James is the manager at a small coffee shop in Vancouver. Joan, Harry, and Sara are long term baristas. As well as making delicious coffee
James is the manager at a small coffee shop in Vancouver. Joan, Harry, and Sara are long term baristas. As well as making delicious coffee they do all the work necessary to make the coffee shop a success. Chris is a new employee and he is a 19 year old university student. This is his first summer job. The other employees are in their mid twenties and look at Chris as just a young kid who really has no clue what he is doing at work and in life.
James the owner is starting to feel the need to expand the service. He wants to offer more than just coffee and snacks. He wants to create a full lunch and dinner menu as the kitchen is already equipped to support the expansion of service. Joan, Harry, and Sara are all for it. At least that is what it seemed during the initial meeting. However Chris was thinking, ‘I didn’t sign up to that much work, plus I don’t know how to cook’. But because the others seemed for it, he just went along with majority opinion. Soon after the initial meeting, Chris overheard Joan and Harry talking in the back room of the coffee shop. They were voicing concerns about the amount of work needed for the new expansion and whether it will even succeed. The street where the coffee shop is located is filled with restaurants. How can they compete?
James encouraged by the initial meeting went ahead and bought all the kitchen appliances needed to update the kitchen for the full service. He announced that to the team at their second meeting. He asked people what they thought about ‘all the changes’ and no one really said anything. Once again people didn’t want to burst James’ bubble so no one spoke up. They were now a coffee/restaurant. Everyone just hoped for the best and prayed that it will all work out.
Questions to consider
1. Why did Chris just go along with group when he had reservations about the change?
2. What kind of decision making process did James use in this situation?
3. What were the benefits of James’ decision making process and what were the negatives?
4. How would you do things differently if you were James?
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