3.3 First-Line Managers
First-line managers hold positions like office manager, shift supervisor, or department manager. The primary responsibility of first-line managers is to manage the
performance of entry-level employees who are directly responsible for producing a company's goods and services. Thus, first-line managers are the only managers who don't supervise other managers. The responsibilities of first-line managers include monitoring, teaching, and short-term planning.
First-line managers encourage, monitor, and reward the performance of their workers. For example, Jeff Dexheimer requires the waiters and waitresses he supervises at the upscale Melting Pot restaurant in St. Louis to memorize a complex menu and a 400-item wine list. Says Dexheimer, “They've got to know every liquor, every beer, every food item, as well as the sauces it comes with.” To reduce turnover and keep his 65 employees motivated, Dexheimer gives out $25 nightly rewards for having the best attitude or for selling the most wine. Since his employees are young and mostly single, he makes sure they work only one night each weekend. And once a week, after the restaurant closes, he takes his entire staff out for drinks. Says Dexheimer, as a manager, “I don't make myself successful. My employees make me successful.”37
First-line managers also teach entry-level employees how to do their jobs. Damian Mogavero's company, Avero LLC, helps restaurants analyze sales data for each member of a restaurant's waitstaff. Restaurant managers who use these data, says Mogavero, will often take their top-selling server to lunch each week as a reward. The best managers, however, will also take their poorest-selling servers out to lunch to talk about what they can do to improve their performance.38 Likewise, Coca-Cola manager Tom Mattia says, “I try to make every interaction I have with someone on my team a teaching experience. There are always specific work issues that need to get addressed, but then I try to explain my thinking behind an approach so people can get more experience.”39
First-line managers also make detailed schedules and operating plans based on middle management's intermediate-range plans. By contrast to the long-term plans of top managers (3 to 5 years out) and the intermediate plans of middle managers (6 to 18 months out), first-line managers engage in plans and actions that typically produce results within 2 weeks.40 Consider the typical convenience store manager (e.g., 7-Eleven) who starts the day by driving past competitors’ stores to inspect their gasoline prices and then checks the outside of his or her store for anything that might need maintenance, such as burned-out lights or signs, or restocking, like windshield washer fluid and paper towels. Then comes an inside check, where the manager determines what needs to be done for that day. (Are there enough coffee and donuts for breakfast or enough sandwiches for lunch?) Once the day is planned, the manager turns to weekend orders. After accounting for the weather (hot or cold) and the sales trends at the same time last year, the manager makes sure the store will have enough beer, soft drinks, and Sunday papers on hand. Finally, the manager looks 7 to 10 days ahead for hiring needs. Because of strict hiring procedures (basic math tests, drug tests, and background checks), it can take that long to hire new employees. Said one convenience-store manager, “I have to continually interview, even if I am fully staffed.”41