Introduction
Culture can be one of the most challenging obstacles in business organization. This is because culture is diverse, and it is beyond the realm of ethical boundaries. By saying culture is beyond ethical boundaries, it means that the culture cannot be argued ethically incorrect because culture is distinct to a given group of people since it is rooted upon traditions. This is being the case, one’s practice, behaviors and principles could be in accordance to one’s cultural beliefs or heritage and no one can argue that is wrong because it has been what defines a community for the longest period of time, perhaps even longer than any existing business in the world. However, this is not to say that an organization should not a culturally diverse workforce because this can, in fact, be a strategic advantage especially in the hospitality industry including in the food and beverage industry.
This is the working environment that exist at Temptation Restaurant right at the heart of Taylor University Malaysia. Aside from being a profit-oriented establishment, the Temptation Restaurant also serves as a training facility for student interns in Food & Beverage and Kitchen Department. Serving a variety of rich culinary dishes from different parts of the globe, the restaurant benefits from its diverse work pool composed of students from China, India, Malay and other parts of the world. In lieu with this, the proponent would like to study how cultural difference significantly affect work performance within the restaurant.
Problem Statement: This study is designed to understand how cultural differences impact work performance at Temptation Restaurant. Specifically, the proponent would like to know whether cultural diversity significantly affects efficiency and productivity of the organization as measured by profit and number of tables served.
Discussion
Workforce diversity is something that is endorsed business analyst and marketing specialist for the simple argument that this practice is beneficial for the credibility of the organization. At the same time, it is an effective marketing strategy that has been proven to work for majority of multinational organizations worldwide. Nevertheless, there could also be some problems that could come along such practice especial if the values of the organization and the culture within the organization runs opposite to the individual employee’s value system. In lieu with this several frameworks had been developed to help organizations address the issues typically encountered as a result of fostering cultural diversity within the organization.
The proponent of this study will conduct an ethnological research that would examine a particular population and how it relates to a particular social phenomenon (Bentz & Shapiro, 1998, p.117). In the case of this paper, the proponent would like to know what effect does cultural diversity has over the work performance of the employees, as well as the performance of the organization.
The proponent aims to observe student interns working at Temptation Restaurant to establish how individual cultural diversity significantly affects the performance of efficiency and productivity of the organization. Since the proponent decides to adapt a qualitative study, data will be supplemented with empirical evidences gathered through observation and extensive literature review. In addition, the proponent will also conduct an unstructured interview to understand how culture plays a role in the interns’ fulfillment of their duties. The literature review as well as the framework for the interview will take into account the concepts and principles embodied within the following frameworks: (a) Intercultural Communication Model, (b) Trompenaars’ Seven Values Orientation, (c) the Five Factors in Geert Hofstede's Model and finally, (d) the Nine Cultural Dimensions under the Globe Model.
The proponent will conduct an interview that would include Temptation Restaurant’s F&B manager, the training supervisor and the student interns. An interview guide will be constructed for the purpose of this study. Empirical data will be supplied through observation, interview transcription and extensive literature review.
Alternative Action
During the course of the observation, it revealed that each student interns seemed to be properly guided by the culture that works in the Restaurant. All interns cordially respond in the same manner every time they approach a guest or a customer. In addition, while the language difference can be an issue especially for the non-Chinese and Malay-speaking interns there is the conscious effort to respond and converse with the customers in English. Communication wise, as expressed in the Intercultural Communication Model, it can be observed that the interns have bridged the commonly identified issues of stereotypes as far as this attribute is concerned. Gudykunst and Kim opens the discussion on the intercultural adaptation theory communicative competence (2003). According to the authors, there is a need for the continuous process of decultruation and acculturation to bring people of diverse cultural backgrounds the capacity to blend in and adapt the system in a given environment (p. 360). The interns at Temptation Restaurants have the degree of confidence to interact with people of different ethinic backgrounds because they do not feel the pressure of being the sole “culturally-different” member of the staff. During the interview, an Indian intern in-charge of waiting the tables verbalized, “there is no uneasy feeling that you are different because everyone here is different in their own unique ways.” However, not everyone share this feeling. In fact, from the observation it revealed that the female interns particularly the non-Chinese speaking interns were more quiet and reserved than the others. They do not join in the group discussions and they hardly engage in afterschool and afterwork activities. A 21-year-old Thai female intern said, “it is hard because join in because they almost have a common interest and it seem like they can understand each other.”
In addition, from a general observation it also appears that women were not seen taking in orders but most are kept in the kitchen instead of allowing them to interact with the customers. When the training supervisor was asked about this, he revealed that the restaurant has a special system that places everyone in areas where they can be most useful and productive. From a study conducted by their R&D team it revealed that most women interns have a special skill in plating and food preparation. This is the reason why most of the female interns are assigned in the kitchen thereby limiting their exposure and opportunity to interact with the customers. From this observation it can be related to sex and gender stereotypes that is discussed in Robert House’s concept of Gender Egalitarian presented in the Globe Conceptual Model . Gender Egalitarian presupposes that organizations and society should at all cost try to minimize and limit gender inequalities. Instead, House asserts that societies should start de-emphasizing individuals on the basis of their biological-sex as far as duties and responsibilities are concerned. Thus, Temptation’s practice might somehow be on the prejudiced-side of gender egalitarianism in the perfect sense that the female interns at the restaurant were being assigned to their position based on the typecast role that women play at home being “domisticated”.
Recommended Solution
There wre good points and there were missed points based on the study conducted at Temptation Restaurant. While the interns and the management fosters individual growth capitalizing on the argument that it facilitates for the equivalent growth of the organization, there is the obvious gender egalitarianim and hedonism that prevails in the organization. The practice that women onterns are being kept secluded in the kitchen and function in “domesticated” roles can have a negative implication to the image of the restaurant given of the nature of the institution being a learning facility at the same time a profit-oriented enterprise. Temptation cannot rest in the argument and justify this practice as a a result of research because despite the result, the management should know it foster stereotype and gender discrimination.
At work, employees are almost always encouraged to go out of the box. In fact, this is always the challenge for employees. Nevertheless, if employees are challenged to meet this, employers and the management are also expected to sometime go out of their way to help out or to try and assist their employees. This was something favorably observed at Temptation Restaurant. Interns along with the managers and supervisors are often observed to go out of their way to assist and ensure everyone are performing according to their duties and their capacity. Again, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner included this in Seven Values Orientation that they’ve discussed. In the values of Individualism vs. Communitarianism, Temptation interns and management are observed to practice and preserve the ideology of individualism or promoting the individual capacity because they unanimously agree that if they ignore the obvious need to extend help, everyone’s work will eventually be affected. Thus, instead of pushing for the growth of the company, they push for the growth of individuals because the company will be carried by the success of the individual, a similar argument proposed by the authors of the Seven Values Orientation .
On the other hand, based on the interview conducted, it revealed that majority of the student interns working at Temptation are still very idealistic. They are in the gullible stage that they want to save the world and they still embrace the messianic tendency. In an online article, it mentioned that communities and organizations should be mindful of this tendency along with romanticizing the poor . 7 out of 10 interns interviewed respondend that they would most likely violate a company policy if it meant helping other people as the case of giving the leftovers to the beggars and scavengers. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner discussed this under the principle of Universalism vs. Particularism. This is the conflicting ideology on which to prioritize over rules and personal relationships . Similarly, when the participants of the study were asked on a follow-up to this question 8 out 10 said that in case of making a choice between work and commitment to another person, they would more likely choose the commitment. Harry, 25, (Malay) said, “work should never force their employees to choose between work and family. It shows lack of humanitarian cause.” According to Temptation Restaurant’s F&B manager, this issue had come up more than once in a month. However, the management tries to be as understanding as possible provided that the interns are able to justify that the purpose of their absence were for the purpose of familial duty.
References
Bentz, V., & Shapiro, J. (1998). Mindful Inquiry in Social Research. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publishing.
Community Organizers Multiversity, Inc. (2010, January 20). What are the tendencies that community organizers need to guard against? Retrieved from Community Organizers Multiversity Website: http://www.comultiversity.org.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117%3Acom&catid=31%3Acom&Itemid=54
Gudykunst, W., & Kim, Y. Y. (2003). Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication. New York: McGraw Hill Publishing.
Hampden-Turner, C., & Trompenaars, F. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing.
House, R., Hanges, P., Ruiz-Quintanilla, A., Dorfman, P., Javidan, M., & Dickson, M. (1999). CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONS: PROJECT GLOBE. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
