CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF SAINT LUCY · Cultural Analysis of Saint Lucy ... and then later ... knowledge expressed from the waiter to make this customer experience a successful one

Cultural Analysis of Saint Lucy

It is a common occurrence when someone walks into a room where they are surrounded by

people they don’t know. According to Big Think (2010) when this situation occurs, a person will

initially take in the immediate senses. These senses include the smells around them, the lighting and

space of the room and the sound of conversation knowing that they too, will blend into this crowd

(Big Think 2010). This person will then focus on who fills that room. In the attempt to become

quickly familiar with the situation around them, they take in the average age of each person; what

each person is wearing and how interested each person seems to be in their conversations (Big

Think 2010). Moreover, they take in the topic of conversation and the degree of formality used.

According to DeWalt and DeWalt (2010), the average person looks for ways to become apart of the

conversation by participating and observing (DeWalt & DeWalt 2010, p. 1). In these situations,

people engage in something called participant observation and they do this each time they meet a

new group of people.

The purpose of this essay is to gain an understanding in the importance of culture for

business. It will reveal some observations found about an organization and its culture, and then later

infer what these observations mean in light of Spradley’s concept of culture.

The organization chosen in this study is Saint Lucy - a modern Australian/Italian restaurant

located within the University of Queensland. Saint Lucy is an appropriate social setting for this

study because a restaurant is generally very accessible to anyone wanting to study the culture, and

they can become fairly immersed in it. In this study, I sat at a table in the restaurant and observed

the various interactions the waiters had with their co-workers and customers. To be seated the center

of the restaurant allowed for me to be immersed in the culture to a degree. To expand on this level

of immersion, I am a two-year-old employee of this organization which suggest that I am very

familiar with this culture. This trusting relationship can also help facilitate honest interviews about

the organizational culture and therefore, provide more insight into this cultural study. The following

CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF SAINT LUCY 1

section will now reveal some information about the organizational setting and employees of Saint

Lucy.

The study took place on Saturday 20th April, at 10am until 12pm. Saint Lucy employs

seventeen part-time waiters; three full-time assistant managers and one full-time manager. On the

day of observation, there was the manager, the assistant manager and seven waiters. Of these nine

employees of the organization working that day, there were four male and six female. The uniform

varies depending on the status the employee holds in the organization (e.g. Manager, waiter, etc.).

For instance, the manager and assistant manager wear the Saint Lucy black t-shirt, black pants or

jeans and black enclosed shoes. They are permitted to wear any kind of jewellery, nail polish, hair

style, and are even allowed to show their tattoos. On the other hand, the waiters are allowed to wear

studs in their ears and no other jewellery or nail polish. Waiters must have their hair tied back and

cover any tattoos they have. They must also wear the Saint Lucy black t-shirt, black shorts or a skirt,

the Saint Lucy red apron that features a large pocket, and black enclosed shoes. Also, the manager

and assistant managers hire mainly university students who have good social skills, worked at least

a year in hospitality, and have obtained the RSA certificate. Everyone is expected to come to work

happy, well groomed, on time and wearing the uniform to standard.

The restaurant is located next to the university tennis shop and surrounded three tennis

courts. The entire seating area for customers is outside based with awnings and large umbrellas to

protect against rainy weather. Each of the forty-seven tables vary in size to accommodate for large

and small groups. The spacing for each table is also so far away that people on one table can’t hear

another table’s conversation. As this covers the setting of Saint Lucy, the remainder of this essay

will now reveal cultural observations found out about the Saint Lucy waiters in light of Spradley’s

concept of culture.

When first sitting down at my table, I took in the high ceilings and wide open spaces of

Saint Lucy. The quaint garden in the center of the restaurant, the beach side deck chairs and couches


at each table, and the rustic iron lamps all contribute to the feeling of an oasis in the city. I hear the

shy whistle of the coffee machine when I see a male waiter cheerfully approaching my table. He

wears the Saint Lucy uniform with the signature red apron, and carries a glass of water and a menu

to me.

He greets me with a friendly smile and asks how I’m doing, what I’ve been up to and

finally, if I’d like to order anything. I respond to these questions and he writes down the order with

a pen and docket book found in the apron. He then takes the menu and puts the order into the

computer for the kitchen and bar to make. At this point, he repeats this process for another customer

who has just sat down at another table in his section.

Firstly, he collects all the necessary cultural artifacts involved in making this order. Spradley

(1980) concludes that cultural artifacts are “the things that people shape or make from natural

resources” (Spradley 1980, p. 5). In this instance, the pen and docket book; the glass of water; the

Saint Lucy menus are all key elements involved in making food orders systematic and simple for

each waiter (Spradley 1980). Moreover, the uniform the waiter wears is another cultural artifact to

distinguish him from a large group of customers, whilst also helping him carry many more cultural

artifacts (e.g. docket book, pens, etc.) in his apron as listed above (Spradley 1980, p. 5).

The waiter cheerfully walks to the customer’s table and greets her with a friendly smile.

Spradley (1980) concludes that cultural knowledge is “used constantly to generate behaviour and

interpret our experience,” (Spradley 1980, p. 6) In this instance, there is substantial cultural

knowledge expressed from the waiter to make this customer experience a successful one (Spradley

1980). The most notable piece of cultural knowledge here is that the waiter must present a positive

attitude to everyone he meets and he is required to know details about the menu and the history of

the restaurant. For a customer, this cultural knowledge makes him look competent and comfortable

in his job, and gives the customer a great restaurant experience (Spradley 1980, p. 5).


When I looked around the restaurant, I saw all the other waiters taking orders from their

customers and equally dividing which section the customers went to. I also saw the Saint Lucy

manager talking calmly to one of the waiters, followed by the waiter nodding her head intently and

smiling. According to Spradley (1980), each of the waiters were engaged in the same cultural

behaviour: serving (Spradley 1980, p. 5).

When finishing off my participant observation, I walked to the front counter and asked for a

coffee to takeaway and to pay my bill. There was a customer ahead of me who was having a slight

disagreement with the Saint Lucy barista. It seemed that the customer wanted his coffee hotter than

the barista had made it, and the barista insisted that his coffee milk could only be boiled at eighty-

three degrees Celsius because any hotter, and it would become a safety concern. During this short

argument, it seemed that the waiters within an earshot of the argument became concerned. Their

concern was evident through their nonverbal communication as they were beginning to crowd the

area; displayed a concerned look on their face and were listening intently trying to find a solution to

the problem. It seemed as though the waiters were trying to diffuse the argument by having their

posture bent forward, head slightly turned to one side, and saying, “mm-hmm” to the man as he

argued. The barista stood his ground and this made the customer more upset making the atmosphere

quite tense. Without hesitation, the manager stepped in and agreed to make the coffee again with no

problems, but to take care when drinking. The barista stepped aside and while proceeding to go out

the back, he whispered, “Sorry, Claire (the manager)” and the manager said with a smile, “it’s

alright.” The customer was pleased about getting his coffee and walked away.

I was served next by the manager whom I paid and proceeded to make my takeaway coffee.

I was thankful for it and she said, “Anytime, Zara.” I then thanked the manager for her hospitality

and exited the restaurant concluding my observation. The next section will reveal an ethnographic

cultural analysis of the observed social setting.


Spradley (1980) explains that ethnography is the study of two levels of cultural knowledge

explicit culture and tacit culture (Spradley 1980, p. 7). DeWalt and DeWalt (2010), defines explicit

culture “to be apart of what people can see about themselves. In contrast, tacit culture remains

outside our awareness” (DeWalt & DeWalt 2010, p. 2). When thinking back to the barista arguing

with the customer over how hot the coffee should be, the atmosphere in the restaurant around us

became tense. This was due to every waiter’s tacit cultural knowledge being challenged by this

barista. Hochschild (1983) admits that there is a great deal of emotional management required in

providing successful customer service (Hochschild 1983, p.121). Rose (2009) explains that

regardless of what the waiter feels that morning, the customer requires the waiter to display positive

emotion which is acceptable for customer service (Rose 2009, p. 30). Thus, when the barista argued

back at the customer, the customer did not see it as acceptable and became upset. The waiters then

became concerned with the barista because it questioned each waiter’s tacit cultural knowledge

(Spradley 1980, p. 7).

Another inference suggests that Saint Lucy operates on a flat organizational structure. There

are a few reasons to infer this. The first being that the waiter’s explicit cultural knowledge had each

waiter organizing their own sections and communicating to each other where each customer would

sit (Spradley 1980). Ashness and Lashley (1995) explains how a small organization can benefit

greatly from a flat organizational structure (Ashness & Lashley 1995, p. 29). Employees are more

productive and committed to their job when they are involved in the decision-making process,

instead of being watched by many layers of management (Ashness & Lashley 1995, p. 29). An

inverted pyramid featured in Appendix 1 shows Saint Lucy’s three leveled flat structure. Andrews

(2009) states that they have waiters who are the frontline operators, specialists who are the baristas

and chefs, and top management being the Saint Lucy manager (Andrews 2009, p. 76).

According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (2001), it is evident from the waiters asking

many questions to their superior that Saint Lucy uses upward communication (Hofstede 2001, p.


89). The manager also shows that Saint Lucy has a fairly low power distance due to the manager

making her subordinate a coffee (Hofstede 2001, p. 131). It is also evident from Trompenaars and

Hampden-Turner (2000) that Saint Lucy’s has an Eiffel Tower culture (Trompenaars & Hampden-

Turner 2000, p. 176). An Eiffel Tower culture is defined as “a culture that is characterized by strong

emphasis on hierarchy and orientation to the task,” (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 2000, p.

176). This is evident through waitering job in Saint Lucy because everything is co-ordinated by the

manager (e.g. the use of sections for waiters to work in). The hierarchy of Eiffel Tower culture is

exemplified by the limitations of uniform choice the waiters have compared to their superiors.

According to Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (2000) managers of this culture keep this

hierarchy explicit to sometimes provide a sense of control between employees and themselves

(Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 2000, p. 176).

Saint Lucy also appears to have a high context culture. According to Hall (2000) high

context cultures involve messages to be implicit and indirect, which can come from employees

working with their colleagues for a long period of time. They can start to rely on facial expressions,

timing and tone of language rather than just the message (Hall 2000, p. 36). This can be seen

through the argument between the barista and customer. The barista did not say to his manager, “I

need help diffusing this situation,” but rather the manager sensed trouble from the concerned-

looking waiters, stepped in and diffused the situation for the customer and barista. Finally, it

appears that Saint Lucy operates on a collectivism culture (Hofstede 2001, p. 89). According to

Hofstede (2001) collectivism culture underpins an organization that holds tightly-knit framework

where individuals work as a team and can rely on each other’s aid when needed (Hofstede 2001, p.

89). The most notable example of this tightly-knit framework is Saint Lucy’s use of sections as it

makes waiters work together to achieve the common goal of serving the entire restaurant. Many

new insights have been added to my perspective from this cultural analysis. The most notable

insight is that realizing that Saint Lucy operates on an Eiffel Tower culture which can help me


understand the roles and status of my job there as a waiter (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner 2000,

p. 176).

From the inference above, this essay has shown how important it is for organizations to

maintain a strong common culture amongst employees to facilitate healthy business. Saint Lucy has

been shown to have a flat organizational structure and this is seen to be beneficial for employees

and employers. Saint Lucy also seems to holds strong collectivist values within their business

culture, with a hint of Eiffel Tower culture to keep the manager in control (Trompenaars &

Hampden-Turner 2000, p. 176). Saint Lucy’s waiters make constant use of cultural artifacts, cultural

behaviors and cultural knowledge to organize their behaviours, and make sense of their roles in the

organization (Spradley 1980, p. 5). International businesses could use the cultural structure of Saint

Lucy as an example for successful business culture for hospitality in Australia. Finally, Spradley

(1980) has taught us that ethnography is not just a tool used by anthropologists to study cultures

different to our own, but rather it is a way of understanding cultural diversity (Spradley 1980, p. 5).


References

Andrews, S 2009, Human Resource Management: a textbook for the hospitality industry, Tata McGraw-Hill Education: New Delhi.

Ashness, D & Lashley, C 1995, Empowering Service Workers at Harvester Restaurants, MCB University Press, Nottingham.

Big Think Editors 2010, The neuroscience of cocktail party conversation, Big Think, viewed 24 September 2010, http://bigthink.com/going-mental/the-neuroscience-of-cocktail-party- conversation

DeWalt, BR & DeWalt, KM 2010, Participant Observation: a guide for fieldworkers, 2nd edn, Rowman Altamira, Maryland.

Hall, ET 2000, ‘Context and Meaning,’ Intercultural Communication, 9th edn, pp. 34-43.

Hochschild, AR 1983, The Managed Heart: commercialization of human feeling, University of California Press, Berkeley.

Hofstede, G 2001, Culture’s Consequences: comparing values, behaviours, institutions, and organizations across nations, 2nd edn, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.

Rose, M 2009, The Working Life of a Waitress, 8th edn, Mind, Culture and Activity, New York.

Spradley, JP 1980, Participant Observation, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

Trompenaar, F & Hampden-Turner, C 2000, Riding the Waves of Culture: understanding diversity

in global business, 2nd edn, Nicolas Bradley Publishing, Florida.


http://bigthink.com/going-mental/the-neuroscience-of-cocktail-party-conversation




Appendices

Appendix 1: Shows flat organisational structure of Saint Lucy’s. Frontline operators are the waiters, specialists are the barista and chefs, and top management are the manager and assistant managers.

Andrews, S 2009, Human Resource Management: a textbook for the hospitality industry, Tata McGraw-Hill Education: New Delhi.


Appendix 2: Field notes of study taken from Saint Lucy’s.

Time: April 20, 2013. 10am - 12pm.Location: Saint Lucy’s CafeLocation Description: Open spaces - high ceilings with rustic brown lamps, garden in center of restaurant. 47 Tables - all different sizes. Surrounded by deck chairs or couches. Spaced evenly apart. Can’t hear neighboring table’s conversation. Coffee machine in bar area. Separate from seating area.Restaurant surrounded by tennis shop and 3 tennis courts.All outdoor seating - umbrellas and awnings present. Massive area. Staff - 9 employees working Manager and assistant manager present7 waiters - 4 male, 6 female.Staff Uniform varies - Manager wears - jeans, uniform t-shirt, black enclosed shoes. Hair down, painted nails and dangly earrings.Assistant Manager wears - fake nails, pink up-do hair, ‘fleshy’ earrings, tattoos covering legs and an arm exposed, dark eyeliner. Uniform t-shirt, black enclosed shoes and pants. Waiters - Clean nail polish, hair tied back, studs or nothing. Apron, uniform t-shirt and black shorts or skirt. Staff Artifacts -Docket BookMenusComputer Monitor (for placing orders)Pens ApronStaff Knowledge -Every staff member is smiling almost all the time.Cheerfully greeting customer’s at table - asking how they are before asking what to orderWorking in sections - controlled by managerManager oversees all operations but not serving tables but greeting customers, directing to table and ordering waiters to attend to tables.Heated Argument over Coffee Temperature - At the bar, between old man and barista. I’m behind customer and barista displays calm look while fighting over the temperature that the coffee should be and what it is. “83 degrees or it will burn you” says barista. Waiters around gather and show concern. Head titled to one side, “mm-hmm” to man and posture of involvement. Manager walks into the bar and stops the argument with agreeing with customer, and making him a coffee without batting an eyelid. Barista goes out back and thanks manager for diffusing argument. Manager says that it is alright. Waiters begin to look busy again. I then get made a coffee and pay the check. Observation complete.


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CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF SAINT LUCY · Cultural Analysis of Saint Lucy ... and then later ... knowledge expressed from the waiter to make this customer experience a successful one