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Catherine Gastelum

Ch. 1 Summary
In chapter one, Supervision in the Hospitality Industry talks about what a supervisor is,
their roles in the hospitality industry and how they influence their employees. The book mentions
the authority of the supervisor and how important they are in the work force. It also mentions
that in the workforce the supervisor holds the least amount of authority and responsibility.
According to the book, the most common type of supervisor is first-line supervisors, and they
represent working supervisors who usually work on the line or in the industry along with the
other employees. In this chapter, the book also sets many tips and suggestions for starting off
supervisors and what should they do as well as their impact to their employees and how they are
the leading example in the work force. Chapter one demonstrated that in a large company from
highest authority to lowest authority you have the top and middle managers, followed by the
supervisors and finally the rest of the employees. Supervisors are usually never cooped up in an
office. They are usually working there in the workforce with everyone else. Even though they
may make an hourly wage like most other employees, they are not doing the same work as
everyone else. Supervisors are considered management and spend most of their time leading and
guiding their employees. If an employee feels unwelcome or unwanted they will want to leave.
At the moment there is a huge turnover rate in the hospitality industry. This means that every
year almost all of establishments employees have left and moved on to another business.
Chapter one mentions that in the food industry, restaurants as well as hotels are dependent on
many low wage, entry level jobs to run on a day to day basis. However, very few of these entry
level employees stay longer than one year.
According to Supervision in the Hospitality Industry, a supervisor is defined as a person
who leads and manages employees who are performing services or making products, this means
that a supervisor in responsible for the output in the kitchen and in the workforce as a whole.
This means that a supervisor needs to encourage and motivate their employees. Responsibility in
the book is described as the duties and the assignments that are assigned to a specific person to
accomplish and they are expected to complete that task. Some of the tips that the book gave off
for starting supervisors included; treating their team as they would like to be treated themselves.
They need to know the companys vision, mission, goals and strategies. A supervisor needs to be
and set a good example to their employees. They need to dress and speak appropriately in the
work force and to their employees. A supervisors attitude and work ethics will influence their
employees accordingly, so they should show up early every day to influence others to do the
same. A supervisors main contribution to the company is ensuring that they are a part of the
successfulness of the establishment, as well as working with others to ensure that they have a
productive team. They are the reason a corporation earns money. According to Jim Sullivan in
chapter one, a supervisor needs to tell the truth, keep their promises, teach, evaluate, and run the
business as if it was their own. Employees see supervisors as their boss, so their concerns will
exceed their supervisors, as they are looking for instruction from them. According to chapter one,
a supervisors responsibilities include, planning, organizing, motivating, controlling,
communicating effectively with the team, creating a positive work environment, coaching and
mentoring the team, as well as treating all team members with respect, fairly and equally. Of
these responsibilities, the four most important ones are; planning, organizing, leading and
controlling. As a planner, a supervisor needs to be able to figure out who, what, why, when,

where, and how the work will be done. When organizing, they need to put together the money,
staff, equipment, materials, etc. This includes during times of crisis when an establishment is
shorthanded, or not all of the resources needed are present. In order to lead an establishment, a
supervisor must communicate, motivate, delegate, instruct, support, develop and mentor
employees. Finally, when controlling and evaluating employees, a supervisor needs to ensure
performance and quality standards are being met, and if not, they must take the appropriate
action when needed to ensure that they are. In order to accomplish all of this a supervisor needs
to follow a flex style of management. This means that a supervisor must develop techniques and
apply different principles of management so that they will work best depending on each
situation. There are different styles of management that are used today. This includes Scientific
management, the Human relations theory, Participative Management, Total Quality Management
(TQM), and Humanistic Management.
In the book Frederick Taylor described the Scientific method and its usefulness in
increasing production in the work force. This was introduced in the early 1900s and was one of
the earliest developments of management. This was based on the idea that people work for
money, and didnt care that their opinions didnt matter. He created four essential features in the
workforce; the idea to create a simplified way of performing tasks at work, which were to be
created by specialists. That an establishment should carefully choose their employees based on
their capabilities, and shouldnt be hired if they could not or refused to conform to the standard
tasks. He stated that there should be a constant overseeing of work, and that employees should be
constantly obedient, and that their pay should be reflecting of their productivity. Most of these
ideas were adopted into a managements approach of production minus the idea that an employee
should share the profit from their work. In this approach of management people were looked as
button pushers or burger flippers and should not or would not deviate from the plan. This idea
was well suited for short term employees and called for little to no originality. The second
management approach was the human relations theory. This idea stressed the importance that
employees are people and should be treated as individuals with respect. This theory stressed that
if you have happy employees, you have a productive work environment. In the 1960s to 1970s
the concept of Participative Management grew from the Human Relations Theory. This
embraced the idea that employees should be able to participate in decisions that will concern
them. However, this would happen while still ensuring that the final decision was still made by
management. TQM, is a process that continues onto a participative management approach while
trying to find a way to meet and exceed a guests expectations. This is the best approach to use
when an establishment has good leaders with a great team who can work together and create a
strategy to improve. This management approach allows for employees to be a huge part of the
corporation in which they are able to help in solving guest related problems. The last
management process, which works best in the hospitality industry is the Humanistic
Management approach. This system takes the best parts of each management ideas and puts them
into one. The Humanistic Management approach ensures that employees are treated as
individuals who have their own needs and desires, and that through open communication and
working together, as a team they can complete common goals. Depending on the needs of each
situation, a supervisor would pull whatever method needed to accomplish the task at hand.
One of the main problems that new supervisors have when being promoted includes
boomerang management. This occurs when a new supervisor goes back to thinking like an
employee. Usually they with empathize too much with their employees and look at them as

companions and coworkers rather than people they need to manage with a sturdy hand. A
supervisor must always remain in charge no matter the consequences. A supervisors primary
obligation is to the owners of the enterprise and making a profit. A supervisors manager or
owner wants you to run the establishment their way, even if a supervisor does not agree with it. If
a supervisor was to have an idea on a better way of running things, it is not their responsibility to
take matters into their own hands, they must first go to a higher authority first, propose the new
method, and have it approved before taking any action, and if the system of overseeing
employees is unclear, they must ask any questions necessary to find out how they are supposed
to lead their employees. A supervisors second obligation is to the guests. They must be treated
well, and their expectations must be fulfilled. It is a supervisors job to ensure that the
appearance, ambiance and actions of the employees completely fulfill a customers needs and
wants. Finally, a supervisor has an obligation to their employees. They must create a healthy
work environment in which they are seen as individuals, are listened to, told clearly what they
have to do and what is expected of them, and why. It is important for a supervisor to ensure that
their employees feed accepted, that their work is approved off, that they can communicate openly
with all management, that their supervisor is being fair with them, and most of all, they want to
know that they belong. The book mentions that the reason why restaurants and hotels have such a
high turnover is because the management was horrible, they found a better opportunity
elsewhere, a better work schedule and a more enjoyable working condition in another
establishment. In order for a supervisor to accomplish these goals, they must have certain
managerial skills. This includes having, technical skills, himan skills, and conceptual skills. The
kinds of technical skills a supervisor must have includes the ability and knowledge to train their
team, plan and schedule everyone around according to their strengths and weaknesses as well as
taking action in an emergency. Some of the human skills a supervisor must have includes, the
attitude they present to their employees, being sensitive and empathic to their employees, having
self-awareness and seeing how their actions, words and movements come across to their
employees. They also need to understand that everyone has their own perceptions, needs, values
and individual personalities that may come off differently to different employees, and may
sometimes create a barrier between each other when communicating. Lastly, as a conceptual
skill, a supervisor must see everything as whole. This means looking at tasks as a whole to see
how they can accomplish everything, rather than one task at a time.

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