Case study

When Leonardo Schmidt (from Germany) and his Singaporean wife Shu Wen Tan- Schmidt first started their caf, the business was fairly simple. Shu Wen speaks fluent Mandarin, and she ran the shop up front, Leonardo on the other hand, was in charge of marketing for their restaurant. When the business grew, they hired two more staffs to help out in their caf. QiQi, a 55-year-old lady, who was originally from China, Shanxi province and 19-year-old Indonesian Fergus, who is studying for his Diploma in Hip-Hop Dancing to help out in their cafe. The business was doing well, and reputation for their high-quality produce ensured a steady customer flow.

Scenario 1. However, behind the scenes, things were not going quite as well. Shu Wen, who has developed a scheduled work-plan for all of her tasks systematically, recently complained about QiQi, She is a good worker when she is here, but she likes to invade my personal space while she talks and she is also very touchy. She doesnt do the daily tasks systematically and she likes to do things her way. On the other hand, QiQi is not happy with Shu Wen. I dont know if I can work here much longer, Shu Wen never asks she just gives orders. I have some pretty good ideas on how to improve the workflow, but whenever I mention it, Shu Wen just nods her head and keeps asking me to write them down one by one. Why do I need to write things down? I can explain things well when I talk about them and do them at the same time. The other day I tried to talk to her about a more efficient way to stock the shelves, but Shu Wen just cut me short, stating that I should finish my existing work before I think about new ways to stock the shelves. I think it would be much better to talk it out and find out what works best, but she is stubborn and wont consider any of my suggestions.

Scenario 2. Separately, Fergus also thought that Leonardo is a serious and reserve man who doesnt like talking to anyone in the caf. To kill time, Fergus likes to have Hip-Hop background music playing loudly in the shop as he thinks it will create a nice ambience. However, Leonardo felt that the music was loud, It is so deafening with the loud music, it does not help when Fergus was totally immersed in his own world singing to himself. His behaviour like this, is weird, and he is also very rude as though all of us do not exist!. On occasions Leonardo also caught Fergus watching Hip-Hop on his mobile phone and ignoring the customers requests. Fergus thought his job at the caf is mundane and boring, he sought to pass his time watching Hip-Hop dancing videos on his mobile phone unbeknown that his boss is actually unhappy about his attitude and work performance.

Scenario 3. In one of the occasions, one customer remarked, it is hard enough to listen to your waitress with her Shanxis accent (meaning QiQi), and then you have that horrible music playing, it is impossible to understand what she is trying to say. I have waved at your other waiter several times; he just did not see me? What kind of customer service is that? Shu Wen immediately apologised to the customer. She did not say anything further or ask Fergus to lower the volume of the background music as she did not want to upset the customer further, but it did not help the already strained working relationships.

Scenario 4. One day, QiQi has requested a 1-week annual leave for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival so that she could visit her family back in Shanxi. The Schmidts upon seeing that they will be overwhelmed for that week was very concerned if they would be able to cope without QiQi. As the Mid-Autumn Festival is a public holiday in China, and Leonardo understand that QiQi sees Mid-Autumn Festival as an important and significant family reunion day, he has suggested QiQi to consider taking two days of leave and be paid overtime for the remaining three days she worked in the restaurant. Shu Wen, however, thinks that QiQi should not be paid for the overtime and would rather pay Fergus or hire someone else to cover QiQis duty while she is away, but she eventually gave in to her husbands decision having noted that it would take them a long time to train someone totally new.

Question :

Using Edward Hall's Context model or Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimension model analyse and describe the four main characters (Leonardo, Shu Wen, QiQi and Fergus) behaviours from scenarios 1, 2 and 3. Why did they behave in such a manner in their workplace? Explain how did you determine that? Cite clear evidence from the scenarios to support your answer and cite which model you are applying.