XAT 2017 — Decision Making Question 8
Analyse the following caselet and answer the question that follows:
A pastor had eaten at restaurant with his troup of ten and his family. It is a norm to tip the waiter and about 20% of a waiter’s salary comes from these tips. However, while paying the bill, the pastor crossed out the automatic 18% tip charged for parties of more than eight and wrote “I give God 10% why do you get 18%?” above his signature. The chagrined waitress at the restaurant posted a photo of this on the social media. She was subsequently fired for violating company’s policy on customer privacy.
This would have been understandable if the restaurant had not posted just 2 weeks ago a customer receipt that was complimenting them. Social media and social activists came heavily upon the management’s ambivalent stand and the firing of the waitress. In response, the company posted a note on their social media page defending their actions. This quickly drew over 10,000 comments, mostly negative, to which the management started responding by posting the same note over and over again. There were also accusations of the company deleting negative comments and blocking users. The restaurant also experienced a sizable drop in their footfall.
The downward spiral continued for the restaurant as the management persisted in defending their actions and argued with those who criticised them. By the following week, the original post had generated over 18,000 negative comments.
Which of the following is the best way forward for the restaurant at this juncture?
Answer & solution
- A
Unconditionally restore the waitress to her former position and salary on the ground that she was never at fault in the first place.
Apologise to and reinstate the waitress and ask her to apologize for her breach of customer privacy and post both the apologies on social media.
- C
Reinstate the waitress provided she apologises for her breach of customer privacy and post that apology on the restaurant’s social media page.
- D
Reinstate the waitress if and only if she apologizes for her breach of customer privacy and posts that apology on her social media page.
- E
Recruit two waitress at a higher wage but stick to the original decision of firing the waitress.
Since waitress was punished in a disproportionate manner for the mistake she committed, the organization should first apologize to the waitress and offer to re-instate her as early as possible. However, waitress is wrong to display customer details on her personal social media page. She should also apologies for this act of discretion. Hence, the organization should offer to reinstate and ask her to apologize for her action, in the social media.
Hence, the correct answer is option 2.