MGT 500 CLASSModule 1: AssignmentStart by reading and following these instructions:Quickly skim the essay questions. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook. Some answers may require you to do a

Management Skills Exercises 

Learning activities in this section are aimed at helping you develop management skills.

Cases 

An IBM Success Story: Rodney Adkins

“An IBM Success Story: Rodney Adkins” (p. 2) and its related Challenge Case Summary were written to help you understand the management concepts contained in this chapter. Answer the following discussion questions about the introductory case to explore how fundamental management concepts can be applied to a company such as IBM.

1. 1-4. How would you describe the significance of Rodney Adkins’s work as a manager? Who benefits from his abilities and efforts?

2. 1-5. In terms of the contemporary view of management skill, which activities and skills do you see Adkins using in his career? How do you think he acquired those skills?

Jumping into the Restaurant Industry

Read the case and answer the questions that follow. Studying this case will help you better understand how concepts relating to the four functions of management can be applied in a company such as Skyline Chili.

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 pulled themselves back up (Dempsey 2011).

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 (Leach 2012).

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 favorite 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 of 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 the 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. From a cost standpoint, she discovered that there were some very efficient steps the restaurant could take to contain expenses. One idea implemented was to stop serving half-pint cartons of milk to children. It was found that more than 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, cheese, chili, onions, etc. “It’s painstaking work, but highly necessary so we know what we have and what we don’t,” she said. “The Monday inventory is how we know 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 (Sullivan 2011).

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 coworkers—Lynn provides a gift card. “When an employee goes out of her way to serve the customer,” she said, “they should be rewarded.”

Everyone at Skyline Chili chips in where needed. There are always tasks that need to be done, and assigning those tasks are handled a number of different ways. Sometimes workers are scheduled to take on certain assignments, but in some cases, there might be an opportunity to trade tasks. “We sometimes have a lottery,” Lynn stated, “where some of the least popular tasks like cleaning the bathroom are drawn in lottery fashion.” Occasionally, the team will play a game where servers can assign tasks to each other—realizing that if one employee gives a difficult task to another, that employee may also get a least favorite job to do, too.

Now that Lynn’s first year of business is behind her, she can say with certainty that it has indeed been a learning experience. “I have to touch every facet of this business,” she said, “and you know what, I love it!”41

Questions 

1. 1-6. How has Lynn used the four functions of management in building her business?

2. 1-7. Discuss the use of organizational resources (human, monetary, raw materials, and capital) in the restaurant industry. What challenges would a restaurant manager or owner face with each one?

3. 1-8. Which of Katz’s managerial skills (technical, human, and conceptual) does Lynn seem to use most often? Why?

Experiential Exercises 

Assessing Inefficiency at Ryan Homes

Directions. Read the following scenario and then perform the listed activities. Your instructor may want you to perform the activities as an individual or within groups. Follow all of your instructor’s directions carefully.

Ryan Homes is a home-building company that has been in operation in more than 10 states in the northeastern part of the United States. The company has been in business since 1948 and has built major housing developments in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Your group, the newly established Ryan Homes Efficiency Team, is searching for ways to make your company more efficient. More specifically, you are to focus on making carpenters more efficient workers. In your company, the job of a carpenter is described as follows:

Carpenters are craftsmen who build things. The occupation rewards those who can combine precise detail work with strenuous manual labor. For Ryan, carpenters are involved with erecting and maintaining houses. Carpenters turn blueprints and plans into finished houses. Ryan’s carpenters work with supervisors and construction managers on the production of houses containing different materials, including fiberglass, drywall, plastic, and wood. Carpenters use saws, tape measures, drills, and sanders in their jobs. The job of a carpenter can entail long hours of physical labor in sometimes unpleasant circumstances. The injury rate among carpenters is above average. Some carpenters work indoors and are involved in maintenance and refinishing; others are involved in the creation of frame and infrastructure.

Your team is to list five possible ways that carpenters with Ryan Homes might be inefficient. In addition, assuming that each of your possible ways is a reality, suggest a corresponding action(s) the company might take to eliminate this inefficiency.

You and Your Career

From the discussion of compensation in this chapter, you might conclude that a person’s career progress can be gauged by his or her salary level; that is, the greater your salary, the more successful you are. Do you think a person’s salary is a valid measure of career progress? Why or why not? List three other factors that you should use as measures of your career progress. In your opinion, which is the most important factor in determining your progress? Why? How would you monitor changes in these factors as your career progresses?

Building Your Management Skills Portfolio

Your Management Skills Portfolio is a collection of activities specially designed to demonstrate your management knowledge and skill. Be sure to save your work. Taking your printed portfolio to an employment interview could be helpful in obtaining a job.

The portfolio activity for this chapter is Managing the Blind Pig Bar. Read the following about the Blind Pig and complete the activities that follow.

You have just been hired as the manager of the Blind Pig, a bar in Cleveland, Ohio.42 The Blind Pig has a local bar feel with downtown style, has 42 beers on tap, and offers games such as darts, foosball, and Silver Strike Bowling. Also available is a DJ to provide music and encourage dancing. Thursdays are Neighborhood & Industry Appreciation nights, with half-priced drinks for those living or working in the area.

Given your five years of managerial experience in a similar bar also in Cleveland, you know that managing a bar or club is a high-profile job. You also know that even with 12 employees, as manager you’ll sometimes have to do everything from carrying kegs of beer up flights of stairs to handling irate customers. Naturally, as manager, you’ll be responsible for smooth bar operations and bar profitability. You start your new job in two weeks.

To get a head start on managing the Blind Pig, you decide to develop a list of issues within the bar that you’ll check upon your arrival. You know that for your list to be useful, it must include issues related to bar planning, organizing, influencing, and controlling. Fill out the following form to indicate issues related to each management function you’ll check when you arrive at the Blind Pig.

Planning Issues to Inspect

Example: The Type of Scheduling System Used

1. 1-9.           

2. 1-10           

3. 1-11.           

4. 1-12           

5. 1-13.           

Organizing Issues to Inspect

1. 1-14.           

2. 1-15.           

3. 1-16           

4. 1-17.           

5. 1-18.           

Influencing Issues to Inspect

1. 1-19.           

2. 1-20.           

3. 1-21.           

4. 1-22.           

5. 1-23.           

Controlling Issues to Inspect

1. 1-24.           

2. 1-25.           

3. 1-26.           

4. 1-27.           

5. 1-28.           

Assuming you change the scheduling system used at the Blind Pig, explain how that change affects your organizing, influencing, and controlling activities.