When Pastrami Goes A-Rye

Food for Thought

Mitchell Gordon, Final Presentation, PA/PM 951 (2023)
Overview, Interview, and Recommendations
(How do we get out of this pickle?)

• Company: Pass the Pastrami

• Interviewed person: Sam Freed
• Interviewer/Consultant: Mitch
Gordon
Pass the Pastrami: Jewish, Kosher,
family-owned caterer, located in Ft.
Lauderdale, FL.
Sam worked for PtP. He was free-lance
wait staff and host.
The Conflicts (sometimes it’s about the dough)

• Employees (waitstaff and hostesses) felt they were

pitted against each other in competition, rather than
cooperation to serve customers,

• Employees felt they were given greater or fewer

hours based on how well they got along with the
manager or owner,

• Employees were allowed to take left over food

home, but felt if, and how much they got, was based
on favoritism from manager or owner,

• Employees believed they were not appreciated for

good customer service, and were penalized if they
didn’t stay on schedule,

• Employees were sometimes scheduled or cancelled

with little or no notice – often less than 24 hours.
Waitstaff trying
to balance
efficient service
with customer
service is the
equivalent of a
conflict over
which side to
butter the bread

In deference to Dr. Suess’

The Butter Battle Book
Key Conflicting Tensions

Item Waitstaff Management

I have to have time to I am paid by the event

Food service address the customers’ director, we are on their
individual needs schedule
We are hired based on I started this business and I
Job assignments favoritism - I need the work hire people I want to based
and I have to be assigned. on the job as I see it.
I have to have at least a
week’s notice to be Waitstaff cancel last
scheduled or cancelled. plan minute, they don’t care
Scheduling/cancelling our family lives or manage about this company. If you
home schedules, children, want to work, show loyalty
coverage on such short and come to work
notice
Identify Interests Rather Than Positions
Waitstaff
Food service
FROM - I have to serve customers when they are
ready TO – Is there flexibility? Can we find balance
between schedule and personal attention
Job Assignments
FROM – I must be assigned; I deserve it. TO – It would
help if there was a way to understand how/why I am
assigned.
Scheduling/cancelling
FROM – I must have at least a week’s notice either
way. TO – The more notice the better, I want to work
here, and it helps when my family situation is
considered.
Owners/Management
Food Service
From – I am forced to be on the contractor’s schedule.
TO – Both the contractor and my waitstaff are important
Job Assignments
FROM – It’s my company, I’ll hire who I want. TO
There are certain criteria to cover for each job and I
want to work with waitstaff so we can mutually
understand that for each assignment.
Scheduling/cancelling
FROM – If you want to work here, show loyalty and
come when I tell you. TO – It would be easier to
schedule with more notice when waitstaff also consider
the impact of their last-minute cancellations.
 Conflict Resolution Dialogue and Active Listening
Roger Fisher, et al suggest as a consultant:
• Separate the people from the problem,
• Engage listening,
Face the
• Be nonjudgmental, Problem

• Find the view from the balcony,

• Help parties seek mutual opportunities for Is the Interests
solutions, agreement instead of
Sustainable Positions
• Help them develop options together.

And the parties are guided to simultaneously:

• Engaging their BATNA and perhaps help to improve
the other’s,
Joint
Active
• Building a bridge towards each other, options for
Listening
Resolution
• Stop blaming and start looking at their own
contribution and don't hear attack,
• Engage with management as co-creators,
• Create a forum, and use WICS assessment (see appendix
graphic) to understand personal feelings and concerns,
“Talk to the other’s best self” Consultant Recommendations

• Engage in mutual visioning and create opportunities for

“Face saving and joint problem solving”

• Find and see the best in the other, and develop curiosity in
difficult situations, “Don’t hear attack”

• Infuse the job with Jewish/human values – Gemilut

chasidim (bestowing kindness), Tzedakah (righteousness),
Tikkun olam (healing the world), and Shalom (peace and
wholeness), Cultural specifics and understanding

• Aim for Unreasonable Hospitality (Break the deadlock

through Intangibles)
Ted Talk – Unreasonable Hospitality

How the Number 1 restaurant in the world made a difference on

people’s lives by truly being present and listening…and a hot dog,
and created Unreasonable Hospitality
Bon Appetite
 The Workplace Interpersonal Conflict Scale
(WICS)
For the next set of questions please show how often each item happened to you during the last
30 days
Item Never Almost Never Sometimes Often Very Often

1) Felt like you were treated unfairly by others at work? 1 2 3 4 5

2) Had a disagreement with others over the work you do? 1 2 3 4 5

3) Been shown a lack of respect or underappreciated by 1 2 3 4 5

others at work?

4) Been treated with hostility or rude behavior by others at 1 2 3 4 5

work?

5) Had others yell at you at work? 1 2 3 4 5

6) Been blamed or criticized for something that was not 1 2 3 4 5
your fault by others at work?

7) Been given unclear directions by others at work? 1 2 3 4 5

NOTE: Results for the studies demonstrate for best results to eliminate question 7 from the scale
Miriam Benitez, et al, MDPI, Journal Article
Resources - Bibliography
Blogposts
 
Katie Shonk, March 9, 2023, When Dealing with Difficult People, Try a Complementary Approach,
Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON),
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/dealing-with-difficult-people-daily/when-dealing-with-difficult-p
eople-try-a-complementary-approach/

 
Interview with Professor of Business at Harvard Business School about writing a fiction book using
negotiation skills in it.
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/free-videos/the-peacemakers-code/

The secret ingredients of great hospitality,Will Guidara, TED@BCG

https://www.ted.com/talks/will_guidara_the_secret_ingredients_of_great_hospitality?language=en

Images
 
Unsplash, Free downloadable images, royalty free, https://unsplash.com/  
 Continued Articles/Publications
Peer Review / Journal Articles
 
Miriam Benitez, Jose M. Leon-Perez, Alejandro Orgambidez, Francisco J. Medina, July 31, 2021, MDPI, Interpersonal Conflicts in the
Unit Impact the Service Quality Rated by Customers: The Mediating Role of Work-Unit Well-Being,
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/8137
 
Christine Porath, November 9, 2022, Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2022/11/frontline-work-when-everyone-is-angry
 
Marissa Orlowski, Kevin S. Murphy & Denver Severt, Pages 218-237 | Published online: July 29, 2016
Commitment and conflict in the restaurant industry: Perceptions from the Generation Y viewpoint
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15378020.2016.1206772
 
Bill Ryan, Emily Ma, Aaron Hsiao, Minyen Ku, March 2015, Vol. 22, pgs 10-18, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, The
work-family conflict of university foodservice managers: An exploratory study of its antecedents and consequences,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1447677014000242
 
Valeriya Shapoval, Kevin S. Murphy & Denver Severt, Pages 591-609 | Published online: Sep 27, 2018, Does service quality really matter at Green
restaurants for Millennial consumers? The moderating effects of gender between loyalty and satisfaction
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15378020.2018.1483698?src=recsys
 
Robert R. Wright, Brigham Young University–Idaho; Ashley E. Nixon, Willamette University; Zachary B. Peterson, Brigham Young University–
Idaho; Sharon V. Thompson and Ryan Olson, Oregon Health & Science University; Scott Martin and Devon Marrott, Brigham Young University–
Idaho, PSI CHI Journal of Psychological Research, The Workplace Interpersonal Conflict Scale: An Alternative in Conflict Assessment,
ResearchGate, Jan 2017, file:///C:/Users/Mitch%20Gordon/Downloads/Wrightetal.2017.pdf
 Continued
Book resources (both from class and other)
  
Chris Argyris, Dec. 2007, Knowledge for Action: A Guide to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change
 
BCcampus, Working in the Food Service Industry by The BC Cook Articulation Committee is licensed under a 
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted ,
https://opentextbc.ca/workinginfoodserviceindustry/chapter/conflict-resolution/ (book/campus book Chapter 21, this is a peer
reviewed book) 2015
 
Dana Casperson, Jan 27, 2015, Changing the Conversation: 17 Principles of Conflict Resolution

Roger Fisher and Dr. Daniel Shapiro, Sept 26, 2006, Beyond Reason, Using Emotions as You Negotiate
 
Roger Fisher and William Ury, April 30, 1992, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In
 
Doug Stone, Sheila Heen, William Ury, March 2000, Difficult Conversations

Dr. Suess. Jan 21, 1984, The Butter Battle Book

William Ury, March 2007, The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes
 
Joshua Weiss and William Ury, August 25, 2020, The Book of Real-World Negotiations: Successful Strategies from Business,
Government, and Daily Life