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 example #2

My current role at Bjs Brewhouse is Server of the Year and Quality Control (floor manager). I was not only able to become the top server at my restaurant through cooperation with my managers, but also through the lack of cooperation of other servers with management. My cooperation with management was initially brought about purely through opinion and was then later backed scientific investigation and facts. These levels of cooperation and scientific investigation greatly contributed to the performance of Bjs Brewhouse. However, it is not that these factors that simply caused an improvement in performance, it is actually a two-way flow of cooperation and mental attitude among management and myself.

     When I first started serving at Bjs my hours were limited and I was not able to build or boost sales. By simply having a positive work place attitude, management decided by opinion and not science that they would let me have more serving shifts, totaling in 40 hours per week. This opinion is what lead to even more cooperation between management and myself and turned out to increase organizational performance. I performed extremely well and set many sales records as well as receiving a high number of guest compliments. This is where management began to use scientific investigation in the form of sales numbers, guest add-ons (extras sold to guests), number of guests served, and overall guest satisfaction. Informed decision making by managers at Bjs is done in a combination of opinion and scientific management. Hours are given based on performance and sales numbers, basic personality traits, and cooperation with team members and guests. At times, these tactics may hinder Bjs performance if management's opinion is wrong, but in my case the combination actually helped me increase Bjs sales and performance.

     It was the opinionated management that lead to the scientific investigation, that eventually lead to improved cooperation from both sides. Being a server is a bit odd when it comes to the issue of payment, so management and I cooperate with the greater good in mind. But it is not to increase the surplus directly, it is to increase company surplus and guest satisfaction, which leads indirectly to increased surplus on both sides. For me, it is in the form of tips and for the restaurant, it is sales and guest satisfaction. Personally, the cooperation between management and myself was implemented when they gave me a full time serving position, with prime hours for optimal tips, and they worked around my school schedule. As I mentioned earlier, this flows two ways and by them cooperating with me and providing me with more hours I provided the restaurant with record setting alcohol sales, add-on sales, and overall sales. My input for sales ideas, cleaning tips, and performance selling techniques are also taken into consideration and implemented around the restaurant. This two-way street of cooperation was and is beneficial to the mine and the restaurant's performance. However, there are other team members that do not receive the same amount of cooperation.

     Other servers never got the opinionated opportunity I received, or did, and did not produce results through scientific investigation. Among these servers, the cooperation from management is minimal. They work 10 - 15 hours a week and do not produce results. This might seem as though a lack of cooperation here hinders the sales and progression of Bjs Brewhouse, but it does not; it actually does the opposite. By limiting cooperation among these low performing servers, more hours are produced for the better performing servers who then produce more sales and guest satisfaction. By limiting cooperation among certain employees, organizational performance is actually increased. Management continues to use a combination of scientific investigation through sales and opinion through instinct to make decisions. 

    If Bjs management were to only use scientific investigation and make decisions based on scientific data such as sales and surveys, I do not believe the company would function as efficiently as it currently does. There are servers who can provide the restaurant with increased sales and guest satisfaction, but in other categories that aren't recorded by data, they seem to lack success. An example of this is lack of teamwork. There are no scientific ratings or scales in place to measure the extent of team work that each employee emits. This is an observation which is part of the scientific method, but after that, decisions are made based of gut feeling or instinct. Since working with people or guests is such a huge part of the job description at Bjs, it is necessary to employ both scientific management and opinionated management to provide organizational success. 

     It is hard to say that scientific management fully exists as some factors are not scientifically measurable in the serving industry. It is partially present and the mental attitude of both management and server is aligned to that partial existence. Servers and managers alike both know that much of the scheduling and incentives are performance based on scientific investigation. In this particular customer service driven line of work, the combination of both the opinion and scientific management works. It is efficient and provides the organization and its members with positive results. I cannot say that it would function more effectively with just scientific management. It would definitely be possible to run an experiment with the scientific method and analyze the results. However, based on opinionated observation, the current system set in place works to the organization's benefit. Bjs works best under selective cooperation and selective scientific management.