Organizational Structure in a Restaurant
You are hired as a business consultant by owner of a popular restaurant because a number of customers have complained about service. The owner believes the root of the problem is the restaurant is not organized for efficient operations. Further, if the organizational structure and operations were changed, she believes better customer service and higher employee productivity could be achieved. Before you formally meet with the restaurant staff to introduce yourself, you decide to pay a visit to the restaurant on a crowded Friday night to observe operations first hand.
You arrive at the restaurant with your dinner date, and intend to have the Mexican food the restaurant is famous for. The place is packed. While some customers seem to be enjoying themselves, some appear visibly dissatisfied. After a 15-minute wait, a server comes to your table to take your order. You place your order informing him that you want ââ?¬Å"mildââ?¬Â? salsa with your meal.
After 30 minutes pass, the server returns and not only sets the wrong dish in front of you, the salsa is hot not mild. Before you can tell him this is not what you ordered, he has moved on to serve another table. You bring this mistake to the attention of another server who happens to be passing by. He apologizes, and you tell him what you ordered. He returns with the correct dish 20 minutes later, but your salsa is still too spicy! You and your dinner date are frustrated with the service, but you keep your temper under control. The server apologizes profusely for the error. After nearly an hour, you finally get the meal you asked for. The food was good, but your impressions of the service and organization are poor.
Your informal observation exercise is complete. You sense the restaurant has problems with its human resource management, training, operations, and organization design.
Re-design the organizational structure and various functions for this restaurant in terms of:
Line/staff or matrix
Centralized/decentralized
Departmentalization