Two problems regarding the Parlor restaurant case

There are two problems regarding the Parlor restaurant case. One is communication and power. Prior to McCarthy’s arrival, the restaurant was running well. Customers never ran out and good feedbacks were received by the staff of the establishment. The acquisition of Paul McCarthy was a disaster. Richard Purvis and Paul McCarthy differ a lot with their leadership types. One particular factor is their method of motivation to the staff of the Parlor restaurant. Purvis motivates his personnel through giving rewards to them.

He gives a good incentive of a one-dollar meal credit for his staffs who takes a shift of more than five hours. The employees, when under supervision of Purvis, also have a 20 percent discount on any kind of meal they order. Purvis gives fair compensation to his employees and values them. On the other hand, McCarthy is the exact opposite of Purvis in his way of motivating his employees. McCarthy at first showed that he is going to be a good manager but after some time, it appeared that McCarthy only cared for what he can gain from the Parlor establishment.

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To increase his earnings, he altered some of the transactions and policies in the Parlor. He also removed the reward system that Purvis created. McCarthy only focuses on his goal of getting more money he can get. A good leader must have a vision. He is not only for himself. A leader must set a common goal. These are the reasons why people are willing to follow their leaders.

Clearly, McCarthy does not possess these traits. Technically, Purvis and McCarthy are leaders but not good ones. They gave orders to their subordinates and they are on top of the organizational structure, so technically they are leaders.

Based on the case, I can say that Purvis is sort of a delegative type of leader (laizzes faire style). Although he values his staff and gives them reward, he does not have time to really put his hands on the business. Maybe he was too busy with other things. Being delegative, he hired McCarthy and let him manage the restaurant by himself. The laizzes faire style of leadership works well if a leader’s subordinate is good enough to make decisions for the company or establishment. A leader cannot do anything by himself so he must delegate some of the tasks.

An advantage of this type of leadership is that other persons can have the chance of proving themselves to their bosses. Another one is that the leader can focus on other things that is important to him (Daft, 2003: 78). The drawback here is when you hand over the tasks to a certain person that values only himself which is particularly what happened on the Parlor case. Purvis handed over the responsibility to McCarthy whom he only knows as a supervisor on a refreshment stand and a famous local burlesque house. McCarthy, on the other hand, is an autocratic type of leader.

This leadership style is used when leaders tell their subordinates what to be done and the process of accomplishing a particular task. An autocratic leader does not consult his followers with regards to decision making. According to Echanis and Rodriguez in 2001, some appropriate conditions for this type of leadership is when you possess all the information you need in the process, you do not have much time and your employees are willing to obey you which means they are well-motivated. Clearly, these conditions were not present on the Parlor case.

Due to the autocratic leadership of McCarthy and the lack of motivation by his staff, the Parlor restaurant became a total disaster. Customers complain about the indifferent service of the staff and the food’s sudden change of taste and volume. Since the hiring of McCarthy, customers began complaining. The employees also were not that motivated. McCarthy fired two cooks without consulting Richard Purvis and things just start to fall apart. If I were Purvis, I will definitely fire McCarthy since he is the primary source of the problem.

After firing him, I will focus again on the Parlor restaurant and maybe bring it back to its former status. I will hire the two cooks that McCarthy fired and bring back the reward system that McCarthy also removed. Maybe these things will help the Parlor to regain its once famous condition and customers will again support the restaurant.

References Daft, Richard L. 2003. Management 6th edition. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company. Echanis, Erlinda S. & Rafael A. Rodriguez. 2001. Fundamentals of Management: Text and Philippine Cases. Metro Manila, Philippines: Diwata Publishing, Inc.