solution, appropriate for the current issue in concern.

Challenged with the complex issue of the Seven Seeds Café, which is looking at sacking its employees to increase the chances of survival in the current business environment, it led us to conducting a thorough investigation of its various external and internal conditions that directly affect the performance of the organization. By conducting an in-depth situational analysis of the organization, we were more aware regarding its position in the contemporary business market. Situated at the heart of Melbourne, the external business environment of the Seven Seeds Café is characterized by a dynamic socio-political scenario trending towards ethical consumption, organic farming and global political activism.

By investigating the Company’s internal operational processes we identified how this political situation affects the sourcing of its raw materials, for example coffee beans, from all around the world. We practically identified how political scenarios affect the functioning and performance of a business organization. The implementation of business tools like the PESTLE and SWOT on practical issues of contemporary businesses helped in solidifying our critical understanding of each of the processes and their importance in decision-making processes of the same.

As a team of three researchers coming from different mindsets and understandings, we face a number of challenges regarding differences in opinion, successful communication of ideas and skilful handling of stressful situations of deadlock. However, the patience and understanding that I received from my colleagues in hearing out my ideas and notions encouraged me further to listen to what they have to add to it, or even readily acknowledge positive criticisms. The synchronization that developed between the three members of the panel helped us to understand the spirit of working in a team and being open and tolerant with differences in opinions, beliefs and ideas. Not only that, the research project helped us understand the complexities of decision-making process and the particular differences in decision-making, when it comes to individual and/or group performance.

In case of the Seven Seeds Café we had to make a very crucial decision as the Executive Management’s circular was to sack 60% of the listed employees in order to stabilize its salary-wage costs and survive the recent financial losses. However, the detailed analysis exposed threats of further legal difficulties that could spring up due to unethical sacking of employees, without any valid reason. Adding to its already doubtful reputation of unsustainable business practices, the burden of unethical sacking of employees could be off limits for the organization right now. We strongly felt that the organization needs to further look into its incompetence and rectify their management strategies in order to have a better grasp at the business market, for example by adapting environment-friendly initiatives of sustainability.

Adapting to modern technological advancements of the society was another crucial factor that we explored through the research. As a means to cut down production costs, implementing new technologies and equipments could perform a huge boost. Replacing human labour with machines not only drastically brings down the wage-salary costs but also conserves time and produces better quality products with more consistency. The huge benefits that technological developments have bestowed on business organizations could be explored not only in theory but also practice, as the panellists were virtually connected to each other while working in collaboration for the project. The implementation of modern technological innovations in direct business processes and enjoying its benefits directly as we work together was a great experience of connecting theory in practice.

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