This exploratory study qualitatively examines foodservice managers' behaviorally based success characteristics as identified through interviews with executives from 17 leading chain-restaurant organizations. In addition, similarities and differences between these success characteristics and what the relevant literature describes as traits common to overall management success are compared.
Every field looks for a model of the perfect manager.
Such a model serves a variety of human-resource functions. Many have suggested that, owing to the causal relationship between specific competencies and superior performance, fundamental, generic competencies exist and that these transcend industry-specific nuances. However, recent empirical research and practical experience suggests that foodservice managers are unique. This may be due to the wide range of often-conflicting perceptions of what constitutes successful performance in foodservice management. Chain restaurants were targeted because of their growing representation in terms of proportional domestic restaurant sales.