A Case Study on

The Conflict between the Foodpanda Executive Team And

Foodpanda’s Delivery Worker.

Course Name: Conflict Management and Negotiations

Submitted to
Dr. Ummya Salma
Assistant Professor
Bangladesh University of Professionals

Submitted by
Group Name: Sapiens
Shagnik Ghosh- 2124341016 Md. Mahadi Hasan- 2224341010
Samiha Binta Kaikobad- 2224341001 Saalim Sadman Shimran-
2224341046
Sania Islam- 2224341008 Ahnaf Sadid Hossain-
2224341050
Atifun Nahar- 2224341009

Human Resource Management, Batch- 03

Date of Submission:
 Contents

Abstract......................................................................................................................................3
Objective....................................................................................................................................4
The objective of the Study......................................................................................................4
1. Primary Objective...............................................................................................................4
2. Specific Objectives.............................................................................................................4
Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................5
Conflict Resolution Techniques.................................................................................................7
Collaboration and conflict resolution.....................................................................................7
Understanding employees through positive communication..................................................8
Working on Together..............................................................................................................8
Assess and explain the cost of behavior.................................................................................9
Decision..................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11
 Abstract

The paper examined the conflict and the resolution of the rider payment situation. Delivery
Hero, a company, established in Berlin, is the owner of the online food and shopping delivery
service Foodpanda. On 7 July 2021, bdnews24.com published, “Online food orders go up
amid lockdown. But competition sees riders earn less for delivery.” This article denotes the
present scenario of the foodpanda delivery chain, where delivery agents complained that they
were earning less according to their expectations. Also, restaurant owners complained about
food panda imposing more charges. On the other hand, Foodpanda denied this allegation and
said they are giving what they can afford to provide the delivery agents. And they stated that
to run the operations, they are charging the right amount of commission to the restaurant
owners. In this paper, we will be discussing the conflict of Foodpanda. How they deal with
the conflict, and their thought process. We will analyze the victim’s perspective as well. The
paper will also discuss conflict resolution from our textbook’s perspective. We will identify
the conflict resolution techniques and suggest the relevant processes Foodpanda should apply
to resolve their conflict. Our objective is to provide a decision by analyzing these resources.
This process will include textbook theories, secondary data like reports, articles from the
daily newspapers, and the official information extracted from the website of Foodpanda. We
will justify whether the allegations are correct or not.

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 Objective

The Objective of the Study

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key factors to understand the conflict between
Foodpanda, restaurant owners and the delivery agents. To solve the conflict between them,
some techniques were applied in terms of getting beneficial for both parties. For better
understanding, we have our objective into two segments and they are stated briefly.

1. Primary Objectives
The primary objective of this paper is articulated below:
● To understand the relationship between Foodpanda, restaurant owners and delivery
agents.
● To identify the core factors that cause the arising of conflict and how they have dealt
with them.
● To understand how the conflict-solving techniques were helpful for the parties to
solve their situation.
● To investigate the difficulties that were faced by the restaurant's owner and the
delivery agents which eventually had an impact on their profit.

2. Specific Objectives
● To utilize theoretical knowledge in the realm of international marketing to understand
the complex/ competitive market situations of online delivery and the food industry.   
● To understand how Foodpanda collaborates with restaurant owners and food delivery
agents.
● To know practically the situation of Foodpanda and what factors were the main reason
to create the situation.

2
 Problem Statement

Foodpanda is an online food and grocery delivery platform owned by Berlin-based Delivery
Hero. A food delivery app is a mobile app that provides its users to place orders from any of
the restaurants in their covered network. It connects users with restaurants and provides a
menu of available items and their prices.

The mechanism is consisted of a customer selecting a restaurant, scanning the menu items,
selecting an item, and then selecting pick-up or delivery. Payment is then made using the
food delivery app with a credit card or debit card, or in cash at the restaurant while picking up
the order. People can order what they want and have it delivered to their doorsteps using food
delivery apps.

Figure 1:Foodpanda Business Model

Parties Invoved with Foodpanda Business:

1.Foodpanda Administration

2. Resturant Owners

3. Delivery Agents

4. Customers

On 7 July 2021, bdnews24.com published the news “Online food orders go up amid
lockdown. But competition sees riders earn less for delivery.” This article denotes the present

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scenario of the foodpanda delivery chain, where delivery agents complained that they were
earning less according to their expectations.    Hamid, a delivery agent, stated that he earned
600-700 taka after working 5-6 hours. Now he is earning 400 takas. Nearly 20-30% drop in
earnings is experienced by the foodpanda delivery agents.

On the other hand, restaurant owners complained about food panda imposing more charges.
On Sep 8, 2021, the daily star published the article “Govt mulls policy on food delivery”
where the article presents restaurant owners' complaints to foodpanda. They said small
catering and restaurant owners can’t generate revenue after giving commissions to
Foodpanda.

With the demand for food delivery through online purchases growing fast, the government is
planning to frame a policy to streamline the business and protect the interests of all the actors
in the chain, including customers and suppliers. But the policy isn’t proposed yet and the
policy doesn’t include delivery agents.

On the other hand, Foodpanda deny this allegation and they said they are giving what they
can afford to give the delivery agents. And they stated that to run the operations they are
charging the right amount of commission to the restaurant owners.

Now we are looking for solutions to mitigate the ongoing conflicts among Foodpanda,
restaurant owners and delivery agents.

 Collaboration with the food delivery agents and restaurant owners,

 Government Interventions
 Customer Satisfaction

4
 Conflict Resolution Techniques

To solve this conflict, there can be applied some conflict resolution techniques are given
below:

1. Collaboration and conflict resolution

2. Understanding employees through positive communication

3. Working on Together

4. Assess and explain the cost of behavior

Collaboration and Conflict Resolution:

One of the most challenging but practical approaches to resolving interpersonal conflict is the
collaborative approach. This approach involves a dyadic confrontation: two actors (an
initiator and a responder) face the challenge of turning a complaint into a problem-solving
dialogue. A third actor (a mediator) may be required if the two actors cannot succeed.

In this case, the initiators, responders, and mediators are:

 Initiators: Delivery agents and restaurant owners

 Responders: Foodpanda enterprise

 Mediators: Foodpanda administration and government policy.

Issues of the initiators: Initiators are the individual or different parties who highlight a
complaint and blame others for having done something to the other person or party. In this
case, delivery agents and restaurant owners raised complaints. The delivery agents are
earning less than before. The restaurant owners complained that Foorpanda increased the
charges per order. So, both parties are earning less than before, which was unexpected. So,
they decided that they won't work anymore with Foodpanda enterprise. The delivery agents
will take jobs in different organizations, and the restaurant owners have made their delivery
system. The customer also became dissatisfied as some top-rated restaurants left the
Foodpanda enterprise.
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The Responder: The responder is assumed to be the cause of the problem, complaint or
issue. Here the Foodpanda enterprise is the responder. Responders can take specific steps to
handle this decision, such as: arranging a program for joint problem solving, obtaining more
information about the problem, agreeing with the part of a complaint or issue, and seeking
acceptable options to the problem. But instead of taking any steps, Foodpanda denied all the
allegations. They said that they were doing the right thing with the parties.

The mediators: The Foodpanda administration has decided that they will collaborate with
the delivery agents and restaurant owners. They will work jointly to gain their mutual
benefits. On the other hand, from the customer’s viewpoint government will propose a plan
for FoodPanda.

With the demand for food delivery through online purchases growing fast, the government is
planning to frame a policy to streamline the business and protect the interests of all the actors
in the chain, including customers and suppliers. But the policy isn’t proposed yet and the
policy doesn’t include delivery agents.

Understanding Employees Through Positive Communication:

Foodpanda administration has to understand the behavior of Delivery agents and restaurant
owners. They must identify why the delivery agents are leaving their jobs and why the
restaurant owners are closing their agreement with foodpanda. So Foodpanda enterprise has
to understand this problematic behavior by listening, talking, writing, meeting with the
delivery agents and owners, conducting face-to-face discussions and negotiations, and
effectively using communication tools, inter-office memorandum, reports, and email
messages. It facilitates better understanding among everyone.

Working on Together: In this stage, the management should find common ground to
conduct the task satisfactorily and beneficially for the betterment of the organization. In this
case, Food panda came up with a collaboration with restaurant owners and delivery agents;
they started working together for their mutual benefit. For that reason, trust and a better
relationship were created between them, which helped improve work performance and solve

6
problems. It can conclude that successful joint accomplishment can help to build good
relationships and increase productivity, so working together can solve a conflict.

Assess and explain the cost of behavior: In this case, Food panda is making the main
problems because they increased commissions to the restaurant owners; for that reason, small
restaurant owners couldn't get revenue after giving commissions to them. So, restaurant
owners started their delivery systems, and customers became dissatisfied after seeing what
did not list the high-rated restaurant in food panda. Then food panda again came with
collaboration, which means they recognized the benefits of changing themselves, and they
could understand the problem of restaurants and took steps according to it and hence who
solved the conflict.

Decision

 Foodpanda enterprise understood the situation from the delivery agent's side and also
from the restaurant's owners' side.

 They increased the delivery charge so delivery men could get their expected revenue.

 The Foodpanda administration also increased the food price to reduce the restaurants'
charges, which used to be taken from the owners per order.

 By collaborating with their business, their work performance has improved, and they
successfully restored customer satisfaction. But some customers may get dissatisfied
due to increasing prices.

 The government will propose a plan on customer basis for Foodpanda Enterprise. It
will be easier for Foodpanda to set up charges for restaurant owners and delivery
agents according to the government policy as it will be acceptable to all parties
involved.

 Through this collaboration strategy, these parties have successfully gained their
mutual benefits. They have gained financial and human capital benefits and
successfully restored customer satisfaction.
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 Conclusion

The study reveals that Its crucial to have the proper measures to ensure employees balance
their work and personal lives. If they are at risk of experiencing burnout, the company could
potentially lose its employees. On the other hand, price of charges is an essential factor for
customer attraction. To ensure that Food panda has implemented a series of initiatives like
collaboration, working together, and understanding employees through positive
communication and cost of behavior. Judging the situation, food panda increased the delivery
charge so the delivery man could get their expected revenue and simultaneously increase the
food price to reduce the restaurant charge. By collaborating with the above conflict, they
successfully restored customer satisfaction. The food panda followed the govt policy, which
was acceptable to all parties involved, and successfully gained their mutual benefits.

8
 References

 Foodpanda. (2022, August 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodpanda

 Mortuja, G. (2022). Online food orders go up amid lockdown. But competition sees
riders earn less for delivery. Retrieved 1 October 2022, from
https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/online-food-orders-go-up-amid-lockdown.-but-
competition-sees-riders-earn-less-for-delivery

 Govt mulls policy on food delivery. (2022). Retrieved 1 October 2022, from
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/govt-mulls-policy-food-
delivery-2171051

 Rout, L. E. (2010, August 5). Corporate Conflict Management: Concepts and Skills.

PHI.