Cai Guo-Qiang Gunpowder's Project impact On Qatar

From November 2011 through December 2011, I’ve been working with Chinese Contemporary Artist and Curator; Cai Guo-Qiang, hosted by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar. Cai initially began working with gunpowder to foster spontaneity and confront the suppressive, controlled artistic tradition and social climate in China.















While living in Japan from 1986 to 1995, Cai explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that eventually led to his experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and the development of his signature "explosion events". While I was participating in this project, I noticed that sociology has a very huge impact on the process was running on through the whole project. At the beginning, there was a huge discussion of hosting the Gunpowder Project here in Qatar by engaging the young generation with it, however, Mathaf has broke the norms by introducing the Gunpowder Project in Qatar. Everyone who heard about the huge explosion that is going to be held in Qatar got worried about it, however, the advertisement around Doha Town helped people to get engaged with the process of the project and actually people signed to participate in this new norm happening in Qatar.















From day one, I’ve been noticing many sociological aspects from culture, mcdonaldzation, to individuality vs. collectivism. Even though, it’s Cai’s individual artwork, he broke the norm by involving us the audience from China and Qatar, in his project by assigning us tasks to complete his work as a group instead. I found that he had assigned each participant with specific tasks and everyone would be working with efficiency, calculability, predictability under his control, which symbolize mcdonaldzation. On the other hand, the gender and ethnicity was not a problem with him at all. There were many people from this region and foreigners too collaborating in his project, which is a morality's gesture from him. By hosting here in Qatar I believe, he had a huge impact in spreading his culture through his Artworks by attracting the audience and engaging them to spread and share his values. I learned from this experience that, culture could be extent through many various ways rather than the old fashioned techniques; it needs only an influential vision and strength to accomplish the intention.





It's All over the News!!








The Project's Conclusion.

McDonaldization Spread

McDonaldization refers to the increasing presence of the fast-food model in many organizations that are involved in shaping people’s daily lives. It is a process whereby the principles of restaurants are dominating many sectors of Qatar society, as well as of the rest of the societies. When it occurs in the university, work, travel, leisure, shopping, healthcare and education become subject to this process. You can find shopping malls, food courts, and sports stadiums; even cruise ships reflecting this trend toward standardization.



Each industry is based on a principle of high and efficient productivity, which translates into a highly rational social organization, with workers employed at low pay, and customers experiencing ease, convenience and familiarity.
Ritzer’s four primary components of McDonaldization can be applied here. Firstly, there is calculability. McDonaldized services are quantified. The customer’s burgers and fries are an exact size, and are delivered within a specified time. Quality is redefined as quantity. Secondly, there is efficiency. This means that in a time-pressured society, mcdonaldized services are desired because they are fast. The third one is predictability. This means that the products and services are standardized at all times and everywhere. They are the same. The fourth one is control. Where possible, technology is substituted for human labor. The goods and services are automated. Irrationality and rationality is the fifth aspect. Irrationality means that the rational systems are unreasonable systems. This further means that they deny the human reason, the basic humanity of the people who work within or those that are served by them.



In conclusion, McDonaldization is a good business model that many industries have adopted the same organizational characteristics. It aids society a lot because they get goods and services efficiently and effectively.

"The walk for life", Formal organization with a cause

In sociology a formal organization is defined as being a type of secondary group which people create as a coordinating mechanism to achieve a planned outcome. They are viewed as such because they bring together people and resources that when worked together will achieve the desired outcome.
People all over Qatar shed their regular attire for bright pink t-shirts, as they took part in a walk along Doha’s Corniche to raise breast cancer awareness in our Qatari community.

“The walk of life" channels human activity toward achieving an outcome which supports a mutual interest and meets important human needs, all for a non-profit goal. First of all, it was a voluntary organization. People attended the walk to donate their time and effort in achieving the ultimate goal of raising awareness  to the masses. The people who attended the cause were a mix of everything from different nationalities to different social statuses. This was definitely a secondary group because of the fact that everyone gathered for a specific purpose which was to take part in the walk that would use that awareness to aid in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of breast cancer.

However there were many differences that the walk of awareness had to formal organizations. It might be apparent but people walked together in large groups which even though the majority didn't know each other they were brought together by a common purpose. The notion of “McDonaldization” was not put into the extremes since the walk was to raise awareness unlike a production line of creating products as efficiently as possible. Efficiency and how fast or slow people walked was up to the people themselves since everyone who joined the walk was there voluntarily.

Mcdonaldization of Hamad Medical Corporation In Qatar

In reference to sociologist George Ritzer, Mcdonaldization is the “process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.” He came up with four main principles that are leading fast-food restaurants and coming to dominate the society. The four leading components are: efficiency, quantification, predictability and control. These four principles may be applied to nearly every business cooperation and even social institutions. However, these four principles are greatly applied to hospitals and health care. The best example may be Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar.



Going to the hospital and getting some health care tends to be a lot more simplified and predictable than it was before. Efficiency as one of the four main components of Mcdonaldization plays an important role within hospitals and healthcare. Efficiency is the service offered to allow consumers to move quickly from one state to another. For instance, back in the days patients knew their doctors on personal levels and had family doctors, whereas, nowadays, the relationship between doctors and patients are less personal and more efficient. The existences of appointments have increased the efficiency, rather than having patients turn up randomly without previous appointments. Some times patients have to call ahead of time book appointments. Other times, they may need to book an additional appointment to follow up. In addition, the roles of nurses play another essential responsibility in making Hamad Hospital more efficient. They tend to examine the patient, while the patient is waiting for their appointment. Sometimes, they even provide preliminary diagnosis without having to see the doctor. They actually have a room for preliminary examinations.

In order to process patients in an efficient cooperation, Hamad Medical Corporation needs to endure quantification and calculation. Quantification is the numerical indicators that enable consumers to evaluate a service easily. In this situation, the numerical indicators are the health card ID numbers, files, and even the numbers you get as soon as you walk to the reception of the hospital. This is when the patients gets their waiting numbers before even getting to the receptionist and inform them that they’re attending. Then, the receptionist would get their file ready by searching for the health card ID number. Obviously, we could infer that Hamad Hospital is not only using quantification and calculation, but also a scientific management to administer the hospital. Scientific management is the attempt to analyze the work and to identify the most efficient way to accomplish the given task. In this case, Taylorism comes into play, where everyone in the hospital has a specific role. The receptionist get files ready and the numbering machine counts and manage the patients without having long ques.



Predictability, consistency, discipline, routine and order are the principles I noticed at Hamad Medical Corporation. Predictability is the expectation that a service will be the same no matter what. In this instance, the predictability I encountered and noticed at Hamad Hospital was that individuals had their specific role and everything was in order. For instance, if I were to be a patient, Id know how to get an appointment and see a doctor. I would first call for an appointment, attend on the day, get a number, go to the receptionist in order for them to get my file ready, wait in the waiting area, have them call out my name, complete any necessary preliminary examinations, see the doctor and get a diagnosis in regards to the situation, and later on, get a follow-up appointment if necessary.

Last, but not least, control plays an extremely vital role within the health care system. In a sociological sense, “control is the guiding or regulating, by planning out in detail, the production or delivery of a service or product,”(Joan Ferrante 2011). Doctors have the final say in our well being, especially at the Hamad Medical Corporation emergency section. They make the final decision in extreme situations, where they decide on whether which patient is more critical and in more desperate need than another. For instance, in worse case scenarios, the doctors decide on transplants, blood donations and even with life/death circumstances.



Efficiency, quantification, predictability and control are all four main driving forces behind Mcdonaldization. The simple process of Mcdonaldization has come to dominate other industries of the society. The sociologist George Ritzer invented the term Mcdonaldization and the sociological phenomenon of the rationalization of institutions and our society. But, this is not where it ends; the process could possibly be applied to every aspect of our lives, even with listening to music and shopping.

Cinema in Qatar

A decade ago the cinema business here in Qatar was very small. The biggest cinema, Al-Khaleej cinema, had two theaters only! However, if we look at cinemas in Qatar today we can see that one cinema can have more than 13 theaters.

It is easy to see today how the principles of McDonaldization are dominating cinemas in Qatar today. Cinemas are trying to become efficient more than anytime before. If we take the cinema at the Villagio Mall, you can see they have more than four ordinary counters along with a specialized counter for the balconies and the IMAX Theater.

At these counters the booking takes place through a computerized system where a screen shows you the available seats in the theater, and you get to pick which seat you want. in addition, if you want to go watch a movie, you can go to the online cinema guide and check for the screening times.

Furthermore, there is a clear division of labor. One worker sells you the ticked outside, and when you go inside another person cuts your ticket right at the gate that leads you to all the theaters, and at last you’ll find a different person checking you ticket when you enter the theater to show you where you are supposed to sit.

Moreover, they have many sorts of food and beverages offered for sale before entering the theater. These include popcorn, soft drinks, shakes, chocolates, cupcakes, cookies, hot corn, nachos with cheese and jalapeño. It is very important to mention the globalization of eating food at the theater. This globalized norm applies mostly to popcorn andcoke.

We can also see the quantification and calculation in the different options they offer to their customers, ones that weren’t available before. Some movies are offered in an ordinary theater,3D, or in the IMAX Theater, where the last costs the most and the first costs the least, corresponding to the quality. Moreover, there are three theaters with balconies that offer bigger seats for a higher price.

Regarding predictability, the customer expects to see the same movie if he or she went to any theater, if its not the IMAX. Moreover, you always expect the food to taste the same, and when you go for a movie in the IMAX Theater or book a seat in the balcony you expect a better overall experience.

Moving to control, despite all the deviance that goes around, people are not allowed to bring food from outside, which keeps them limited with the food offered at the cinema that is much more expensive compared to the prices outside. But as I said, many people sneak their food in their purses. Moreover, if you buy a ticket you cannot return it or change it for another ticket.

Formal Organizations on a miniature scale. Could it work?

Dr. Tracy Vaughn is not only a highly respected professor at Northwestern University in Qatar; she is also an accomplished quilter among many other things. NUQ students had the privilege of attending several quilting sessions to learn the art. Similar to the museum we visited, quilting is an art form that tells a wide range of stories and history. I chose to distinguish the similarities and differences this session had to formal organizations, even though it’s on a much smaller scale.

First of all, it was a voluntary organization. People attended these sessions not only to learn the art of quilting but to also donate their time and talent to achieve the ultimate goal of creating one giant NUQ quilt. The students who attended the session were all students of NUQ however distinguishing whether they were a primary or secondary group was difficult because the relationships weren’t impersonal but they weren’t strong family like ties either, but the fact that everyone gathered for a specific purpose which was to take part in the session and create a huge quilt categorizes as more of a secondary group. Unlike being in a lecture or class, the session was in an informal dimension, people would pass by, chat as they work and workwith their friends. Since these sessions were held in Dr. Vaughn’s quilt exhibition, “ideal types” of what the finished product would preferably look like surrounded us which gave us a better idea of what we were working towards. Professionalization was definitely present during the session since Dr. Vaughn used her skills that she acquired over years, to teach us the basics of making a quilt.

However the differences the quilting session had to formal organizations were much more apparent. As I mentioned previously, people often worked together or sat in groups therefore there was a lack of alienation, although everyone’s product was customized. The notion of “McDonaldization” wasn’t put into practice either. Efficiency was low since everyone who joined the sessions were newcomers and had no prior experience. Although there were a certain number of purple fabrics students could choose from, the likelihood of two quilts having the same pattern was very low, which made every quilt unpredictable. In regards to control, every quilt was encouraged to be individualized, so unlike a production line; no one was assigned a particular job. Finally, the only factor that fits into quantification and calculation was that each quilt was made up of four fabrics, other than that there wasn’t a particular amount of products set nor was there a time limit.

After analyzing the quilting session I realized that formal organizations definitely work better on a larger scale with bigger businesses and establishments rather than smaller ones since they probably have a larger client base that need their demands met as fast as possible unlike industries such as quilting which require an artistic touch.

McDonaldization of The Music Industry

George Ritzer, is the great mind behind the term McDonaldization. It can be used to describe the functioning of different formal organizations, such as hospitals, shopping centers, or even universities. However, I’ve decided to look at the McDonaldization of the music industry.

There are four principles of a fast food restaurant that Ritzer discusses in his talk about McDonaldization are: efficiency, quantification and calculation, predictability, and control. All of there principles can be applied to the music industry and how, if you look close enough, it functions just like a McDonald’s.

The way that the music industry applies the principle of efficiency is as follows. They want to be able to make megabucks by selling their artists’ music, so they make sure that they music that they are producing is the most productive and appealing to their targeted audience. They offer the best music that they can offer to their consumer to satisfy their needs as they are their primary source of income, and if their productions were not efficient and sufficient then they wouldn’t have a job anymore. For example: the producers of an album know that the most efficient time to sell a Christmas album is more than likely to be around the holidays, and not during the summer, therefore they are being efficient in making sure that they don’t waste their resources.

Next on the principle list comes quantification and calculation. This particular principle is applicable to several different aspects of the music industry. The notion that more is better can be viewed two different ways, and in both be seen as ways of quantification. The first way is by looking at the number of albums they sell, and subsidiary to that all the other merchandize they come up with. To the consumer they get more for their money when they buy the album on iTunes. If they didn’t know about the extra material online and actually bought the actual CD first then they will have to buy the whole album again in order to get the material, thus the music industry gets more. The second way of looking at this principles is can be looked at as quantity over quality. There are numerous artists in the industry, and a majority of them are very similar. At one point Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson were all very similar. As if they were mass-produced artists, thus more of the same artists as opposed to a few really gifted ones.




Predictability. When thinking about the music industry it is pretty predictable when it comes to what you get from it. It starts off with a lot of promotion for a new artist, after that comes a first single, the album is released, maybe a couple more singles, that artists is an opening act for a while, they get their own tour, and work on their second album begins. Or at least something along those lines when an artist is actually signed to a label. As consumers we know that the most popular songs usually come out during the summer, and that’s when we expect the artists to come out with the best that they’ve got. We know what to expect from a boy band (though not many good ones exist nowadays), what Beyoncé is going to sound like, and what country music is like. It’s the way the industry functions that makes it predictable in a good way.

Last but not least comes the principle of control. This is where the music industry actually regulates what comes out of it and how that goes about happening. They make sure everyone is doing their particular job to the best of their abilities. Everyone does what they need to do in order for the organization to function properly, and if one person makes a mistake it can result in failure.

McDonaldization can be seen everywhere in society and the music industry is no exception. Question is, how much more can society take of it?

McDonaldization in Your Homes!

As soon as you walk into someone’s house you could automatically get a sense of the culture. Some houses even have a particular smell that could identify where the residents are from. Walking into my friend’s house I mindlessly recognized the scent I smell in all Sudanese houses I enter. This is actually the scent of some products they use in the house that are shipped in to Qatar from Sudan. The next thing I notice is the color and brightness of the house. It’s usually white and more blunt than my house for example, which gives their space a more temporary feel. A lot of the Sudanese houses I’ve been to use white lights, in contrast to mine, where we have warmer lighting.



You get a sense that the Sudanese residents don’t really consider this house in Qatar their home. Whereas for Palestinians, who constantly struggle to live in a subculture, try to make these houses their homes. When I say subculture, I mean a smaller culture within another culture that Palestinian usually live in. Palestinians use warmer colors, a lot of carpets and really design their houses in a way to make it feel like a home to them. In my home, and a lot of Palestinian homes I’ve visited, we try to add a lot of Palestinian elements to the house as a reminder of that place we “belong to,” even if we didn’t buy these objects from Palestine.




Sudanese usually have a lot of African and tribal objects around their “temporary” house that are bought back from home, to remind them of that place that they will eventually go back to, their real home.






However, the households did have some things in common. To begin with, there was a feel of alienation, which could be defined as a state-of-being where human life is dominated by the forces of its own inventions. The houses were machine-dominated. The families weren’t connecting in conversation, but most of the family members were watching TV. While the teenagers or working children were on their laptops, connected to the Internet. Some of the younger children were playing video games.




When the mother or housemaid cooked or even made tea, they would use a kettle, microwave, gas-run oven and so on. Everyone in the house was using a machine. Some of the siblings even communicated through the use of their cell phones, instead of verbal communication. So, even if the culture is different or the dialect they use is different, whether you’re Sudanese or Palestinian you are influenced by this idea of “McDonaldization.” In sociology, McDonaldization is a process where society is increasingly run like a fast-food restaurant. This means that we’re all being influenced by the idea of rationalization and even households could be modernized some way or another. This definitely can’t sound very literal, where a household could never really be a McDonald’s. However, all homes try to be as efficient, predictable and controlled as possible. They have a set of rules to be followed, try to be as efficient as possible with time, money etc. and predictable with honesty and the open relationship everyone has with one another. With time, the children in the house and the parents start demanding more. Here, control and calculation come in, where they need to monitor the amount of things they buy and consume.

CHOPSTICKS Restaurant in Wyndham Hotel: An unusual experience at one of my favorite restaurants in Doha

I’ve been to Chopsticks over 50 times since my family moved to Qatar. And I can say that I’ve had a pretty similar experience with the food and service in every visit. However, as I will explain later in the blog, this particular visit was unlike any other, due to an unfavorable event. Some of the dishes I always order at this Far-Eastern restaurant are: Hakka noodles, shrimp tempura, and stir-fried chicken with shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots. They are always as delicious, presentation looks the same, and the portion-size is more-or-less identical every single time they are served. On Fridays, they serve a lunch buffet featuring a variety of Oriental, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai cuisine. Last Friday, I went to Chopsticks with my parents and sister. My parents settled for the buffet, and my sister and I decided to go à la carte. This visit was a good opportunity for me to observe the two types of dining services offered simultaneously (menu and buffet), while observing this small formal organization from a sociological perspective.





According to Joan Ferrante, a formal organization is a type of secondary group. These groups consist of people who interact with each other to achieve a specific goal. The relationships between these people are impersonal, and in contrast to primary groups, members of a secondary group do not have strong emotional ties among each other. Instead, they relate to each other in terms of the individual roles of people in the organization. In this context, the relationship between all employees in the restaurant are limited to a specific task or activity, such as waiting tables, cashier, sushi chef, head chef, line cooks, cleaners, dishwashers etc. The members of this group identify with each other according to the jobs they perform, not how they behave outside the restaurant (the setting in which secondary group members interact with a specific purpose).



For example, the waiter takes our order, delivers it to the chef in the kitchen, the chef tells his brigade of chefs and line cooks the order, and those chefs have to communicate with each other to complete a tables order. In order for all appetizers and main courses to come out at the same time chefs at different stations must communicate accordingly. Also, there are different waiters assigned to specific tasks; some take orders, others supervise the buffet in case something needs to be re-filled, removed, or if there are any specific requests from the customers, they need to be taken to the chef or manager.




While watching the sushi chef complete a batch of fresh sushi, I saw that a waiter comes to the chef, asks him if the batch is ready and takes them to the buffet to be arranged in a specific array by the chef responsible for arranging the buffet. The interaction between the three employees is restricted to achieving a particular goal, which is serving food to customers.




Furthermore, the four concepts of efficiency, control, calculation and predictability are exercised in order to achieve that goal. These four principles of McDonaldization can be applied to Chopsticks, although they are not as extensively implemented in comparison to the L’wzaar Seafood Market restaurant in Katara Cultural village. First, there are different aspects that can be related to how the restaurant operates in order to maximize its efficiency. By having specialized tasks where the different parts involved in the process of preparing and serving the food are broken down and assigned to different employees who are trained to perform a particular task, the customers are served faster.



One employee greets and seats the customers, another takes their order and delivers it to the kitchen, the chef shouts out the order, different chefs work on different dishes, another waiter picks up the food and serves it, one chef is responsible for preparing only the sushi, another for arranging the buffet and so on. Also, all items ordered are entered into a computer system at the cashier, where each table’s tab is kept up to date. All items ordered in the beginning or during your meal are recorded efficiently and updated systematically. In terms of control, some aspects to consider include the way the employees are dressed; waitresses, waiters, chefs, managers all have distinct uniforms according to their roles. For example, the chef wears his chef’s hat, the manager wears a tie and suit, and waitresses wear either the traditional Chinese dress or red jacket with a Chinese twist on the collar.







The dining room is divided into the buffet section (only on Fridays), non-smoking and smoking tables, controlling how customers are seated and where they line up for the buffet. The arrangement of the buffet is not spontaneous, but precisely organized according to category of cuisine: “Thai corner”, “Chinese corner”, sushi and desert. All details of the way the food and dining room is presented and arranged is controlled and planned out thoroughly; the way the handkerchiefs are folded, the cutlery, the glasses, the wet towels, the menu and the assortment of all table accessories.







Calculation can be observed mostly through the cashier station. The computer screen is not very different than the one you might see in any fast food restaurant. The cashier person selects the menu items displayed on the screen and they are automatically recorded into the system, and the bill is tabulated. This allows for accurate quantification and calculation that provides the organization with numerical indicators of their daily profits, what products (specific menu items) are in demand, and evaluation of their lunch and dinner services.



Part of why I keep going to Chopsticks, is that I know I am going to have the great experience I’ve enjoyed previously over and over again, which has to do very much with the predictability of the restaurant’s food and service. I go through the same process of greeting and seating, where after saying “non-smoking please”, I am seated in the same area. Even though almost all employees know my family and I, they keep asking the same question because they are trained to do so.




After being seated, I expect the same ambience and atmosphere created by the Asian themed furnishings and detail including the table items such as an assortment of four sauces, the same type of flower found on every table, and chopsticks wrapped in an envelope with the name and logo of the restaurant. I also expect to receive the complementary crab or chicken salad, and the food to be the same every time I order it, same portions, same time taken for food to arrive (which is usually 15-20 minutes), the same presentation and the same taste, texture and flavor.




To my surprise, this time, the shrimp tempura dish, usually the highlight of my Chopsticks experience, was a complete disappointment. Not only where the jumbo shrimps, not so “jumbo”, and the batter not as golden and crispy, but soggy and chewy…I found a hair on one of my shrimps – yes, the ultimate horror of hair in the food. Completely and utterly shocked by what I found on one of my dear shrimps, I completely forgot to take a picture, so I have no evidence to display here, and now that I think of it, I am thankful for not having any because it is not a sight I’d like to remember especially that I plan to go back to this restaurant again. This is where the drama comes in…



According to Ferrante, the dramaturgical model, developed by Sociologist Erving Goffman, is a model in which social interaction among members in society can be examined as a theater, where different people were actors, with different roles, and they perform these roles before an audience in a particular setting. From the moment I received my devastating shrimps, it came to my attention that the restaurant can be viewed as a play where the employees where the actors, the dining room was the front stage and the kitchen as well as the area covered by separating screens where the sushi is prepared is the back stage. Looking around this “stage”, all employees (actors) manage the setting (the restaurant), their dress (uniforms), their words (greetings, communication with customers, interaction with other actors), their gestures, to correspond to the impression they are trying to make or the image they are trying to convey to the audience (customers). According to Ferrante, this process of coordination in social situations is called impression management.



All members of the cast (restaurant employees) behaved and interacted with each other in order to put on this “show” for the audience, where customers receive their food as requested, up to the standards required, in the way they are trained, while maintaining the intended image of a contemporary, Far-Eastern restaurant serving oriental cuisine in an elegant setting, suitable for both business meals and family. Now back to my tragic shrimps…
When I made my complaint to the waiter, he immediately took the dish away while apologizing repeatedly, and said he’ll be right back. I expected a somewhat similar reaction to what the waiter actually said and did, but what was interesting to me was what my mom overlooked in the “backstage” while scooping second rounds of Manchurian chicken in the buffet. Sitting in the dining room, everything seemed calm, cool, and collected from my point of view. However, according to my mom, behind the dividing screens, the manager was arguing with and scolding all the waiters, and the chef, who had apparently left the kitchen to speak to the manager and waiters.



There was obviously some back-stage behavior that contradicts the front stage and therefore they tried to conceal it from the rest of the dining room. They wouldn’t want the rest of the customers to hear about hair in the food, nor do they want them to see or hear any of the quarreling and argument about it. The gestures, tone of voice, and behavior of the employees in the backstage, not only regarding the shrimp dilemma but also the situation in the kitchen is not revealed to the audience. Also worth noting, is the sushi station that is in a hidden corner as well and concealed by the screens. When I came closer to the station with my phone trying to capture a few shots, the chef became flustered and started wiping his mess away, tried to close his open mayonnaise bottle, and pick up the sliced cucumbers that have fallen off the plate and onto the counter. If this were a station that is purposely set for an audience to watch and observe, like cooking stations in many other restaurants (like L’wzaar), I am pretty sure the sushi chef would have been working more neatly, and the counter would be arranged in a cleaner, more sophisticated and amusing way, all depending on what image the restaurant is trying to project.




Finally, the manager came over to our table and personally apologized for the incident and assured us it would not happen again. He replaced my dish with a new hair-free tempura free of charge, and the waitress who’s known me for three years patted me on the back caringly and apologetically, saying “so sorry Zayeena”. I must admit they salvaged my experience and chances of me coming back with the complementary desert, and free shrimps, and extra care from the staff. This part of the service can be considered the informal dimension, or the unofficial aspect of the organization. The employees' behavior I witnessed in response to my situation, departs from the formal dimension or rules and guidelines. Given the fact that we are frequent customers, and the severity of finding a hair in the food and the impact it may have on the restaurants reputation and image, the manager made a decision of removing the charge of the shrimp tempura off the bill and giving us a complementary desert, all which may not have been part of the rules or guidelines in the restaurant. The way in which the waitress apologized to me by patting me on the back and addressing me by “name”, is a deviation from the standard procedures, and instead could be considered as an employee-generated norm that ignores the official guidelines, in which her relationship and interaction with the customer becomes personalized and not standardized.