Case Study

"I guess it's just common sense that we need more employees when we're going to be busy and fewer employees when business will be slow. The trick is to figure out what business will be like," said Casey, co-owner of Blue Star VegetarianDeliteRestaurant.

"Yes, that is the challenge," replied Destiny, the other co-owner.

"We started our business as a good fit with the many people in our community who like vegetarian meals," Destiny continued, "and it seems to be working out. We have lots of customers sometimes, and now we have a few months of operating information to help us determine when we need more employees. We also know when we should schedule feweremployees,so we don't lose money on labor costs."

Case Study Questions: 1. How do customer estimates help managers plan labor schedules? 2. How might these co-owners evaluate the effectiveness of their scheduling plans? 3. What are some things managements may be overlooking in this situation? 4. Using the key terms from this week's lecture material and your past work experiences, what could have been done differently to avoid the outcome?