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1<br />
Team Concept in Employee Relations<br />
Vital for Sound Theatre Management<br />
By<br />
ALLEN M. WIDEM<br />
Psychology, psychiatry and the<br />
social sciences have pointed to the need for<br />
objectivity in hiring and firing personnel,<br />
and while that may seem light years away<br />
from modern-day cinema management<br />
modus operandi, the alert management<br />
executive aware of the need for a best-footforward<br />
stance at all times will take heed<br />
of such a concept.<br />
Cashier, doorman, usher, refreshment<br />
stand attendant—they all are in the forefront,<br />
in the public's view, so to speak, and<br />
the manner in which they conduct themselves<br />
is a continuing reflection of management's<br />
outlook. An attentive cashier is a<br />
positive influence, certainly, whereas a<br />
bored, gum-chewing slouch is a business<br />
deterrent.<br />
Personnel turnover is as inevitable as a<br />
reflex motion: a woman leaves to have a<br />
baby, someone else returns to college, a<br />
doorman retires. Replacing personnel is not<br />
to be accomplished in a fleeting moment.<br />
A search-and-seek evaluation must be accompanied<br />
by a manager's consideration<br />
for immediate needs, long-range projection<br />
of how important a staff post is and how<br />
important that staff post can prove to be in<br />
providing management-calibre training.<br />
Through the years, many cinema managers<br />
have found that the soundest rationale<br />
to be applied in finding a replacement is<br />
personal recommendation—a retiree knows<br />
of someone who is looking for a job; a<br />
cashier recalls someone working in a similar<br />
capacity in the retail field. The potential<br />
is<br />
endless.<br />
Another avenue used with varying degrees<br />
of effectiveness is the classified advertising<br />
section of the local newspaper.<br />
Ten to 15 words should be more than ample<br />
to alert a classified ad page reader to a<br />
job availability. From that point, it is up<br />
to the manager or alternate to determine if<br />
the applicant is (1) sincere in seeking a<br />
theatre job; (2) a malcontent with a track<br />
record of drifting from one niche to another;<br />
(3) desirous of finding a job to fit the<br />
hours he or she thinks are best in which to<br />
work, and, resultantly, informing the interviewer<br />
that he or she can be available for<br />
just so much time in the course of a working<br />
week.<br />
Job interviews should be conducted,<br />
most emphatically, in the privacy of a manager's<br />
office. A minimal 15 to 20 minutes<br />
should be designated—even for a lowerechelon<br />
job that doesn't call for immense<br />
intellect. Making an individual feel important<br />
can be later reflected in an obvious<br />
willingness to do just a little more than is<br />
expected or requested during a working<br />
week.<br />
Care should be exercised to inform the<br />
applicant that motion picture exhibition<br />
demands night-and-weekend schedules.<br />
ones that are flexible, certainly, but mandatory—and<br />
this applies to the manager as<br />
well as anybody else!<br />
While a job application should contain<br />
the basics of the individual's lifestyle, conversation<br />
can illuminate doubts—traffic violations?<br />
misdemeanor/ felony charges? alimony<br />
overdue? and anything else that will<br />
Continued on page 22<br />
I<br />
IMPROVE YOUR THEATRE<br />
AND YOU<br />
IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS<br />
SILENT SALESMAN<br />
Doesn't Boil or Steam Flavor Out<br />
k\ STEAMETTE<br />
Portable Steam Table<br />
water under pans<br />
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without<br />
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F.O.B. QUINCY, MICH. 49082<br />
GREER ENTERPRISES, INC.<br />
BOX 35, QUINCY, MICH. 49082<br />
MORE<br />
INFORMATION<br />
about products anil<br />
services described on<br />
these pages is available<br />
by filling out<br />
I h e postage-paid<br />
Readers' Service Bn<br />
reatt<br />
coupon on<br />
page 35 and 36.<br />
20<br />
The MODERN THEATRE SECTION