Trait Theory Of Leadership And Leadership Issues: Chipotle

Issues Chipotle Faces:

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a fast-food chain that faces a variety of human behavior challenges within their organization. One of the main issues Chipotle faces is employee satisfaction. This issue was highlighted in a Fast Company article written by Adele Peters which stated, “The company’s employees aren’t always satisfied: A group of nearly 10,000 workers sued in 2016, saying Chipotle had forced them to work off the clock, and another group sued in June 2017 arguing they were owed overtime pay” (Peters). A second major issue discovered while researching Chipotle was leadership or management problems. After reading over fifty employee reviews on glassdoor, a public website where current and former employees assess businesses,

Trait theories of leadership are “theories that consider personal qualities and characteristics that differentiate leaders from nonleaders” (Robbins 333). These theories state that a company should look for certain characteristics when selecting managers. There are six main traits research has deemed traits of effective leaders. These traits are emotional intelligence and the Big Five Model traits which include: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. Companies can give personality tests or quizzes to employee candidates to find people who rank high in these

These theories propose that different behaviors differentiate between leaders and nonleaders. An Ohio State Study determined the two main behaviors that leaders need are initiating structure and consideration (Robbins). They found that people who demonstrate these two behavior types tend to be better leaders. Companies can train their leaders on these two important behaviors by investing in leadership training such as courses, workshops, and team building exercises.

The situational leadership theory is another leadership theory Chipotle could attempt to implement in its managers. This theory focuses more on followers’ readiness. It states that leaders need to adjust their leadership style based on the situation they are facing and who their followers are. If Chipotle wishes to have their managers follow this theory, they need to find leaders who are adaptable and provide some training to these employees.

Finally, Chipotle managers could look into enacting a mentoring program in their restaurants. A mentor is “a senior employee who sponsors and supports a less-experienced employee, called a protégé” (Robbins 355). Implementing a mentoring program could help solve Chipotle’s training issues and help employees create and maintain relationships and communicate with each other. It would also give each employee someone to confide in during stressful time in the