Ms. Noor sees her work as something enjoyable, like her hobby. In reality, she enjoys cooking and creating new recipes and menu as well as combining different ingredients to make tasty meals for customers. In her current role as Dining Room Manager, she is happy that the employees, who are mostly lower staff, can enjoy tasty foods, so that they always get motivated at work.
Her need to achieve seems to be in the lower side at present showing that she currently feels uncertain about her career goal. She admits that she feels unhappy and a bit disappointed with her new position in the dining room. She feels neglected and says that her previous role in Bengawan Solo gave her more opportunity to be productive and creative in developing various menu and recipes.
Now with a heavy heart, she has no choice but to accept this assignment. She feels demotivated because the image of being transferred to the dining room is negative to most of the other employees. When asked which section she would prefer rather than dining room, she claims that she wants to be in the catering division where she can be more productive and creative.
Ms. Noor is a neat and orderly person with high concern on detailed work. She usually develops a monthly work plan, comprising of monthly menu, cooking ingredients within the budget range giving by the management. This sometimes is changed due to lack of supplies from purchasing department, thus she needs to prepare alternative menu. She can be flexible in managing her tasks and activities, but wants to be sure that the Cook follows her menu and recipes to ensure that the food is cooked properly.
When asked about what people think about her leadership, she claims that she is like a “mommy” to her team, projecting a mother image. She treats them as her children, and always creates a familiar working relationship within her team. She prefers to apply a person-to-person approach when handling undisciplined staff.
A company loyal, Ms. Noor respects the hierarchy and tries her best to support company’s operations. When doing her tasks, she always follows company procedures and feels insecure with unclear working situations.
A. PERSONALITY
Ms. Noor comes across as a calm and friendly person with “motherly” personality. She can establish rapport and communication with ease and is quite open in explaining and expressing her ideas and feelings about her daily work activities and personal life. Her social nature shows her as a person who is selective in joining social interaction. She claims that she does not like gossiping and chatting – she tries to protect herself from unfavorable rumors, which can affect her motivation at work.
She is emotionally mature. She is very supportive and accommodative worker towards her boss, co-workers and subordinates. She dislikes being in the conflict situation and prefers to avoid it as much as possible. Being adaptable, she is able to adjust to diversified working situations.
B. STRENGTHS and AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHS:
• Neat and organized.
• Follows work procedures and superior’s guidance and supervision.
• A company loyal who respects and supports the needs of management.
AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT:
• She feels demotivated in current position; she thinks that she could be more productive in her previous position.
• She lacks assertiveness; she prefers to be quiet even though she has her own conviction.
C. SUMMARY and RECOMMENDATION
Ms. Noor graduated from Hotel and Tourism Academy. She joined Sun Jaya hotel in 1974 as Cashier – Resto and Bar. After working for 3 years, she decided to leave and work in another company. She claims that she likes cooking and creating her own recipes and this became her hobby since young age. In 1982 she opened her own catering services business, and it run quite well. She heard about new vacancy in Sun Jaya hotel; they need a Food Analyst to prepare various menus and recipes for their new restaurant, Bengawan Solo. She applied and was appointed as Food Analyst in 1991. She became the Sous Chef of the restaurant after it is formally opened. She claims that she was happy working in this restaurant because she can have the opportunity to create food names, its recipes and ingredients, and feels proud that they are still used by the Cook and maintained as Bengawan Solo specialties.
Since last year, Ms. Noor is the Dining Room Manager. She is unhappy with this transfer, and feels neglected. Being 10 years building the image of Bengawan Solo as Indonesian traditional cuisine restaurant, she feels that her current role is not challenging compared with the previous one.
Ms. Noor is a loyal worker who tries her best to do her tasks. She actually enjoys doing her tasks – creating new recipes and trying new ingredients for cooking meals – those are her hobbies. She is like a “mommy” to her subordinates and others staffs. She applies her motherly character and personal approach when motivating and persuading others. She is supportive and accommodative towards her colleagues, subordinates and superior.
Based on the above findings, we think Ms. Noor appropriate in her current position but does not display any potential for further development. However, we find that she feels unhappy and demotivated due to current role as Dining Room Manager. She thinks that she can be more productive and creative in the previous position. A transfer to another section like catering division would give her new perspective as it could develop her motivation and productivity. We suggest to conduct counseling to know her exact interest, otherwise, the management can offer her early retirement program.