Human Resource Management Designing a New Workplace
Vivienne comes from a well-off family that had immigrated to Australia from Hong Kong when she was small. Her parents had worked hard and become well established in Sydney's Chinese business community. Despite their success, they believed their children should learn for themselves how to work hard and how to value money.
Vivienne and her brothers had all worked in restaurants part-time and over the holidays while they were studying. Vivienne was just about to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in human resource management and management. Her two brothers had done degrees in accounting and law.
Vivienne's hobby was cooking - she was a keen follower of MasterChef but also enjoyed other cooking shows, and read recipes and books about food and travel to relax. Now her parents had come up with a great idea - they would set Vivienne and her brothers up in a restaurant in Newcastle when they graduated at the end of the year!
It was a big challenge. Vivienne, Walter and Stephen had talked about what type of restaurant they would like. They decided on a restaurant that would have excellent food - a Chinese restaurant that would specialise in seafood, have great Hong Kong style dumplings and yum cha. They also wanted the service to be really professional - friendly, knowledgeable, efficient. They wanted their restaurant to be a little bit 'hip', to attract young people, particularly the overseas students in town; but also to be a place where people would be comfortable bringing their families. So - great food, great service, but good value.
Where would they begin? The three of them decided that Walter and Stephen would be in charge of setting up the business and accounting arrangements, ordering systems and so on. They would all agree on the design and location; they had decided to find some premises that would take about 30 tables - about 80 people - plus a small bar. But Vivienne's job was, in the first instance, to think about some of the most important issues in what sort of workforce they should find. Usually owners begin by employing a chef to be in charge of the kitchen, but Vivienne wanted to be very careful and not make any mistakes. She wanted the staff to be really engaged in making the restaurant a success. How was she going to achieve the dream that she and her brothers shared?
TASK: What steps must Vivienne and her brothers take to design and fill the jobs in her new restaurant successfully?