You can download brilliant powerpoint slides about Career Management and HR Strategy HERE.
Mr. Jensen is happy with his current job because of the variety that he gets in cooking. He enjoys being in the kitchen and has rich experience and knowledge in cooking. He is responsible for all cooking operations in the banquet kitchen, such as checking the preparation of raw materials, menu, cooking process, and quality of food and performance of the staff. He displays a high commitment in finishing a task and prefers to do work in a systematic and orderly manner, as these are imperatives in his job. l When doing the job, he tries hard to do the best and finish it perfectly. He shares that he has garnered quite a number of recognition in his career as a chef in Crown Jaya like best employee of the month, best manager of the year, best supervisor of the year and was a runner- up in a cooking contest in 1996.
As the executive chef responsible for all banquet kitchen operations, Mr. Jensen is able to do several tasks simultaneously. He is in- charge of the entire menu and of selection of food and dishes for all functions and events. In times, when there are no functions, he helps the main kitchen in serving and providing food for all outlets. Despite his managerial position and strict and serious exterior, he displays weak leadership. According to him he prefers to practice a democratic style of leadership and to exercise delegation of tasks to his subordinates. He said that he has confidence in his staff‘s abilities and is certain that they are competent to handle the work that he has assigned to them. Nevertheless, he complies to rules and procedures unquestioningly and does his work and behaves accordingly.
Mr. Jensen is a fast decision- maker because he directly deals with the clients and is committed to pleasing them. There are times when guests get upset because the restaurant is unable to serve the dish ordered. When this happens, he acts quick, think of a way to pacify the guests to cool their anger. Fortunately, he manages to calm the guests and compromises. In addition, he also has to come up with alternatives that are economical to solve problems in the banquet kitchen. He revealed that most of the problems involve lack of ingredients, malfunctioning equipments and other tools. When dealing with major problems, he prefers to play it safe and just ask his supervisor for advice or a decision. This dependency on his boss affects his pace in decision- making negatively despite the fact that he is physically and mentally active and likes spontaneity.
As the Executive Chef, Mr. Jensen’s creativity is always put to a test especially when it concerns presentation of the food to be served. He thinks of interesting ways of presenting a dish to make it look more attractive and pleasing to the customers and even makes modifications in buffet presentation and in most of the functions. Furthermore, he is also tasked to change the menu of the restaurant every six months and claims that his Indonesian dishes are the best in the whole of Jakarta.
A. PERSONALITY
Mr. Jensen comes across as friendly and pleasant person. He is patient and tolerant of his staff’s mistakes. He prefers to listen first and see for himself the situation before deciding on a disciplinary action for his staff. He tends to smile and be nice to other people. He is trusted by his co- workers with their personal problems and is the “adviser” in the group. He also likes to help his co- workers and subordinates, even if it involves financial matters. He shows a certain degree of closeness to his staff for according to him, he tends to make jokes and take things lightly even when they are working and is very much open to their ideas and opinions. However, he will disagree and assert his ideas if it is contrary to his belief and principles when it goes against the rules and SOP. It can be inferred from his interview that he is proud of his achievements and has a need to be recognized and acknowledged. Currently however, he claims to be satisfied with all his accomplishments in his career and shows no need for change.
B. STRENGTHS AND AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHS
• Disciplined worker.
• Eagerness to learn and share knowledge.
• High commitment to do his best in all tasks.
AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
• Dependent on his supervisor for major decisions.
• Low need to achieve for he is already satisfied with his job.
C. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
Mr. Jensen has been working in Hotel Crown Jaya for 28 years. He started as a cook helper, dealing with food and cooking despite his lack of cooking background. He said that, apart from being taught by his mentor, he learned his cooking skills and acquired his knowledge by “learning on the job.” He was given an opportunity to advance in his career when he was assigned the Cook position in 1979. He was further promoted to Chef de pate, before becoming the Assistant Executive Chef. Currently, he holds the Executive Chef position, handling functions for the banquet.
Mr. Jensen’s work style is characterized to be highly systematic and organized. He likes to do his job perfectly and correctly for he believes that doing a dish the right way the first time is a must in his profession. Although they have a recipe book to follow, they still have the autonomy to create new dishes and present it in any way they please for as long as it appears attractive to the customers. He practices a democratic type of leadership and deems using a personal approach to be more appropriate than being autocratic. He practices delegation of tasks for he is confident of his staff’s abilities and skills, thus needing minimal supervision from him. He follows the hotel’s rules and SOPs and expects no less but the same compliance from his staff. He shows a high urgency to satisfy customers and desires to make quick decisions so that he will be able to address the clients request immediately, however, despite his desire to be a quick decision maker, his high dependency on his boss impedes his pace in decision- making.
Mr. Jensen seems appropriate in his current position. He shows happiness and contentment with his current job and the responsibilities that go along with it. His passion for cooking allows him to enjoy his work and find fulfillment in what he is doing. He desires to share his vast experience and knowledge in cooking and other kitchen operations to his staff and other people who want to learn as well. He believes that a true leader is someone who is able to share his knowledge to his staff and effectively teach and train them. At present, he is also a lecturer in the Crown Academy of Tourism, on the subject of cooking.
From the overall findings, we find Mr. Jensen appropriate in his current position. His years of experience and technical knowhow support him well on the job. He may need some improvement in decision making if it is crucial in his position. His potential for a higher managerial role, however, is not indicated. He is a simple, happy and contented worker who can just maintain his role till he retires.
You can download brilliant powerpoint slides about Career Management and HR Strategy HERE.