Applying Functionalism Conflict Theory Symbolic Interactionism to Waitressing Essay

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Sociology Waitress

Functionalism

Serving customers food and drinks is a fundamental function in restaurant operations. However, serving customers food and drinks constitutes the manifest function of a waitress. The manifest functions of the restaurant itself include feeding people and making a profit for its owner. The restaurant's latent functions include promoting the brand identity of its celebrity chef, and contributing to the quality of life in the community. Latent functions of a waitress depend on the restaurant and its organizational culture and mission. In this case, the latent function of the waitress is to preserve the restaurant's brand identity by maintaining a professional appearance and demeanor at all times. The waitress is like an advertisement for the restaurant, ensuring that the customers will return and spread the word to friends.

The functionalist views the job of server in a high quality restaurant as being integral to the working of the whole system. From the functionalist perspective, the waitress herself is not as important as her role, her function. She functions as an interface between the business and the customer. The owner of the restaurant rarely has contact with customers. When the owner does have contact with customers, it is usually in a public relations capacity. One of the roles of the waitress is also to perform public relations by maintaining poise during times of stress, ensure that all customers are happy when they leave the restaurant, and maintaining order within the restaurant by ensuring efficient communications between client and kitchen.

Without a waitress, a restaurant would function differently. It would likely function poorly, as there would be pressure on the cooking staff to continually deliver the food to the tables. The waitress's function helps to stabilize the entire organization and ensure that it operates with maximum efficiency. This is true from a profitability perspective, too, as the more efficient the restaurant is, the more likely (a) customers are to return because their experience was pleasant; and (b) the more table turnover takes place, therefore maximizing the number of diners that can eat in any given evening.

Conflict theory

The waitress is in a subordinate position vis-a-vis other members of the organization.

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She has little to no control over restaurant operations. The manager, who is in a position of authority, must field her suggestions and comments related to how to improve operations. The manager must also report to the owner, and is unlikely to raise the waitress's suggestions in business meetings. Competing interests between the manager and the waitress ensure that the manager will never want the waitress to take credit for a good idea. As a result, the waitress is systematically excluded from a position of power. She enjoys working with the public in her capacity as server, and her tips earn her a decent nightly wage. However, the salary she makes is below the legal minimum wage. She has broached the topic of a raise with her manager, who repeatedly states that the restaurant is paying her the most it possibly can while still remaining profitable. The manager is a male, as is the owner.

Conflict theory reveals the power dynamics and potential points of friction in the waitress role. The waitress experiences conflict related to her subordinate position in the organization. As a waitress, she has no clout. She is also female, and directly encounters a patriarchal organizational structure in her daily life.

If male customers "chat her up" regularly, the waitress also experiences the power dynamic of her gender. The communications patterns between male staff members and the waitress reflect systems of power and subordination. However, the waitress occupies a superior position in relation to some of the restaurant staff who have no contact at all with the public. For example, the dishwashers and other subordinate kitchen staff are viewed as subordinate. The waitress is entrusted with the responsibility to represent the brand identity of the restaurant, while they are not.

Symbolic Interactionism

A waitress is a socially constructed role. Theoretically, any member of the restaurant staff can ask customers what they would like to eat, tell the cook what the customer ordered, and when the food was ready, take prepared food and deliver it. A specialized role, "waitress" evolved as a process of social construction. In traditional societies, there are….....

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