Interview: A Negative Example

   [I had the opportunity to sit down with the new Director of Operations for a burger restaurant that is newly franchised in Michigan.  He asked that his name and that of his company be changed for the sake of the assignment, so for our purposes, we will refer to him as Tim of Burgertown.]

   When Burgertown arrived in Michigan three years ago, Tim got a job as a cook in one of the 4 locations that had opened early on.  Displaying from the beginning that he was a top employee, and willing to do whatever was asked of him for the company, Tim quickly became a store manager, and then the first district manager for the Michigan franchise.  Within two and a half years, Tim was named the Director of Operations for the Michigan stores, and currently has three district managers under him, and is in the process of opening the fifteenth store in the Metro Detroit area.

   Tim has no managerial education or specific training, and was selected for his promotions based on his technical performance, and time with the company.  He is, unfortunately, and admittedly, exemplifying Fayol's theme that as a leader rises through the ranks, it becomes more important that he have strong managerial abilities than technical ones.  Unfortunately for Tim, his only superior in the company, and the owner (who does not play an active role) also have no managerial education.  They worked together running a different kind of restaurant that the owner's father started and ran successfully for many years.  As a result, the strategies and methods being used by management are, as Taylor would say, rule-of-thumb, and are not being set scientifically, or being tailored to the particular venture.

  In contradiction to Taylor's and Fayol's principles, the practice at Burgertown continues to be that employees are hired in at only the bottom level, and are paid little more than minimum wage.  In spite of Tim's pleas to his superior, promotions have proven to based more on time served with the company, than performance and aptitude for management.  For example, workers he considers better store managers have been repeatedly passed over for promotions to district manager, while those promotions have gone to others who are less qualified, but have been with the company longer.  Also in contradiction to Taylor's ideas, every person with the same amount of time in a given position is paid the same.  Performance does not play a role in setting a worker's wage or salary.  Further, some managers and district managers are asked to drive great distances further than others, and receive the same compensation, despite fuel and vehicle maintenance costs.

   As a result of these practices, Tim feels he has been saddled with sub par district managers, and unmotivated store managers.  The assistant managers of stores will often call Tim directly to ask for solutions to run of the mill problems, or to lodge complaints about co-workers.  Tim will find himself trying to make up for what he considers poor managing by the district managers by giving orders directly to the store managers.  Tim's superior will often call the district managers directly to work out details or discuss daily activities.  It is a constant violation of the unity of command principle, and has caused much confusion among the varying levels of managers.

   Tim, for his part, admits that he is not a good communicator when it comes to his employees.  Perhaps the most egregious violation of Taylor's and Fayol's ideas is that Tim fails in dealing with the "people" aspect of his job.  He says he finds himself having to learn the hard way that not all problems with subordinates can be dealt with tyranny.  In addition, Tim admits he has a hard time not micro managing.  Where Fayol theorized that it is better to let a manager take on maximum responsibility afforded to his rank, even at the expense of some mistakes, Tim feels the need to step in, to correct and to babysit, which in turn, only encourages the lack of a scalar chain of communication.  In addition, it does not allow Tim a lot of time to focus on the bigger issues which should be central to his job.

  In conclusion, Tim is learning management techniques the hard way.  He hopes to resolve many of the issues in the near future.  However, based on our reading, in my opinion, Tim's ideas sound like quick fixes that ignore the underlying problems of lack of respect for one another, and a lack of managerial training throughout the company.