SA-CS1 - Professional Expectations Participant Handout

Case Study 1 – Aditya

Directions

❏ (3 minutes) Silently and independently review “Key Points to Review.”

❏ (7 minutes) With a partner, discuss the following questions about the key points as a
whole:
❏ What Generation learning activity has best illustrated these key points to you so
far? Why?
❏ Choose a word or short phrase that most connects these key points. Explain your
response.
❏ What would happen if these key points were not learned and used by someone
who was employed in this role?
❏ (5 minutes) Read the case study.
❏ (5 minutes) With a partner, answer the questions that follow. Make sure you can explain
why you chose your answer and why the other answers are incorrect.
❏ (10 minutes) Instructor leads whole-group discussion.

Key Points to Review

● Meeting professional standards is a basic requirement and expectation for a steward.

This is vital for both the success of the restaurant and the steward's personal career.
● A steward must meet professional expectations in the following ways: maintaining
personal grooming/uniform standards, demonstrating consistent timeliness, carrying
required supplies, and attending all briefings.
● A timely arrival means you arrive before your shift officially begins. This ensures that the
steward is ready for the his/her shift, briefed on all important information, and prepared
to ensure a seamless transition between stewards.

The Case

© 2016 McKinsey Social Initiative, Inc.

1
SA-CS1 - Professional Expectations Participant Handout

Aditya has been an L2 Food & Beverage Steward for nearly 4 months. She feels very lucky to
have this job. The guests are generally kind and the work is fast and very interesting to her.
Aditya hopes to become a manager one day but knows that she must work really hard to prove
herself so that she can first become an L3 steward with an assistant of her own.

Lately, Aditya has begun developing migraine headaches at work. She doesn’t know what is
causing them or how to relieve the pain once they begin. She’s been trying to see a doctor for
over a week but her shift hours make it very challenging. Today, she doesn’t start work until
6pm. She got off at 7am in the morning and decided to go to sleep until 2pm. She then took a
bus to the local medical clinic and registered her name. After nearly 3 hours, her name was
finally called and she got to see the doctor. The doctor explained that physical demands of her
new job as well as the random sleeping patterns were likely causing stress headaches. He
prescribed a mild painkiller for the headaches and encouraged her to sleep whenever possible.

By the time Aditya left the doctor’s office, it was 5:40pm. Her bus trip to work usually took 30
minutes so she knew that she was going to be late. Additionally, the bus was not scheduled to
arrive for another 5 minutes. Anxiously watching the time on her mobile drag buy, Aditya tried to
decide what to do. Finally the bus pulled up. Aditya jumped on and texted her colleague and
friend, Ira, to share that she was running late.

At 6:15, the bus finally pulled up to the hotel where Aditya worked. She jumped off and rushed
into the building and then into the restaurant kitchen. Her 6pm shift colleagues were already at
the briefing. Hoping that her manager wouldn’t notice, Aditya hurriedly punched into work,
gathered her supplies, found her station assignment posted on the whiteboard for the day, and
walked into the restaurant’s front-of-house to begin her duties.

The restaurant only had 4 tables of guests. Because it was slower, Aditya asked herself, “How
could I make this room better?” and decided to check the side station to ensure that it was full.
While she was straightening some of the items in the side station, Aditya heard her name called.
Straightening up, she realized that it was her manager standing with another man in a suit.
“Aditya, please come over here,” her manager called.

Aditya immediately walked over and heard her manager say, “This is Aditya. She is one of our
newer stewards but shows much promise. But wait. Aditya, where is your pin? Why are you not
wearing the hotel pin on your uniform? I did the uniform check during our briefing! How did I
ever miss this?”

Immediate embarrassed and ashamed, Aditya tried to explain, “It must have been stolen or
gotten lost. I was sure that I had it….”

Before she could say anything else, her manager caught her off. “Nevermind. Go to the HR
department and request a new pin. You can not work with an incomplete uniform.”

Embarrassed to be the center of attention like this, Aditya immediately left without saying
anything else.

Discussion Questions

1. As soon as Aditya realized that her doctor’s appointment might make her late, she should
have done which of the following? Circle all appropriate answers and then explain.

© 2016 McKinsey Social Initiative, Inc.

2
SA-CS1 - Professional Expectations Participant Handout

a. She should have followed the restaurant protocol for contacting her manager so that
she could explain the situation.
b. She should have relaxed and done her best to come to work on time—tension and
stress always make her headaches worse and she should protect her health.
c. She should yell at the doctor to work faster and tell him that he is going to make her
late.
d. She should immediately leave the doctor’s office and return at a later date when she
has more time.

2. How does Aditya best demonstrate personal responsibility? Explain your answer.

a. She quietly clocks in without making any noise so that she does not disturb others.
b. She texts her friend, Ira, she she knows that she is running late for her shift.
c. She checks the whiteboard for her station assignment instead of asking someone else
what had been read in the briefing.
d. Instead of complaining to her manager or missing a shift, she makes a plan to visit the
doctor between shifts and find a solution to her headaches while maintaining her
responsibilities at work.

3. In this case study, what is one example of Aditya demonstrating orientation to detail?
What is one example of Aditya failing to demonstrate orientation to detail? Does Aditya
take personal responsibility for her failure? Explain.

4. As soon as Aditya clocked in, what should she have done? Example your answer.

a. Aditya should run into the briefing and immediate apologize before her manager can
say anything to her.
b. Aditya should not come into work. Because she is running so late, she should call into
the restaurant and inform her manager that she is sick.
c. Aditya should quietly wait for the briefing to conclude, approach her manager, explain
that she was visiting the doctor, take responsibility for being late, and apologize.
d. Aditya should quietly wait for the briefing to conclude, approach her manager and say,
“I am so sorry for being late. I hope that you got the message from Ira that I was coming
as quickly as possible.”

© 2016 McKinsey Social Initiative, Inc.

3