OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Choosing an Organization Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Identify an organization and situation you want to study over the remainder of the course.
2. Describe the organization and the situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Name and describe your organization.

The organization is called Crabby’s Crab Shack. (an anonymous name is being
used). Crabby’s Crab Shack is a large restaurant that employes about 75 people in total,
including front staff (servers, bartenders, hosts and bussers), kitchen staff and
management staff. The restaurant is open for both lunch and dinner, seven days a week.
The majority of the staff are employed full time. Crabby’s staff is very close knit and will
often go out together after a shift to unwind. Many of Crabby's staff is tenured and been
employed with Crabby’s for over five years. The turnover rate with in Crabby’s is much
lower than an average restaurant.

2) Describe your role in the organization (it can be an internal or external role).

I had an internal role within the organization. I was a server, bartender, and a
certified trainer for all the front of house roles. I played a major role in onboarding and
training new staff. At the time I had been with Crabby’s for about 6 years, was well
respected and often traveled to other locations to assist in training. I would have new hire
training courses about once a month, and each training course lasted for 6 shifts.

3) Describe the situation, including information you think the will help the reader
understand the most important elements of the situation. (This will require
selectivity: part of the art of case writing is separating the essential facts from the
mass of information that might be included).

It was late on a Saturday night; the latest serving training course had just ended.
The five new servers included four outside hires, and one promotion from the bussing
position. The class overall did a great job, and they were excited to be cleared to be out
on the floor serving and making their own tips. Crabby’s crew loved to go out after
closing to unwind, and this time they invited the new servers. Leslie was our busser

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 turned server and was no stranger to the Saturday night unwind sessions. Gloria and
Tanner were new to Crabby’s and excited to join in. I was not feeling well that night, as I
was coming down with a cold. As we all clocked out, I offered my apologies that I was
going to head home to get some sleep, but I hoped everyone would have fun. I went
home to sleep. The next day, I called in sick, because I was still not feeling well. Monday
came along and I went in for my night shift. As I clocked in, the manager, Tony, found
me and said he needed to talk to me in the office. I followed him back through the
kitchen to the office and Debbie, another manager, was there waiting. Tony closed the
door, and asked where I was on Saturday night. I told him I closed and went home
because I wasn’t feeling well. Tony told me that something had happened between
Leslie, Gloria, and Tanner after hours and Leslie was in the hospital. I told Tony and
Debbie that I was shocked, as everyone seemed to get along fine and they left the
restaurant to go out together with some of the other staff, when we were done closing. I
told them that I was sorry, that something bad had happened but I was at home, so I was
not sure what they needed from me. Tony told me that a member of the staff said that I
was there that night and did nothing to protect anyone. He told me that I need to go to the
police and give them the information that I had, and that he extremely disappointed that I
would be a part of something so heinous. I told Tony and Debbie that I had no
information to give, because I was not there. Whoever had told them different was lying.
Tony told me to go get to work. Things had changed after that encounter, the team looked
at me differently, and I felt like I had to defend myself. People were whispering about
me, they stopped conversations when I walked up. Some people even asked me what
happened that night, to which I would reply “I have no idea, since I was not there.” After
a couple of weeks, I set up a meeting with the general manager Robert. I told him about
the conversation with Tony and Debbie and how I felt like people thought I was a part of
something bad. He apologized to me and said that something that happened after hours
and off the clock, should not impact life at work. He told me that he knew my character
and he knew I had nothing to do with the situation. He said he would talk to Tony and
Debbie about it. Eventually, things returned to normal. Leslie came back to work and
Gloria and Tanner never returned. I am not sure if they were fired, or just stopped
showing up.