Oganization Behavior

Abstract

Misunderstandings are bound to happen in such businesses where the product sold is of American origin, served by Thais and sold to Swede’s, Norwegians, British, Thai and other people. In this case the issues affecting communication include culture, language and job accountability and responsibility. The management at the Great American Rib uses down to earth direct communication; however the Thai staff is quite the opposite which creates an ongoing challenge not only during the hiring and training process but throughout the time that the employee is spending at the company.

I. Company Profile

a. Business and Industry Overview

Several years Wes Caroll, an American who is running a construction company in Thailand got an opportunity to open an authentic American rib restaurant which was always his desire but due to his high involvement in the construction business he never had enough time to open one. In 2004 several factors came together, Wes met an American cook from San Francisco who specialized in traditional American dishes such as smoked barbecue meats, ribs and chicken wings to name a few. On the other side Wes had a Thai partner who was willing to joint venture in this project since their construction company owned an attractive location in Bangkok, thus in 2004 the first Great American Rib restaurant was opened. The concept has proven to be successful and the food liked by both the foreign visitors and Thai guests, at this point in time nearly four years after the first restaurant was opened there are four Great American Rib restaurants in Thailand; two in Bangkok, one in Hua-Hin, and one Pattaya.

The branch covered in this paper is the one in Hua-Hin which is ran by Wes’s brother Greg who also owns a jazz/blues pub in Bangkok. After having spent eleven years in Thailand Greg’s fluency in Thai language is very helpful on an every day’s basis when it comes to dealing with the Thai staff. Furthermore, Greg is aware of heavy competition in the restaurant industry in Thailand but does not have too many worries because at this point there are not too many American rib restaurants in Thailand and the one he is running is well established and has been recognized by the customers. He believes that the second most important selling point in the restaurant industry right after a well prepared food naturally is service which is one of the major issues Greg is dealing with when it comes to training the Thai staff and which is examined in this paper as an issue affecting business operations.

b. Company’s Operations and Structure

The restaurant’s daily operations include preparation of meat, the marinating and wood smoking process, pre-cooking of meals that take long time to be cooked such as American bean soup, chili bean soup and such. Other procedures include waiter’s subtasks such as serving the menus, drinks and food. In the restaurant there are up to 24 servers in the evening time when there are most customers. In the kitchen one head chef and 5 helpers, and at the bar 3 people which are preparing the drinks; as depicted in organizational structure chart below.

II. Topic Overview

One of the main issues affecting the Great Rib restaurant which are also a great challenge for Greg Caroll when it comes to managing the business are those of communication. Effective communication is probably the most important operating factor of any business but also of every day life. Throughout the day people communicate, either through body language, orally, electronically and so on. Body language for instance is often used and most times an experienced communicator can translate these messages and tell how the other person feels or whatever it is that is being expressed. However things get much more complicated when communication is mixed with other culture, so for example hand gestures (figure on the right) can quite often mean something completely different and even offensive in other culture and that is why a communicator has to be well experienced and knowledgeable about working in environments which encompass several cultures. So for example, if we form a circle with our fingers in the United States it would mean “OK”, in Brazil and Germany it is obscure, in Japan it means money, and in France it means “worthless” or “zero” (Haynes, 2004).

People communicate to express their wishes, needs or sometimes how they feel. That is why we can easily see what sort of problems can arise if communication is not clear. Sometimes these result in tragedies, for example there have been several airplane accidents due to miscommunication between the pilot and the air traffic controller which resulted in deaths of hundreds of people (Stephen P. Robbins, 2007). In restaurants consequences of such communications mishaps are of a much lesser degree however what they both have in common is customer dissatisfaction. Therefore it is easy to imagine what happens when we go to a restaurant order food and twenty minutes later we are served with a wrong dish or when the order has been misplaced because of which we are not served at all. These are the most common mistakes restaurants are facing everyday but it is up to the manager to oversee the employee, make notice of why the error is happening and try to improve the employee’s behavior through training and technical improvement.

From mentioned examples it is clear what an annoyance an ineffective communication can be between the management and employees and also how it can result in customer dissatisfaction.

III. Organizational Issue

Prior to speaking to the manager of Great Rib restaurant we have made observations of our own as the restaurants customers. After going there for the first time almost two years now and going back for more than a dozen times we have noticed some inconsistencies in the quality of service and the how often the staff managers were changing. To name a few, upon arrival sometimes the staff would greet us and show to the table while other times that service was not provided; needless to say that for virtually any restaurant operating in Thailand it is expected to provide the courtesy of greeting the customer upon arrival. Furthermore the follow up on how the food is was sometimes missing which indicates that there might be an inconsistency in the quality of training provided for the newly hired staff