Panera Bread Bakery Ethnography Research Paper

Like Spurlock who travelled to Navajo to learn the culture and ways of a strange people, I also didn’t know any person in the area and this made me to believe that my observations would be interesting. Objectives of the Project Going into this project, I wanted to learn the behaviors of the different age groups of people who visit Panera Fast food bakery and these include students, young adults, and retirees. Other than that, I also wanted to understand how Carolina’s culture facilitates the interaction of people from opposite genders despite the diversity of their culture. Furthermore, I also wanted to observe and learn how people from different social classes negotiate and how age and culture shape their negotiation processes.

Methods I started my observation at Panera on Friday, 21st September 2018 from 11. In a survey, Jorgensen observed that negotiations are affected by place, setting, social status, and culture and in this case, being from a different cultural background where negotiations take place with more words rather than signs, I observed this as a major difference in cultures (23). Chebet and Jacob observed that Americans talk more during negotiations compared to Koreans and in my observation, in one group of men aged between 60s- 70s, the American members in the group dominated the conversation. One of the old women’s group were discussing about their families and most of their words were dominated with the use of signs and to tell the story (138).

On the contrary, men used few gestures as they exchanged with other fellow men in their conversations. The businessmen appeared to be focused and composed as they discussed about their business ventures. Sat closer to one another around the table and leaned into the conversation. Smiled and laughed all through during their conversations. They used hands to show signs as they discussed all through their conversation and even at one time, one woman stood to demonstrate what she was explaining to the rest of the women. They used signs in their conversations. 4 Females 30s-40s These ladies appeared to have a formal business meeting and they were mainly discussing about an upcoming tender from the local government which had been advertised in the local newspaper.

3 A mother with two young girls A young mother in her early thirties with two young girls roughly 5-10 years old. The mother ordered food for themselves and ensured that the girls were eating before she started eating hers. The kids were enjoying the meal and they told stories with their mum as they ate. The young girls sat on the booths directly opposite with their mother and they were narrating the story about the activities they had engaged in at school throughout the week. The mother responded with a smile and encouraged them to do more in the subsequent week. Women at the restaurant sat close together and leaning into the conversation. The business ladies and businessmen seemed to be more composed and calm as they discussed their issues compared to those who were at the restaurant casually.

This was evident from the manner in which the teenage students, women, men, and the businessmen interacted, talked, and smiled to one another. Their dressing code also defined their ages because each group dressed differently. Discussion After conducting and recording the above data, it was evident that the culture of the Northern Carolinians is quite different from that of the Southern Carolinians. In this episode, Spurlock acknowledges that whatever he observed and learned was complicated because the actions of these people were determined and influenced by the social environment in which the ceremony took place. Additionally, the manner in which conversations are conducted in North Carolina depends on the relationship established with one another. This is supported by Jorgensen who argues that people from the same profession interact and communicate in a more professional manner than when they do so in a social gathering (333).

In this case study of Panera Bakery, the persons who met for business meetings were more composed and calm compared to the other persons who met as friends and whose communication had no specific topic of study. In other words, their organizational culture was demonstrated in the manner in which they discussed and handled issues. Conclusion The generalization from this research project in Northern Carolina is that a work environment determines how people interact with one another versus how they interact in a social setting. Based on how the different groups of people interacted and conversed with one another, it is evident that in a work setting, people act in a more focused tendency with the aim of accomplishing a goal or task.