Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, from “The Office” is a great example of how not to manage employees. Here are some quotes from the show to illustrate the “Dos” and “Do Nots” for restaurant management. Enjoy!
1. Be Honest
“Am I going to tell them? No, I don’t see the point of that. As a doctor, you would not tell a patient if they had cancer.”
We can take from this that managers should not lie to their employees. This might seem obvious, but any falsehood, even when it may make someone feel better, can come back to haunt good employers. Be honest with your employees, especially in difficult situations. It will reduce your liability, and you might find that they respect you more for it in the end.
2. Don’t Say One Thing, and Do Another
“My proudest moment here was not when I increased profits by 17%, or cut expenditure without losing a single member of staff. No, no no. It was a young Guatamalan guy, first job in the country, hardly spoke a word of English, but he came to me, and said, ‘Mr. Scott, will you be, the Godfather to my child?’ Wow… wow. Didn’t work out in the end. We had to let him go. He sucked.”
The applicable point here is that managers should treat workers fairly and equally. Like in Point 1 above, managers should be honest, and they should do so equally across all components of the company. Additionally, when an employee is on the verge of being terminated, managers should not do things differently than before. Things like raises or other forms of praise can be used as evidence against an employer in a termination event.
3. Stop Being the Entertainer
“I guess the atmosphere that I’ve tried to create here is that I’m a friend first and a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.”
Managers should not act as entertainers. Often, manager entertainment can degrade into unprofessional forms of comedy, which can lead to claims of hostile work environment. Also, managers who become too close with their employees risk credibility in legal arguments later. All of that said, managers can and should act in a way that is human, compassionate, and understanding. However, there is a line that should not be crossed.
4. Don’t Sexually Harass
“This is our receptionist, Pam. If you think she’s cute now, you should have seen her a couple years ago.”
Does the sexual harassment here really need to be explained?
5. Set an Example
“You know what? Screw corporate. Nobody’s coming in tomorrow. You have the day off. Like coming in an extra day is gonna prevent us from being downsized. Have a good weekend.”
There are several points here. First, managers should not criticize upper management or ownership. That’s not only strategically bad for them, it sets a bad example. It is also hard to use them as fact witnesses when there is an employment lawsuit. Second, managers should also set an example in how often they come to work. Again, firing an employee for poor attendance is normally just fine, but if the manager firing them also has bad attendance, it can be a very negative factor in a lawsuit.
Summary
Hopefully, the above lighthearted look at how not to manage was both entertaining and informative. All quotes are courtesy of www.theofficequotes.com.
