Recommendations for Domino’s Leadership

Considering Domino’s main concern is its goal to completely re-vamp the entire brand, its

management team must lead in a way that solidifies a consistent message throughout the

company.

Build Relationships

When David Brandon replaced the original owner, Tom Monaghan, as CEO of the company,

there was a lot of skepticism among the employees as to whether or not he could perform to

Monaghan’s standard. Brandon’s casual leadership style was a complete contrast to Monaghan’s

strict disposition. However, Brandon’s out-going personality aided him in gaining the trust of the

employees through building relationships. Although the new CEO, Patrick Doyle, does not

possess Brandon’s personality, he should learn from his predecessor and first work on

establishing relationships with company employees. Doyle can establish company social events

where he gives individualized attention to the corporate employees. Also, when new franchise

locations open, he can make attempts to be present at as many as possible and interact with

employees. Just as it did with Brandon, this will help in gaining the trust of the employees,

especially during such a company undertaking.

Stay Committed

Domino’s experienced a strong decline in satisfaction in both its product and its service. In order

to stop the failing of not only a company but also an American tradition, Brandon encouraged a

complete transformation. Working with employees, together they changed every aspect of the

brand from the recipe for the pizza to the marketing campaigns. Considering the years invested

in this change, the new CEO, Doyle, must stay committed to the initial goal. Doyle must

continue to collaborate as a team and encourage the employees to offer ideas and suggestions. If

Doyle were to veer away from this great project, his employees would feel betrayed as if their

time and hard work had been wasted, leading them to distrust him as a leader.

Reward System

Along with customer dissatisfaction, there’s a strong presence of employee dissatisfaction with

an annual employee turnover rate of 158% in 2005 (Lief 4). This high percentage has been

correlated to poor structure in the workplace and poorly trained managers. Therefore, Doyle

needs to adhere to a more intensive recruitment and training process. This will help alleviate

issue associated with poorly trained managers and will aid in establishing more authority figures

within the company. Doyle can plan a tri-annual leadership workshop where managers of

franchise locations can congregate together and get inspired and motivated to adhere to the brand

image. From these workshops, managers can also learn to lead their employees more effectively.

Also, Doyle needs to motivate his employees by creating a rewards system. Considering the

company is working to change customer’s perceptions of the brand, this reward system should

especially promote superior customer service. By creating a reward system, employees of all

level will feel appreciated and will help in building the brand image. At a time of total

transformation, Patrick Doyle should empower all of his employees. By allowing his employees

to delegate and offer ideas and suggestions, his employees will gain respect for him as a leader.

Also, this empowerment will encourage employees to be proactive in the workplace.

Crisis Management

As stated previously, the YouTube video brought a lot of negative attention to the company. At a

time with the employees are working hard to change customer’s perceptions of Domino’s, the

obscene footage in the video hindered their efforts. Also, the company did not even acknowledge

the video until 24 hours after its initial release (Levick). In terms of crisis management, this is

too long. Therefore, as a leader, Doyle needs to establish a task-oriented crisis management plan

for his employees to follow. This plan will give detailed steps for various events that may occur.

By having this plan available, the reputation of both the employees and the company may be

protected.

Works Cited

Levick, S. "Domino's Discovers Social Media - BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock

Market & Financial Advice. Bloomberg L.P., 21 Apr. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/apr2009/ca20090421_555468.htm>.

Lief, Colleen. Publication. Domino's Pizza: "Change Is Good" International Institute for

Management Development, 2008. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.denisonconsulting.com/Libraries/Resources/IMD-Dominos.sflb.ashx>.