I work at a fine dining restaurant that just opened up in Georgetown and our main goal of the restaurant is superb service. When the restaurant (Silver and Stone) first opened we worked in service teams of three or more. These teams would serve about seven or eight tables together and the tips would be dispersed appropriately. It ended up that service was good but not great. Also, the individuals were not making as much money as they should. We wanted service to be a little better and for the servers to make a little more money so we tried individual service with only about four tables each. It turned out that service quality greatly increased after this switch and it was because of social loafing. Social loafing is where individuals do not work as hard in a group compared to as when they are working alone. This was demonstrated by Alan Ingham and his associates (1974) when they asked participants to pull on a rope blindfolded. When they thought they were pulling alone, they pulled 20% harder than when they thought they were pulling with a group. This was demonstrated at my restaurant because service quality and tip percentage went up when we switched to individual service compared to team service. I remember when we were working in teams, I would not pay as much attention to my tables because I always assumed that some other member of my team would refill the water, or pre-bus the table. Now that I know all the responsibility is on me, I am much more efficient and feel like I have much more control over my tables. Not to mention I can be much more personable at my tables now which always wins people over and helps with tips.
Ingham, A., G., Levinger, G., Graves, J., & Peckman, V. (1974). The Ringleman effect: Studies of group size and group performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 371-384.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
After working as a waitress and just eating out in general, I've also noticed that the service is much better when there are fewer members of the wait staff assigned to the table. Another factor might be the concept of the diffusion of responsibility, where other members of the wait staff assume that someone else will meet the needs of the customer instead of taking the initiative to meet the need immediately. I'm glad your tips have gotten better, that's definitely a good source of motivation!
I've definitely experienced the effects of poorer service with more waiters at a restaurant.
I worked at a girl scout camp this summer and Friday nights, when everyone had off, we would usually go out to eat. One night we went to Chili's and were assigned one server. He was a nice, amiable guy, a little shy. We all liked him, and we got great service.
The following week we went to an Olive Garden and were assigned three waiters. They would come to service our table all at once, but at long intervals. It seemed like the service wasn't as good, because these long intervals made it impossible for drinks to stay filled and little things here and there to be taken care of in a due amount of time.
Post a Comment