Leadership and Change - Application-Based Activity

Activity Description

You were recently hired as the general manager of an under-performing restaurant. The chef/owner is your good friend who will be relying on you to implement changes with staff and business processes in the restaurant to get it back in the black. Your greatest challenge is that you have to do this during an unprecedented partial shut-down due to a global pandemic.

Learning Objectives

After completing the activity, you will be able to:

1. Identify sources of change, changes needed, and reasons for resistance to change.
2. Successfully implement strategies to overcome resistance.
3. Demonstrate effective leadership while implementing change.

Potential Problems:

Management

1. Poor leadership in dining room.
2. Ineffective front of house processes.

Employees

1. Problems between staff members (front and back of house).
2. Staff not open to changing the way they work.
3. Everybody complains, blames, and yells all the time.

Outside Factors

1. New competition in the area.
2. Partial shut down with the pandemic.

Meeting with Front of House (Andy, assistant manager, April, server, & Dining Room Staff)

1. They (particularly the wait staff) are super frustrated with the slow and ineffective kitchen.
   1. "they get paid but we get tips - this is our livelihood that they are messing up".
   2. "we are embarrassed in front of our customers every night with bad food and long waits".
   3. "the menu is too old and too big for the kitchen to pull off but Justin is the boss so he does what he wants".
   4. Most of them feel like Justin doesn't listen to them at all.
2. Staff is frustrated with the limitations from the pandemic - with fewer people in the dining room, they don't get as many tips.

Meeting with Back of House (Justin head chef/owner and Kitchen Staff)

1. Justin and Kitchen Staff are frustrated with the 'demanding' front of house staff and are very vocal in their criticism.
   1. "They don't understand that we are the reason that they have jobs".
   2. "They are impossible to satisfy" and "they are constantly in the kitchen yelling at us."
   3. "They sabotage us and overwhelm the kitchen by submitting all their orders at once and then get mad when we get behind."
2. Justin knows that he has "old and worn out" equipment and tools in the kitchen. But he insists that he's good enough to over come it.
3. Kitchen Staff (particularly Justin) feel frustrated when dining room staff come into his kitchen and "bark" orders at them.

Based on your notes from the meeting, what or who is driving the changes? choose only 3 answer

• Economic Trends- 3
• Management - 2
• Employees - 1
• Things outside the restaurant

As the general manager - What are you going to have him "Justin" do first?

• Have Justin apologize to the staff and acknowledge that his mistakes with the menu created a lot of issues with the speed of service and quality of the food.

After Justin's apology, April approaches you after the meeting and wants to talk "I'm not sure what Justin wanted to accomplish with that, but we dont feel like his apology is sincere or that he'll make any chnages.

Justin's almost apology wasn't well received by the staff. You watch dinner service and see more of the same old behavior. You rethink your plan. What are you going to have him do first?

• Reassure him that, even as bad as it seems, things can get better if he'll change and invite others to change rather than continue to resist changing.
• Invite the staff to start over and pull together as we implement the changes.
• Help Justin realize how his lack of leadership and subsequent blaming and defensive attitude in the restaurant was a big contributor to the problems among the staff.