Examination SCENARIO
Faculty Name:
Commerce and Law
Module Code:
COHMB1
Module Name:
Human Resource Management 1B Block 3
Date:
September 2023
Total Marks:
100
Duration:
3 Hours
Examiner:
Carika Breytenbach
Second Examiner:
Community of Practice
Copy Editor:
Ingrid Viljoen
Section A: Multiple-choice Questions
20 Marks - chapters 9,11,12 and 13
Section B: Short Questions
30 Marks – chapters 12 and 13 mainly
Section C: Application/Case Study Questions 50 Marks – chapters 9,11 and 12 mainly
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Section C
Application/Case Study Questions
50 Marks
Study the scenario and complete the questions that follow:
Case Study:
Jian Bing Café International
Source: Pixabay: Free Chinese Restaurant & Restaurant Images Online available at:
https://pixabay.com/images/search/chinese%20restaurant/ (Accessed: 3 August 2023)
Jian Bing Café International was founded in 1994 by Chen Li, as a coffee shop that served coffee, tea,
eggs, and pancakes. Jian Bing Café moved to South Africa in 2001, where it now has thirty-two outlets,
and has twenty-seven franchise outlets in other parts of the world. Its overseas outlets are in Indonesia,
Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Jian Bing Café now has a multi-page menu
with the finest cuisine from China with signature dishes typical from every host country such as South
Africa, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The restaurant is fully
booked three months in advance as tourists queue to enjoy the excellent quality of food and excellent
customer service. Jian Bing Café’s vision is to become a world-renowned restaurant famous for
excellent food, world class service and the preferred place to make memories with family and friends.
The strategy to achieve this vision is continuous learning through effective training programmes with the
focus on ‘the attitude.’
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The HR Director overseeing all HR related activities and duties is Mei Li, Chen Li ’s daughter. She
graduated in China and did her master’s degree in human resource management at UCT in Cape Town
before she took over the HR function from her dad.
Jian Bing Café has a family-style work environment and an established “promotion-from-within” policy.
There is also a strong emphasis on teamwork, where helping one another is the norm, even between
employees across outlets and departments. Each employee has a clear job description and set goals to
achieve every shift. The employees at Jian Bing Café are happy and satisfied at the workplace. One
indication thereof is the low staff turnover rate. The team spirit is high among the employees, and
everyone knows exactly what is expected of him/her and how the work needs to be done. The workflow
is excellent and productivity levels are extremely high. Top management reinforces this teamwork
culture at Jian Bing Café. The team’s output is much higher than the sum of individual efforts. Mei Li is
considering the redo of a job analysis to ensure that all work activities are properly and effectively
divided amongst every job holder for every shift. She is unsure regarding the most effective method to
use to collect the data concerning every job.
The organisation has a very flat structure, where the staff feel comfortable approaching their superiors
to discuss their problems or suggestions for improvements.
Mei Li supports her dad’s vision and linked mission for Jian Bing Café of excellent customer services,
excellent quality of food and “family is our future”. Mei Li is part of the business planning and decisions
that are taken in the business. Job openings for the outlet staff are advertised in Chinese and English
newspapers, as well as through recruitment notices at Jian Bing Café outlets. Jian Bing Café pays
above market related salaries for chefs and offers good benefits, such as a housing allowance and
vehicle allowance. The other employees, such as waiters, receive a market related salary and a
contribution to a medical aid as benefits. For the Chinese employees, the salary is better than what they
can earn in China, and they are more than happy with their salaries. They do not really know what other
restaurants pay their employees. An inherent requirement to some jobs at Jian Bing Café is to be fluent
in Mandarin. The reason is to serve the Chinese customers in their home language as the origin of Jian
Bing Café is China. It is part of Jian Bing Café’s strategy to deliver excellent customer service.
Applicants who respond to the advertisements are invited for interviews. Applicants go through two
rounds of interviews – one with the senior area manager and one with the operations manager. After
that, the short list candidates meet up with Mei Li – the HR Director, and she makes the final decision
about who the successful candidate is. Mei Li as HR Director participates in business decisions and has
therefore a full picture of the HR implications of such business decisions. Job applicants are screened
primarily for their level of commitment and willingness to work shifts. Other desirable qualities include
integrity, diligence, and honesty. Prior experience in the food and beverage industry is not essential.
Jian Bing Café believes that if an applicant is committed and willing to learn, the necessary skills to
excel in the job can easily be taught. Successful applicants then go through 2 weeks of training and
remain on probation for 3 months. Mei Li knows what the business wants to achieve and aligns all
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training programmes and any HR projects to those specific business goals. Most of Jian Bing Café
South Africa’s outlet staff are more than 30 years of age because mature workers have better work
attitudes and exhibit a higher level of job commitment. Also, most of the outlet staff are from China, with
a small proportion from South Africa. Chen Li thinks that few South Africans are interested in applying
for positions at Jian Bing Café due to the stigma that Chinese people are dirty and eat cats and dogs.
Some of the Chinese employees have told Chen Li that they do not want him to employ South Africans
as they are lazy, and the white women are always flirting with them at work. Most of the outlet staff are
full-time workers, with some part-time staff hired to complement the full-time staff when they go on
vacation or become ill. The part-time staff are being paid well and prefer to work as many shifts as
possible. The usual operating hours of each outlet are from 7am to 11pm., and the staff work 8-hour
shifts. Jian Bing Café prefers to collaborate with resilient employees who are hardworking and trainable.
Chen Li values family and friends.
The time for increases will arrive soon and Chen Li wants to implement a performance appraisal
system. No training has been done yet and the grape vine is spreading rumours regarding the
advantages and disadvantages of such a system. Employees are mostly confused. Specific expected
behaviour and goals per job must be discussed, explained and agreed upon before a new performance
management cycle starts. In previous years, all staff received the same increase no matter the job or
country to make the administration of salaries easier. Staff also received an average yearly % increase
of between 3 and 5% depending on the world economy.
The restaurant closes every year during Easter and Christmas to allow the employees to spend time
with their families and to go to church, although Chen Li himself does not practice any religion. He is a
non-believer but does recognise other religions. Each outlet has about ten staff working each of the two
shifts. The team of ten staff per shift clearly understands the workflow in the kitchen and in the
restaurant and help one another when there is a need to ensure that excellent quality food is made in
the shortest time for excellent customer service. All ten staff members are trained in all work areas of
Jian Bing Café to ensure prompt service delivery. The workflow is logical and simple and problem areas
are easily identified throughout a specific shift and can easily be fixed when a problem arises. The
emphasis on good attitude and character in the selection of outlet staff has helped Jian Bing Café build
a pool of hardworking and committed workers. Loyalty, honesty, and fairness are the most important
attributes sought in selecting store managers from among the outlet staff. All these help to keep the
staff happy and committed to the company, which Jian Bing Café believes has translated into their
serving customers well.
The main challenge Jian Bing Café faces is recruiting employees with the right attitude because the
technical skills required are easy to learn. Some applicants are unwilling to work shifts, making it
difficult for Jian Bing Café to hire them: shift work is inevitable in the food and beverage retail industry.
Jian Bing Café decided many years ago not to employ people with disabilities as it might impact
negatively on the image of the organisation. Chen Li said once in a meeting that a person in a
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wheelchair will never serve customers, a blind person prepare food, a depressed person consult with
customers, or an ADHD person take orders from customers at Jian Bing Café. Chen Li has asked Mei
Li, the HR director whether medical tests can be done during the selection process to ensure that no
applicant is employed who has HIV/Aids.
Source: Adapted from Dessler, G. 2017. Human Resource Management. 15th ed. Pearson.
End of Section C
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