Arizona State University

OGL 481 – Human Resources

By: Allison Phillips

June 6, 2020
Situation Restatement

To restate my situation, I previously worked at the Cheesecake Factory. I was a host for

nearly 3 years and worked well with fellow coworkers and management except for one manager

in particular. Jack and I never really saw eye-to-eye as I felt he was very condescending and

micromanaged. This one incident he walked up to one of the hosts and asked her if she wanted to

leave early for the day. There were four hosts on the clock and we usually clock out based on the

first one in, first one out method. I brought up the issue that he was not following our protocol

and tension rose as he felt I was not letting him do his job. Jack was upset and yelled at me to go

speak with him and our general manager Ashley. I then felt that there were other ways to

approach asking to discuss with me the issue at hand privately, instead of broadcasting it to the

whole restaurant. In our brief meeting with Ashley I let Jack know how I felt with him and his

work ethic, as Ashley already knew my feelings towards Jack, she decided to keep quiet and not

make any statements. I then put my two weeks in at that moment and went home.

Human Resource Frame

A human resource frame has to do with a strategy of hiring and keeping employees.

There should be a structure that benefits the company and helps employees feel a part of a team

they feel comfortable being with. The human resource team finds ways to help employees grow

and learn, empower the team, and promote diversity (Bolman, 2017, pg. 139). The Cheesecake

Factory usually does well to help individuals grow and promote, they also offered trainings and

team meetings and bonding events every so often. Where my situation seemed to lack was the

empowerment aspect of the human resource frame.

Influence
 With Jack, when questioned about the situation, there was a lack of information as to why

he just jumped the gun and asked this one host in particular if she wanted to leave early. There

were four of us working and he walked right past three of us straight to her. This one host and

Jack got along really well, so I felt a bit of favoritism being observed. The lack of information

and support from the manager on duty, which has happened quite a few times with Jack, made

me irritated. Moving forward to the abrupt episode in front of the entire restaurant, that level of

unprofessionalism did not seem HR appropriate in my opinion and discussing issues with Jack

and Ashley left me feeling at a loss.

With my newfound understanding of the human resource information, I believe that this

situation could have been handled differently from my end as well as managements. I believe

that I could have spoken to Jack in private about the situation instead of bringing it up in the

open. I know that he could have been more understanding and less abrasive. With the number of

diverse individuals, we worked with, I believe that the manager should be able to understand

how to talk to each and every one in a professional manner. On several occasions, this situation

just being one of them, we can see that Jack and I did not experience good communication

tactics.

Overall, there was just a lack of support from management, and even a bad step on my

part, I felt this was my last straw to put up with issues regarding Jack without him receiving any

repercussions. The fact that I had felt the need to put in my two-week notice at the exact moment

let them know that I no longer felt needed in that job and it was time for me to move on.
Reference:

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing  organizations: Artistry, choice, and

leadership (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass