Analysis of a manager's job - Essay Example

It is, he said, the series of activities related to the use of available resources to achieve a goal. The resources can be material or human, other people, inside or outside an organization of humans, which a ‘manager” has to ‘manage’ or learn how to “use” properly to achieve a specific purpose. In his case, he manages the people who work with him: the wait staff, the cooks and kitchen assistants. He includes the customers, not all of whom are pleasant to be with. He also has to manage or ‘use’ resources like the raw ingredients that go into every meal, the drinks they serve, and the place itself.

The first function is planning, which involves setting goals and thinking clearly of how those goals can be reached with the people and resources he has. Peter sits down with the owner regularly to discuss profit targets, and he goes over the different ways those targets could be met. He specifies how many people he needs, especially on special days when there are big celebrations or a festival when they foresee many customers coming in to the restaurant. This function includes making a budget, specifying what types of people he should hire, how many of each (cooks, waiters, receptionists, kitchen assistants, and sometimes, valet parking attendants) to hire and the salaries he could give them.

He also plans the menu with the cook and the owner, and they find ways to get good quality ingredients that do not cost too much. He often sits down and thinks hard to understand the goal (prepare a birthday dinner for a group of twenty). He asks questions like: do I have enough people, resources, and time; and how do I distribute the work (more so when the cook calls in sick on what could be a busy night)? How can we work together, with the limitations we have, so that we meet the goal on time?

These are not easy things to do, especially as he has to plan what to do if any