CASE STUDY1
Prairie View Country Club
Prairie View Country Club is located in a city of 35,000. Metro Oil, the city’s largest employer, dominates the city’s economy and the economic well-being of the club. Metro Oil is one of the largest oil companies in the world and Prairie View is the home of Metro Oil’s International headquarters. Metro Oil is generous in its support of the club because the “Club” is the only place in the city that they can “properly” entertain the individuals from around the world that visit the company on a daily basis. The reason for the large membership is the number of members that hold memberships by virtue of their position with Metro Oil.
The executives of Metro Oil, many of who are on the Club’s Executive Board, and all of who are club members, have begun expressing their dissatisfaction with the food served at the club. These individuals, as do most of the club’s members, regularly travel the nation and the world on behalf of Metro Oil. Through their travels they are exposed to many cuisines and trends in cuisine. They have well developed palates and enjoy the variety and change they experience when traveling. This has presented an ongoing challenge for the management of the club. The club has maintained a reputation for high quality food that is well prepared for many years with its long-standing menu of steaks, chops, local freshwater fish and traditional local dishes. Management’s, including the chef’s, efforts over the years to change the menu has been frustrated by the lack of trained personnel in the local area and the inability to attract trained culinarians to Prairie View. The club has consistently offered above average wages to attract individuals from outside the area, but the lack of a career path has still kept them from attracting trained, skilled culinarians.
The Executive Board in its last meeting informed the General Manager and Chef that they wanted changes made in the menu and they wanted it accomplished within six months or they would look at finding a new management team for the club. The General Manager and Chef immediately worked to develop a plan to make the changes that had been mandated. The first step was, with the approval and support of the Board, the General Manager and the Chef did a whirlwind tour of the major culinary pacesetting cities in the United States. In a two-week period they traveled to San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago, and New York. They spent two days visiting and eating at the top restaurants in each city. Additionally, they spent an extra day in Chicago, New York and San Francisco consulting with faculty from the prestigious culinary schools in those areas.
The General Manager and Chef utilized the information and experience from their trip to develop a new menu that incorporated different cuisines, new types of dishes and presentations, as well as, new ingredients, but that still contained the most popular of the club’s traditional items. The challenge was to train the existing staff to provide the new items to the club members at the same quality level that had always been the hallmark of the Club’s food.
The training needed to familiarize the culinary team with the cuisines and products being introduced including their storage and handling, as well as, how to prepare the dishes. An aggressive timeline was developed for the training and it was determined that the culinary team members would be paid for participation in the mandatory training.
The General Manager and Chef knew that the integration of the training into the Club’s normal operation was a major challenge. The operation of the kitchen had to continue with no reduction in quality while the training was taking place. The extent of the changes that would take place had not been formally announced and the resistance of the culinary team to change was clearly evident. Many members of the team had already questioned the value of training that would not increase their wages or increase their opportunities for advancement.
Case Study Questions
As the human resource professional for the club the general manager and chef have come to you with their concerns since you are arranging for the training. They have tasked you with developing a training program that will achieve the desired results without disrupting business or impacting the current level of service and quality of food.
* What recommendations will you make to the general manager and chef?
* What are the top three things you, as the human resource officer, can do to bring a successful conclusion to the process that has been started.
* What are the top three things the general manager can do to bring a successful conclusion to the process that has been started?
* What are the top three things the chef can do to bring a successful conclusion to the process that has been started?
* Success should be measured how in this situation?
CASE STUDY 2
Barefoot Beach Resort
The Barefoot Beach Resort has just completed a new wing that includes an additional 150 guest rooms and 40,000 square feet of event space. This brings the total number of guest rooms at the resort to 650 and the event space to 80,000 square feet. The resort has been recruiting and training new staff for three weeks in anticipation of the grand opening celebrating the new facilities. They failed to reach their target number for new hires by a wide margin. In fact they only hired about half of the projected number of staff needed with the new facilities and projected increased guest count through-out the property.
The Barefoot Beach Resort has always faced a challenge in recruiting and hiring personnel because they are located on an Island that is a 51/2 hour flight from the closest continent. The labor pool on the island has always been limited but it has become even tighter in the last 18 months because all the businesses on the island are expanding. There little piece of heaven has been discovered in a big way! The staffing situation has been intensified by a push by mainland unions to unionize the hotel and restaurants on the island.
The Barefoot Beach Resort is a family owned business. The owners believe they deal fairly with their employees. The success of the union in gaining the support and ultimately being established at a number of the corporately owned hotels and restaurants has created a dilemma for the owners. The wages established in the unionized properties are considerably higher than what the Barefoot Beach Resort is currently paying. Additionally, the unionized properties are now providing both paid vacation and paid sick leave. The owners believe that raising wages and providing paid vacation and sick leave will put them out of business. Their existing clientele has proven in the past to be extremely price sensitive. When prices increased in the past there was an immediate decline in business which had to be overcome. The owners fear that the new debt service they have taken on with the expansion coupled with the anticipated decline in existing business if they increase labor cost and therefore prices will put them out of business.
Today preparation for the grand opening began and all staff were informed that they will need to work overtime and will, at times, be assigned to work outside their current job description in order to complete preparations on time because of the shortage of staff. A group of employees met this afternoon with the owners and expressed their dissatisfaction with the work and amount of work they were being asked to complete. Additionally they brought up wages and benefits. It was suggested by the employees that if something did not change there could be a work stoppage in some form, such as a mysteriously localized flu epidemic among the Barefoot Beach Resort staff. After meeting with the owners the group also met with union representatives from other hotels and restaurants to get information about establishing a union at the Barefoot Beach Resort.
Case Study Analysis Questions with Answers
1. What are the factors that the owners of the Barefoot Beach Resort must consider as they work to resolve the current situation? List a minimum of five.
2. Taking into consideration the factors you listed above what options for action do the owners have to resolve the current situation?
3. Legally what can the owners do to stop the unionization of their property?