Mr. Jones began his career in the hotel business as a Buss Boy when he joined Hotel Sun Jaya in 1983. He advanced in his career steadily and was promoted as Waiter in 1986, Captain Waiter in 1989, Assistant Headwaiter in 1994, and finally as Headwaiter in 1999. He takes pride in reaching his current level because he believes that it was purely his hard work that got him to where he is now.
According to him he was acknowledged for his performance in 1998 and was named “Supervisor of the Year.” His responsibilities include checking and monitoring Sukohardjo staff particularly the good grooming of waiters, checking of raw materials in the kitchen, controlling the operations of the outlet and conducting daily morning and evening briefing.
Mr. Jones is a careful and organized worker. He likes to do things right the first time and gives very small room for mistakes. He is a hard worker and wants to be acknowledged for it. To satisfy his quest for knowledge, he has taken courses on the hotel industry and hotel management. He aspires to be the general manager or the owner and belong to the top- level management of the hotel. He feels that he has capabilities and qualifications for such position for he has relevant and adequate work experience, plus he has the enthusiasm and zest to deal with the work. As Headwaiter, he feels he has the power and it must be combined with additional knowledge from experiences and he must learn more.
Mr. Jones has a strong belief that “The boss is always RIGHT”. As a leader, he seems firm and adheres strictly to the rules and procedures of the hotel. He gives strong emphasis to tidiness and completeness of uniform, punctuality, and hospitality for guests. He tries to get close with the staff, especially those who have personal problems for it is his way of motivating and encouraging them. He narrates one incident involving a staff member who was always absent for work but changed and showed great potential for advancements in his career. According to him, he was able to comfort his subordinate by being a listener and posing as an adviser. At present, that particular subordinate he motivated is now performing well and has a good chance to be promoted as assistant headwaiter. He feels however, that despite the good performance of his subordinates, he is unable to find an appropriate replacement for him because he perceives his staff lack the same level of loyalty to the hotel like him.
Mr. Jones usually double-checks the information himself reported to him before making a decision. He likes to analyze a situation first before deciding, yet is still able to make fast decisions, especially if it involves a customer request. As far as his orientation to customer satisfaction is concerned, he lives by the principle “Customers always come FIRST”, and would do anything to satisfy the customer’s needs. According to him, he has customized the menu selection according to the requests of the guests and sometimes serves the guests their orders even if it is not included in the menu. He claims that he was the one who suggested rearranging the tables and chairs in Sukohardjo to a more cozy and comfortable place for the guests who like to nonton bareng World Cup. He also claims that he was the one who proposed to remove the initial cover charge of Rp 75,000 and instead, just raise the prices in the menu to make profit for the hotel.
Mr. Jones has lots of ideas for improving the operations and condition of Sukohardjo. He claims that he created the coffee corner at Sukohardjo, because he noticed that most of the guests ask for coffee more than anything in the menu list. With this new niche, he narrates that the sales of Sukohardjo increased by 10%. Other ideas that he claims were conceived by him are the production of handles for the buffet bonnet, piano cover and baby chairs.
A. PERSONALITY
Mr. Jones comes across as a defensive and overconfident person. He appears to take extreme pride in his position and the hardships that he had to go through to reach the level that he is in a now and thinks that he is the best. He regards himself as a powerful person and emits an air of arrogance. He asserts himself to be a responsible worker who takes care of his outlet and never complains even if he goes overtime. On the emotional side, he tends to be easily offended and temperamental if he feels that subordinates or co-workers do not recognize and respect his authority. He told us of an incident where he felt insulted by one of his co-workers for disobeying hotel policies. He felt so irritated that he almost wanted to “karate” him on the spot, but was able to restrict himself to do so. Instead, he just yelled at the person and told him to get out. As he matures, however, he feels that become more patient, tolerable and has better grasp of his emotions.
Mr. Jones is a “talker” and does not avoid getting into confrontations, especially if he has a point to prove. Despite his show of high emotions and authority, he is a natural introvert and does not open easily to others. He does not like to socialize with many people, only with a selected group of persons. He is able to be sociable and extremely friendly to the guests however, but remains strict and firm with his subordinates.
B. STRENGTHS AND AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHS
• High loyalty to his job
• Displays a high need to achieve with a dream become a hotel owner one day
• Wants to learn independently
• Acts as a motivator and advisor to his staff
AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
• Poor emotional control
• Impatient and gets easily emotional, short- tempered.
• Obsessed by power and authority.
C. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
Mr. Jones has been working in Hotel Sun Jaya for 19 years. He began working as buss boy for two years and moved up to become waiter. After waiting for three years, he was promoted as Captain for the room service division and held this position for five years. He further advanced in his career and became the Assistant Head Waiter in 1994. Currently, he is the Head Waiter of Sukohardjo restaurant, and is proud of his job.
As headwaiter, Mr. Jones implements strict discipline to his staff, giving emphasis on punctuality, good grooming, and hospitality to guests. He is responsible for checking and monitoring the performance of his staff, which is why he has to be a highly detailed and organized person. He prefers working with clear procedures and conditions, since he has to know all rationales for the actions of the people within his department. In making decisions, he prefers to ask the manager so as to minimize errors, but if it involves the customer, he thinks and acts fast. He tries hard to earn and maintain the customer’s trust by being friendly and giving them the good service that is due them. He derives his zest in his work from his desire to serve and satisfy the customer’s needs and knowing that he was able to meet their expectation motivates him even more. He believes that he has worked hard to reach the current level and deserves whatever successes he has now. Despite this however, he still desires to learn and acquire new knowledge and skills for further self- improvement. He has great aspirations to be the number one key position in the hotel, either as the General Manager or as a member of the Board of Directors.
One major weakness of Mr. Jones is his poor emotional control and tendency to be temperamental. He is aware of this weakness and has gotten much feedback on this matter which is why he doing his best to improve his emotional nature and be more patient and tolerable. He claims that there is still much room for improvement concerning his temper because he said that he still tends to give in to his emotions if he gets emotionally hurt, upset or feels that he is not given the respect due him. He takes the responsibilities of his job and the power and authority that go along with it with extreme seriousness. He has the tendency to think that he is always right just because he is the boss and is extremely selective of a group to have social relations with. His being selective of friends has made him emotionally detached to his staff, despite his efforts to be a listener and adviser to them.
Based on above findings, Mr. Jones appears to enjoy his job and takes full pride being a Sun Jaya hotel employee. He seems to have the proficiency of skills required in his position combined with a strong determination to be successful and to emerge as the best in his field. However, these strengths are outweighed by his weakness, which is poor emotional nature. In addition he also shows a potential attitudinal problem, which is manifested by his obsession for power and authority and his poor temperament that may affect his work, especially in giving an objective discretion on matters and other dilemmas. In this connection, we recommend to pay close attention to this matter and check with his subordinates if this kind of behavior is affecting the workplace. His recent performance and productivity should also be reviewed. For these reasons, we have reservations in recommending him for further promotion and career development at the moment. Should these findings impact his current performance, it may be risky to promote or move him to a new position. Guidance counseling may be necessary to make him aware of his obsessions so he can come to terms with himself.