Developing Job Descriptions for Red Lobster

Red Lobster operates over 670 casual-dining seafood restaurantsin the US and Canada, employing more than 63,000 people. When RedLobster developed a new business strategy to focus on value andimprove its image, it established a new vision, mission, and goalsfor the company. The restaurant chain simplified its menu with thehighest-quality seafood it could offer at mid-range prices, tradedits restaurants’ tropical themes for a crisp, clean look withwhite-shirt-and-black-pants uniforms for its employees, and addedNortheastern coastal imagery to its menu and Web-site. Executingthe new mission and differentiation strategy required hiring fun,hospitality-minded people who shared its values.

Although Red Lobster had not had any problem with hiringrestaurant managers, the company felt that the managers it hireddid not always reflect Red Lobster’s strategy, vision, and values.The company feels that their old job descriptions do not convey thepassion and creativity that the new strategy requires from itsemployees. They want their job descriptions to help bolsterrecruitment of the kind of managers that will help advance themission and create restaurant environments where employees feelmotivated and customers feel welcome upon entering theestablishment and positive about their experience when theyleave.

The Charge

You have been hired as a consultant to help Red Lobster recruitmanagement level staff. They have asked you to design an overallstrategy that will help create job descriptions to improve the fitbetween its new management hires and its new business strategy. Jobdescriptions should help convey the importance of the RestaurantManager position within the company and also in the restaurantitself. The process you design will help them, later on, developother restaurant job descriptions for the service-level staff.

Question

Draw up a job description for the Red Lobster Restaurant Managerposition that includes, at a minimum, the following:

Job title

Overall purpose statement - overall description of the broadfunction and scope of the position

List of duties or tasks performed critical to success

Decision-making requirements

Description of the relationships and roles within the company,including supervisory positions, subordinating roles and otherworking relationships

List of minimum qualifications and what experience/competenciesan ‘ideal candidate’ would possess.