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Incident 1:
Hospitality is very demanding and quite often hotel staff is required to work on holidays and Sundays. David is a British-born bartender who was desperate to get a job in the Mediterranean. When he was hired by a Greek hotel, he mentioned he did not like to work on Sundays and the manager told him he would try his best to accommodate his wish if possible. A few weeks later the hotel was booked for a big wedding party and the F&B manager was forced to use David’s bartending skills on a Sunday night. David refused to work that night. He had to reveal he belonged to the Word of Faith community.
Members of the Word of Faith community strictly follow the rule of not working on Sundays.
Some Religious Beliefs do not allow the crossing of certain red lines. Other people find them unreasonable causing a blockage of intercultural communication.
The F&B manager does not have to automatically agree with David but must consider the request in order to avoid any form of discrimination against the employee. David on the other hand knows that working in the certain hotel would require him to work on holidays and Sundays.
Humans regard religion as sacred, holy, divine and spiritual. Some practices that are religious for one person might not be for another person, such as not working on Saturday or on Sunday. Religion is a system of beliefs that lead to worshiping supernatural forces or beings, shaping one’s perception of the universe. Believers follow texts that believe have scriptural status, containing morality rules, religious laws, preferred lifestyle, and guidelines on how to deal with both their lives on earth as well as the afterlife. Religious have their own rituals, practices, services or procedures that are specific to the religion, adopted towards the sacred text each religion has and usually take place at a certain location, a sacred spot or a dedicated temple and at a set time. Fasting or dietary restrictions are also part of some religions, where the believers are expected to not consume any certain types of food and drink at all during their lives as part of their lifestyle. Some religions declare that the believers are not allowed to consume certain types of food over a certain period of time or specific days throughout the year. Other religions state that the believers are not allowed to consume any type of food or drink from dawn until dusk during a whole month that they consider sacred.
This incident could have been avoided if David instead of mentioning that he does not like to work on Sundays mentioned that his beliefs do not allow working on Sundays, despite the fact that the hospitality industry requires working on Sundays and holidays. On the other hand, other employees also want Sundays off, not necessarily for religious purposes, but to spend time with their family, so the F&B manager should be careful enough not to discriminate against the rest of the staff.
Korotayev, A. (2004). World religions and social evolution of the old world oikumene civilizations: A cross-cultural perspective. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
McKinnon, A. M. (2002). Sociological definitions, language games and the ‘essence’ of religion. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 14 (1), 61-83.
Incident 2:
A group of five Israeli people came to the hotel’s restaurant and demanded a kosher menu. The waiter informed them there was no kosher menu to use. Instead, he offered to ask the chef to prepare something according to a kosher diet. Things got out of hand when the “specially prepared food” was served, and the group realised that a dish included vegetables stir-fried in animal fat.
A kosher diet defines the foods that are fit for consumption by Jewish people. It includes many strict restrictions related to the consumption of meat and its by-products.
Cultural Awareness refers to the beliefs and customs of a specific group, ethnicity, or nationality. It includes values, expectations, social norms, and etiquette, and it affects the way people process information and perceives the world.
Despite the waiter’s good intentions, the chef’s lack of knowledge concerning kosher diet led to serving food unsuitable for consumption to people following the specific dietary regulations due to their beliefs.
Culture as a term refers to customs, lifestyle, ethics and beliefs of a certain group that developed over time, like how things are done, how people communicate and what type of foods are consumed. People from dissimilar cultures to one’s own have different rules, norms and expectations, since they come from other countries or other backgrounds. It is important to understand that each person has different values due to our diverse cultural background, and what is considered ‘normal’ behaviour for a group of people can be something entirely different for another group of people. Language is a part of this procedure but the knowledge of a foreign language does not necessarily means that someone is culturally aware, since text books cannot teach the contextual meanings the native speakers use. Understanding your own culture and how is affecting you can help comprehend, empathise and be respectful when interacting with people that have a different background and avoid misunderstandings, unwanted errors, mistakes and conflict. Nutrition, sources of food and eating patterns are also part of someone’s cultural beliefs with traditional recipes passed down from one generation to the next.
In order for the incident to be avoided, the restaurant should have marked certain items on the menu as kosher, vegan, vegetarian and so on, in order for the staff to be informed and be able to accommodate customer dietary needs. A hotel is a place where people from various countries and cultural backgrounds meet, and the services that provided need to be custom to that specific needs. That would be beneficiary for the hotel since the guests would be completely satisfied and they will recommend it for its excellent services that are provided.=
Seibert, P. S., Stridh-Igo, P., Zimmerman, C. G. (2002). A checklist to facilitate cultural awareness and sensitivity. Journal of Medical Ethics, 28 (3), 143-146.
Rasmussen, L. J., Sieck, W. R. (2015). Culture-general competence: Evidence from a cognitive field study of professionals who work in many cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 48, 75-90.=
Incident 3:
Some Saudi Arab male guests were greeted by a waitress at the entrance of the hotel restaurant. They suddenly became hostile to her and asked for the manager. When the manager arrived, they explained to him that they did not want to be served by a woman.
Gender roles are highly patriarchal in Saudi Arabian culture. Traditionally, females are secluded from most public decision-making and are expected to obey and serve their fathers, brothers, and husbands.
Gender Stereotypes are moderated by cultural values. There are great differences in the role of the female gender in different cultures, not only in the Arab world, which cannot be comprehended by others.
The guests had to realize that they are in a foreign country with different culture, be more polite to the female member of the staff and explain to her or ask for the manager in a more delicate way, in order to explain the reasons they would like to be served by a waiter instead.
Gender stereotype is a generalized view or prejudice about characteristics that are possessed by men or women or the roles that are or should performed by women or men. In general, it involves how women and men are expected to act, speak, dress and conduct themselves, according to their sex. Gender stereotypes are harmful when limit the capacity of an individual based on his or her gender to develop their skills or attributes. These preconceived ideas whereby men and women are assigned roles determined purely by their sex present a serious obstacle to achieve gender equality and lead to gender discrimination. The persistence of stereotypical gender perceptions limit people’s freedom and choices. This leads to a strong influence on the division on roles between genders in the home, in the workplace and in society, with men depicted as wage earners and women are depicted as caring for children and running the house, resulting in a violation or violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Every country and ethnic group has its specific role expectations that differ, with women facing discrimination and violence and men expected to obey to stereotypical gender roles as well.
The misunderstanding should have been easily avoided if the guest were willing to explain in a calm manner either to the waitress or to the manager that it is not acceptable for them to be served by a woman due to the gender stereotypes of their home country. A restaurant employs both men and women so switching a waitress for a waiter would not have caused any issues and the guests would have been satisfied by that.
Lindsey, L. L. (2015). Gender roles: A sociological perspective. NY: Routledge.
Miller, A. L., Borgida, E. (2016). The separate spheres model of gendered inequality. PLoS ONE, 11 (1), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147315 .
Incident 1:
Hospitality is very demanding and quite often hotel staff is required to work on holidays and Sundays. David is a British-born bartender who was desperate to get a job in the Mediterranean. When he was hired by a Greek hotel, he mentioned he did not like to work on Sundays and the manager told him he would try his best to accommodate his wish if possible. A few weeks later the hotel was booked for a big wedding party and the F&B manager was forced to use David’s bartending skills on a Sunday night. David refused to work that night. He had to reveal he belonged to the Word of Faith community.
Members of the Word of Faith community strictly follow the rule of not working on Sundays.
Some Religious Beliefs do not allow the crossing of certain red lines. Other people find them unreasonable causing a blockage of intercultural communication.
The F&B manager does not have to automatically agree with David but must consider the request in order to avoid any form of discrimination against the employee. David on the other hand knows that working in the certain hotel would require him to work on holidays and Sundays.
Humans regard religion as sacred, holy, divine and spiritual. Some practices that are religious for one person might not be for another person, such as not working on Saturday or on Sunday. Religion is a system of beliefs that lead to worshiping supernatural forces or beings, shaping one’s perception of the universe. Believers follow texts that believe have scriptural status, containing morality rules, religious laws, preferred lifestyle, and guidelines on how to deal with both their lives on earth as well as the afterlife. Religious have their own rituals, practices, services or procedures that are specific to the religion, adopted towards the sacred text each religion has and usually take place at a certain location, a sacred spot or a dedicated temple and at a set time. Fasting or dietary restrictions are also part of some religions, where the believers are expected to not consume any certain types of food and drink at all during their lives as part of their lifestyle. Some religions declare that the believers are not allowed to consume certain types of food over a certain period of time or specific days throughout the year. Other religions state that the believers are not allowed to consume any type of food or drink from dawn until dusk during a whole month that they consider sacred.
This incident could have been avoided if David instead of mentioning that he does not like to work on Sundays mentioned that his beliefs do not allow working on Sundays, despite the fact that the hospitality industry requires working on Sundays and holidays. On the other hand, other employees also want Sundays off, not necessarily for religious purposes, but to spend time with their family, so the F&B manager should be careful enough not to discriminate against the rest of the staff.
Korotayev, A. (2004). World religions and social evolution of the old world oikumene civilizations: A cross-cultural perspective. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
McKinnon, A. M. (2002). Sociological definitions, language games and the ‘essence’ of religion. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 14 (1), 61-83.
Incident 2:
A group of five Israeli people came to the hotel’s restaurant and demanded a kosher menu. The waiter informed them there was no kosher menu to use. Instead, he offered to ask the chef to prepare something according to a kosher diet. Things got out of hand when the “specially prepared food” was served, and the group realised that a dish included vegetables stir-fried in animal fat.
A kosher diet defines the foods that are fit for consumption by Jewish people. It includes many strict restrictions related to the consumption of meat and its by-products.
Cultural Awareness refers to the beliefs and customs of a specific group, ethnicity, or nationality. It includes values, expectations, social norms, and etiquette, and it affects the way people process information and perceives the world.
Despite the waiter’s good intentions, the chef’s lack of knowledge concerning kosher diet led to serving food unsuitable for consumption to people following the specific dietary regulations due to their beliefs.
Culture as a term refers to customs, lifestyle, ethics and beliefs of a certain group that developed over time, like how things are done, how people communicate and what type of foods are consumed. People from dissimilar cultures to one’s own have different rules, norms and expectations, since they come from other countries or other backgrounds. It is important to understand that each person has different values due to our diverse cultural background, and what is considered ‘normal’ behaviour for a group of people can be something entirely different for another group of people. Language is a part of this procedure but the knowledge of a foreign language does not necessarily means that someone is culturally aware, since text books cannot teach the contextual meanings the native speakers use. Understanding your own culture and how is affecting you can help comprehend, empathise and be respectful when interacting with people that have a different background and avoid misunderstandings, unwanted errors, mistakes and conflict. Nutrition, sources of food and eating patterns are also part of someone’s cultural beliefs with traditional recipes passed down from one generation to the next.
In order for the incident to be avoided, the restaurant should have marked certain items on the menu as kosher, vegan, vegetarian and so on, in order for the staff to be informed and be able to accommodate customer dietary needs. A hotel is a place where people from various countries and cultural backgrounds meet, and the services that provided need to be custom to that specific needs. That would be beneficiary for the hotel since the guests would be completely satisfied and they will recommend it for its excellent services that are provided.=
Seibert, P. S., Stridh-Igo, P., Zimmerman, C. G. (2002). A checklist to facilitate cultural awareness and sensitivity. Journal of Medical Ethics, 28 (3), 143-146.
Rasmussen, L. J., Sieck, W. R. (2015). Culture-general competence: Evidence from a cognitive field study of professionals who work in many cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 48, 75-90.=
Incident 3:
Some Saudi Arab male guests were greeted by a waitress at the entrance of the hotel restaurant. They suddenly became hostile to her and asked for the manager. When the manager arrived, they explained to him that they did not want to be served by a woman.
Gender roles are highly patriarchal in Saudi Arabian culture. Traditionally, females are secluded from most public decision-making and are expected to obey and serve their fathers, brothers, and husbands.
Gender Stereotypes are moderated by cultural values. There are great differences in the role of the female gender in different cultures, not only in the Arab world, which cannot be comprehended by others.
The guests had to realize that they are in a foreign country with different culture, be more polite to the female member of the staff and explain to her or ask for the manager in a more delicate way, in order to explain the reasons they would like to be served by a waiter instead.
Gender stereotype is a generalized view or prejudice about characteristics that are possessed by men or women or the roles that are or should performed by women or men. In general, it involves how women and men are expected to act, speak, dress and conduct themselves, according to their sex. Gender stereotypes are harmful when limit the capacity of an individual based on his or her gender to develop their skills or attributes. These preconceived ideas whereby men and women are assigned roles determined purely by their sex present a serious obstacle to achieve gender equality and lead to gender discrimination. The persistence of stereotypical gender perceptions limit people’s freedom and choices. This leads to a strong influence on the division on roles between genders in the home, in the workplace and in society, with men depicted as wage earners and women are depicted as caring for children and running the house, resulting in a violation or violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Every country and ethnic group has its specific role expectations that differ, with women facing discrimination and violence and men expected to obey to stereotypical gender roles as well.
The misunderstanding should have been easily avoided if the guest were willing to explain in a calm manner either to the waitress or to the manager that it is not acceptable for them to be served by a woman due to the gender stereotypes of their home country. A restaurant employs both men and women so switching a waitress for a waiter would not have caused any issues and the guests would have been satisfied by that.
Lindsey, L. L. (2015). Gender roles: A sociological perspective. NY: Routledge.
Miller, A. L., Borgida, E. (2016). The separate spheres model of gendered inequality. PLoS ONE, 11 (1), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147315 .