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Management in Context
MODULE TITLE: Management in Context
(Excluding appendices/bibliographies, tables and diagrams)
To achieve the purpose of this assignment, an ethnographic study was conducted in 'Mumtaz', an Indian restaurant situated in Bradford, Great Horton Road. In this essay, the theory is explained in significance to globalization of product and services and global culture in particular. An observation of 'Mumtaz' restaurant described in this essay will explain the culture, production and services globally. It also aimed to develop a better understanding of the term 'globalization' with a focus on globalization of culture. This study, therefore, gives support to the theory in a globalize world of cultures.
Mumtaz is an Arabic word (then Persian and Urdu have adopted it) the meaning is "the famous" or "the best." The Muslim community in India, as well as in Malaysia and all the Muslim commonly uses it as a male or a female name. As I moved towards the restaurant, in the entrance, the man standing in the white uniform welcomed me with full respect. This warm gesture shown got me instantly connected to my culture. As I went inside, it was all modern and sleek. I entered first into the product section, where its own products were kept for a sale. Before moving into the restaurant I noticed a very beautiful sitting area which to my understanding could be called a waiting room. The comfortable wooden sofas and tables were representing the Indian culture of interior decoration. Thick bottle type of flower pots were topped on the wood framed table and the steel chairs with high backed leather were set around the table. It looked beautiful. There were white color walls with leather panels, paintings and spotlights on the blue borders and greenery was looking fabulous. It was artificial but it was looking original plants.
Black and metal decoration with combination of lights
Waiting room for the customers
Restaurant is on the main road. On one side of the restaurant were huge transparent glasses, thereby allowing the customers to enjoy the weather outside, along with their meal. The restaurant is very big and famous for the Indian food that it serves and the culture that it represents. They also serve seven different nationalities food. The staffs have a unique dress code, black trouser and black shirt with a logo of 'Mumtaz'. The whole staff has a common dress to avoid discrimination. Most of the waiters are students, working as part time employees. English is the common language used in the restaurant through the staff and customers. The restaurant is most of the times very busy. I went there at 1:30 pm on Saturday and I observed 25 people around me. Dining area was very informal and the place is populated with friends, families with kids and some couples - with most of them were Asians. The overall age group is 20 -45. There were two Africans and three British sitting behind me and discussed about the taste of the food. They had drinks on the table. An Arabic group of five people, two of them were girls sitting on the next table. The music played was contemporary and up-tempo, and reminded me of Indian culture.
As I looked behind, I heard a voice saying, "What would you like to order sir?" I spoke to him for two minutes. He was a student from Malaysia doing a part time work. I ordered Pakistani food. There were four types of curry, two na an and 'rasmalayi' in desserts. The taste is awesome. When finger bowls were provided, I observed that many Indians and Pakistanis used it because they are used to eating with hands instead of cutlery. In India, people rarely use folk and knife. Moreover, rest of them used tissues. While giving the feedback, I appreciated the taste of the food. I asked a question from the manager. How could he manage to develop the taste without the items that are not even available in the U.K? He told me that many of the items are imported from different countries mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, UAE, Africa and China. He said ''Mumtaz has 15 branches worldwide and we select seven best cooks from each country on a contract basis.'' The last word he said many of the celebrities come here for a taste and to know why the Mumtaz Empire is famous widely.
Review of Literature:
Culture and politics are facilitators of globalization. Edward Tylor (2007) defined culture as 'the complex of whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom and other capabilities obtain by man as a member of society'. Globalization stands for the whole public across the world. Another definition of culture comes from sociologists Zvi Namenwirth and Robert Weber who see 'culture as a system of ideas and argue that these ideas maintain a design for living'. There are five definitions of globalization that can be distinguished. A common idea of globalization can be understood in terms of internationalization, liberalization, universalization, westernization and territorialization.
From this point of view 'global' is a word which describes cross-border relations between countries, designates a growth of international exchange and interdependence. According to Paul and Grahame (2007), the term globalization is identified in the terms of 'large and growing flows of trade and capital investment between countries'. According to Walter Lippmann (2000) ''Culture is not just a decoration; it is the expression of a nation's character, and at the same time, it is a powerful instrument to mould character. Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization''.
Different authors have varied views on globalization. According to Malcolm Waters (2000), globalization theory examines the emergence of global culture. It suggests that global culture has brought about a variety of the social and cultural developments.
Robertson's definition of globalization: ''Globalization concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole''. On the other hand, globalization has covered almost every person in today's world. The trend has spread unevenly. Language is a very good example of globalization. Every country has its own language, but English is universal. Multicultural people speak English differently, each one has his own distinct way of speaking, accent, using short forms. For example we take spellings into account, UK spells out 'colour', 'realise', while Americans differ in their spelling of the same words, 'color', 'realize'. The meaning is same but the way of writing is different between both the countries.
The process of globalization to some extent is to make something easy by a convergence of cultures. For example, St Patrick's Day is a celebration of the patron saint of Ireland. The day itself is now celebrated by many others people all over the world. Admittedly, many of the Irish have at some point immigrated to other parts of the world, but this does not explain the extent to which other cultures are willing to assume the St Patrick's Day celebrations. According to Anthony Giddens(2007), a leading sociological writer on globalization said that globalization is the cultural suspension of space and time. If space is a cultural reference point for geography and national identity, the willingness of many other cultures to celebrate St Patrick's Day surely reflects a suspension of cultural space. Individuals from the UK, Australia and the US in celebrating the Irish patron saint's day are suspending, in part, their cultural attachment to their own national culture.
Hollywood and Indian entertainment industry (bollywood) are the two successful industries. They produce films, T.V. shows and a variety of music that are enjoyed not only by Indians, British or Americans, but also by many people around the world. The portrayal of Indian and western lifestyles, shops, the consumption of food, soft drinks and the belief that opportunity exists for everyone, can all be viewed and adopted while watching such movies and T.V. shows. So, if viewers around the world enjoy watching or listening to Indian or western culture, then perhaps they will also enjoy partaking in, or adopting any culture. If this is true, then the media of the country is an important facilitator of country's companies selling their brands around the globe.
According to Giddins, technology and communication is also a very good example of globalization. The ability to communicate with anyone, at anytime, anywhere in the world increases the perception of a global village, as opposed to a large fragmented global system. Globalization is a very broad aspect. The discussion on globalization can never come to an end. The more you talk, the more it takes you deep.
In the analysis, the name Mumtaz itself is a combination and used in different countries like Arabic, Indian, Brunei and Malaysia and from the religious perspective, it is mainly use among the Muslim community. The restaurant is a typical Indian restaurant. It is famous for Indian food but it also serves cuisines from across the globe. This varied menu of cuisines acts as a major attraction for people from different countries. However, the ambience and the way the food is served is specific of Indian culture. After an observation of the restaurant, sets a good example of culture. There are different customers from different countries, such as, British, Arabic, Indians, Chinese, and Pakistan. The staffs are also from different places, most of them are students from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The cooks are from seven different nationalities to maintain the taste of each country. People sit and enjoy various types of food of different countries. It looks like a western and Indian culture meeting under one roof. The language used in the restaurant is English because it is a universal language. Nevertheless, the Indians and Pakistani convey the message or make an order in their own native language to staff. One obvious way in which countries differ is language. By language, we mean both the spoken and the unspoken means of communication. Language is one of the defining characteristics of culture.
Music, taste, interior decorations, paintings on the wall, style of serving the food gives a feel of Indian culture. That is how globalization helps structuring the social relations between the countries. Different nationalities of people are working in the restaurant on different posts and everyone has to adopt the culture of the restaurant in a globalised manner. ''We all communicate with each other by a host of non verbal cues. The raising of eyebrows, for example, is a sign of recognition in most cultures, while smile is a sign of joy. Many nonverbal signals, how ever, culturally bound. A failure to understand the non-verbal sign of another culture can lead to a communication failure. For example, making a circle with the thumb and the forefinger is a friendly gesture in the United States, but it is a vulgar sexual invitation in Greece and Turkey.
The raw material for the restaurant that is not available in the country is imported from different parts of the world. According to Begg and Ward (2007), global product markets will concentrate on trading internationally, as opposed to operating internationally. Trading internationally is the export and import of goods and services from domestic locations to international markets. To achieve each country's taste and maintain the quality of food, the restaurant is importing many of the ingredients from different parts of the world.
According to some definitions of globalization, it is identified that globalization plays an important role in doing any type of the business. It is not possible for a country to produce all the goods. For example, some vegetables and fruit require cold or hot weather to grow. Different countries have different weather conditions. Globalization occurs at many levels. Firms can export overseas or even operate overseas. They can exploit cheaper labour, capital or finance overseas. An examination of globalization requires an analysis of several issues.
The argument given in favour of globalization is the one that support international business. ''Globalization has increased the opportunities for a firm to expand its profits by selling around the world and reduce its costs by producing in nations where key inputs are cheap''. Those who want to be successful in the market, they have to respond quickly in the market as well as in production. Advanced information systems are essential in globalization.
Media plays an important role in making the restaurant earn a name, either through advertisements on the TV, or pop ups on internet. It influences people to visit the restaurant to see the culture and taste the variety of dishes at a single place. For example, this a photo of six months back when Queen Elizabeth had visited the restaurant to experience the Indian culture and the taste of different varieties.
Queen Elizabeth in Mumtaz restaurant
The definition given by Robertson on globalization best fits here, ''Globalization concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole''. Globalization has covered almost every person in today's world, the trend has spread unevenly.
The overall study of this essay comes with a conclusion with the help of observation done at Mumtaz restaurant, an Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian restaurant. The observation highlights the globalization of culture. As we are aware that the language reflects the culture, we realise that language outlines the way people observe the world. In countries with more than one language, one also often finds more than one culture, for example India. The restaurant has perfectly maintained the dignity of the Indian culture. They have also attracted many of the celebrities to come and see the culture of India in Britain. People are attracted towards Cuisine, religion, paintings, interior decoration, and people of different nationalities, Indian music and taste of the products from different countries. These are the main aspects, which have shown the globalization of culture, and globalization of product and services. This is explained with an example of raw materials import from different countries and the international students those who are working in the restaurant and offering their best services globally.
We must make sure that global market has surrounded in broadly shared values and practices that reflect global social needs and all the people of the world share the benefits of globalization. The ethnographic study on the restaurant has tried to relate with literature used in this essay. Finally, until now, globalization says, we may have different languages, different colour skin, and different religions but ''we all belong to one human race.''
Reference:
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The world famous Mumtaz restaurant available at http://www.mumtaz.co.uk/ [Accessed 04/01/2010]
Kofi Annan quotes available at http://thinkexist.com/quotation/we_must_ensure_that_the_global_market_is_embedded/151789.html [Accessed 04/01/2010]
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