Prompt
You manage a small restaurant, and the owner has told you to cut total staff hours by 30 percent for the slow winter months. You have five servers. Ruth has worked there for 14 years and is the most skilled. Jamal is a university student who needs his hours to pay this term's tuition. Elena is raising two children on her own. Tom started two months ago and is still learning, but he is the only server available for weekday lunches. Kim is the fastest server on busy nights, and she has told you she will quit if her hours drop. You could spread the cuts evenly, or cut some people's hours much more than others. How would you decide?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Empathy and compassion
- Professionalism and integrity
How to approach this question
This MMI station tests how you make a hard resource allocation decision when the people affected have different claims: seniority and skill, financial need, and what the restaurant needs to stay open. Name each server's situation briefly and say which factors you think should count, such as loyalty, coverage for each shift and personal hardship. Ask aloud whether anyone would welcome fewer hours, whether the cuts could rotate over the winter, and whether Kim's threat to quit should carry weight. Weigh an even cut against a targeted one and choose, explaining what you'd say to each person. When the station adds an offer from one of the servers, consider both her generosity and whether accepting it, or keeping it secret, is fair to everyone else.
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