My Take on Discrimination

On Dictionary.com, discrimination is defined as, “treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.” While I was thinking about what I wanted to write about I ran across two quotes that really caught my eye.

The first one was said by Shirley Chisholm, “In the end antiblack, antifemale, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing – antihumanism.” When you think about what she is saying, you realize that it is very true. There are many different types of people in the world, and just because what they believe is different then what we think, or the way they look or talk is different doesn’t mean that they aren’t humans. God spent the same amount of time on each one of us to make us equal. He didn’t spend more time on certain people to make them look better; he made us how he wanted us to be. Just because someone has a different color of skin, or has different beliefs doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with them. They still live in America, which is a free country and as long as they live here they should be treated like the humans they are.

The second quote I found was also said by Shirley Chisholm, “Tremendous amounts of talent are lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt.” Women can do the same amount of things men can do. Just because a woman wants to be the manager or work on a job that does heavy lifting doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be hired, if she is able to do it. I think the big problem with this is that men don’t want to be told what to do or out shown by a female. There are many things that women go through and have to do that a men have no clue about.

I hope that in the future discrimination will no longer be a problem, and that everybody can be comfortable around each other and not feel weird about going somewhere just because of their gender, race, or beliefs. Although there will always be those certain people that think, if everybody is not like them then they are not good enough. Anthony J. D’Angelo once said, “If you believe that discrimination exists, it will.”

Learning from supervisors

I've worked in a couple different kitchens, and have seen quite a variety of different leadership qualities from supervisors. In class it was mentioned that the best way to learn the expectations and duties as a manager or supervisor is by seeing it in person - learning by example. Although some supervisors that I have worked under have had an autocratic approach, I have learned quite a bit from them. I was shown a very negative approach to the way they applied themselves in different situations, and I saw exactly everything that a supervisor should not be. Staying positive and looking on the bright side wasn't always easy at times, but it was definitely a good learning experience for me and my co-workers. On a better note, I worked under a fantastic executive pastry chef, and assistant pastry chef. I mainly worked with the assistant pastry chef, and I learned so much. Other than all of the techniques and methods that I was shown, I was given a great example of what's expected in a great supervisor. He always handled situations very professionally, and in the best way possible. He was always available for questions and help when needed, and made sure that everything was going smoothly in the kitchen. I feel as though it is tough to maintain a steady balance between keeping up on professionalism, and being a "cool" approachable supervisor at the same time. I really admire a supervisor that has that balance, it seems to make all that much of a difference in a kitchen setting where everyone is part of a team.

Four and a Half Months of Leadership

The topic of Leadership was brought up in class and I began to think to myself where I had seen great leadership. Then I realized that I could talk about how I saw leadership everyday for four and a half months. My externship was a great experience that made me learn the true meaning of being a leader in the kitchen. When I arrived at my externship site, I was prepared for the worst. I had heard many stories about European chefs and how they manage their kitchens, and I was sure that my site was no exception. When I first arrived, I was astonished by how the executive chef handled different situations. Never had I ever seen a chef who had complete control over the kitchen but showed respect for his workers and seemed interested in what each cook had to say. When trying to come up with a solution he would always gather us around and would ask us what we thought was best. Then he would come up with a solution to the situation. The important thing about that would be that he wanted to hear from us what we thought was best and I cherished that very much because not to many chefs care what you have to say. A great leader always listens to his group then makes a decision depending on what the group and he have come up with. I was glad to have such a great experience with having a great leader in the kitchen. Having a good leader in the kitchen is also important because it gives you someone to look up to and it pushes you to become better. You always want to have the desire to become a great leader some day and the best way is to have a great example.

"It Aint No Thing Man"

For my externship for the Culinary Institute of America I choose to go to Lola’s Café & Gourmet Catering here in Poughkeepsie, NY. The place itself is extremely small with only four fulltime employees, that is including myself. Overall I couldn’t really complain about the externship as a whole but my biggest complaint of it all was how power was separated in the kitchen. Of course me being the extern and the new one in the kitchen I possessed little to no power. The only person I could tell what to do was the dishwasher so I might have well had no power but besides that there were two people who were above me and then of course the Chef /Owner. Whenever I needed to do something or know something that I wasn’t sure of I would always to John, he was the man in the kitchen with Personal Power. He was the only one who would be willing to help me out and show me exactly how to do something and if I ever did something wrong he would always say “It aint no thing man” and just let me learn from my mistakes. On the other hand the other person I was working with Jared was not like that at all. He was granted legitimate power for the fact that he had been working there so long. He was the most unsocial person I had ever met and if he ever saw you doing something wrong or not the right way he would let you keep doing it and then when your near completion he would tell you it was wrong. Then he would be the first one to tell the Chef that I messed up for his own satisfaction. Personally I think that this is not a way a kitchen should be ran. It needs a sense of structure especially from the head Chef. He needs to initiate leadership either autocratic, bureaucratic, democratic, or laissez-faire. By doing this the kitchen will run in a much better manner with power place in the right hands allowing for a much better work experience and hopefully less confusing for the next extern.

Participative Management

My externship was spent at The Atlantic Inn on Block Island, RI. Right away, the executive chef made it clear that he lead the kitchen as a democracy, and was always looking for our input. Within the first few weeks the chef, two other externs and I tasted wines together, and developed a menu for an event that paired dishes with each wine. Knowing that the chef appreciated my opinion made me feel like an important part of the kitchen, and not just an extern. The menu at the restaurant changed weekly and our input was always welcome. Every day we made a different amuse bouche and several times over the summer the kitchen staff was given a challenge, very similar to a Top Chef quick fire, to come up with a concept using a list of ingredients from our chef and the winning amuse bouche was used that night. Working in a kitchen under participative management was the best environment I could have asked for, I felt a level of respect from my chef that made me want to push myself and work harder.

-Morgan Acampora

Comunication, Leadership, and Training

Communication and training are the two main reasons why my externship site had problems. I worked the room service and hot app. station for The Hotel Hershey. I started off working there with no training or tour of the kitchen. I was just thrown into the position. The station requires one person doing all of the room service and hot appetizers for the Circular Dining Room. When I started I didn't no either of the menu's, didn't know what to prep for, didn't no what plates the food went on, so pretty much I didn't know anything. If I would have had a good Sous Chef, a good leader, I would have been trained properly and showed what to do. However, when I did learn what needs to be prepped and done for the next day I realized it was too much for one person. So I sat down and talked with my chef and he said "Oh yeah didn't anyone tell you if you need me to do anything for ya just write it down on this list". So there I am struggling to get all this done and no one told me that.

Its a Boomerang, Mate

Throughout the first three chapters of Supervision in the Hospitality Industry, out of the management styles I found boomerang management to be most relevant in the society of today’s restaurants. In my experience I have had to deal with this two times, one of those times involving myself as a manager. When I was hired at the Melting Pot in Annapolis, Maryland, I was hired as a part time prep cook and a full-time server. After a year of getting close with people in the front and the back of the house, I found the opportunity to move up to kitchen manager, which I did. This required me too work full-time in the kitchen, managing mis amigos. I say amigos because I was the only Caucasian in the kitchen. I had become very close and developed good friendships with a couple of my co-workers. This included having fun outside of work, not just on the job. But as I took on the job of a kitchen manager, I had to supervise my once friends and co-workers. I approached the situation as I would before I was promoted, and continued to be friends and occasionally go out with my subordinates. I learned that this was not the correct behavior of a manager. When you try to be friends and a manager at the same time, your authority goes out the window and no one takes you seriously. After a week or so of feeling that I was not going to be able to do my job right, I had to make an example. I was previously aware that one of the dishwashers was coming in drunk all the time. I gave him a warning as manager that if he does it again, he will be fired. Subsequently, the next day he came in drunk, and I fired him. It was at that point that people started taking me seriously. Did I feel bad? Yes I did, but I felt that I gave him a fair warning and he took me for a joke. That happened to be a Friday night, and I did not have anyone to fill in. We were understaffed in the kitchen as is, so I did help with dishes when busy and managed when they weren’t backed up. After that incident I had gained respect needed to successfully manage, and I still had my friends outside of work. It was a great balance and the restaurant seemed to run a bit smoother from that day on.

In the kitchen at the Athenaeum Hotel the initial vibe I picked up was laid back. Everyone was very relaxed and just wanted to make sure the food went out at its best. There was some casual chatting between cooks. They played the radio while we worked and everyone was in good spirits. I had not trouble meeting people and they had no problem welcoming me into the kitchen family. As in every kitchen there were times where people were having a bad day but not because of the work in the kitchen mostly because of an outside issue. Most of pre-season everyone got along very well, all the food went out as it was supposed to. I liked my co-workers, they made work more like hanging out with friends and doing what I love to do which is cook. As the weeks went on more workers for the regular season started to show up and work a few days a week. A new kid named Jason started working a few weeks after I started. He was a nice kid with a lot of good culinary ideas. He had a certificate from a school a friend of mine went to in Pennsylvania. I knew what kind of education he had received and this didn’t lower my respect for him and his food but it also didn’t raise my expectations for say it lightly. He had an attitude opposite of mine and that was that I was below him since I had not finished my schooling yet and he had. We seemed to collide on ideas in several ways. It came down to whenever I came up with an idea of how to finish a dish or hold an item till service he would defend an opposite standpoint then mine for no reason. We never really had an outright fight on anything it was always undertones, which made work less and less enjoyable. Then a few more workers started once the season started. The season was pretty busy so people really did not get a chance to start fights or even negative thoughts toward others. I had one kid who also was in culinary school, who went to Alfred State and he had a problem with me a lot like the problem I had had with Jason. He was put under me to help me with appetizer preparation and setup. At the time I did not realize it but I did treat him like an inferior, which was wrong. I would make him to the crap work I did not want to and he caught on quick. He would do thing that he knew annoyed me and I would let it get to me. I tried talking to one of the Chefs about him and just asked if he could help someone else and that I would do the appetizers by myself. They complied and moved him to the back line, which worked out well for a while. He and I had a few little arguments but nothing too bad and we just grew to like each other as friends. Things started to really flow well with the kitchen and everyone knew their spots and their responsibilities. I think whenever the problems can up I was able to handle them well as instructed in my interpersonal skills class at the Culinary Institute of America.

Democratic Kitchen

I completed my externship at Vanille Patisserie in Chicago, IL. Coming on to the team as an extern I didn’t have a voice about what was going on in the kitchen until about half way through my externship. Once the team got acquainted with the externs they began to ask them about there opinions and takes on new flavors coming up season wise, or new architecture on desserts. Externs reported to the employees or sous chef, who then reported to the executive chefs. However, our executive chefs were married and had twins; needless to say they were not around very much. They let most of the decision making up to, Moon, our sous chef. She often ran the kitchen very democratically. She allowed everyone to have an opinion and try all of the new desserts as they came out, or create a new entremets if there was any free time in between making different components of the other various entremets. However, when Dimitri Fayard was in the kitchen it was his way or the high way. Messing up or dropping an entremet would result in the price you had cost the company yelled across the kitchen. He was very confident in himself, as he should be, and if something wasn’t up to his standard or wasn’t to his liking it was going in the trash. I feel that between the two types of leadership I encountered they both worked well in balance with each other. It was necessary to keep the standard up with how the product came out and how the employees carried themselves. By giving everyone a chance to participate and create new entremets and try the new flavors they felt like they were getting more out of going to work that just to get a paycheck. Everyone taught everyone new things if they found a new recipe or technique. However, there was always that sense of power from the bosses that kept everyone in line.

Management at Picholine

When I was working at Picholine, I learned different management styles are needed for each situation. That means that the best managers are the ones that can utelize a lot of these styles. One of the main things that made the Chef de Cuisine at Picholine a successful manager and chef was the fact the he had formal power because of his position and he also had real authority from the staff. I think this is necessary to be a successful manager because then the owners and the staff both respect your opinion, which will make managing much easier. He also had coercive power, but not in the sense reducing pay, but by calling you out in front of the whole kitchen when you screw up. While its happening it isn't fun , but I found I would never make that mistake again, so I guess it worked.
His leadership style was a mix of autocratic and democratic, which doesn't sound like they would go together, but worked well. When it came to what the final product looked and tasted like, he was completely autocratic, and you had to do it his way. How we got there he was democratic. He would tell me how to do it, but if it did not work well and I thought of another method he would encourage me to try it. Everytime the menu changed and my prep changed I found that I would try 3 or 4 different ways of doing things and then when I found a good way. This is a good way to manage because it is important that the final product is exactly how he want it, but it is important to allow people to adapt the procedure, so that they feel like they are contributing and maybe they will figure out a better way to do things.
As my externship went on I found that he was a situational leader as well. When I started he would tell me exactly what to do and how to do it. After a month I found that he was just telling me to make things and then watching how I do it, and around 3 months in I found that he stopped watching and just trusted me to do it well. This gave me a sense of accomplishment and it made me feel everything had to be perfect because he trusted me to do it well and I didn't want to prove him wrong. This probably made his job easier because if everyone is trying to make everything perfect then you don't have to watch them all the time and you can do your other jobs.

The Boomerang Manager: Real Life

From reading Chapters one, two and three, the one topic that really caught my attention was the reading on the boomerang manager. I had viewed this situation first hand while working. Yet, this occurrence did not take place while I was on extern. In fact, this situation happened before I came to The Culinary Institute of America.

Before college, I had been working at Panera Bread for two and a half years. When I first started working there, we had a great group of three managers. However, as many may know, location transfers within a hospitality corporation are frequent and it wasn’t long before every manager that I ever really enjoyed working with was no longer there. Chris, a manager that I really enjoyed working with was eventually transferred. However, when I first began working there, Chris was only an associate trainer. He was the one that trained me through my first couple of days there. He had a great personality that all of our guests really appreciated and his sense of humor was popular within our close-knit group of employees. He had a game face on whenever needed and he was always there for his fellow co-workers. However, it came the day that he was promoted to closing supervisor and his new authority was a threat to his former co-workers. As I watched this situation, I began noticing the struggle that Chris was having with his new authority. Many of my co-workers did not take him seriously as a closing manager because of their past relationships with him. He was the “funny guy” to them. They couldn’t possibly think that he was possible of any real authority. But in this case, they were wrong. Chris was perfectly capable of a management position. The only problem was the other employees just didn’t view him as a “higher up”. It took a few months and many conversations between these unbelieving employees to really get the respect that Chris needed. He kept his past relationships strong and he showed them that even though he had a funny personality, this did not mean that he could not supervise and get the work done.

Great Leadership

Leadership is a quality that can make or break an establishment. I believe that my externship site, The Hotel DuPont, runs so well due to the many leaders in the hotel. There were not just executive chefs and sous chefs, but also many other chefs within the kitchen with strong leadership qualities. The entire hotel worked together as a team and the communication and planning were near flawless. Each day every department would take time to have a safety meeting. In the bake shop, we would take turns reading the safety tips for the day and then the executive pastry chef would talk further about safety, let us know any changes in numbers for the BEO’s and see how each area of the bakeshop was doing with production for the day. I believe that taking time out of the day for these meetings not only shows the employees how much management cares about their safety, but also keeps everyone informed about what is going on in the hotel.

As a part of my externship, I rotated throughout the bakeshop. I was at each station for several weeks and I feel that I had a great leader at each station. Each employee was not only an excellent worker, but also a great leader. They took their time to show me how to do things, as well as the reason behind it. I think these employees are part of the reason the hotel operates so smoothly. I believe that the Hotel DuPont would not be nearly as successful as it is today without the great leaders they have.

Empowerment with Direction

“Empowerment, a technique used by participative leaders to share decision-making authority with team members, is a proven way to improve employee morale and increase their stake in the restaurant.” (Text, pg 54) I feel that empowerment, with good direction, is the best way to manage a BOH operation. However, this does not mean it is acceptable to be an absent manager because you empower your employees to make their own decisions. Empowering employee’s gives them more control over decision-making, resources management, and work in general, but for this style of management to be successful there must be an authoritative presence.

I have spent time in kitchens that were understaffed, but well managed with employees inspired by empowerment of their position and they run like a well-oiled machine. I have also spent time in the opposite situation. The kitchen is crowded with employees who have too much responsibility and an absent authority figure. Granted both situations have their problems but the later, I feel, is much worse.

Empowerment gives an employee a sense of partnership rather then a feeling of being a subordinate. When this style and technique of management is employed there must be an exorbitant amount of respect on both ends of the spectrum. There must be a respect level from upper management to the lower level employees and vice versa. If an employee does not respect management, the chances of them making the best decisions for the company are slim to none. However if your employees have a respect for your abilities, your character, and how you manage they are much more likely to used their empowered position to the betterment of the establishment.

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“You belong at home having babies, women aren’t suppose to be in the kitchen.” This is what I was told by my forty-something year old male coworker, harassment? But anyways, I blew that off because it was during the same time that I was dealing with my direct supervisor on my externship. This was my sous chef, a C.I.A. graduate, nice guy who genuinely wanted to help me when I had questions. The problem began in the beginning there weren’t friendship/supervisor boundaries established and things became very blurry about halfway through my externship. He suddenly realized that these boundaries weren’t there and I had become too comfortable around him and other employees, so he decided to switch it up one week unbeknownst to me. What a surprise for me to come into work and immediately get yelled at by someone who previously had greeted me with a good morning whenever I came in for my shift. After a week of dealing with his poor temper and aggressive attitude I asked him what the problem was and why he had been acting so differently all week. He responded that he had been too tired to do his proper tasks and now he was going to be doing what he should’ve been doing all along. I didn’t think it would be so difficult to attempt to reestablish those boundaries with him but it was. From then we constantly argued and several times he took me into his ‘office’ also known as the hallway and told me that I needed to check my attitude or I would be sent home. Seeing this happen made me more aware of the boundaries that need to be established between employees and supervisors. Once that boundary is crossed it is seems almost impossible to reestablish a firm line.

Forming Leadership Styles

“Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” – Marian Anderson. Mrs. Anderson puts it best. Before taking on a leadership position, we should take into account the serious consequences of every decision we make. As leaders, we need to make levelheaded and rational choices because they affect others.

I think that people loose the definition when they take on a position of leadership. We forget the reason we lead; we are placed in a leadership role so that we can show others how to reach their highest potential. Our book defines leading as “Guiding and interaction with employees regarding getting certain goals and plans accomplished; involves many skills, such as communicating, motivations, delegating and instructing.” These skills are our bases in leadership. You need to use each one to become a successful leader. With these basic skills, we now can choose what style of leadership suits our employees the best.

Everyone has his or her own leadership style. They can choose which qualities compliment their personality and the personality of their staff. The leadership styles that I want to emanate are the situational and transformational leadership styles. The situational style is better for the newer employees. You give them a direct job and then show supportive behavior such as praise or encouragement.

Newer employees want direction and to know that they are valued. Once the employees are acclimated to their new environment, I would use transformational leadership. This style is about growing your employees to their highest potential. You give them challenging jobs with support and mentorship. Not only are you giving your employees confidence in their work, you are also leading by example and coaching along the way.

I think these styles are how I would lead my team but to each their own. We all work in different kitchens and bakeshop with needs specific to their team. I am really enjoying getting to learn about different leadership styles. It is helping me define my leadership style before I am faced with a major leadership role.

Managerial Styles & The Boomerang (Life as a CIA Group Leader)

Managing is something that hits home in correlation to peoples’ lives. I come from a rural part of Nebraska and manager is something that a lot of people seem to have on their resumé, but as the final stepping stone. It is something people often begin with, but now that they are so far…why not? I would have to say that times have changed due to younger kids, like me, having higher aspirations towards their goals in life and completing them rather than always taking the Opportunity Cost. Opportunity Cost is a marketing term referring to something else that is available, but is second in the persons’ mind. I use this in regards to the educational availability that one person has, but decides to take another route and remains on that road they did not want.

Management is a tricky thing. I believe that people think that it is scarier to do the arithmetic or the paperwork rather than be a part of your employee’s lives. I would have to completely disagree. Everything that a manager does is a constant in regards to paperwork and daily tasks, and the only variable every single day is the person that comes in and works for you. It is this relationship that needs to be worked upon and strengthened. As we all know from class by now that there are several types of managing styles. There is the dreadful scientific style that makes people seem like robots. I know everyone hates this because there was definitely a time in everybody’s life that they had to do something so repetitively that they just wanted to scream bloody murder. There is also human relations, the great afterthought of the scientific method. I would say that this is one of the more efficient types of methods due to there is productivity matched with socialization to encourage more productivity…it’s amazing! Participative management is the one that people usually rave about. People of today are all about having a say in everything. This I feel would lead to a less productive environment because in my mind there would be more talking about what could be done in various different ways rather than just doing it and getting it done. Lastly the one that is just like a huge rubber band ball of all managing styles is humanistic management. It is a variation of all management theories combined into one bouncy work ethic. I say bouncy because bouncing is great fun, like bouncing on a bed or a trampoline, and that relates directly to how one feels when they work with this theory. The people working feel part of a team that they can talk to while having a partial say to what should happen at certain times. It is possibly the best one of all!

In the text book that we read for homework there is one manager theory that is more of a style that cannot be passed up without really thinking why. It is the famously known boomerang manager/theory. I say this because we have all seen that manager that goes back to that special niche they once had with all their friends and getting along while cooking. I ponder upon my education here at the CIA quite a bit and one day during class it hit me, “We are creating those managers each and every day!” The reason I say this is because here at the CIA we have group leaders. They are sort of the demi-gods of the kitchen, the chef being the all powerful one. The group leader is the liaison between the students and chef. Group leaders have the same tasks as the students working, yet they have a certain managerial advantage above us all because they are group leaders. I will let this set in for just a minute. The text refers to a boomerang manager as someone who goes back to where they started, to old buddies. The context of the text almost frowns upon this method due to the confusion to the employees. Does it not sound like the constant life of a group leader, having both aspects in their duties? If it is somewhat frowned upon due to confusion, why is the CIA allowing it to happen?

Leadership: Good vs. Bad

I have found it interesting to read and discuss the different types of Leaders that are in our industry. Becoming a leader is a very big role and personally I don't feel like people take it seriously. Alot of people want the position because of the money and power. I have had many experiences with bad supervisors and chefs, as I'm sure we all have. While I was on extern I experienced both good and bad leading skills. Both the executive chef and new supervisor started within a couple weeks of each other.The Chef de Cuisine (Executive chef of the kitchen) came in and took full leadership right away, it became his kitchen. The chef had a combination of styles that all played well off each other. He was Democratic/participative, situational, and transactional. He was focused and made sure to encourage the team to succeed and stay focused with the task at hand. He was one of the most hands on chefs I've ever worked with and my respect for him grew because of that. Even though the main focus is our customers, chef devoted alot of his time into building a family/team. He made us all feel apart of it and focused on our individual goals, needs, and interest. Alot of chefs in our industry don't care about their employees because they are too focused on making money. J. Willard Marriott said it best "Take care of your people, the people will take care of the customers, and the customers will come back." I strongly feel every leader should take this approach with their employees.
Chef was also focused on getting us involved and allowing us to have input, even though he made the final decision. As an extern this made me feel good that my opinion mattered to someone I highly respect and look upto. Respect is important if you don't have that for your supervisor, your not going to care what they think of you.
My bad experience involved the other supervisor (who is below the chef). She transferred from a banquet management position and walked right into a supervisor position. In some kitchens there is nothing wrong with that, but in some kitchens it can be a problem. She walked into a position not knowing anything and she had never worked a station in the resturant. Right away this caused problems because my co-workers didn't respect her. She had power and used it, but wasnt confident in her decision making. It became very hard to listen to someone tell you how to do something that they themselves had never done. This caused confusion in the kitchen and no one respected her. Overall chef lead the team to rise above this hurdle, but it took months. I think this problem could have been avoided with proper training from the beginning.

It's hard, we are all going to go through experiences of working with good and bad supervisors, but what are you as an individual going to get out of it. Personally it challenges me and makes me want to be a better leader and change the way the industry looks at Leadership roles.

Management Memories of Extern

Reading through the first through chapters of Supervision in the Hospitality Industry has really sparked a few memories of mine working down in Disney on my externship. I had a total of 5chefs working directly over me in a hierarchy of sorts. Chef Gregg was the resort chef and lead in command, next was Area Chef Anthony, and under him were the three Sous Chefs Allen, Brian, and Michael and they all had different styles; some successful, some not as successful as the rest. I understand this is very difficult a thing, but you do need to find your own niche.
Chef Gregg was a “Napoleon” of sorts. He really wasn’t good at communicating what he wanted, but you never said anything crass or cross around him. He was very autocratic which really crippled him and us because we never wanted to show him anything fresh or exciting or from the heart because we were more afraid of him snapping and yelling at us. Luckily he was only at the restaurant about twice every month.
Chef Anthony was much better than Chef Gregg: he was passionate, could communicate what he wanted and inspired us to be better, but he was rarely seen in the kitchen falling under the “Laissez-faire” category. I really enjoyed him, just wish he would have been there more often.
The Sous Chefs were the one who were directly involved and all had their strengths and weaknesses. Brian was very Bureaucratic in his style, but also was participative. Allen was very democratic unless he got flustered and unfortunately he was a boomerang manager as whenever possible he would jump on the line to help even if the help wasn’t warranted. Michael was very humanistic; you could tell he cared about you. In regards to decision he was very democratic, but you took into account human need and human feelings as they are.
They all were strong, and all had a few weaknesses which I am learning from as I still speak with them. Regardless of this they were successful in their managing which is what matter. I just hope I can form my niche and hope to be as successful as these managers.

Supervising: possibly the hardst task in a kitchen.

Chapters one and two of this book have raised a lot of past experiences for me.  Last year I was the group leader, and so I took on a working supervisory roll.  It was a much harder roll to play than I expected.  Being in school has its own set of challenges, add on top of that the fact that you are trying to pass orders from the chef down to your class mates, and your class mates up to the chef.  Don’t forget trying to maintain whatever scraps of friendships you can and enjoy the college life. 

Now granted, the real world is much differnet than college, but there are still many similiarities.  I believe this is a class meant for B-block, before studnts reach the point of voting in a group leader.  That would allow for two things.  One, any students who might be interested in being a leader an idea of how to go about his or her position, and two a chance for everyone else in the class to have a reasonable set of expectations from someone who is still learning themselves.

To me, no one leadership style that is right.  A leader needs to have a combination of all four styles.  Autocratic during times of service, Bureaucratic with new employees, or employees who maybe don’t speak your naitive language, Democratic when planning menus, events, and big decision making, and Laissez-faire when you have book work to do and you can trust the rest of the staff to do their jobs well. 

I wish I had learned more about how to be a strong leader a few months ago, might have saved me a lot of torture.

Supervising Through My Eyes

I read chapters one and two in the management book and there was one thing that really caught my eye. The book said that sometimes managers don’t make as much money as workers do but probably put in longer hours. At first it seemed unrealistic but then I realized that I saw it first hand during externship. Sometimes hourly workers who rack up the overtime do make more money than a manager who might be on a fixed salary. I guess you have to cope and do what it takes to move up the ladder.

All around there is definitely more to becoming a supervisor than expected. Everybody has had their share of “cool” supervisors and ones that they didn’t like. When I thought of the productivity being done when I was working under my “cool” and “un-cool” supervisors I began to realize that the job was smoother with the stricter, “un-cool” supervisor. Of course as the book says being strict and having a having a theory x type approach does not always work and I am no longer working for that employer. So of course theory x can definitely lead to high turnover. I guess it’s a give and take.

In class the question was asked, “Who is more important, the guest, owners, or employees.” My original answer was right away to say the guest. After looking back at my externship, the hotel I was at did invest much of its time to the employees. There were of course problems at the hotel with guests but most of them were with things that employees could not help. Guests were normally happy with the service provided, which now lets me understand how a supervisors main priority is to the employees and not the guests.

Lastly, I could really relate to the boomerang effect even though I’ve never been a supervisor. I have seen many people who worked side by side with me become supervisors. I have also seen many of them fail because they couldn’t control the people who they were supervising. That happened a lot at the hotel I was working at. The person who you went out for drinks with two days ago is now giving you orders. Lots of times your friends make it harder for you to move up because of the lack of respect they give you. Sometimes you might have to decide between friendship and success.

Manager

After completing chapter one I began to think of how I would react if I was put into a management position after working on production along side my friends for a fair amount of time. I feel that I would have a hard time turning around and disciplining their actions that I had previously engaged in along side them not to long ago. The boomerang manager example is the same situation I would find myself in. The running back and forth making sure my once coworkers were happy and working smoothly followed by myself hurrying back to make sure my job was also going to be completed. I think that it would be harder than expected to balance all the parts of being a manager. For example, making sure the owners were pleased with the way their company was being run, that their ideas were put into action and of course, that a profit was coming in. Next, making sure that the guest to make sure they are taken care and treated with the utmost respect. Making sure each guest feels important will ensure his or her return at a later date. Having a staff that is willing to keep their cool under stressful situations and not make the guest feel insignificant will keep everything running smoothly. Finally, the most important priority is that the employees are happy. If everyone is in a friendly work environment it will reflect in the service and to the guests. Same course of action will happen when the reverse is true; unhappy employees will be short or rude with the guest creating an unpleasant environment. There is a lot to juggle when becoming a manager and I do not think that it is an easy job or that everyone is cut out for it. I hope that if I become in this position I can remember how to juggle everything correctly.

Human Skills

In Chapter 1, The Supervisor as Manager, a topic discusses is Human Skills. It is introduced, as “The skill of handling people successfully is really the core of the supervisor’s job. Such skill has several ingredients and it is not achieved overnight." In this section, the three ingredients are: attitude, sensitivity, and self-awareness. As a supervisor these together promote efficiency in the workplace, encouragement to those we are leading and effective means of communicated with one another. Over my externship, I could identify how the sous chef possess these three ingredients and use them to better one another and every chef de partie, commis chef and externs.

The first ingredient, realizing that we are human beings, is relative in this situation. We are familiar with the term “robots” in the food service industry. We sometimes feel as though day after day, we come in, working for the instructing chef, and continue to produce the same plates, fabricate the same proteins, or set-up and breakdown our stations as "robots", we have to understand the beauty in having another day to produce those same plate better, faster, harder, and stronger. We are human beings with human emotions. Were also the key factors in making a restaurant function, and without our hands and minds working in a synchronized manner, under the supervision and instruction of our chef and are solely responsible for production.

The second ingredient, sensitivity, is severely important to having our subordinates effectively work and efficiently produce during the day. We have to cater to the people that we are supervising in the sense that if day after day yelling doesn’t allow the garde manger chef to work properly, with a clear and focused attitude and instead it distracts him from his work, then we have to “cater” to that chef and motivate him effectively.

The last and final ingredient to humanistic skills is self-awareness. This final component encompasses the three components included in the humanistic skill set discussed in the chapter. One can understand the first two but unless one can be completely self-aware, in my opinion, the supervisor is set-up for ineffective leadership. This is an area that I feel I’m the weakest in. I know that being irrational and clouded by emotion, my self-awareness is lost. How I come across to others, being overwhelmed by assuming much of the responsibility for the days production rests on my own shoulders. Understanding each component and applying it to our daily activities is why I decided to expand on this important topic to that was discussed in Chapter 1 of Supervision in the Hospitality Industry.

Over the course of my time spent at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, I was lucky enough to be exposed to an incredible style of management. To say Pete Weien, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Opryland, has found a near flawless formula for effective management would be an immense understatement. As I read about the numerous theories of people management in chapter 1 of our textbook, I couldn’t help but think about the way Pete managed all of his STARS (employees). Pete’s management style has a strong focus on participative management and the human relations approach, with a dash of scientific management blended in. During my one month spent at Opryland, I was able to participate in the STARS talent show, join the Opryland soccer club, and attended the Social Gala for the STARS. Pete believes if STARS are happy, guests will in turn be happy, which will lead to great profit. Perhaps this is the reason Opryland has consecutively been named as “The Best Place to Work” by The Nashville Business Journal. Although I do not remember exact numbers, I do recall being told during my 16-hour orientation that the turnover rate at Opryland is much lower than at other facilities in the hospitality industry. In fact, the majority of my co-workers in the pastry shop have been employed by Gaylord Entertainment for longer than I have been alive. Perhaps this is the reason Pete was named “Best General Manager in America” in 2006; or perhaps it is because he finds it important to be on a first-name basis with all of his STARS; or perhaps it is because he makes himself visible to not only his employees, but to guests as well. Either way, I am very thankful I was given the opportunity to work for such a successful manager and I believe my experience at Opryland will ultimately aide me in one day becoming a great manager myself.

Management skills

After reading chapter one I started thinking alot about how it is to take the role of a manger. Being a manager definitely seems like a tough job that not many people could handle doing. Looking at the three management skills technical, interpersonal and conceptual if I one day become a manger I would hope that I could have/use at least one of these skills. I personally think the hardest skill to be a successful manager is obtaining the interpersonal skill. It is not easy to have the ability of handling people. We are all different and have our own ways of handling and dealing with situations. Being a manger you are responsible of helping handling all different situations with people. Along with having that interpersonal skill that goes side by side with useing and having conceptual skill. Being able to "see the whole picture" may not be easy for some people. Going back to the boomerang management you may have friends under you and you have to be able to put that aside and be conceptual about it and "see the whole picture". I have seen situations where employees are friends with other coworkers and not being conceptual and able to "see the whole picture" has gotten them in bad situations at work. I feel if someone new becomes a manger they have to become strong enough to set aside friendships in the work place in order to be a good successful manager. And I do not think that would be easy to do. Reading about being a manger if in my future I one day have the opportunity I hope I am able to be successful with these three skills.

The Boomerang Supervisor

After reading through Chapters 1 and 2 in our Introduction to Management book, the most intriguing topic for me has been the idea of the boomerang supervisor. In a new managerial position, I feel I would have a hard time finding a balance between maintaining my relations with all employees and asserting my newfound authority. I could see myself overcompensating in an attempt to be accepted into this new image. I may come on too strong and strict, loosing the majority of all current employees’ respect or I may present my supervisory position in a weak manner, resulting in them viewing my authority as a joke and believing they have the power to take advantage. Coming from an employee’s viewpoint, I have witnessed both transformations and in each case I did not respect my new manager. Of course this is not how I would ideally approach the situation, but as I have very little experience in any form of leadership, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would fall into the boomerang supervisor category. If and when I am put in this position, I hope to remind myself of this idea and be more cautious in how I approach my former coworkers.

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