e. The staff can be all Chinese at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown). A diverse workforce brings many benefits, such as innovative thought and the absence of discrimination lawsuits.
In the restaurant business, diversity should ideally reflect the environment. Kitchen staff should be multi-gender if not multi-ethnic. The front of house does not necessarily have to reflect the clientele (particularly with regards to age) but should roughly reflect the demographic of the area. Ensuring diversity is a relatively simple process, as the result of a hiring process whereby applicants of all types are treated equally. Diversity in management is more difficult to achieve, and may require a mentorship program in order to succeed (Cullen, 2007).
Communication is the process by which thoughts, ideas and concepts are conveyed between one or more people. It is often thought that communication is verbal, but the majority of communication is non-verbal, through tone, through body language, through silences and through eye contact.
It is important that the messages we convey are received as intended. When this happens, the communication is strong. When it does not happen, the communication has broken down. In the restaurant setting, all forms of communication are critical, as customer service depends on it. In the kitchen, the staff must be able to use...
In the front of the house, it is even more essential that non-verbal communication skills are honed because to use verbal communication could be disruptive.
From the manager's perspective, building the full range of communication skills is essential. With a large staff, many of whom may work part-time, it is critical that information be conveyed quickly and accurately to each employee. In particular, the manager is responsible for fostering the culture and the restaurant and guiding the behavior of the employees. Many restaurants have high turnover. This makes it essential that communication skills are high, so that all of the necessary information is conveyed. Managers must also act as a go-between with ownership or senior management as well, which is a different style of communication than would be used with employees. The ability to use multiple communication styles well is an important attribute of a restaurant manager.
Works Cited:
Clark, D. (2009). Organizational Behavior. SOS.net. Retrieved April 13, 2010 from http://www.sos.net/~donclark/leader/leadob.html
Cullen, L. (2007). Employee diversity training doesn't work. Time Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2010 from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1615183,00.html
