Larry Williams, the union representative in Leverett House dining hall, picked up a phone two weeks ago to talk to Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) Director Ted A. Mayer about concerns prompted by upcoming renovations to House kitchens. Mayer never returned the phone call.

Instead, Mayer sent Williams a warning--and threatened him with possible job suspension for making the call.

Adams House cook and chief union representative Edward Childs says he was baffled by Mayer's reaction. "[Mayer] is isolating himself from his staff," he says.

After three years of strained relations between Mayer and his staff over support and personality, Childs filed a serious grievance with the Local 26 Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union against Mayer last Wednesday.

At press time, Mayer had yet to respond to the grievance, but, former dining hall managers say, clashes like these contradict the "participative management" style Mayer says he applies to his 650 employees.

During a year of high-profile external change--an extensive $3 million renovation of Eliot and Kirkland dining halls--and stressful internal reorganization, hourly employees and managers alike say they have locked horns with Mayer because of what they claim is a gruff administrative style.

The retention rate has plummeted, among managers in particular; Quincy House alone has lost five over the course of the year.

"I can't walk on campus now without a manager saying, 'Can you get me a job?'" says former Adams House Manager Peter J. Atkinson, who left HUDS last fall because of "a personal conflict with management" to take a position with the Kennedy School of Government's independent dining services operation. He is still a member of the Winthrop House Senior Common Room and a first-year advisor.

Since he took the helm in June of 1997, Mayer has revamped the organizational structure and customer accountability system--difficult endeavors, especially in a tight labor market that encourages mobility among food service workers. Armed with consultants, he's also put into place a program that engages all levels of staff in strategic planning.

"I want Dining Services to more directly address the needs of Harvard," Mayer says.

HUDS has become more corporate--a move Mayer promised would build a better team from the management and staff.

But instead, dozens of staff members say, it has isolated many of them.

"[There is] a growing chasm between 67 Winthrop St. [the offices of HUDS,] and the front line of the residential dining program," Atkinson says.

"Participatory Management"

Lined with shelves of books on management--including a thick biography of automotive tycoon Lee Iacocca--Mayer's office reflects his corporate vision.

Sitting at his large conference table, he extracts laminated charts from his desk and lays them out. "We're made of two parts: technology and people. Both are necessary," he begins.