Outback Steakhouse

Question 1:

Based on the case study, what management roles does Sullivan perform?

Answer:

Management roles are identified by a management expert professor, Henry Mintzberg in year 1973. According to Mintzberg, there are ten different management roles. Thus, these roles or expectations for a manager’s behaviour have grouped into three categories which are Interpersonal roles (Figurehead, Leader, and Liaison), Informational roles (Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson) and Decisional roles (Entrepreneur, Disturbance handler, Resource allocator, Negotiator). In the Outback Steakhouse, the management roles that perform by Sullivan are entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and leader.

Firstly, the entrepreneur‘s activities for a manager include identify new ideas, sport opportunity and instigate improvement projects. This role support managers to create improvement projects and work to delegate, empower and organize teams in the development process. For example, the jobs for managers in the entrepreneur role are implement innovation and set plan for the company future. In the Outback Steakhouse, Chris Sullivan and the founders have developed a unique vision for the restaurant which they wanted to exceed customer expectation for quality and provide a fun place for employees to work. Thus, Sullivan has implemented the role of entrepreneur by created a unique vision for the restaurant.

Secondly, the role of disturbance handle is deal with clash or problems and takes corrective action. In an organisation, disturbances may come from employees, resources, threats or others mistake. At the moment, the role of a manager is to settle the conflicts between the subordinates and choose the best solution to overcome any crisis situation in the organisation. For instance, when the CEO Sullivan visits their restaurant, he will ask managers “are you still having fun?” in order to make sure that their employees are in high spirits to work in the restaurant....