use gap analysis.

Operations Management Case study: Culinary School

Glen is the principal of a culinary school. He has been thinking of ways to improve the school$$s teaching materials and learning methodologies. Just recently he was instructed by the president of the foundation funding the school to look into the school$$s current problems.

The culinary school has partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority $($TESDA$)$ to train students who are all relatives of the foundation$$s microfinance clients. TESDA has been providing the foundation with assistance by paying the tuition fees of the students. TESDA assesses the technical competency level of the students who complete the three $-$ month culinary training course through a competency exam. TESDA pays for the tuition of the students only if the students pass the competency exams. Past evaluations showed that the students were generally bored with the lectures on the theoretical portions of the course. They did not like the Powerpoint presentations used. Most of the time, they felt sleepy during the film showings. They, however, loved the hands$-$on activities and actual cooking sessions, especially when a known TV cooking show personality conducts the cooking session. Unfortunately, the TESDA assessment exams are based on the theoretical parts of the course.

Tardiness is about $30\%$ and students normally skip class once a week during the $12-$ week course. When asked about their absence$,$ most say their parents request them to do odd jobs often. Sometimes they also are sick as their living conditions are near the poverty line. Tardiness, Glen feels, is more of an attitude issue as most of them just walk to school and are living in communities nearby.

All cooking utensils and ingredients are provided by the school. These are however limited due to the tight budget and often students share in the use of the equipment. Some cooking sessions are shown on film due to lack of actual cooking ingredients.

The good news is that, for the past batches, the culinary examinees of the school achieved a $100\%$ passing rate from TESDA examiners. But the president of the foundation pressed Glen to satisfy other outcomes set forth for the Culinary Training Program. There has been no issue on the $100\%$ passing rate of graduates. However, the culinary school would only be compensated by TESDA if and when the students passed the exam. This monetary compensation is both a function of the volume of students trained and the number of students who pass the exam. Thus, financial sustainability is another desired outcome. The culinary school has a capacity of $25$ students per batch, per three month period. A lower number of enrolees would mean that the foundation would not maximize its earning capacity and thus would lessen its ability to recover its fixed, overhead, and personnel costs. The other issue is the employment rate of the graduates. TESDA wants $55\%$ of the graduates to find employment. The foundation even set a higher rate of $85\%.$ The employment rate of the graduates would depend on what the hotels and restaurants would be looking for in their culinary recruits. Finally, the foundation wanted the students to be thoroughly satisfied with the program; meaning that the course should obtain an average rating of $4\mathrm{.}5$ out of its highest score of $5\mathrm{.}0$ in the student$$s evaluation.