Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Cultural Elements
The Book talks about how an organization shapes how “its members think, act, and behave in particular ways” (128) I find this very interesting I used to work in a very small Sushi restaurant that was privately owned. Inevitably when ever the father and daughter were fighting the whole restaurant was in a bad mood and when they were getting along there was a light air in the whole room. I never realized that what was happening in our restaurant was involved with cultural elements. As a Japanese restaurant we had to use metaphors to describe our foods so that less experienced customers would understand what some words were. We performed rituals everyday in that we had to perform certain tasks to make everything run smoothly. As for storytelling there was always one to tell. We had artifacts around the restaurant that represented the Japanese lifestyle. The Head Sushi chef was our role model because he was always kind and calm. Every time we would go u[ to a customer performance was watched by our boss to make sure we were being professional. As a family organization our values were to be very polite and give the customer what they wanted with in reason. As an employee I did all of these things never understanding that I was daily involved in a culture. I was also performing cultural elements. I never understood how much communication played in our world. I always had a very elementary view of communication, especially organizational communication.
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2 comments:
I also thought it was very interesting that organizational communication is in our everyday activities. I can also relate to you when you say that "you had a very elementary view of communication," it's interesting how one uses it all the time, and we don't even realize it. You mentioned how you worked at a Japanese reataurant, and how you had to use metaphors to describe the food to the less experienced customers. I used to be one of those customers, because I never wanted to order things off the menu if I did not know what it was.
I think this is a great example of metaphors, rituals and performances in a common setting. Your example of the father/daughter mood affecting the entire restaurant is interesting! I think this happens in the workplace as well. Management’s actions easily affect the rest of the group. If the manager is in a bad mood, this can trickle down to the workers who might work a little quieter that day as not to disrupt his/her mood even further. The rituals you mention are also important as they reinforce the organization’s values. Being polite and pleasing the customer were very important to your workplace and were reflected in each of the employees.
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