Mr. Senna has been in Hotel Sun Jaya as an engineering staff for 28 years, and has acquired many experiences and knowledge regarding his job. He uses his skills and knowledge to perform a systematic, orderly and organized job. He is able to produce the best result in his work by being a “smart worker” and by focusing on one task at a time.
According to him, he desires to give his best in all tasks given to him so he will be remembered fondly by his co- workers, subordinates and superiors when he retires. He is able to work well despite loose supervision from his boss, but desires to have a clear set of rules that he could follow and use as basis for his decisions. In addition, he believes that his strict adherence to the rules has resulted to a more organized working system for him and his department.
Mr. Senna believes that he has been able to train his subordinates well and has in fact chosen a replacement for his position as Head Mechanic. He supervises quite a number of subordinates with various backgrounds which is why he deems using a personal approach for each of them to be more appropriate and effective. Most of his problems that concern his staff are related to punctuality. According to him, since the engineering department staffs usually stay after office hours to finish a task, most of his staff members report to work late the following day. In addition, there are also instances wherein his staff members take breaks longer than the allowed time and he believes that this is due to the extraordinary working hours that the Engineering department has.
Mr. Senna tends to prioritise his tasks for he has to handle a massive number of problems that come from his department, subordinates and personnel as well as guests’ complaints. He monitors his staffs’ performance and takes time to join and work together with them. As the Head Mechanic, he practically knows all engineering operations even though it is not within his area of responsibility. Due to the shortage of manpower, he feels obligated to assist. He displays a slow pace in decision- making and attributes this to the scarce resources in the engineering department.
In addition, the limited resources do not just impair his decision- making abilities but also impedes his desire to uphold his commitment to customer satisfaction. He narrates that most of the customer complaints involve broken or malfunctioning equipment and he cannot give long lasting and immediate solutions to these for in order to fix these types of problems, specific tools are needed and more often than not, these tools are not available to them.
He feels deep discontent with the current situation of supplies in his department, but he still tries to maximize the resources available to them instead of just complaining incessantly. Apart from these, he also tries to come up with quick-fix solutions that is only temporary. One example that he cited was in 1999 wherein he was forced to use an ice block and let the cold air seep through vent in order to cool a function room filled with hotel guests. His initiatives and creativity to come up with quick fix- temporary solutions are deemed to be of high value since there is scarce material and labour resources in the hotel.
D. PERSONALITY
Mr. Senna likes to create and establish affiliations with others. In work, he is also fond of building relationships and communicating with his staff openly. Despite his display of high social affiliation, he does not like being in the spotlight and would rather be in the background and be a supporter. If there is problem, he along with his staff, sit and talk together to find the solution for technical and/or personal problems. He has a high sense of responsibility and tries to be a good leader by trying to have knowledge on everything so that when his staff members ask for his advice, he would have something substantial to say.
As he likes to converse and discuss, he is also open to the views, opinions and judgements of others. He conveys his sentiments and emotions freely but is very considerate of others feeling and seeks for the right timing to speak his mind. He avoids confrontations and would rather let the issue subside and be forgotten. He easily adapts to change and easily deals with people from different backgrounds. Despite his strict compliance to hotel procedures, he enjoys being exposed to new environment and people and learning new knowledge and skills.
E. STRENGTHS AND AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHS
• Sociable and flexible with everybody.
• Maximizes work to obtain best result.
• Prioritises effectively.
• Can focus on a task.
• Creative with quick-fix solutions
AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
• Easily influenced by others
• Has the tendency to depend on others for decisions.
• Slow decision- making skills
• Impatient with staff.
• Wants his staff to work according to his orders.
F. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
Mr. Senna has been working in Hotel Sun Jaya since 1974 as mechanical staff, and has now advanced in his career. He is currently the head mechanic. His expertise is primarily on the field of mechanical engineering but because of the situation in the hotel, he is now learning the whole engineering operations. In problem solving, he is practical rather than theoretical.
Mr. Senna is a very tidy and neat person with regards to his work. He disciplines his staff to do as told and to adhere to the hotel procedures and rules. When addressing problems that concern the engineering department, he allows his staff to participate and take some responsibility for the work. Most of his problems with his subordinates concern punctuality for work and going beyond the allowed break time. He considers the nature of work in the Engineering department, which is why he lets these incidents slide for as long as his staff members are able to perform their task satisfactorily. Moreover, he considers a lot of things and tries to be impartial when making decisions, which is why his pace in decision- making is considered to below average.
Mr. Senna appears to be working just for the sake of working and is just waiting for his retirement. As his has three years left in the hotel, he tries his best to finish his job and to present the best results to his superiors so that he would be remembered fondly when he retires. Based on the above findings, Mr. Senna is deemed to be on the verge of retiring and may not be able to be as productive and effective as during his younger years. Therefore, Mr. Senna is recommended to be in your list of early retirees.