Journal of Business and entrepreneurial
January – March Vol. 6 - 1 - 2022
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e-ISSN: 2576-0971
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Proposal for an administrative procedures manual
with a biosafety approach after Covid-19
Propuesta de un manual de procedimientos administrativo con enfoque
de bioseguridad tras el Covid–19
Cristhian Gregorio Barreto Silva
*
Ángela María Pazmiño Montes
*
William Renán Meneses Pantoja
*
Edisson Javier Mera Silva
*
ABSTRACT
The present research seeks to create an organizational structure
design for the Restaurant "Mi Galito", to implement sales and
distribution strategies in order to contribute in the foundation
of solid bases to be able to compete in the current market; due
to the current conditions in which the business is found as a
result of the pandemic by "Covid-19". Therefore, a descriptive,
qualitative-quantitative research was developed with the use of
methods in the theoretical order and techniques in the practical
order such as interviews and surveys to the main actors
involved. As a result, it was found that the business has a high
acceptance rate of 90% for the taste of its dishes and with a
100% satisfaction regarding the service, for which the variety of
flavors and its low prices are the qualities valued by external
customers; also, it was known that the restaurant was not
operational during the second quarter of 2020 due to the
pandemic that represented a reduction in demand even in the
process of reopening. Organizational change due to
contingencies in the context makes it imperative to analyze the
organizational structure of a business in order to adapt to
current demands, obtain profits or survive in the market.
*
Student of Business Administration at the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de
Manabí, Bahía de Caráquez extension, Email: e1314099191@live.uleam.edu.ec;
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7650-2694
*
Student of Business Administration at the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de
Manabí, Bahía de Caráquez extension, Email: e1313603746@live.uleam.edu.ec;
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5474-1897
*
Master in Tourism Marketing and Innovation E-mail:
william.pantoja@uleam.edu.ec ; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8080-9990
*
Student of Business Administration at the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de
Manabí, Bahía de Caráquez extension, Email: e1313118802@live.uleam.edu.ec;
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6926-8246
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Keywords: Organizational structure, sales strategies, Covid-19 and market.
RESUMEN
En la presente investigación se busca crear un diseño de estructura organizacional para el
Restaurante “Mi Galito”, implementar estrategias de ventas y distribución con la finalidad de
contribuir en la cimentación de bases sólidas para poder competir en el mercado actual; debido
a las condiciones actuales en las que se encuentran el negocio a consecuencia de la pandemia
por “Covid-19”. Por tanto, se desarrolló una investigación descriptiva, cuali-cuantitativa con el
uso de métodos en el orden teórico y técnicas en el orden práctico como entrevista y encuestas
a los principales actores involucrados. Como resultado, se conoció que el negocio tiene una alta
aceptación con 90% por el sabor de sus platos y con un 100% de satisfacción respecto al servicio,
por lo cual la variedad de sabores y sus precios bajos son las cualidades valoradas de los clientes
externos; también, se conoció que el restaurante no estuvo operativo durante el segundo
trimestre del 2020 por la pandemia que representó una reducción de su demanda aún en el
proceso de reapertura. El cambio organizacional debido a las contingencias en el contexto hace
imperativo el análisis de la estructura organizacional de un negocio para adaptarse a las demandas
actuales, obtener ganancias o sobrevivir en el mercado.
Palabras clave: Estructura organizacional, estrategias de ventas, Covid-19 y mercado.
INTRODUCTION
The present research is based on the designs of the organizational structures in the sales
processes, which is based on the services provided by the restaurant Mi Galito for the
realization of a study of the capabilities of guidelines in order to design key processes in
the restaurant. In addition, an inquiry about the effects caused by the loss of customers
in the restaurant due to the sanitary emergency caused by COVID-2019. San Vicente in
gastronomy stands out for its variety that combines dishes from the sea and inland;
therefore, the present project was carried out in the restaurant Mi Galito which is
located in the canton San Vicente and was conducted within the context of the
pandemic. (Pacheco-Coral, 2017, p. 271)
The restaurant Mi Galito provides a service to the community, offering catering services
having different types of dishes, closer to the place of work or residence, i.e., seeks the
welfare of its customer effectively and aligned with their needs. The present project
seeks to determine and design the sales processes, and also to cover the needs of local
and national tourists visiting the city of San Vicente, and it is also expected to develop
strategies based on the attention and quality service. In view of this, it is necessary to
ask the following question: How does the design of organizational structures and
alternative sales processes through the adoption of strategies and biosecurity measures
impact the operations of the restaurant?
Through an investigation on the application of sales strategies in the Mi Galito restaurant
in the canton of Sucre - Manabí, an organizational structure and administrative
procedures manual will be designed to contribute to the sustainability of the
establishment after the Covid-19 health emergency, in addition to proposing specific
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biosecurity measures based on the general provisions issued by the authorities for the
safe reopening of food and beverage establishments. (Castell Monsalve et al., 2009, p.
562)
Due to the increase in the number of infected people in the city of San Vicente, it was
decided to close the restaurant due to the health emergency and to avoid the contagion
of both employers and customers, the paralysis of the restaurant resulted in a lack of
liquidity, so it was decided to reduce the staff. Consequently, all this generated a loss of
customers and a decrease in income, in the worst case, the closure of the business.
(Carranza et al., 2021, p.8)
Given the constant calls to take social distancing, the correct use of masks and antiseptic
alcohol, some people take it very lightly on the other hand there are those who enter
into a state of mind sometimes depressive, or panic and in many cases stress, which
indicates that many of us are reluctant to change.
As a result, businesses will not have the same number of people as before, so the
different businesses, and one of the most interested in this are the restaurants, such as
"Mi Galito", are opting for other measures in order to generate income and resume
certain activities. (Manzano et al., 2021)
This work allowed to show the impact that has occurred and how it has declined at an
accelerated economic level in the second quarter of 2020. In addition, to offer a solution,
from the administrative perspective that allows the restaurant to improve its economic
situation. We then proceeded to investigate the means of exit in order to have a better
business management. Prior to this, a study was developed, in which effective results
were obtained that promoted its economic development. For the owner, closing the
establishment was a difficult decision since restaurants do not usually have a financial
cushion, but they do it to raise awareness and avoid contagion.(Oportunidades
Gastronómicas, 2020)
Organizational design can be understood as "the process by which we build or change
the structure of an organization, in order to achieve the objectives we have in mind".
(de la Calle-Prieto et al., 2018, p.520). Organizational design is one of the most important
factors since it allows knowing all the procedures that have occurred within it, allowing
the integration of people, providing information.
According to (Santos & Regueiro, 2021) "The organizational structure is reflected in the
organization chart. By organizational structure it is understood that it is the one in which
organizations are organized, through this the goals and objectives to be met are set out,
which are represented in their respective organizational charts" p.320. The main
organizational structures are: divisional structure, geographical structure, matrix
structure, horizontal structure and hybrid structure. It was imperative for this
microbusiness to define its structure as the "blueprint" under which all relationships,
functions, communications and coordination within the business take place. In this sense,
for this restaurant, the functional structure was defined to encourage the specialization
of functions since they operate in a more stable environment.
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Most companies combine the characteristics of functional, divisional, geographic,
horizontal, and network structures to take advantage of the strengths of various
structures and avoid some of the weaknesses (Zorrilla-Vaca & Escandón-Vargas, 2017,
p. 73)
As mentioned, this work was based on the functional structure. Since this is based on
the fact that each employee has a superior and the teams are grouped by specialties;
that is, it is vertically integrated from the bottom to the top of the organization. The
mixed type organization chart was used, which is the result of the combination of several
types of organization charts, with the objective of having a complex structure.
A procedures manual was created with the objective of establishing information and
communication with greater understanding between the areas that make up the Mi
Galito restaurant in order to efficiently comply with the purposes entrusted, as well as
to improve the establishment through an administrative procedures manual through
which both managers and employees know how to perform their work. Also, of other
additional advantages. Likewise, to verify if the work processes are carried out correctly
so that they meet the expectations of the clients. (Cuende et al., 2021, p. 376)
In addition, a biosecurity protocol was developed based on the specific norms according
to each type of service in the restaurant sector; whether for the customer at the time
of arrival or serving the food or for the person cooking the food. We wanted to know
how the pandemic had affected businesses; it is also necessary to know this information
since it is important to know the problems that are experienced on a daily basis.
For Chica-Meza et al., (2020) This project provides knowledge on either how to do or
why a procedures manual is important in a business and the importance of the correct
use of biosecurity protocols, as well as information on how this type of business is being
managed in the context of the pandemic.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Two types of research were used to carry out the research, which are the following:
Exploratory research; this research is described because information was inquired for
the elaboration of a survey of closed questions which was based on the customer's
preference at the time of acquiring the product, likewise a general interview was
conducted with the restaurant manager. On the other hand, the descriptive research;
this research is introduced because it allowed to evaluate the characteristics of the
business and the details about the service and product offered to the consumers.
With a deductive and inductive approach, in which the sales processes of the restaurant
were analyzed, it was also examined what the function of each employee consists of;
after examining the situation studied, it was decided to make organization charts that
explain and discipline each operator about what their work consists of as a worker of
the restaurant Mi Galito. Likewise, an analytical and synthetic approach was used since
the work performed by each employee was monitored, and it was also analyzed how
customer service is carried out by each one of them, in order to draw conclusions about
the problems investigated.
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A survey was conducted with a sample of customers of the Mi Galito restaurant in the
city of San Vicente, who responded to a series of questions contained in questionnaires,
which were tabulated and interpreted in order to determine the degree of customer
satisfaction.
As for the techniques, an interview was applied; where Mrs. Rosa Bolivia Rosales
Ganchoso Manager and owner of the establishment was interviewed, in this criterion a
semi-structured interview was used. In addition, a survey was conducted; the same that
was made to 40 people through Google Forms that was sent to the restaurant
customers with closed and multiple choice questions, this sample was selected from the
operational point of view in the context of the pandemic, as the main characteristic to
be surveyed was to be either regular or irregular customers of the restaurant. The age,
physique, or ethnicity of respondents did not affect survey responses as long as they had
visited the restaurant. Therefore, the probability sampling method was used,
characterized by simple random sampling; used to collect information at critical
moments such as the one experienced during the pandemic.
RESULTS
The application of the investigative techniques of interviewing the establishment's
personnel and surveying its customers made it possible to obtain the following
information on the establishment's current situation, which is presented below:
Through this interview, the owner learned how the arrival of the pandemic affected the
establishment and how it is reactivating in the market, how many people were working
before and after the pandemic, and how the home delivery service is being developed in
order to increase sales. Due to the increasing number of infected people, people opted
to stay at home, which generated a high decrease of customers to the establishment, so
the restaurant Mi Galito applied the sales strategy "home delivery" which generates sales
and helps the financial crisis, however the owner stresses that she is concerned that
sales produced in the course of the pandemic do not generate sufficient income.
As a result of the research, a survey was conducted among the restaurant's customers
to determine their level of satisfaction, taste, preference, quality, ambiance and product
offered by the restaurant:
The main questions raised are presented below:
The customers' opinion about the taste of the food is very important. Since every
customer has different tastes, Mi Galito restaurant has a variety of dishes to satisfy
different tastes and flavors in order to please all its customers.
Thus, 35% of the surveyed population mentioned that the taste of the food is very good;
on the contrary, 55% of the respondents said that the food is good while 10% of the
surveyed population said that it is average, however, no one said that the food served in
the restaurant is bad.
This shows that the good taste of the restaurant's food is recognized because 90% of
the respondents answered positively, so this study can be supported by this question.
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The target client segment for this type of service is office workers, workers in general,
as well as university students from neighboring areas, and tourists. Due to the pandemic,
it is necessary to have a special treatment with the clients since they have to follow the
biosecurity measures.
Moreover, when asked how they feel about the service provided by the restaurant's
employees, favorable responses can be observed; 100% of the population indicated that
they were satisfied with the service provided, since 22% mentioned that they felt very
satisfied while 78% said they felt satisfied.
This question is relevant, as it provides an insight into how the restaurant is viewed from
the customers' perspective, as well as building customer loyalty.
In addition to knowing if the taste of the food is pleasant to customers. Figure
o
3 clearly
shows that 24% of the people surveyed mentioned that they visit the restaurant because
of the price of the dishes; while 38% indicated that they visit it for pleasure; however,
the other 38% mentioned that they visit the restaurant for its variety of flavors.
-Digital marketing tools
At present, Mi Galito restaurant has a home delivery service. This service was
implemented in the establishment due to the arrival of Covid-19 in the country, which
had a great impact on society and the business economy.
This service is performed by the call given by the customer, which is received by the
restaurant representative who takes the order and gives way to the realization of the
dish for proper delivery.
This strategy is very viable but it can fail if it does not have an adequate marketing
strategy, so the decision was made to create a web page in "wix.com" a free page to
create web sites with advertising included, its purpose is to constantly attract customers
and increase sales since, due to the pandemic, sales dropped.
Therefore, it was suggested that the restaurant should have a website that would
improve its cash inflow, thus giving it greater openness and an increase in clientele.
On the website https://migalitosanvicente.wixsite.com/ecuador you can find the
exquisite dishes offered by the restaurant Mi Galito. There are also different ways to
contact us to place your home delivery orders.
-Biosafety protocol
The biosafety protocol was implemented with infographics for easier understanding,
since it has been proven that people are more visual and it is more effective for them to
be guided and apply the images, with specific measures for this establishment, which
guarantees the safety of customers and the people working in the establishment, as well
as the continuity of the restaurant's activities, applying social distancing, home deliveries,
among others.
-Procedures manual
The procedure manual:
"It serves as a means of communication and coordination to record and transmit
in an orderly and systematic way the information of an organization also allows
a better understanding of the development of routine activities at all hierarchical
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levels, which is conducive to the reduction of failures or omissions and increased
productivity." (Díez et al., 2016, p.79)
Therefore, the procedures manual is a fundamental element in organizations.
Figure N° 1. Organizational structure (organization chart).
Designed in Microsoft Visio
Prepared by Pazmiño A.
As for the development of the procedure manual, it was necessary to know the different
activities that were developed within the organization in order to create a strategy with
the objective of optimizing the use of resources.
The proposed manual provides the organizational structure adapted to the new way of
operating this micro business.
The manual provided to the facility includes flowcharts of the key processes:
Customer service, product purchasing, home delivery, food processing and product
receiving. In addition, within the procedures manual there are the process flow diagrams,
which are a graphic representation that breaks down a process in any type of activity.
Carranza Esteban et al., (2021) are a graphic representation that breaks down a process
into any type of activity and are of great importance since they help to designate any
graphic representation of a procedure or part of it.
Four processes were taken into account:
1. Purchasing process, with a maximum duration of 3 hours, involving the establishment's
manager, the accountant, the supplier and the assistant chef.
2. Another process was the preparation of the food, which lasted between 2 to 3 hours
and involved the chef and the chef's assistant.
3. The Customer Service process was also taken into consideration, detailing step by
step how to serve a customer while respecting biosafety measures; the process lasts
Manager
KITCHEN AREA
Chef's
assistant
dining area
Waiter2 Waiter1
Service
area
home delivery
cleaning assistanta
Counter
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from one and a half to two hours, since the waiter must be alert during the time the
customer is served the food.
4. The last process that was developed was home delivery, which has a maximum
duration of an hour and a half depending on the distance between the restaurant and
the delivery place, in this process involves the customer, the cashier, the chef and the
delivery person.
-Budget
Among the main reasons why many businesses, especially restaurants and the restaurant
sector in particular, delay in reactivating their activities is the increase in costs, especially
the allocation of costs for biosecurity equipment for personnel and equipment and
supplies for customers. The investment required for this establishment, according to its
capacity, is presented in the following tables:
Table Nº1 Budget given to the new pandemic adaptation.
VISIBLE LABELS:
VALUE
No crowding of people
USD 8 ,00
Mandatory use of gloves
USD 8,00
Mandatory use of face masks
USD 8,00
Numbers to call in case of health emergency
USD 8,00
BOXES:
Cash basket
USD 5,00
UNIFORMS:
Uniforms/Work uniforms (pcs.)
USD 50.00
WASTE MANAGEMENT
pedal-operated containers
USD 35,00
GOGGLES, CARPET AND PISTOL TYPE THERMOMETER:
Pistol type thermometer
USD 20,00
Glasses or visors (8 pcs.)
USD 20,00
Disinfectant mat for footwear
USD 18,00
TOTAL
USD 160.00
Table Nº2 Biosafety items and materials (monthly)
DISINFECTANTS, ALCOHOL AND SOAPS:
VALUE
For hands, dishes and utensils
USD 50,00
For floors, bathrooms and toilets
USD 50,00
GLOVES, MASKS AND HAIR NETS:
Disposable sanitary gloves
USD 25,00
Protective hair netting
USD 10,00
Disposable handkerchiefs and masks
USD 20,00
WASTE MANAGEMENT:
Bags for waste separation.
USD 5,00
TOTAL MONTHLY
USD 160.00
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Covid-19 is one of the most deadly diseases that caused the paralysis of the whole world,
this disease is too risky because it can bring people with a certain vulnerability deficit to
the brink of death or in the worst cases cause death. In effect, people have chosen to
take care of their health and not to leave their homes unless necessary. In this pandemic,
micro-businesses decided to reconvert their businesses in different ways. The restaurant
Mi galito offered home delivery service, so that customers can be safe at home and the
restaurant can earn income while generating sales. Microbusinesses are forced to make
changes to survive in the market in the face of contingencies. Therefore, adapting to the
new sales strategy such as home delivery or providing biosecurity value to both internal
and external customers are current challenges. Therefore, organizational theory helps
to explain what happened in the past, as well as what might happen in the future, in
order to manage organizations more effectively.
CONCLUSIONS
The adaptations of the new lifestyle and consumer behavior in the context of the
pandemic marked changes in its organizational structure that negatively affected the
establishment, given the research it is concluded that the restaurant "MI GALITO" does
not have a well structured plan on sales and distribution processes, due to several
factors, the first of which is that it does not have a manual that allows them to be
prepared for any circumstances that may arise, consequently the misinformation by the
owner and finally does not have a well-structured sales plan.
The restaurant has obtained an influx of customers because it provides a good service
for which they are satisfied both in taste and in the price of meals, since the measures
taken by other restaurants, is the increase in the price of the dishes and the reduction
of ingredients for them.
On the other hand, it should be clarified that we were not prepared neither
psychologically nor physically for the arrival of a pandemic which has affected the whole
world not only economically but also the physical and mental health since it has a high
mortality rate and even more the rate of virality that has this disease, which has taken
us some time to adapt to it.
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