Identify what appears to be the most appropriate solution/s to the problems identified & give reasons for your choice.   Explain why other solutions have been rejected.

THE BRASS RAIL

 

 

Alice Masters is an Area Manager employed by a restaurant chain with branches across the UK. Six weeks ago she moved Brian Marsden to make him manager of one of the restaurants situated in Wanden. There has been a period of management instability at this branch. Prior to Brian two ineffective managers had been employed who each worked at this branch for about six months. Then followed a branch manager who was competent but who had to return to his home country at short notice because of urgent family problems. He had also only been in the job for six months. Alice knows that Brian is technically competent and he has managed a number of different branches in the seven years he has been with the group. However, Alice is also aware that employees have sometimes found him rather strict. On one occasion a branch he managed had to be closed for a week because of staff shortages due to a combination of staff leaving and others refusing to work with him.

 

There is one Deputy Manager, Diana Miller, at the branch. Diana and Brian arrange for one of them at least to always be present when the restaurant is open. Diana concentrates on the paper work but if there are any queries she simply refers them to Brian if at all possible. Each shift also has a shift supervisor, who is simultaneously a member of the waiting staff. The shift supervisors have smaller sections to deal with than other waiters but are reluctant to help out when members of waiting staff on other larger sections are over-worked.

 

Since Brian took over the Wanden branch Alice has noticed that sales have begun to recover though she has also noticed that labour turnover has increased significantly. Few members of staff have been there for as long as a year. Alice is aware that the previous branch manager had not had time to deal with a number of the managerial problems that had accumulated at the branch. She is also aware of some of the innovations that Brian has introduced at the branch. These innovations have included a ‘side orders competition’ for waiting staff. ‘Side orders’ consist of items such as bread and olives. The winner of this three-week competition for the highest sales of side orders gets a £50 gift voucher. All eight members of waiting staff are eligible to compete.   Alice is also aware that Brian has reactivated the distribution of training manuals for the waiters. Training manuals are also used for kitchen staff and their use had been allowed to lapse. A further change has been the more adequate laying of tables to include cutlery for side orders, wines glasses and side plates.

 

 

One day Alice is surprised to receive a formal grievance from a waitress employed at the Wanden Branch. Alice’s surprise is particularly because the grievance procedure is so infrequently used. The waitress’s complaint is primarily about her demotion from ‘waiter’ to ‘runner’. Alice arranges to see the waitress, Tracey Walters, and has a long discussion with her. The main issues that arose as a result of the interview are:

 

1. Tracey has been demoted because of a ‘three mistakes’ rule instituted by Brian. This rule involves demoting waiters to runners if the waiter makes three mistakes in one shift. Tracey has been the first person to suffer under this rule and although her basic rate of pay has not been affected, her capacity to earn tips has been significantly reduced. The mistakes Tracey admits she made were:

 

• Not to put ice in the glass of water when a customer had ordered iced water.

 

• Activating the ‘No’ button on the credit card machine, instead of getting the customer to activate the button themselves indicating that they did not want to include a tip. Tracey explained to Alice that she had done this herself so as not to irritate a customer who had already left a generous cash tip.

 

• Leaving a customer unattended to help a colleague on another section. Tracey explained that she had done this because the customer had only just come in and her colleague had had some customers waiting for 15 minutes because of a surge of customers into his section.

 

Tracey further maintains that, when Brian had informed her of her demotion, Brian had accepted that had she a good record but had insisted that rules were rules and that he did not want to hear any ‘buts’. Brian had added that the demotion would enable Tracey to learn how to work properly whilst doing ‘running’ work. It would also encourage other waiting staff to smarten up their act for fear that the same action would be taken with them. Tracey maintained though that her mistakes had been done during a second 12-hour shift. She has worked a 12 hour shift the previous day and she had agreed to work this second long shift because of staff shortages. Tracey also maintained that there had been no opportunity for to argue her case for not being demoted before the decision was taken by Brian.

 

2. Tracey is the second longest serving waiter and has been at the branch for more than two years. She combines her work with a Part-Time Business Studies degree course she is pursuing.

 

3. The work of ‘runners’ particularly involves fetching food from the kitchen, collecting dirty plates, laying tables, bringing drinks from the bar and returning empty glasses to the bar. They get 5% of the tips of waiters, whilst the bar staff and kitchen staff get 10%.

 

4. Sales are monitored by Brian but Tracey maintains that this has encouraged some staff to concentrate on sales credited to them and ignoring other work, such as helping over-worked staff and fetching food from the kitchen when a runner is not available. Such activity is also likely to increase their tips but not overall sales.

 

5. Whilst Training Manuals have been distributed there is little guidance on how to use them effectively. This is unfortunate because many of the questions in the manual are about situations that are not explained in the manual. It is even more unfortunate because the members of waiting staff are judged on the basis that they know everything that is in the manual.

 

6. The standards of management and supervision vary considerably. When Brian is not on shift there is a more relaxed atmosphere, which is however not always more productive. Tracey maintains that when Brian is in the restaurant some of the staff make great efforts to look busy, which can be in considerable contrast to their behaviour when Brian is either not on shift, or is working in the office.

 

Write a report of 2,000 in answer to the following questions:

Q1.Identify the problems in the case from the perspective of the Company that is running this restaurant. In identifying the problems, differentiate between the symptoms of any problems and the causes.   (50% marks)

Q2. Identify what appears to be the most appropriate solution/s to the problems identified & give reasons for your choice.   Explain why other solutions have been rejected.   (50% marks)

Make reference to the models and theories referred to on the module in answering these questions.

 

END