1.2.2 Worked Examples

These examples start with a memo from a regional manager of a fast-food chain to you, the manager of a local restaurant in the chain. This is followed by some notes on how you might respond to the memo. and a sample response memo to critique. The subsequent exploration begins with the response from the regional manager to your memo and gives you the opportunity to explore how you might address the regional manager’s concerns.

Example 1.4. A Problem at Beef n’ Buns
    

My Notes Toward a Reply There seems to be a lot going on with this memo, so I’m going to deal with it on two levels:

1. How should I deal with my boss in the context of the memo?
2. How can I come up with what he wants?

The Memo Context. This will help ensure that I do everything the boss wants in the way that he has asked for it to be done. While it doesn’t resolve the problem itself, it will probably help me understand the boss better, and it will certainly help me keep my job.

1. My boss, the Regional Manager
2. Wants me to devise a plan and a timeline for addressing the perceived problem. I’ll send my response as a well-thought out memo
3. ASAP (if I know what’s good for me!), then I’ll wait for his comments to see when I will actually have to do put the plan into action
4. Sent to him
5. Perceived Problem: Lousy-service complaints. Whether I feel these complaints are justified or not, I am responsible for addressing his concern
6. Send him a memo with two things: A plan and a timeline. I think I’ll also send along some idea of what the project will cost, just to let him know that such things don’t come free.

The Problem Situation. This is where I find out about the causes of the problem and hopefully find some ways to fix it.

1. My customers
2. Perceived problem: lousy service.
3. At the drive-up window? At the walk-in service counter? In the kitchen? In the dining area?
4. Does the time of day matter? Is it tied to a particular set of staff members?
5. To see if my restaurant has a problem with service times. Are lousy-service complaints justified at my business? Is it related to something other than service times (like cleanliness, friendliness or something else?)
6. How can I and my staff go about gathering data to find out about service times?

PLAN: I don’t know what the problem really is. I need to find out if it’s a matter of unacceptably long service times at the drive-up and/or the walk-in counter. I’ll need to collect data on both. I (or my staff) will have to observe, time, and record the service-time data and do some analysis of the data.

OBSERVATIONS: Where should I position my observers? When should they be there? How will they actually do it? Over what period of time should we collect data?

TIMELINE: I don’t need a definite starting date for my project at this point, but I do need some kind of estimate of how long each of the tasks in my plan will take. Trying to set up a timeline really points out the missing pieces of my plan, and that is helpful. For example, who will carry out all these tasks? Seeing the overall project laid out like this also gives me an idea of the extra personnel cost and personnel scheduling problems I will encounter in carrying out the study–I will want to at least mention these things in my memo. Part of the timeline should include the time required to analyze the data. All in all, it is important to show the Regional Manager that I have thought about some of the ins and outs and that I have a realistic picture of the whole.

Example 1.5. A Proposed Plan and Timeline for Beef n’ Buns