FNS - CH.9

Management Principles in Foodservice Organizations

Management - Core Concept

  • Definition: Coordination of people and resources.

  • Key Balances: Efficiency, ethics, morals, and ideals.

  • Manager’s Role:

    • Unpredictable and challenging requiring constant decision-making.

    • Opportunities to create meaningful impacts.

Key Management Concepts

  • Authority:

    • Definition: Right to direct others and make decisions derived from one’s position.

    • Granted from upper to lower levels within the organization.

  • Responsibility:

    • Definition: Obligation to perform assigned tasks, which remains with the individual regardless of delegation.

  • Accountability:

    • Definition: Being answerable for outcomes and is central to the managerial role, involving self, the organization, and the public.

Management in Practice

  • Managers must produce results amid limited resources.

  • Organizations must efficiently utilize human and material resources to achieve both efficiency (doing things right) and effectiveness (doing the right things).

Levels of Management

  • First-Line Managers:

    • Work at the technical core; responsible for daily operations and direct supervision of staff.

    • technical and human

  • Middle Managers:

    • Link top management and front-line staff; responsible for implementing policies and translating strategies into actions.

    • human and conceptual

  • Top Managers:

    • Responsible for overall management, establishing policies, guiding external relationships, and focusing on long-term direction.

    • conceptual

Managerial Roles

  • Categories of Managerial Roles (Figure 9-4):

    • Interpersonal Roles: Focus on relationships.

      • Figurehead: Performs symbolic and ceremonial duties.

      • Leader: Responsible for staff performance, hiring, training, motivating.

      • Liaison: Maintains contacts internally and externally.

    • Informational Roles: Focus on information flow.

      • Monitor: Actively seeks relevant information.

      • Disseminator: Shares necessary information with staff.

      • Spokesperson: Communicates on behalf of the organization.

    • Decisional Roles: Focus on actions and choices.

      • Entrepreneur: Initiates change and innovation.

      • Disturbance Handler: Addresses crises.

      • Resource Allocator: Decides on resource distribution.

      • Negotiator: Represents the organization in negotiations.

Managerial Skills

  • Types of Skills:

    • Technical Skills: Knowledge of specific tasks, specialized knowledge, visible at operational levels.

    • Human Skills: Ability to work with and motivate people, essential at all management levels.

    • Conceptual Skills: Understanding organization as a whole; seeing interrelated parts and their impact.

Management Functions

  • Five Core Functions:

    1. Planning: Establishes objectives and sets direction for achieving goals.

    2. Organizing: Groups activities, delegates authority, and coordinates relationships.

    3. Staffing: Involves recruitment, selection, training, and development of employees.

    4. Directing: Focuses on human behavior, requiring communication, motivation, and leadership.

    5. Controlling: Ensures plans are followed by comparing expected versus actual performance; continous process

Planning

  • Purpose: Establishes objectives and sets procedures for achieving them.

  • What is Planning?: Deciding what should happen in the future. It serves as a foundation for all management functions.

    • organizing

    • staffing

    • directing

    • controlling

  • Hierarchy of Plans: Planning begins at the organizational level; higher-level plans guide subsystems and set desired future conditions.

Objectives
  • Definition: Specific end points of planning that translate goals into clear directions for managerial activities.

  • From Objectives to Action:

    • Policies: Guidelines for decision-making.

    • Procedures and Methods: Define how work is done and ensure systematic implementation.

Policies

  • guidelines to decision making

  • provide consistency in actions

Procedures and methods

  • Define how work is done

  • Step-by-step implementation of policies

  • Ensure systematic and consistent execution

Dimensions of Planning
  • Repetitiveness:

    • Standing Plans: Used repeatedly for routine actions.

    • Single-use Plans: Created for one-time situations.

  • Time Span: Differentiates short-range (operational) vs. long-range planning.

    • Short-Range Planning: Covers 1 year or less, e.g., annual operating budget.

    • Long-Range Planning: Typically spans 5 years or longer, e.g., major capital projects.

  • Level of Management: Planning responsibilities vary by management level, aligning with the hierarchy of plans.

    • Top Management: Responsible for broad, comprehensive planning.

    • Middle Management: Develops policies and translates goals into action plans.

    • First-Line Management: Responsible for technical/operational implementation.

Flexibility

  • degree to which plans can adapt to chage especially in long-range planning

  • challenges: rapid technological change, market pressures, etc

Staffing
  • Core Management Function: recruiting, selecting, training, and developing employees to align with organizational objectives.

  • Why Staffing Matters: Competent staff ensure organizational goals are pursued. Recruitment involves building a qualified applicant pool.

  • Selection and Training: Orientation introduces new employees to goals and job responsibilities while training improves current job skills.

  • Orientation: introduces new employees to organizational gaols, polcies and expectations and job responsibilities

  • Training and development: improves current skills and prepares employees for increased responsibility/future roles

  • Performance appraisal: compares employee performance to established job standards and supports feedback, improvement & decision making

  • Compensation: wages, salaries, benefits

Organization

  • Definition: A group of people working together towards specific objectives with efficiency and effectiveness as core goals.

  • Goal: use resources in the most efficient and effective manner

Organizational Structure
  • Definition: Determined by management’s objectives and the plans to achieve them; varies based on organization type.

  • Types:

    • Traditional Organizations: Follow hierarchical structures.

      • organize chart and job descriptions or position guide: show formal relationships and responsibilities

      • differentiation or departmentalization: Divide work into tasks for different units or people

      • delegation of authority: Assign power and decision-making along hierarchy

      • administrative systems: Use policies and procedures to guide work and relationships

    • Flexible Organizations: Adapt structures to meet evolving objectives.

      • Purpose: Establish clear lines of authority and create order through organizational charts and job descriptions.

      • Key Features:

        • Integration: Coordinates tasks across units for common goals.

Corporate Culture
  • Definition: Shared philosophies, values, beliefs, normatively aligned principles within an organization.

  • Characteristics:

    • Shared = exists within the group

    • pervasive = present across all levels and parts of organizations

    • enduring = shapes members thoughts and actions overtime

    • implicit = unspoken or subliminal

The Need of Organization

  • Key concepts

    • Responsibility: The obligation to perform assigned tasks; Closely linked to authority

    • Span of Management (Span of Control): Number of people a manager can supervise effectively.

    • Authority: The right to direct others and take action due to one’s position; delegated down the hierarchy by upper management

      • Types of Authority:

        • Formal Authority: Top-down flow; authority comes from position/title. Also called positional authority.

        • Acceptance Authority: Authority is effective only if subordinates accept it.

        • Authority of Competence/Expertise: Authority comes from knowledge and skills, not position. Commands are followed due to belief in expertise.

Span of Management

  • Organizational Policies: Clear and comprehensive policies reduce decisionmaking time → allow a wider span

  • Availability of Staff Experts: Experts provide advice/support → manager can supervise more people.

  • Competence of Staff: Well-trained employees need less supervision → larger span possible.

  • Objective Standards: Standardized procedures allow employees to selfmonitor, freeing the manager to focus on exceptions.

  • Nature of Work: Simple, routine work requires less supervision → larger span; complex work → smaller span.

  • Distribution of Workforce: Widely dispersed workers make supervision harder → smaller span; concentrated workers → larger span

Departmentalization

  • process of grouping jobs logically to implement division of labour

  • purpose: organizes work efficiently and clearly, depending on type and size of organization

  • common bases

    • Functional: Groups units by the nature of work (e.g., production, sales, finance).

      • Advantages: Encourages specialization and efficient resource use.

    • Product or Service: All activities for a product/service are under a single manager.

      • Advantages: Employees identify with product; promotes growth and innovation.

      • Challenge: Possible duplication of functions.

    • Geography: Groups by territory for dispersed operations.

      • Advantages: Uses local personnel, improves customer responsiveness.

    • Customer: Groups by type of customer (e.g., retailer vs. foodservice).

      • Advantage: Meets specialized customer needs effectively.

    • Process, Equipment, or Time:

      • Process/equipment: Groups by specific operations (e.g., deep-fat frying section).

      • Time/shift: Organizes by work hours, common in 24/7 operations like hospitals

Strategic Management Process

  • Environmental Scan: Typically involves a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). Helps identify current trends and conditions in the industry.

  • Strategy Formation: Review and, if needed, revise the company’s mission, values, and objectives.

    • Develop clear objectives: what should be accomplished.

    • Create strategies/plans: how objectives will be achieved.

    • Strategies provide direction for the organization.

  • Strategy Implementation:

    • Action stage: carrying out strategies through budgets and programs.

    • May involve: Changing organizational structures, Creating a supportive organizational climate, Adapting production or operational processes

  • Evaluation and Control: Assess whether internal or external strategic changes have occurred. Ensure controls are in place to keep the organization on track toward objectives

Division of Labor
  • Organizing is fundamental in establishing efficient work procedures and coordination.

  • Types of Division:

    • Vertical: Based on authority lines from top to bottom

    • Horizontal: Grouping employees at similar levels.

    • Team-Based: Work organized around teams; minimal hierarchy.

    • Matrix: Combines experts from various departments for specific projects.

Social Responsibility

  • organization’s duty to society beyond just making a profit.

  • includes contributing positively to communities, the environment, and stakeholders.

Managerial Ethics

  • Standards of behavior guiding managers’ decisions and actions.

Key areas for ethical attention:

  •     Organization’s treatment of employees – fair policies, safe and respectful workplace.

  • Employees’ treatment of the organization – honesty, loyalty, and professionalism.

  • Organization and employees’ treatment of others – customers, suppliers, and society at large.

  • Organizations may develop codes of ethics to formally define and promote ethical expectations.

Globilization

  • Advances in communication, information technology, and travel have created a more interconnected world, where events in one region can affect people globally

  • implications

    • Economic Environment: Includes a country’s economic system, development level, currency exchange rates, and trade agreements. Influences the ease of international commerce and business operations across borders.

    • Political/Legal Environment: Political stability, trade barriers (tariffs, subsidies, quotas), and laws affect globalization. Countries with unstable political systems, terrorism, or internal violence may limit international business. Legal systems and business laws also determine the ease of doing global business.

    • Sociocultural Environment: Encompasses a country’s culture, values, and social norms. Differences in culture can influence business practices, communication, and management approaches.

Sociocultural Differences

Key Dimensions:
  1. Assertiveness: The degree to which assertiveness and toughness versus caring and tenderness is valued

  2. Future Orientation: The extent to which future-oriented behaviours, such as planning and delayed gratification, are valued.

  3. Gender Differences: The amount of status and decision making responsibility given to females

  4. Humane Orientation: The extent to which altruistic, generous, caring, and kind behaviors are valued and rewarded.

  5. Individualism vs. Collectivism: the degree to which ties between individuals are loose or close. In some countries the expectation is that each looks out for oneself (individualism); in other countries, the expectation is that each looks out for many others (collectivism)

  6. In-Group Collectivism: The extent to which membership in groups such as family, friends,and employing organizations are valued.

  7. Performance Orientation: The degree to which group members are encouraged and rewarded for performance improvement and excellence

  8. Power Distance: The extent to which less powerful members of an institution expect and accept that power will be unequally distributed

  9. Uncertainty Avoidance: The degree to which people are comfortable with the unknown and having unexpected things happen

Management Practices

  • Behavioural Modelling: Training approach based on observing and imitating others; “do as I do”

  • Open Door Policy: Encouragement of open communication.

  • Managing by Walking Around: Leadership practice that involves being present and accessible.

  • Huddles: Quick meetings to address daily or weekly objectives.

  • Making Work “Fun”: Encouraging a positive work environment to enhance employee satisfaction.

Project Management

  • routine:

    • Most management activities are continuous and routine, essential for the smooth operation of a foodservice organization.

  • project

    • Temporary teams are formed to bring together specific skills and expertise needed for project completion.

    • Team members are usually drawn from different departments or functions.

Political Techniques in Foodservice Operations

  • Common Techniques:

    • Acquisition of Favors: Doing favors in anticipation of reciprocation.

    • Alliances: Support among individuals with shared interests.

    • Conviviality: Using friendliness to gain influence.

    • Constituency Building: Rallying support for individuals or causes.

Key Terms

  • Acceptance Authority: Authority based on an employee's acceptance.

  • Accountability: Being responsible to oneself or the organization.

  • Authority: Delegated right to direct and act.

  • Chain of Command: Clear authority lines—who reports to whom.

  • Conceptual Skill: Ability to see the organization as an interconnected whole.

  • Code of Ethics: Formal ethical guidelines within the organization.

  • Delegation: Assigning authority to specific individuals.

  • Departmentalization: Grouping jobs logically.

  • Ethics: Principles governing conduct.

  • Span of Management: Number of employees a manager can supervise.

  • Strategic Planning: Continuous decision-making about future outcomes.

  • Technical Skill: Proficiency in specific activities.