I participated in “Work and Travel in the USA” programme last summer vacation. I learned a lot about working in a multicultural environment. During one of my shifts while I was at work, I witnessed a conflict specifically regarding intercultural communication. I was a server so it helped me a lot to interact with everyone in the kitchen. Dinner was the busiest time of the working day. I was a bit I asked one of the servers in the same shift if he could help me run an order to one of my tables. His name was Frank from the U.S. and he said he could help me. After my table had finished their meal, I asked Frank if he could help me bus the table, because it was a big top. Frank helped me bus the table, but as we placed all the dishes in the pit, this conflict broke out. The dishwasher that night was a Japanese girl, whose name I can’t recall at this time. She had been working, by herself, for the last six hours. It had been a very busy night, and I knew she had been working her hardest. Frank was also busy with his own tables and he had helped me with my twenty top. He threw his bus tub into the dish pit and said a crude remark under his breath to me. The girl in the dish pit took it as being about her right when he said it. I could see she was visibly angry about the situation as she started to walk away from her duties to take a break. During the rest of the evening I could feel the tension between Frank and the Japanese girl regarding the comment he had said to me. I knew the situation could be resolved easily if they could just sit down and talk. At the end of the night I knew I had to do something. I asked Frank to sit down with the dishwashing girl and try to work the situation out. He had no idea he had even caused a situation. He said he had said his comment to me, and had no idea that the said comment had offended this girl.
There are many ways to interpret the situation. Let us focus on the girl right now. She took it as an insult because he said something under his breath. When someone does that in Japan, it is rude. On the other hand, in the USA it is OK to say something under your breath most of the time when you are mad about something and if you do not want someone to hear. So Frank thought that he did nothing wrong but the angry girl thought that he should say he was sorry for being rude. Every American thought nothing of it but all the Japanese that worked there were a little mad. I do not think it was healthy to have a cultural conflict at work.
I personally felt that the girl was overreacting to the situation because Frank wasn't talking about her. So to him there was no reason why she should be mad at him. She should have asked if he really was before she got all mad about it. She should not have just assumed things in her own way. However imagine you were the Japanese girl, you were working very hard and someone said something bad about you and your work. It hurt your pride. You would not be in a good mood and clear mind to look at the matter straight. I would interpret it as misunderstanding. If they both had tried to put themselves in the other person’s shoes, the problem would have been worked out.
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Indeed, I totally agree with you that "it was healthy to have a cultural conflict at work." As you had mentioned, there would be tensions that can be felt not only by the parties involved but "outsiders" as well. Thus, the mood in the work place will be very sombre and heavy which is definitely not beneficial to the health of the employees and the productivity of the company.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time, I do agree with you that we should be clear and be honest with each other so that there will not be any misunderstandings. However, it is inherent in some cultures and races not to be obvious and to be more subtle instead. For example, older generation Chinese parents may be very proud of their children but normally, they would not praise them in front of their friends and relatives. Instead, they would even put their children down. To the Chinese parents, this is a form of humbleness and virtue. However, to the younger generations of children who are more westernized in their thinking, they may see it as a form of hypocrisy and that their parents do not think much of them. This is when conflicts come into place.
Similar to Anna's post, I am wondering what happens towards the end? How is the conflict between the Japanese girl and Frank resolved? It is well known that Japanese in general are exceptionally talented in the field of science and medicine, with many of the current therapeutic drugs invented by them, but more is also needed to be understood about their cultures.
Hi Anh Tang,
ReplyDeleteI think in this case it takes more than just putting oneself into the other's shoes. It is a result of what one was educated and innoculated by since they started learning. I guess that experience would be a good start for both of them to expand their knowledge of cultures - that different cultures are practised in different countries.
The girl must have been out of Japan for her first time and thus she had assumed that what Frank did was directed at her. It was not her fault. She grew up learning that such a situation is interpreted in way A. Frank, similarly, must have been ignorant of such a Japanese "culture". Hence neither is it his fault that such a conflict happened.
I believe it is basically just our daily living itself that results in many cultures being distinct in each country. These "cultures" are adopted by people of that same group without them having to learn it theoretically from the teachers in school, but a culture that is unknowingly dispensed into them as they grow up in that culture, in that learning environment.
Having sait that, it would no doubt be good if the girl was to be able to make things clear first before assuming anything.
Cheers!
Our envionment has shaped the way we respond to situations. In this case, the issue lies with both parties as their assessment is based on what they are familiar with, and does not account for the other's culture.
ReplyDeleteAs a third party, just as Anna has done with her friends, we can act as mediators when a situation like this arises the next time.
Tensions run high in the catering industry plus this took place in the USA. If Frank was not levelling the insult at the girl, I don't see why she got offended. If she can't hack it alongside everyday Americans, then she shouldn't take such a job.
ReplyDeleteI once worked in catering and had to do all the heavy lifting as the other girl from another country said that women were not expected to do that in her culture so I had to do her work all summer which was unfair.
Mrs Richardson