Is there more to ROTA than just the projects?

In sociology class we study a variety of topics by scanning through the chapters. I found the recent class to be the most interesting class from the previous classes. I say this because I learned something new and interesting that never captured my attention. We spoke about Organizations in terms of Formal and Informal organizations. The discussion looked at Voluntary organizations and Utilitarian organizations.  ROTA is an organization that best defines theses two kinds of organizations according to Sociology. 

“Towards Education for all…Today, Tomorrow, Forever” is there priority mission statement. I am currently a non-paid worker for ROTA (Reach Out to Asia) and this experience gives me a valid explanation of judging the type of Organization it is in our society. The organization has a hierarchy of employees where some are paid to run the organization, while most do voluntary projects to create awareness of the illiterate people who are less fortunate or hard working laborers to get proper education. My job in ROTA is to educate eighteen cleaning staff members of Education City twice a week. These workers are mostly recruited from Sri lank and possess low skills in communicating with their colleagues or people in charge of them in English. They fail to understand certain vocabulary that is very important in order for them to do allocated tasks.

Therefore, I am an individual who gives 2 hours of her time to help these workers learn a few English words, so that their bosses and employers have an easier time communicating with them. ROTA is also a utilitarian organization. A utilitarian organization indicates that the organization has a specific goal/ purpose and implies that some members get paid for running the few aspects of ROTA and is usually a matter of individual choice. I can strongly say this organization is not a Coercive organization. The aim of ROTA is to increase access to educationalfacilities in a crisis situation. The chairperson H.E Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani and a few other Board members provide guidance and direction for the charity.

Since the organization is a utilitarian organization, this means they are Bureaucratic. A bureaucratic organization indicates that an organization has forms for everything, a lot of paper work, policies, procedures, and deadlines. This organization incorporates all of those attributes in order for an individual to be a non-paid employee, or part of a quick volunteer project. The organization strictly believes in their aim and ways to achieve that aim. The organization has to be bureaucratic because they are dealing with a large number of people of different knowledge skills and areas. They have to deal with the volunteers and the people who need the voluntary assistance. They have to try and get people to sponsor their notion and they work forward with that support and funding’s. Qtel and Vodafone are so far the most spoken about sponsors for the projects of ROTA.












ROTA is a non-profit organization, and thus there is a limit of trust and liability issues that have to be kept under control and supervised regularly. These benefits of having rules is a functional point of view, a positive way to see an outcome in every bureaucratic organization. There is an achievement, which is education that is given and received by a range of individuals.

Although, if there is too much bureaucracy pushed towards the organization, there tends to be negative issues with the organization called Social conflicts. The social conflict in ROTA is that there might be some Asian countries who do not get the privilege to receive the same sort of education everywhere. 

One reason to this is that they might not have enough students or people to do the voluntary work of teaching in those specific regions. Or, they might only get a visit of help once a year that has the possibility to hold an event of teaching. The picture of the Map above shows the different regions that ROTA has visited to help educate more illiterate individuals.

In Doha Qatar itself it becomes a social conflict because many Indian schools barely receive information about ROTA trips abroad or several local projects because the organization only picks people who have a certain amount of skills or study in Education City. Education City most of the time tries to get university or Qatar Academy students to participate in these projects, in order to build their Community and Service skills and approaches. The picture below is of a Carnegie Mellon University student teaching the cleaning staff of his University. As a teacher myself, I have noticed that there are no teachers from The College of the North Atlantic or Qatar University. The next picture identifies how serious ROTA takes their educational services because it shows the training sessions that occurred for all the upcoming teachers in Education City.

Visit this link to watch how Education city demonstrates enthusiasm for Reach out to Asia: http://www.youtube.com/user/reachouttoasiatv?ob=0&feature=results_main

“Make a Difference and take Action” says ROTA.

Moving Planet Organization

Formal organizations are created by the society, there are two types of groups, primary and secondary groups which can be broken down into different categories. Primary groups are formed based on strong emotions; the main elements that make up the primary groups consist of family members and friends, where they highly impact the result of the group. Secondary groups can be influenced by the primary groups; they are usually larger organizations which relate to the community. The three types of secondary groups are usually larger organizations which relate to the community. The three types of secondary groups are; voluntary, coercive and utilitarian.

350.org is an organization established in the United States by Bill Mckibben. The number 350 relates to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The current level is 392ppm (parts per million) which must be reduced in order to save the planet. "350 is more than a number - it's a symbol of where we need to head as a planet". Therefore it is a voluntary organization aiming to fulfil one goal- to save the planet. The organization's members consist of individuals sharing a mutual interest with a non-profit goal.



350.org's organization has a vision to reduce the amount of CO2 usage, their mission is to raise awareness and head for a change in their everyday life. Individuals shape our society; the society can keep the planet safe. "We want to be a laboratory for the best ways to strengthen the climate movement and catalyze transformation around the world".

Using formal dimensions, 350.org gives individuals the freedom to establish events relating to climate change, "mass public actions are led from bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers". The dimensions are volunteer-generated norms where they can by pass or violate the organization's rules. 350.org is a non-bureaucratic organization, and its success depends on the volunteer's creativity.

The success of 350.org can by proven by the number of individuals involved in making a change to the planet. In October 2009, more than 5200 actions have taken place in 181 countries. Each country creates events relating to their culture. The study of the society plays a large role in the success of the event; they are usually influence by the primary groups where emotion is influenced by family and friends.

As a project for my senior seminar class, I created a poster for a fake event in Qatar; I planned an event relating to the Qatari tradition and culture, aiming to raise awareness on 350ppm. While thinking critically of an event, I asked the older generations of how they lived in the past, before the development of fossil fuels etc. Qatar was not a developed country at their generation therefore they could reflect on their experience. I had a conversation to fully experience and understand the way they lived and how they would get around in Qatar. I also looked at existing events and how to promote the awareness. Since we can't solve the issue, we can only raise awareness. I looked at the marathons and the impact they leave, I noticed that even though it does not solve, it leaves an experience. I merged both ideas, marathon and older generation's experience to create a marathon using our old means of transportation in Qatar. Using Dhows and camels, the participants would understand the society and actually live the society as in the past. This event should affect their thinking and help them preserve the fossil fuels.




Below are examples of different events in different countries.

Formal Organization- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

In order to fulfill the basic needs and promote diverse interests of people, a large number of organizations have come up with modern complex societies. These organizations are of two kinds-the formal and informal organizations. There are economic, political, educational, industrial and other kinds of formal and informal organizations. Due to the growth and demand of the societies, the number and size of the formal organizations have increased tremendously. A formal organization is a group that is deliberately constructed to achieve the objectives through explicitly defined roles and specified rules. One such organization is the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent(IFRC). This organization belongs to the sub category of voluntary organizations (aka voluntary associations) that draws people who give time, talent, or treasure to support mutual interests, meet important human needs, or to achieve a not- for- profit goal.

Every organization, whether profit or non- profit have a definite purpose or goals which bring individuals together to establish a definite pattern and a system of interaction. The IFRC vision: to inspire, encourage, facilitate and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activites by National Societies, with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering, and hereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world. They have seven fundamental principles which guides the actions, attitudes and behaviors of individuals and the organization as a whole. Below is a video that states these seven principles.



The IFRC have come a long way. It was born in 1859, when Henry Dunant, a young swiss man, came upon a bloody battle where 40,000 men lay dead or dying on the battlefield and the wounded lacked medical attention. Below is a short film combining animation and images, which brings life to the history of Red Cross Red Crescent from Henry Dunant till today.

The IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, providing assistance without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. Their strategy in the future aims to save lives and change minds.

"The walk for life", Formal organization with a cause

In sociology a formal organization is defined as being a type of secondary group which people create as a coordinating mechanism to achieve a planned outcome. They are viewed as such because they bring together people and resources that when worked together will achieve the desired outcome.
People all over Qatar shed their regular attire for bright pink t-shirts, as they took part in a walk along Doha’s Corniche to raise breast cancer awareness in our Qatari community.

“The walk of life" channels human activity toward achieving an outcome which supports a mutual interest and meets important human needs, all for a non-profit goal. First of all, it was a voluntary organization. People attended the walk to donate their time and effort in achieving the ultimate goal of raising awareness  to the masses. The people who attended the cause were a mix of everything from different nationalities to different social statuses. This was definitely a secondary group because of the fact that everyone gathered for a specific purpose which was to take part in the walk that would use that awareness to aid in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of breast cancer.

However there were many differences that the walk of awareness had to formal organizations. It might be apparent but people walked together in large groups which even though the majority didn't know each other they were brought together by a common purpose. The notion of “McDonaldization” was not put into the extremes since the walk was to raise awareness unlike a production line of creating products as efficiently as possible. Efficiency and how fast or slow people walked was up to the people themselves since everyone who joined the walk was there voluntarily.

Formal Organizations on a miniature scale. Could it work?

Dr. Tracy Vaughn is not only a highly respected professor at Northwestern University in Qatar; she is also an accomplished quilter among many other things. NUQ students had the privilege of attending several quilting sessions to learn the art. Similar to the museum we visited, quilting is an art form that tells a wide range of stories and history. I chose to distinguish the similarities and differences this session had to formal organizations, even though it’s on a much smaller scale.

First of all, it was a voluntary organization. People attended these sessions not only to learn the art of quilting but to also donate their time and talent to achieve the ultimate goal of creating one giant NUQ quilt. The students who attended the session were all students of NUQ however distinguishing whether they were a primary or secondary group was difficult because the relationships weren’t impersonal but they weren’t strong family like ties either, but the fact that everyone gathered for a specific purpose which was to take part in the session and create a huge quilt categorizes as more of a secondary group. Unlike being in a lecture or class, the session was in an informal dimension, people would pass by, chat as they work and workwith their friends. Since these sessions were held in Dr. Vaughn’s quilt exhibition, “ideal types” of what the finished product would preferably look like surrounded us which gave us a better idea of what we were working towards. Professionalization was definitely present during the session since Dr. Vaughn used her skills that she acquired over years, to teach us the basics of making a quilt.

However the differences the quilting session had to formal organizations were much more apparent. As I mentioned previously, people often worked together or sat in groups therefore there was a lack of alienation, although everyone’s product was customized. The notion of “McDonaldization” wasn’t put into practice either. Efficiency was low since everyone who joined the sessions were newcomers and had no prior experience. Although there were a certain number of purple fabrics students could choose from, the likelihood of two quilts having the same pattern was very low, which made every quilt unpredictable. In regards to control, every quilt was encouraged to be individualized, so unlike a production line; no one was assigned a particular job. Finally, the only factor that fits into quantification and calculation was that each quilt was made up of four fabrics, other than that there wasn’t a particular amount of products set nor was there a time limit.

After analyzing the quilting session I realized that formal organizations definitely work better on a larger scale with bigger businesses and establishments rather than smaller ones since they probably have a larger client base that need their demands met as fast as possible unlike industries such as quilting which require an artistic touch.

Sociology on the road

Instead of learning from the typical power points presentations in class, our Sociology Professor, Geoff Harkness, decided to take us to the Al-Mathaf museum last Thursday during our 80 minute long class. We all showed up on time, which illustrates how disciplined we are to our role obligations. While we were all in the bus heading to the museum, we were all quiet and uncertain about how the trip will integrate the contents of our sociology syllabus. One of the students was brave enough to tell to Professor Harkness that museums are boring. Professor Harkness played his role wisely by responding “When I was younger, I didn’t appreciate museums, but as I grew older I started to gain this appreciation.”








Once we arrived, we were welcomed by the Head of Education Michelle Dezember who has a sociology degree. We spent the first 15 minutes discussing the formal organization of the museum. First to define formal organization; it is the coordinating mechanisms that bring together people, resources, and technology and then channel human activity toward achieving a specific outcome. So at the entrance, there were desks with computers that store the data about the visitors. An example of a formal dimension of the museum is asking the visitors about their nationality, gender, age and their visiting status to the museum. About the organizational values, the museum is quite flexible to the type of exhibitions it hosts. It’s not limited to a specific type of culture. It accepts exhibitions from various cultures, which highlight the involvement of significant cultural diffusion.





The museum had some norms like not entering to the Gallery hall with food and beverages and also not taking photos of the art work inside. The exhibition that we saw was called the Swalif project which means short stories. There were a plethora of traditional Arabic paintings but we only had time to analyze two paintings. The first painting was by Jassim Zaini and it was called oil on panel. The painting showed how the Middle East has gradually progressed towards urbanization. On the right of the painting, there were women on a rowing boat just simply sitting, and a young boy fishing with a stick. But moving onto the middle and left side of the painting, there was a man holding a book and switching on an industrialized oil panel. There were also two men lifting some heavy objects and a man fishing with a huge fishing net. The painting explained an aspect of the gender roles in Arab countries which was that men are the ones expected to work hard and engage in some physical labor and technology, while women are expected to just take care of the family and support them. The background of the painting had some buildings which is a symbol modernism. There were also palm trees and a sun, which are quite common in the material culture of the Middle East.

The next collection of paintings was done by Sultan and they elaborated again the role of women in the Arabic society. The paintings showed women in their homes, sitting on the ground and grinding bread or cooking. The women were wearing their long traditional dress and burqa,which explains how conservative the Middle Eastern culture is. Also, the women in the picture had many serving plates beside them, which reflect the symbol of generosity and hospitality of the Arabian culture.



Head of Education Michelle Dezember

The trip was immensely enjoyable and educational at the same time. Many thanks to our Sociology Professor ,Geoff Harkness, for his creativity in planning for our class and making us more interested in the study of sociology.

CHOPSTICKS Restaurant in Wyndham Hotel: An unusual experience at one of my favorite restaurants in Doha

I’ve been to Chopsticks over 50 times since my family moved to Qatar. And I can say that I’ve had a pretty similar experience with the food and service in every visit. However, as I will explain later in the blog, this particular visit was unlike any other, due to an unfavorable event. Some of the dishes I always order at this Far-Eastern restaurant are: Hakka noodles, shrimp tempura, and stir-fried chicken with shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots. They are always as delicious, presentation looks the same, and the portion-size is more-or-less identical every single time they are served. On Fridays, they serve a lunch buffet featuring a variety of Oriental, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai cuisine. Last Friday, I went to Chopsticks with my parents and sister. My parents settled for the buffet, and my sister and I decided to go à la carte. This visit was a good opportunity for me to observe the two types of dining services offered simultaneously (menu and buffet), while observing this small formal organization from a sociological perspective.





According to Joan Ferrante, a formal organization is a type of secondary group. These groups consist of people who interact with each other to achieve a specific goal. The relationships between these people are impersonal, and in contrast to primary groups, members of a secondary group do not have strong emotional ties among each other. Instead, they relate to each other in terms of the individual roles of people in the organization. In this context, the relationship between all employees in the restaurant are limited to a specific task or activity, such as waiting tables, cashier, sushi chef, head chef, line cooks, cleaners, dishwashers etc. The members of this group identify with each other according to the jobs they perform, not how they behave outside the restaurant (the setting in which secondary group members interact with a specific purpose).



For example, the waiter takes our order, delivers it to the chef in the kitchen, the chef tells his brigade of chefs and line cooks the order, and those chefs have to communicate with each other to complete a tables order. In order for all appetizers and main courses to come out at the same time chefs at different stations must communicate accordingly. Also, there are different waiters assigned to specific tasks; some take orders, others supervise the buffet in case something needs to be re-filled, removed, or if there are any specific requests from the customers, they need to be taken to the chef or manager.




While watching the sushi chef complete a batch of fresh sushi, I saw that a waiter comes to the chef, asks him if the batch is ready and takes them to the buffet to be arranged in a specific array by the chef responsible for arranging the buffet. The interaction between the three employees is restricted to achieving a particular goal, which is serving food to customers.




Furthermore, the four concepts of efficiency, control, calculation and predictability are exercised in order to achieve that goal. These four principles of McDonaldization can be applied to Chopsticks, although they are not as extensively implemented in comparison to the L’wzaar Seafood Market restaurant in Katara Cultural village. First, there are different aspects that can be related to how the restaurant operates in order to maximize its efficiency. By having specialized tasks where the different parts involved in the process of preparing and serving the food are broken down and assigned to different employees who are trained to perform a particular task, the customers are served faster.



One employee greets and seats the customers, another takes their order and delivers it to the kitchen, the chef shouts out the order, different chefs work on different dishes, another waiter picks up the food and serves it, one chef is responsible for preparing only the sushi, another for arranging the buffet and so on. Also, all items ordered are entered into a computer system at the cashier, where each table’s tab is kept up to date. All items ordered in the beginning or during your meal are recorded efficiently and updated systematically. In terms of control, some aspects to consider include the way the employees are dressed; waitresses, waiters, chefs, managers all have distinct uniforms according to their roles. For example, the chef wears his chef’s hat, the manager wears a tie and suit, and waitresses wear either the traditional Chinese dress or red jacket with a Chinese twist on the collar.







The dining room is divided into the buffet section (only on Fridays), non-smoking and smoking tables, controlling how customers are seated and where they line up for the buffet. The arrangement of the buffet is not spontaneous, but precisely organized according to category of cuisine: “Thai corner”, “Chinese corner”, sushi and desert. All details of the way the food and dining room is presented and arranged is controlled and planned out thoroughly; the way the handkerchiefs are folded, the cutlery, the glasses, the wet towels, the menu and the assortment of all table accessories.







Calculation can be observed mostly through the cashier station. The computer screen is not very different than the one you might see in any fast food restaurant. The cashier person selects the menu items displayed on the screen and they are automatically recorded into the system, and the bill is tabulated. This allows for accurate quantification and calculation that provides the organization with numerical indicators of their daily profits, what products (specific menu items) are in demand, and evaluation of their lunch and dinner services.



Part of why I keep going to Chopsticks, is that I know I am going to have the great experience I’ve enjoyed previously over and over again, which has to do very much with the predictability of the restaurant’s food and service. I go through the same process of greeting and seating, where after saying “non-smoking please”, I am seated in the same area. Even though almost all employees know my family and I, they keep asking the same question because they are trained to do so.




After being seated, I expect the same ambience and atmosphere created by the Asian themed furnishings and detail including the table items such as an assortment of four sauces, the same type of flower found on every table, and chopsticks wrapped in an envelope with the name and logo of the restaurant. I also expect to receive the complementary crab or chicken salad, and the food to be the same every time I order it, same portions, same time taken for food to arrive (which is usually 15-20 minutes), the same presentation and the same taste, texture and flavor.




To my surprise, this time, the shrimp tempura dish, usually the highlight of my Chopsticks experience, was a complete disappointment. Not only where the jumbo shrimps, not so “jumbo”, and the batter not as golden and crispy, but soggy and chewy…I found a hair on one of my shrimps – yes, the ultimate horror of hair in the food. Completely and utterly shocked by what I found on one of my dear shrimps, I completely forgot to take a picture, so I have no evidence to display here, and now that I think of it, I am thankful for not having any because it is not a sight I’d like to remember especially that I plan to go back to this restaurant again. This is where the drama comes in…



According to Ferrante, the dramaturgical model, developed by Sociologist Erving Goffman, is a model in which social interaction among members in society can be examined as a theater, where different people were actors, with different roles, and they perform these roles before an audience in a particular setting. From the moment I received my devastating shrimps, it came to my attention that the restaurant can be viewed as a play where the employees where the actors, the dining room was the front stage and the kitchen as well as the area covered by separating screens where the sushi is prepared is the back stage. Looking around this “stage”, all employees (actors) manage the setting (the restaurant), their dress (uniforms), their words (greetings, communication with customers, interaction with other actors), their gestures, to correspond to the impression they are trying to make or the image they are trying to convey to the audience (customers). According to Ferrante, this process of coordination in social situations is called impression management.



All members of the cast (restaurant employees) behaved and interacted with each other in order to put on this “show” for the audience, where customers receive their food as requested, up to the standards required, in the way they are trained, while maintaining the intended image of a contemporary, Far-Eastern restaurant serving oriental cuisine in an elegant setting, suitable for both business meals and family. Now back to my tragic shrimps…
When I made my complaint to the waiter, he immediately took the dish away while apologizing repeatedly, and said he’ll be right back. I expected a somewhat similar reaction to what the waiter actually said and did, but what was interesting to me was what my mom overlooked in the “backstage” while scooping second rounds of Manchurian chicken in the buffet. Sitting in the dining room, everything seemed calm, cool, and collected from my point of view. However, according to my mom, behind the dividing screens, the manager was arguing with and scolding all the waiters, and the chef, who had apparently left the kitchen to speak to the manager and waiters.



There was obviously some back-stage behavior that contradicts the front stage and therefore they tried to conceal it from the rest of the dining room. They wouldn’t want the rest of the customers to hear about hair in the food, nor do they want them to see or hear any of the quarreling and argument about it. The gestures, tone of voice, and behavior of the employees in the backstage, not only regarding the shrimp dilemma but also the situation in the kitchen is not revealed to the audience. Also worth noting, is the sushi station that is in a hidden corner as well and concealed by the screens. When I came closer to the station with my phone trying to capture a few shots, the chef became flustered and started wiping his mess away, tried to close his open mayonnaise bottle, and pick up the sliced cucumbers that have fallen off the plate and onto the counter. If this were a station that is purposely set for an audience to watch and observe, like cooking stations in many other restaurants (like L’wzaar), I am pretty sure the sushi chef would have been working more neatly, and the counter would be arranged in a cleaner, more sophisticated and amusing way, all depending on what image the restaurant is trying to project.




Finally, the manager came over to our table and personally apologized for the incident and assured us it would not happen again. He replaced my dish with a new hair-free tempura free of charge, and the waitress who’s known me for three years patted me on the back caringly and apologetically, saying “so sorry Zayeena”. I must admit they salvaged my experience and chances of me coming back with the complementary desert, and free shrimps, and extra care from the staff. This part of the service can be considered the informal dimension, or the unofficial aspect of the organization. The employees' behavior I witnessed in response to my situation, departs from the formal dimension or rules and guidelines. Given the fact that we are frequent customers, and the severity of finding a hair in the food and the impact it may have on the restaurants reputation and image, the manager made a decision of removing the charge of the shrimp tempura off the bill and giving us a complementary desert, all which may not have been part of the rules or guidelines in the restaurant. The way in which the waitress apologized to me by patting me on the back and addressing me by “name”, is a deviation from the standard procedures, and instead could be considered as an employee-generated norm that ignores the official guidelines, in which her relationship and interaction with the customer becomes personalized and not standardized.