Michigan State University Extension
Tourism Educational Materials - 33300002
06/06/02
Evaluating Food Service Establishments...Key Check Points: Personnel
Source: Purdue University
ID: HE-203
Cooperative Extension Service - Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Indiana
by Robert D. Buchanan, Restaurant, Hotel and
Institutional Management Specialist
The manager of a food service establishment and/or the
manager and his superior need to take the time to make
an overall analysis to determine the results that the
organization is actually obtaining. This should be done
several times a year. The evaluation should determine
how well the food service operation is doing and where
improvements should be made. Then some priorities,
objectives, methods, and deadlines for improvements can
be established.
This is one of a series of pamphlets describing how a
person can fairly comprehensively, yet in less than a
day, provide an overall evaluation of a food service
operation. The key items, or food service conditions,
to evaluate under each major category are described.
Taken together, the key indicators of general
conditions measure the degrees of efficiency (minimal
costs) and effectiveness (optimal organizational
satisfaction). A major category that has a deficient
key indicator should be investigated further, and
corrective adjustment should be considered and/or made
where appropriate. A discussion of facts by management
with the operating personnel is perhaps most needed to
develop mutual understanding of the problems.
Attainable performance objectives should be jointly
established and reviewed at a later date.
If all key indicators are satisfactory in a major
category, other aspects of that category are probably
being handled with similar care. If all of the key
indicators are high, but the profit is not adequate,
then it will be necessary to examine the operation for
inefficient purchasing and receiving practices,
improper menu pricing, inaccurate records or financial
statements, inventory method and method of computing
the value, production waste, plate waste, security and
pilferage, and so forth.
These operational analysis guidelines may be used by
the manager of a single food service establishment for
self-analysis, or by the unit manager's supervisor.
1. Management---Planning, Organizing, Controlling
(HE-202)
2. Personnel (this publication)
3. Purchasing (HE-204)
4. Receiving, Storage, Issuing, Inventory (HE-205)
http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modtd/33300004.html
5. Food Preparation (HE-206)
6. Food Presentation and Service (HE-207)
7. Maintenance of Building and Equipment(HE-208)
8. Sanitation and Housekeeping (HE-209)
9. Statistical and Ratio Analysis (HE-210)
10. Consumer Satisfaction (HE-211)
2. Personnel
Management of personnel is exceedingly important to the
success of a food service establishment. Make an honest
check of these points in your personnel program and
follow up any weak spots with an improvement program.
---Is each employee treated as an individual?
---Does your operation comply with all state and
federal laws and regulations? Who is responsible?
---Is the dignity of the individual employee and
his/her right to privacy respected?
Key indicators of a sound personnel program are the use
of job descriptions, continuous training, improving
personnel relations and motivation, performance
appraisals, discipline of employees, personnel
evaluation ratios, and turnover.
Job Descriptions
A requisite for satisfactory performance is a clear
understanding by an employee of exactly what he is
supposed to do, how and when he is supposed to do it.
and what end results are desired. If duties and tasks
have been written, the employee is much more likely to
know and understand his job, and employee and
supervisor are much more likely to be working toward
the objectives of the organization. Job descriptions
should include the following:
* Job title---name or number.
* Work activities---specific tasks performed, types of
raw food and supplies used, interactions actions
required among other workers and customers, nature of
supervision, and supervisory duties performed as part
of the job.
* Conditions of employment---the level of the job and
its position in the organization structure, hours of
work, method of payment and fringe benefits payable,
and time the job requires---full or part time,
permanent or temporary.
* Work environment---physical aspects such as location,
and the presence of any hazardous or unpleasant
conditions.
* Job specifications-characteristics such as education,
experience, skill, and other personal qualifications
necessary for the performance of the job. Items listed
on the job specifications should be related to actual
work performed.
A clear-cut description reduces confusion, misapplied
effort and emphasis, failure to assume or assign
responsibility, and the inability to evaluate
performance. Well thought-out job descriptions will aid
in granting rewards more accurately and fairly.
Training
Training is concerned with increasing knowledge and
skill in doing a particular job. In the broad sense,
training can be considered to be any planned, organized
effort that is specifically designed to help
individuals develop increasing capabilities. The
purpose of training is: to develop job knowledge and
skills; to provide information; and to change
the attitudes of employees.
Is training frequently given on a
supervisor-to-employee basis? Is training provided in
reaction to a question asked or to a job not being done
well, safely or in a sanitary manner? Is the trainer
prepared to give the necessary training time to improve
and/or correct the performance? Is he aware of the best
times of the day and the location in which to teach? Is
he knowledgeable about the raw product and equipment
needed? Can he outline the job sequence (what), and the
points to stress (how)? Does management orient the
employee, explain the operation, test the employee's
performance, and follow up with checks on performance?
Does management accept the obligation to train and
develop those who report to them? The results managers
achieve in productivity, costs, quality, safety,
morale, and methods are frequently proportionate to the
quality of the training employees receive when they
begin their jobs and while they are on the job.
Improving Personnel Relations and Motivation
Do jobs provide employees the opportunity to achieve
through completing a task, solving problems, seeing the
results of their own efforts? Are accomplishments
specifically recognized? Is the work itself as varied
and interesting as possible, offering sufficient
challenge to allow for achievement but not so much
challenge that the employee will frequently face the
disappointment and dissatisfaction of failing? Does
responsibility take the form of giving the employee
adequate control over his own job and thus the
opportunity to fulfill all the other satisfiers
(achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility,
advancement, growth), and to achieve the advancement
and growth which such fulfillment can produce. By
organizing jobs in this way, management gives employees
the opportunity to realize true satisfaction from their
jobs.
Performance Appraisal
Assessment should emphasize work objectives mutually
determined between management and each employee, and
the evaluation of each employee's performance in terms
of the degree of accomplishment to the establishment's
objectives. The development and administration of a
sound program of performance appraisal results in a
superior performance in the long run and tends to
recognize and compensate for performance. Among the
basic elements of a performance appraisal program are:
* Determining who is to rate.
* Determining when ratings are to be made.
* Training and indoctrination of the raters,
particularly in avoiding such errors as:
- halo error, where the rater allows one aspect of a
person's character or performance to influence his
entire evaluation.
- central tendency, where the rater makes all or almost
all personnel average; constant error, where the rater
rates all too harshly (tough rater) or too easily (easy
rater).
- miscellaneous biases, where the rater shows bias
against members of the opposite sex or of another race,
religion, nationality, or to senior employees.
* Conducting the appraisal interview: Performance
appraisal is a two-way communication tool to better
understand work expectations. Employees want to be told
where they stand with their job and their boss. You
need to communicate what you expect of performance,
what you expect in attitude, and what work standards
you expect.
* Creating an atmosphere where the employee freely
expresses his true feelings and concerns about who he
sees in the job, about his expectations, and his work
performance.
Is there constant informal evaluation on a day-to-day,
face-to-face basis to make corrections, to provide
coaching and to show appreciation for good performance?
Are appraisals fully communicated? Are appraisals of
major offenses or deficiencies made as close to the
occurrence as possible?
Discipline of Employees
The purpose of employee disciplining has two basics:
(1) to prevent and correct undesirable employee
performance such as situations that are
counterproductive, breaking rules and regulations, and
things that cause problems for a supervisor or the
employer and (2) to help the employee develop
self-discipline to do the job the best way. This is the
most permanent way to prevent and correct.
This check list will be most valuable if you make an
honest appraisal of your discipline of employees,' then
summarize the apparent weak spots and follow this up
with a remedial program:
- Do the employees know the organizational policies,
rules and regulations? How are they informed?
- Is there a consistent policy of discipline for
employee misconduct? How is it reviewed and monitored
to insure equal treatment?
- Are all forms of discipline promptly made a matter of
a well-documented and comprehensive written record? Do
you discipline the employee instead of the personnel
file?
- Is there a procedure for discharge?
In the application of discipline are the following
guides observed:
- Is disciplinary action administered in private?
- Is there always an explanation of what constitutes
proper behavior in the application of a penalty?
- Is disciplinary action applied by the immediate
supervisor?
- Does this manager attempt to assume a normal attitude
toward the employee after the disciplinary action?
Personnel Evaluation Ratios
The most frequently used formal evaluation methods are
those which examine the organization's employment
statistics. Statistics are most meaningful when
compared to the same unit's past performance.
Statistical factors by themselves never explain or
evaluate anything. The reasons for the statistics are
the important thing. Statistics only indicate where to
begin to look for evaluation problems. The following is
a list of ratios which can be computed for an
organization and compared over time to learn trends and
to locate trouble spots that need correction.
Effectiveness ratios*
* William F. Gleuck, "Personnel: A Diagnostic
Approach," Dallas Texas Business Publication, Inc.,
1974, p. 642.
1. Ratio of number of employees to total output---in
general.
2. Sales in dollars per employee for the whole company
or by organizational unit (business).
3. Output in units per employee hour worked for the
entire enterprise or organizational unit.
4. Scrap loss per unit of the enterprise.
5. Payroll costs by unit per employee grade.
Accident ratios
1. Frequency of accident rate for the enterprise as a
whole or by organizational unit.
2. Number of lost-time accidents.
3. Compensation paid per 1,000 hours worked for
accidents.
4. Accidents by type.
5. Accidents classified by type of injury to each part
of the body.
6. Average cost of accident by part of the body
involved.
Organizational health ratios
1. Number of grievances filed.
2. Number of arbitration awards.
Turnover and absenteeism ratios
1. Attendance, tardiness, and overtime comparisons by
organizational unit as a measure of how well an
operation is handling manpower loading.
2. Employee turnover by unit and for the organization.
Employment ratios
1. Vacations granted as a percentage of employees
eligible.
2. Sick-leave days granted as a percentage of man-days
worked.
3. Maternity leaves granted per 100 employees.
4. Employment distribution by chronological age.
5. Employment distribution by length of service with
organization.
6. Employment distribution by sex, race.
7. Managerial manpower distribution by chronological
age.
8. Average age of work force.
9. Average age of managerial work force.
Turnover
High employee turnover is costly, some say about $500
per employee. Turnover is the net result of the exit of
some employees and entrance of others to the
organization. Studies have shown that there is a
consistent negative correlation between measures of job
satisfaction and turnover. The higher an employee's
satisfaction, the less likely he is to resign from the
job.
Turnover is figured as follows:
Separation rate (%) = Total no. separations/month
divided by average no. employees on payroll x 100.
A yearly turnover rate of 20-40% is generally
considered good (low). Management should carefully
examine the entire personnel program when yearly
turnover exceeds 150%. By checking the turnover rate
over time, a trend can be found. If the turnover rate
is high, these factors should be evaluated: job
orientation and training, pay, opportunities
elsewhere, job interest and motivation, quality of
supervision, and the employee (fringe) benefits of the
organization.
Summary and Conclusions
The following check list will be most valuable if you
honestly appraise your personnel program, identify the
apparent weak spots and follow this up with an
improvement program.
* Is each employee recognized and treated as an
individual? Does the personnel program respect the
dignity of each employee and his/her rights?
* Are personnel policies and procedures clearly
defined?
* Are there written statements covering the duties and
responsibilities of each job? Does each employee know
what his job is, the quality standards of work
expected, and who is his boss?
* Do managers and supervisors recognize their
responsibilities for continuous on-the-job training?
What assistance and training do they receive to carry
out this responsibility? Does training have the support
of top management? Does each employee receive the kind
of job instruction to enable him to do his job the best
way?
* Does management recognize the individually different
needs of each employee to determine the incentives that
should be used? Has management taken positive steps to
create a work environment that will reduce the causes
of frustration and minimize the conflicting situation
that invariably develop in an organization?
* Is each employee's performance evaluated by his
supervisor against objectives or expectancies that were
established at some previous time? Does the supervisor
take corrective action on deficiencies by making plans
for improvement? Is there a better two-way
understanding of work expectations as the result of
performance evaluation?
* Does each employee know the organization's policies
and rules? Is there a consistent policy of discipline
for employee misconduct? Are all forms of discipline
promptly made a matter of well documented written
record? Is there a procedure for discharge?
* What is the annual turnover rate for cooks, cold food
preparation personnel, service, and sanitation
employees?
References
Beach, Dale S. Personnel: The Management of People at
Work, 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.,
1975.
Davis, Keith, Human Relations at Work, 4th ed. New
York: McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1972.
Flippo, Edwin B. Principles of Personnel Management,
4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1976.
Guideline to Better College and University Personal
Administration. Books 1, 2, & 3. College and
University Personnel Association, One Dupont Circle,
Washington, D.C. 20036.
Harris, Jeff O., Jr. Managing People at Work. New,
York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976.
Huse, Edgar F., Bowditch, James L. Behavior in
Organizations, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley
Publishing Co., 1973.
Lundberg, Donald E., Armatas, James E. The Management
of People in Hotel, Restaurant, and Clubs, 3rd ed.
Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co., 1974.
Myers, Scott M. Every Employee a Manager. New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Other Publications, Catalogs, Correspondence Courses
National Restaurant Association
One IBM PLaza, Suite 2600
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Motel
Association
Stephen S. Nisbet Building
1407 South Harrison Road
East Lansing, Michigan 48823
National Institute For the Food Service Industry
120 South Riverside Plaza
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Cahners Books International, Inc.
221 Columbus Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Small Business Administration, 575 N. Pennsylvania St.,
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204, has the following
management assistance series covering a wide variety of
topics:
Management Aids (Free)
Small Marketers Aids (Free)
Small Business Bibliographies (Free)
Small Business Management Series Booklets
Starting and Managing Series
Small Business Research Series
Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home
Economics, State of Indiana, Purdue University and
U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperating. H. G.
Diesslin, Director, West Lafayette, Ind. Issued in
furtherance of the Acts of May 9 and June 30, 1914. It
is the policy of the Cooperative Extension Service of
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