Reflection two: Classic Management My pleasure: Scientific management works at Chick-fil-A David Owens-Hill Queens University of Charlotte

I would like make one thing very clear: I dont like fast food. I think that the methods of production are of? the final product are counter to what our bodies would like to eat. That said, any fast food restaurant lining the interstate is a prime example of Scientific Management and the intricacies laid therein. Just as the industrial revolution modernized mechanical production in the 18th century, so has Classical Management modernized resturant production of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Good intro. One man for each job For the sake of study, I ventured into a Chick-fil-A in Charlotte, North Carolina. The food is tolerable, the restaurant is clean and there are no obvious detractors to employee satisfaction or productivity. Its important to note that the employees who are working for this company are not working for Triangle Shirtwaist1they seem to be pretty well provided for. The physical space is clearly divided in two parts by a wall with a pass-through window and a double-action door; the division of space is more obvious here than in many other fast food restaurants where the servery is often separated from the kitchen by little more than a counter. The front of house employees are responsible for keying orders into a computer terminal which that relays information to the kitchen. When your order is ready, it is passed through the window by one of the several cooks and you eat. While orders are being taken and food is being prepared, different employees are working at the drive-through window, in the front and back of house locations cleaning floors and tables, (on this particular day) some were repairing the lemonade machine and other were strolling around the dining room asking customers if 1 The Triangle Factory in New York City caught fire near closing time on Saturday, March 25, 1911. By the time the fire was extinguished 146 of the 500 employees had been killed many as a result of exit doors locked by management to curb theft.

their experience, as yet, had been a good one. These employees were clearly separate entities from one another.--their division of labor made clear to coworkers and employees by different uniforms (polo shirts for the customer-facing employees, white for the back of house employees) sentence fragment. Hierarchy was unclear, but Fayols Classical Management was very present. Good, explain this more specifically here. Which elements of fayol? Explain again here (not just in subhead) A plan had been put in place to ensure each employee was doing their job and that the customers were receiving a consistent experience. Time and motion It would not be a stretch to imagine Taylor performing a Time and Motion study in this environment to see how many steps it took from each register to the pass-through window. In fact, if you look close by the drive-through window you will notice that the ice cream mixer for milkshakes is on a higher counter than the items around itwhy would someone build a special counter for one piece of machinery unless there was empirical evidence to show that this was more efficient. In the name of science, I ordered a milkshake. As it turns out, the only way to know when a milkshake is properly mixed when using a motorized mixer is to look for the proper consistency. By moving the shake closer to eye level, the management responsible for store design ensures a more consistent milkshake. Great example. But again, explain this concept a bit more clearly. Imagine that your reader doesnt know what time and motion studies are. Be brief but explain. And tell why time and motion studies were important/effective. The mechanization of the commercial kitchen
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By glancing every time the double-action door swang back and forth, I saw a kitchen layout that is very specialized to a restaurant. Many commercial kitchens are set up with lines that categorize the different portions of a meal and ensure that culinary mise en place (literally French for put in place) is attained early. By centralizing ingredients and utensils, a cook can prepare food in an uninterrupted way. Missing punctuation. Though the system of mise en place seems to herald to the Scientific Management of kitchenswhat could be more scientific and mechanical than having everything you need at your disposal for ultimate efficiencyit has always been an essential tenant of the French school of cooking and thus came to commercial kitchens long before anyone thought to document its arrival. The Chick-fil-A kitchen had a unique quirk that would drips ?? with Time and Motion study the lines are not linear, theyre square. Each chef has an identically arranged area stocked with the food they need to prepare each menu item and can assemble the food without moving more than a few feet in any given direction. Fried items come from machines at the end of the line, and are passed to the chefs in little tracks near eye level. They can then take the fried food and put it on bread, in a box, in a wrap, or wherever else it needs to go. Its the model of an assembly line, the product moves, the workers stay still. Great. But add one more sentence about how this is classical management at its finest and why it works. My pleasure As a self-admitted foodie, I think restaurants are fun. When the experience is mechanical, the only fun element leftthe only element that has agency to react to your requestsare the employees. Chick-fil-A managed to systematize and mechanize their employers in the ultimate aim for efficiency and consistency. Say thank you at a ChickAdmin 2/21/10 2:39 PM Deleted: drips

fil-A. Cmon, do it! You wont be answered with the familiar youre welcome, instead youll be answered with a programmed response that, presumably, management felt was more in tune with the ideas of the organization: my pleasure. I said thank you no less than six times to two different employees to see if, perhaps, the one with whom I first ordered simply had an odd response template. She did not my pleasure was consistently the response to thank Proofread! you. I made it a point to sit close enough to the counter that I could overhear employee reactions when no customers were present. I heard at least one employee say thank you to another, and the response? Youre welcome. The employees were systematically soldering, not to maintain acceptable pace, but in their resistance narrative to the programmed response that came from above. Great last sentence! Expand on that. Employee satisfaction Chick-fil-A prides itself on being a family-oriented restaurant that treats its employees well. They post a document on their dining room wall that explains this to each diner. However, when reviewing the historic context and ramifications of Scientific Management on the happiness and productivity of employees, one wonders if employees at this franchise are historically unhappy. Okay, good. Now expand on this. Why would they be unhappy? What are the limitations of this persective? Scientific Management isnt so bad Overall, I was pleased with my meal. I received it quickly, the communication of my special order to the kitchen was clear (though mediated through a computer terminal), and the food was tasty. Historically, employees operating under Scientific Management seem to have been mistreated by managers who only had the companys best profit in

mind. Chick-fil-A has taken the appropriate parts of Scientific Management to improve efficiency and, other than programming a response from their employees, seem to have an acceptable work environment. Not the vision of windowless sweatshops that are conjured by the traditional notion of Scientific Management. This is a really good entry, david. But expand a bit more in talking about the effect of this style (good and bad) for employees and managers. And then also wrap up with a broader so what conclusion. Talk about S.M. outside of this particularly restaurant. What does this style mean for work today? Good job.