In February 2008, Emile Fortin2, 46, quit his accounting job to start his own business. A sociable individual,
Mr. Fortin could no longer imagine himself aligning numbers all day long. So in August, with the full support
and the constant collaboration of his creative spouse, Gillian, he opened a small independent bistro in the
midst of a local shopping mall (a common location for a bistro where they live). Slowly, the bistro’s reputation
and popularity have increased, thanks to its original cuisine, its relaxed atmosphere, and its reasonable
prices. Currently, the bistro employs 28 people: 2 hostesses, 11 servers, 5 busboys, 6 cooks, and 4 dishwashers.
The bistro has taken a big place in the life of the family. From the beginning, Emile and Gillian involved their
three sons. At 18, Alan helped his mother with the purchases. John, who was 17, did some cleaning. Robert,
then 16, chose to be a busboy on weekends. Today, almost all restaurant-related issues are discussed
by the five members of the family at Sunday’s brunch (since the Bistro is closed on Sundays and Mondays).
Even vacations are consumed by the restaurant; a vacation is an occasion to remodel or to do some upkeep
or to rethink the menu. For example, Gillian, who is in charge of everything related to food, often tests
new recipes during her time off. Emile, who is in charge of everything related to the administration of the
place, never hesitates to help whoever needs help. As for the children, Robert is the one who has stayed
with the restaurant work, has learned from it, and hopes to get more and more involved with it.
After cleaning up the tables, Robert started serving tables. Eventually, Robert took up managing the restaurant
on Saturday nights. As such, he now organizes the work of the crew for this most important night.
Even though he is younger than most of the people he supervises (He is now 20), he seems to have managed
to earn their respect. They listen to him, and they do as he asks. He respects them and listens to
them as much as they respect him and listen to him. In fact, never did the people with whom he works opposed
him in any way nor did they ever comment negatively on his work or misbehave in his presence or
get angry at him. On the contrary, under his supervision, his Saturday night crew arrives early to start preparing
the night before the shift officially starts, and most of them (with the exception of the single parents
amongst the workers) stay after the bistro closes to share a late night meal and finish preparing the restaurant
for the next business day.
Robert’s ambition is to stay in the restaurant business. To acquire more knowledge about management, he
has started a bachelor degree in business administration. He hopes to become a more active participant in
the decision-making process of his parents’ restaurant once he graduates.
During his freshman year, Robert met a young lady, Sylvia, whom he started dating. Sylvia is a generous
soul. Rapidly integrated in the family circle (Mrs. Fortin adores her), Sylvia quickly became fascinated by the
working of the restaurant. When she and Robert started dating, Sylvia came to the restaurant to wait for
the end of his shift. While she waited, she often helped the people around her. If the hostess was busy, she
would welcome new patrons; if a table was dirty, she would clean it up; if she were to see empty glasses of
water, she would fill them up. Servers and busboys alike started to count on her. On busy weekends, they
even asked for her help taking orders or cleaning up.
Sylvia is an only child. At the restaurant, she easily made friends. In fact, Robert’s family and the restaurant’s
crew seem to have become her family. She is happy to be of use to them. She really likes helping.
When she helps during the busiest days of the week, incidents, weird clients, and odd situations often happen.
All who have worked in a restaurant know how weird things can get when too many exhausted staff
members have to respond to too many odd requests from too many annoying customers while barely staying
awake at the end of a long, tiring shift. Sylvia, who sees it all without being responsible for any of it, often
end up using her storytelling talent to recount those events to Mr. and Mrs. Fortin around the family mayhems.
In September of this year, the restaurant’s clientele increased so much that Mr. Fortin decided to hire new
people in the kitchen and on the floor. He has offered a job to Sylvia who has accepted enthusiastically.
She and Robert plan to marry and want to put as much money aside as they can. Her hiring is to the other
servers’ likings as well. In fact, they were starting to feel a little uncomfortable having Sylvia do so much
work for free. So, having her being paid for what she does seems fairer to all involved.
In her new salaried position, Sylvia feels more responsible about what is happening around her. What she
considered amusing anecdotes, she now views as problems. Robert is slowly developing the same negative
attitude toward those then-funny events. In reaction, he has tried to use his newfound knowledge of management
to remedy the things he think are problematic, most of the time, to no avail. He and Sylvia are becoming
so consumed by these work-related activities and responsibilities that Mr. and Mrs. Fortin are starting
to think that the restaurant is no longer performing well on Saturday nights.
Emile, always the energetic man of action, has decided to “correct the situation.” Since all he and Gillian
know of what is happening on Saturday nights come from the stories Sylvia continues to tell during Sunday’s
brunch, Emile has started using these stories as the basis of his actions. For example, Sylvia’s receipts are
higher on average than anyone else on the floor (and Robert confirms this). She claims that she sells more
because she always offers her clients a cocktail (even if just a beer), an appetizer, and a dessert in addition
to suggesting more “exotic” (understand pricy) combination of food. On the basis on her stories, Emile has
met with the rest of his servers and has asked them to start doing what Sylvia does. Since the staff was incredulous,
Emile showed them Sylvia’s receipts to prove to them that it could be done.
Since then, certain servers have tried to modify their behaviors to match Sylvia’s techniques, and the weekends’
total receipts have increased.
However, Robert and Sylvia seem to have more difficulties than before dealing with the rest of the crew.
Last month, Robert had to refill the beer refrigerators himself because the person responsible for it arrived
exactly when his shift started and left exactly when his shift ended. Other people have started doing the
same thing, arriving at the last minute, just in time to start working, and no longer lingering after work to
finish things up. Last week, a server called in sick at the last minute, and no one else Robert called could
make it that night. As for Sylvia, her sales have first stalled and are now declining maybe because she is now
assigned to tables with single clients or elderly couples. In addition, many of her clients have started complaining
that the food she serves is lukewarm at best, and her tips have also declined. Robert and Sylvia are
under the impression that the other members of the crew are switching topics when either of them walks
by. Yesterday, Sylvia realized that her best friend, a fellow server, had had a shower for her impending
wedding. She had not known about it and had clearly not even been invited (nor has she received an invitation
for the wedding itself).
Robert is troubled by what he sees happening at the restaurant. Wanting to understand what is happening,
he has come to talk to his Organizational Behavior’s professor.
Framework for answer
First paragraph = Students should introduce the case (What is this case all about?). In order to introduce the case,
students should do the following: 1- summarize the situation (1 point), 2– theoretically introduce the topic of leadership:
this is to say, students should explain what “leadership” is according to the textbook, using proper in-text citations
(2 points*), and 3- introduce the task at hand: this is to say, students should announce what they will do in the
paper (1 point). *Missing citations when required = -0.5 points; incorrect citation techniques are counted as
other writing mistakes.
In the next set of paragraphs (minimum three paragraphs), students should answer the first question: How can the
leadership of their chosen character (Robert or Sylvia) be explained? Students should choose ONE theory of leadership
and ONE character and proceed as follow: 1-write an introductory paragraph presenting and explaining (in their
own word) the theory they will use to explain their character’s leadership, using the textbook or other material to
support their explanation, and using proper in-text citations (6 points), 2-write a middle paragraph applying the theory
to their character (This is to say, taking each aspect of their chosen theory and showing how it applies to their chosen
character, 6 points), 3-write a concluding paragraph summarizing the leadership of their character according to that
theory (3 points). These analyses should be justified by the theory chosen and illustrated with information from the
case, using proper in-text citations (2 points).
Fifth paragraph = Students should answer the second question: Given the leadership theory chosen and the character
chosen, how do the students expect the other people in the case to react to their character if that character maintains
his or her current course of action (This is to say, if nothing changes, what will happen at that restaurant)? (3
points). This analysis should be justified by the theory chosen even thought “what might happen” is speculative.
Sixth paragraph = Students should answer the third question: What needs to change about the leadership in this restaurant
(and how) to ensure at least its survival and at best its thriving? Students should explain what needs to
change, using a theory of leadership to justify their suggestion (the same theory of leadership or a different one [in
which case an explanation of the theory –in their own word– will be needed before using it], 4 points). Students
should explain how that change would be introduced, using a theory of leadership to justify their suggestion (the same
theory of leadership or a different one [in which case an explanation of the theory –in their own word– will be needed
before using it], 4 points). These analyses should be justified theoretically, using proper in-text citations.
Seventh paragraph = Students should answer the fourth question: In general, which theory appears to be the best one
to understand the phenomenon of leadership in organizations and why? If we were to only remember one theory of
leadership, which theory would the students suggest we remember? Student should suggest a theory (either the one
they have previous used to analyze the case or another) that they think best explain most of the leadership phenomenon
in organizations (3 points). Students should say why they think that theory is the best one to remember (3
points).
Eighth paragraph = Students should conclude this leadership analysis. Students should do the following: wrap up their
analysis with a brief summary of what they have specifically discovered or inferred about their chosen character’s
leadership skills (1 point) and what they have discovered about leadership in general (1 point).
