Case Study : Listening
Billy and Bobbie are retired, and they regularly go to the nearby hospital cafeteria for their noon meal. The cafeteria is open to the public, has a variety of healthy food choices, and is reasonably priced. At the end of the cafeteria line is a table that has condiments, paper napkins, and plastic silverware for carryout. In addition, there is a toaster on the table. Bobbie likes her bread toasted and has expressed dissatisfaction with the toaster for several months. The toaster heats the bread, but it isn’t hot enough, so the bread dries out instead of being toasted. Billy mentioned the toaster problem to the cafeteria cashier and the other cafeteria staff on several occasions. The staff was always polite and promised to tell management about the toaster. Nothing changed, however. Finally, Billy’s patience reached its limit, and he asked to see the cafeteria manager. The manager met Billy and Bobbie in the cafeteria. She seemed surprised to learn about the toaster problem but thanked Billy and promised action. In less than a week, a new commercial-grade toaster appeared on the condiment table. The next time Billy and Bobbie came to the cafeteria, several of the staff came to their table and told them how pleased they were that management had replaced the old toaster. They said that other patrons had complained about the toaster, too. The staff members said that despite their telling the manager about the problem numerous times, no action had been taken. They were frustrated that it had taken so long to correct the problem with the toaster.
Questions:
a. Develop a problem statement
b. Characterize the manager’s management style and the cafeteria staff’s view of their role in serving the cafeteria’s patrons.
c. How is customer satisfaction factored into efforts to improve performance?
d. Develop three solutions to solve the kind of problem that Billy and Bobbie had.