Reference no: EM132823039

The "Seat of the Pants" Training Program

Tom Madison, an experienced director of food and beverage, has just accepted a position with the Arcadia Hotel, a 400-room, full-service property in a Midwestern city. The hotel was once the leading property in the city, but in recent years the family-owned property lost its luster as the ownership grew older and the younger generation of family members chose other careers. As of last month, the hotel has new owners who have vowed to restore the property to a level of prominence. Tom Madison is part of that turnaround vision.

The hotel has a 200-seat main dining room, which is adjacent to an 80-seat cocktail lounge. There is a 120-seat coffee shop on the corner of the building, which enjoys considerable off-the-street traffic. There are 12 meeting rooms that can also serve as small banquet rooms in addition to a main ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,000 guests.

One of the first things Tom notices is that many of the food and beverage employees have been with the hotel for a number of years. The oldest employee is 80 years old and was recently honored on her 50th anniversary of employment with the hotel. In reviewing the records, Tom estimates the average age of the employees to be 40 to 50 years, and the average time of employment to be 12 years.

The financial records show that profitability of the food and beverage operations has been declining, except for the corner coffee shop. Tom knows that the average occupancy of the hotel has also been steadily declining from an 80-percent level ten years ago to the 60-percent level currently.

Tom calls a meeting of the supervisors that report to him-the executive chef, chief steward, kitchen manager, dining room manager, and head bartender. He asks them to tell him about the training programs that are in use so that new employees can be trained properly and current employees can be updated.His request is met with silence and no one makes eye contact with him. "Well," he says, "do you want me to repeat the question?"

After five seconds or so, Delores, the dining room manager, says, "We don't really have a training program per se. When we have a new employee, we just have someone show the new person around, where things are, how to do something, and tell the person to ask any of us any questions he or she may have. We are all willing to help." The other meeting attendees all nod in agreement with Delores.

Tom thanks Delores for her input but thinks, "That's totally unacceptable. No wonder this hotel is going downhill. I'd better start formulating a training program for the food and beverage department."

Discussion Question

1. How does Tom go about establishing a training program? Who should he talk to?

2. Does he need to motivate anyone, and if so how does he do that? Will there be resistance? Will there be a fallout?

3. What are the benefits of establishing a training program?