Activity

Scenario 1: The Restaurant

You are a manager of a restaurant. It was Saturday evening and the restaurant is full of
customers. There are even other customers who are waiting to get seated. One of your staff,
Raphael, called your attention that Bea (another staff) is taking too long talking to a customer
every time she serves them. Because of this, other employees take time to talk to their customers
as well so they’ll serve fewer people. This caused a delay in the service. When you are about to
call the attention of Bea regarding the matter, you’ve noticed that her customer is one of your
VIP customers.

QUESTION 1: How will you manage the conflict in this situation?

If I were the manager, I will set a meeting in order to acknowledge and discuss the given
situation, both employees should participate to talk about their concerns. I will make myself the
way to make communication open throughout the meeting to start the process of resolving the
problem. Moreover, I will clarify the position of Beam and the reason why she is talking to a
customer longer which is because it is one of the VIP customers that should give more attention,
in this way we will clear things up. After that, I will make sure that everyone’s point of view will
be heard and understood. To resolve the problem I will give them time to think of their
suggestions to never encounter this kind of conflict again, which will uncover facts and
assumptions.

QUESTION 2: How will you build an effective team after this incident?

I will promote honesty and transparency in a way of communication and never lie to my team.
Always giving a compliment to each other to increase everyone’s productivity and job
satisfaction. I will orient them to be open to improvement, cooperation, communication, and trust
among each other. I will give them a choice to share their suggestions, ideas, and knowledge in
order to improve our organization. I will also set policies and promote team values in order to
establish order within the group.