Question

Opening any kind of business requires a great deal of patience, dedication and perseverance. Lynn Leach jumped into the world of restaurants with both feet when she decided to open her own quick service restaurant. Truthfully, the industry is filled with stories of people who dove in, got knocked down, but pull themselves back up.

In the small town of Wilmington, Ohio, Lynn opened a Skyline Chili franchise. The town of 12,000 people has embraced the location and Lynn’s friendly business practices built upon strong customer service and delicious offerings. Recently, Lynn celebrated the restaurant’s one-year anniversary. But getting started was no easy task. “I hadn’t worked in a restaurant since high school and here I was, opening a restaurant”, she said. Skyline Chili is a Southern Ohio-based restaurant chain that serves “Cincinnati Style” chili. This rather unique blend of chili and seasonings is typically served over spaghetti and hot dogs and is a favourite in the Midwest. With over 100 stores, Lynn’s franchise is somewhat typical of their small town locations.

Lynn calls her foray into the restaurant business as a “great learning experience”. Fortunately, she had a lot support from Skyline’s corporate office. But, much of what needed to be done was driven by her. “My ultimate goal” she said, “is to help people and make them feel good – people’s careers, our customers, and the community”.

First, she had to determine just how many employees she would need before ever opening doors. “We did scores of interviews”, she said, and hired some really good people”. However, she discovered during her first year of business that some who may have interviewed well were not necessarily the best employees. After turning over about half the staff, she now feels she has the right people in place. But every employee must be properly trained. They have to learn the menu, how to properly greet and serve the guest, handle their transaction at the cash register, and keep the entire restaurant fastidiously clean. In addition to hiring, she had to plan the marketing for the grand opening and order the initial inventory for the restaurant. “All this took a great deal of planning”, she said. “From a to z, we thought things through and how best to get them done”.

Once the operation was up and running, Lynn had to pay attention to her costs as well as her staff. Form a cost standpoint, she discovered that there were some very efficient steps the restaurant could contain the expenses. One idea implemented was to stop serving half-pint cartons of milk to children. It was found that more half the carton would be wasted and thrown away. However, by serving a small amount in a glass, the restaurant wasted very little. To keep tabs on all the raw ingredients, Lynn conducts an inventory every Monday – literally counting every hot dog bun, chees, chili, onions, etc. “It’s painstaking work, but highly necessarily so we know what we have and what we don’t”, she said. The Monday inventory is how we now what we need to order and when we need it”. Lynn is not alone in her approach. Successful restaurateurs understand that counting food costs down to the penny is critical. Restaurants should look at every shift of operation with a before, during, and after approach to not only monitor inventory costs, but also identify important best practices throughout the facility.

For her team of servers, cooks, and cleaners, Lynn believes in creating a fun, yet productive atmosphere. “Positive feedback is important”, she said. “I ‘m not going to yell at an employee in front of everyone”. Instead, she counsels employees when performance is not up to par or the quality of work is suffering. “We do role-plays”, she said, where we ask each other how you would like to be treated if you were the customer”. These role-plays demonstrate the proper way to engage with customers and provide a safe training ground to fine-tune the servers’ skills. For those employees who go above and beyond with their service – whether to customers or to co-workers – Lynn provides a gift card. “When an employee goes out of her way to serve the customer”, she said, “they should be rewarded”.

QUESTION :

Which of Katz’s managerial skills (technical, human, and conceptual) does Lynn seem to use most often? Why?

Answer 1

Answer:

Among the three of the Katz’s managerial skills, the skill which Lynn seems to us most often was Human or Interpersonal Management Skills.

Because, it is apparent from her behavior that she understands that the only way to reach her goals was with the help of employees around her. So, she trained them for their work and focused on making an atmosphere which has fun and productivity.

She also kept motivational perks for her employees, wherein she gives ‘gift card’ to the employee who go a way ahead of their service for the customer or the co-workers in the restaurant.

She used soft skills while giving negative feedbacks to her employees separately and not in the front of the customers, which shows her respect to her employees.

Moreover, Human or interpersonal management skill is one of the most critical management skills which include working with the people around you to achieve your objectives.