Abstract:
The increasing costs of labor and food accompanied by limited
budgets are some of the problems facing the school foodservice director.
A plausible solution for cost increases is more efficient
use of time. The purpose of this research is to develop a method to
determine the time spent in common job functions by school foodservice
directors with an outcome of providing an initial time data
base for ultimate time and performance evaluations.
A two part questionnaire of all sixty-eight school foodservice
directors in Oregon was conducted to identify how time was allocated
among job functions identified by the American School Food Service
Association, 1978, and among routine office tasks. Part one: an
estimation of time allocations per job functions and demographic
information was requested. Part two: a time study in which the
school foodservice director kept a record of activities for a five-day
period. The response rate was fifty percent.
Of the school foodservice directors surveyed, there were no
significant differences in the estimated and actual amount of time
spent in job functions for eighty percent of the sixty-one job
functions surveyed. Of the twenty percent with significant differences,
the majority were overestimates of time spent in job functions.
Demographic variables correlating with significant differences in the
estimated and actual time spent in job functions were: (1) education
level, (2) number of years in the foodservice profession and (3) number
of days of administrative assistance. The majority of school
foodservice directors surveyed accurately plan their time to complete
job functions.
