My interview is with a manager of a restaurant, the restaurant can have as many as 75 customers, and staff of 14. The restaurant served your everyday American food. The person whom I interviewed started as an assistant manager at the young age of 27.
He has been a manager for the restaurant for the past 7 years. I considered him a Functional Manager because of the definition in the book, i. e. He supervises the work of employees whom engages in different specialties, such as waiters/waitress, kitchen help, accounting, and quality control.
But in the same realm he is considered a General Manager because he oversees the operations, helps in solving problems, spotting problems before they occur and insuring the safety of all employees and customers. He decided to become a manager because he felt that he could motivate people, and help them realize their potential. He decided to become a restaurant manager because he enjoyed being around food and that type of fast pace environment. When interviewing this person it became very evident that he is an effective manger because he possesses many key managerial skills. He is technically efficient because, he had the ability to prepare a budget, lay out a production schedule i. e.
food preparations, menu for the day’s events, and was able to use a computer. He definitely had to have Interpersonal Skill in order to work effectively as a team member. He stated the best approach for managing this type of business was the behavioral approach because you had to understand the psychological makeup of many different types of people, you have to manage all different type of people within your staff and the public. He feels that cultural diversity in this type of business is a must because you have to respect each and every person that may come into your establishment.
Cultural diversity is very important when it comes to hiring people who may have to be off from work on a special day because of religious reasons that is not normally celebrated by all. He gives an example of the time when he literally stumble over two guest of the restaurant who were conducting evening prayer in an isolated corner of the restaurant. They were praying on rugs. As soon as he saw the prayer rugs he realize that they were conducted evening prayer. An additional example is when an employee would be fasting from dawn to dusk during Ramadan. This is the time when Muslims fast and could become weak or disoriented late in the afternoon.
The manager who I interviewed experiences this with his employee. When he began working, computers where not in use very much, so all the books, i. e. bookkeeping, scheduling and keeping track of inventory was all done by hand. Within a couple of years or so it became apparent that investing in a computer system was the way to go.
The major justification for installation of a computer system was the bookkeeping and inventory, that alone save thousands of dollars in purchasing supply and being able to account for every penny that went out. They were able to get better deals when ordering supplies, because they could use the Internet to shop for better prices. As time went on it also became apparent that the use of the computer made customers service faster and efficient. He feels that business ethics is very important to the business and the staff and customers. Ethical problems: stealing food from the restaurant and not charging guests for certain items. The computer system in place demands that food be ordered through the computer before the kitchen prepares it.
Management has to deal judiciously and fairly with all situations of this nature. Leadership by example is important here so those employees see that management is the example to follow. I ask him what was his meaning of quality and dealing with attitudes and people. He stated that the quality of service offered in the restaurant and dealing effectively with troublesome guests of the restaurant. It can be problematic striving to encourage staff to continually give 100% when performing their jobs. When dealing with angry guests it is necessary to think “on your feet” and be a diplomat while solving problems .
