Case Study $2-$ Modules Description

$$It just can$$t be done; it will never work. What does Susan think she is doing?$$ said Tamara, the head cook at the Grayville Widget Company, an account managed by the Good Times Food Service Management Company. She was talking to Abhijit, the assistant cook.

Good Times had won the food service management account for the Grayville Company about two years ago. It had successfully negotiated the contract emphasizing high$-$quality food at reasonable prices for the employees with no required company subsidy. In fact, many of the menu items were high quality, but they were also convenience foods, and that was alleged to be the reason for a slow but steady decline in the employee participation rate.

Susan, the unit manager, analyzed responses from numerous surveys, focus groups, and suggestion box memos, and also conducted many face$-$to$-$face conversations with the employees. The conclusion was almost unanimous: the employees wanted freshly prepared foods or$,$ at least, a lot more of them than were now available.

The head cook was responding to Susan$$s announcement about fresh food preparation at the meeting earlier in the day: $$We don$$t have the staff, we don$$t have the time, we don$$t have the necessary storing and preparing equipment, we don$$t have the recipes, and many of our staff members don$$t have the skill. We just can$$t do it$!$

$$If I was neutral about this,$$ said Abhijit, $$I would say that I could see both sides of the situation. The guests want what they want, and we want what we think we can do$.$ I$$m glad I$$m not Susan as she figures this out.$$

Case Study Questions

$1.$ What, if any, role do you think that Susan$$s production staff played in the situation that has caused the present marketing challenge?

$2.$List actions that Susan, as her facility$$s manager, should take now to involve her production staff in the decision$-$making process.

$3.$What are alternative ways that Susan can now work to minimize the production staff members$$ resistance to change?