Work Ethics in Action

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title (as applicable):

  Fundamentals of Culinary Careers

  Course Title:

  Fundamentals of Culinary Careers

  Course Number:

  8809200

  Career Cluster:

  Hospitality & Tourism

  CIP Number:

  0420040106

  Course Type:

  Orientation/Exploratory

  CTE Standard(s) and Benchmark(s):

  (Which course benchmarks are aligned with the lesson for the case study?)

  Focus

  12.04 Analyze the impact of the employee’s attitude, appearance, and actions on customer satisfaction.

  Supporting

  12.02 Identify and demonstrate the culinary duties and responsibilities of the front-of-the-house staff, i.e. table set up, accurately recording customer requests, practice appropriate serving techniques and collecting money.

  12.05 Apply concepts of quality service to ensure customer satisfaction.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “The Best Customer Service”. See CPALMS resource ID# 209299.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson helps students develop the career building skills of critical thinking, collaboration, and decision making. The students will collaborate to bridge workplace and work ethic skills that relate quality customer service to guest satisfaction.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Identify work ethic and employability skills necessary for servers in the front of the house.
  • Analyze how work ethic impacts guest satisfaction.
  • Write a narrative outcome to the case study sharing the employee chosen based upon employee performance and guest satisfaction.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with:

  • The concept of work ethics, hierarchy of front of the house positions, and general employability skills.
  • The use of guest satisfaction surveys in the customer service industry.
  • Collaboration with a small group.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How do employees' work ethics and performance impact guest satisfaction?
  • What are common behaviors and skills needed to perform in a fast-paced and diverse environment?
  • How does employee performance lead towards promotion within the workplace?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. To introduce the lesson, give students a quick survey with these possible questions:

  • Show me with your fingers: How many times have you have been late to any class this week (be honest!)?
  • Raise your hand if you have ever been late or totally missed going to an event you really wanted to attend. How did it make you feel? (Wait for responses and discuss)
  • Show me a thumbs up if you have you experienced having a server who looked unkempt (hair not secured, wrinkled outfit, messy apron, etc)? Did you want to eat there once you saw them?

  2. Review with students the concepts of work ethic and employability skills. Tell students they are going to be looking for examples of them while reading the case study.

  • Examples of work ethic: arriving to work on time, meeting deadlines, strong attendance, high productivity.
  • Examples of employability skills: communication, adaptability, teamwork, leadership, use of technology.

  3. Distribute the case study, “The Best Customer Service,” (See CPALMS Resource ID# 209299).

  • Break the class up into small groups to read and interact with the case study (see Teacher Notes).
  • Give members copies of the case study and have available highlighters or color pencils to code examples of work ethic and employability skills.
  • Suggested questions for students to consider when reading the case study:
    • What workplace skills are being showcased?
    • What is each person’s guest satisfaction percentage?
    • Why might guests complain about a server during the survey?
    • Are there possible circumstances that may be beyond the server’s control, but they are blamed for the problem?

  4. Provide the group a copy of the Venn diagram handout (see attachments and Teacher Notes).

  • Ask students to select two servers they feel might be the general manager’s possible choice for promotion from the four servers. Then, find all the ways that the two servers perform based on the guest surveys and employee summary that are the same (place in the center area of the diagram).
  • Then ask students to find all the ways that differ from each other (placed in the outer circles labeled for each employee).
  • Once the diagram is complete, have students color code the tasks as either work ethic or workplace skill.

  5. After the Venn diagram is complete, request student groups discuss which of their selected employees the general manager might promote.

  • Students can discuss how to narrow down the selection qualities they should consider based on prior lessons on employability skills, work ethics, and guest satisfaction.
  • Then students will determine the points to justify the promotion giving at least two supporting details based upon the facts of the case study and their discussion.

  6. Have students write a narrative outcome (see attachments) to finish the case study.

  • The outcome should be written from the general manager’s point of view, in a meeting with the executive chef about which server to promote to the manager-in-training position.
  • The general manager's justification for the promotion should be written out and fully explained based on what the group decided based on the Venn diagram and details from the case study.
  • Students will write at least two paragraphs that include the basis of the promotion.
  • Remind students to paraphrase the case study details to explain their reasoning for promotion not to directly copy the information from the case study.
  • Have students check their writing for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors and correct them.

  7. To bring the lesson to a close, poll the groups to see which server they decided to promote and have each group provide their justification based on the server's performance. Record student responses on available technology.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Encourage flexible groups of student reading and writing abilities with groups not being bigger than four.
  • The Venn diagram can be done on chart paper as a group and copied to handout form.

• Optional

  
  

  Extension Ideas:

  • Students can conduct guest satisfaction surveys with their family and friends about a local restaurant. Student surveys can ask if would the family return and/or recommend friends to eat at the restaurant. Encourage students to analyze the family survey results and predict what might happen next time they visit the same restaurant if the experience was not favorable the first time. Have their families gone to a restaurant based on a friend’s advice? What was the experience for their family in relation to the family that referred?