Choose a place like a Starbucks Coffee Shop, Small Cafe, or other public place like a retail store. Take note as to whether or not the customers interact with one another and special note of how the workers interact with the customers.
Off Campus Observations
Time: 30 minutes or more Location: Off Campus
This observation should be done somewhere other than on campus. Try to choose a place where people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds gather and interact. You are observing to see how they engage in intercultural communication and interaction. You are looking to see if certain ethnic or cultural groups tend to sit and interact together, are there people of different cultures or ethnic backgrounds sitting near one another but not interacting to communicating.
Conducting an effective observation requires the special skill of paying close attention to details. Unlike interviewing people, much of data gained through observation is subjected to your preconceived beliefs or ideas. Below are a few steps for conducting an observation:
- Select a site to be observed. Try to stay in the back ground. Unless you have obtained permission to observe a particular person or group, try not to make it obvious you are observing a particular group or person.
- Design an observation protocol as a method for recording notes. Include descriptive and reflective notes (for examples: note about their relationships, hunches, and experiences.)
- Record the observation as if it is a portrait. Include details of the physical setting, interactive activity, facial expression and gestures during conversations and interactions, ethnicity or race of the participants, (this will be speculative since you should have a conversation with them.
- After your observation, you should write up your reflection as to what you observed and include you comments and a comparison as to what was happening, and what could or should have been happening in an inclusive multicultural environment and intercultural communication encounter.
You should write up part of your observation as a first person narrative. (l paragraph). . The rest of your observation (two to three paragraphs) should be reflective
Answer preview
At Starbucks Coffee Shop I noted communication is a vital tool in service delivery. It is only through communication that customers and employees can understand each other, relates to each other and gets things done (Woodside & McClam, 2016). In an eating joint, workers are expected to communicate with the customers and vice versa effectively. For this to be effective, open communication must be there. Customers being near to each other interact while being cautious and open at the same time. I realized that the interaction is mostly eminent when they are sharing tables or waiting for orders to be delivered on to them. Although the customers in most cases are new to each other, there is warmth and openness in communication. Workers, on the other hand, are trained to treat customers with utmost respect. For them, they ensure that they communicate well, and can listen to their requests. This type of communication and interaction from worker to customers is very official and brief while that between two or more customers is very engaging and casual depending on the topic of discussion or level of familiarity. I noted as well that differences in age, language, gender, and race have a role to play in the communication process as individuals feel open to having engaging communication with people they can easily relate with.
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