Observation Report Hair Salon

The observation was conducted on Tuesday, October 18th, from 4:30 pm to approximately 7:30 pm while being at the hairdresser shop. The salon, “Grade A”, is located in front of the main entrance of Mahidol University, in Salaya market. Because of the popularity of the market, the competition between hairdresser shops is stiff. After a few minutes of observation, it could be noticed that there was a great number of employees (seven) - composed of two men and five women – for a few clients (four). The absence of customers could be a result of the king’s death as well as the stiff competition. Therefore, the objective of this observation is to analyze the division of the tasks between the seven employees and to discern everyone’s role in the salon

In that observation case, colors played an important role in depicting the importance of Thai culture, whether colors referred to the pre-Buddhist Hindu legends, or to the absolute reverence to the King. Therefore, one might wonder if the black and white clothes were the result of the dress code imposed for mourning the King’s death or if it was a pure coincidence. Colors could also be used to distinguish the position of the employees in the salon; depicting the owners of the saloon from the employees. Furthermore, it could be observed that the more colorful the hair was, the more self-confident, and the more experienced the employees were. Moreover, It is interesting to notice that in other countries or cultures, the presence of the manager may abstain the employees from entertaining themselves, but in this salon, laughs were predominant. The laughs could be interpreted in different ways: were the employees ashamed of their low level of English and laughing was a way to hide their nervousness? Was it way to hide their sadness from their King’s death? Was it the result of a friendly atmosphere? Moreover, it was interesting to notice that the organization is a reflection of one’s culture as various hairdressers were in charge of one client, when in other countries/cultures, the client is being taken care of by only one hairdresser. The relay organization of that salon was based on the principle of participation allowing everyone, according to his capacities, to contribute in satisfying the client. Finally, although the language barrier was a main obstacle to directly interact with the employees, smiles and laughs remain a universal and powerful instrument to convey one’s