THE FRIENDLY RESTAURANT

Bantas Restaurant is a very successful privately-owned operation. Bantas

has earned many industry awards in the past several years, including the
National Tourist Three-Star Award and Platinum Plate Award. Employees
are aware of Bantas fine reputation; however, lately tension has been
increasing. The primary reason is that while Bantas has recently doubled the
size of its facility and significantly renovated the interior of the restaurant, it
has not hired enough new employees. Consequently, most employees have
been working over 50 hours per week with double shifts. Although the
present employees are well-trained, well-paid, and secure in their jobs, the
stress is beginning to affect employee morale. It seems that many of the
employees feel that Bantas management has no plans to reduce the work
load pressures.
Hiring at Bantas is done almost entirely through internal recruiting
methods. Friends of current workers are responsible for over 50 percent of
current employees in the present work force. The management of Bantas
likes current employees to recommend people they have worked with in the
past. Likewise, past employees of Bantas have been welcomed back under
many circumstances. However, Bantas internal recruiting system is not
presently providing an adequate pool of applicants.
Current employees feel that the recruitment interview, as presently used, is
informal (it is done during work hours by the restaurant managers assistant)
and seems to focus on the applicants personality more than the specific
qualifications needed to perform the job. They are also concerned about the
head managers reluctance to hire additional help fast enough or to utilize
any external recruiting methods to help eliminate the problems caused by
having too few employees.
QUESTIONS :1. How would human resource planning have helped Bantas reduce some
of the problems described above?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with the current
exclusive use of internal sources for applicants?