Social or ethnic groupings may also give rise to different norms and patterns of behavior
with a crucial impact on day-to-day functioning, especially when the ethnic groupings coincide
with different organizational activities. An excellent example of this has been provided by
sociologist W. F. Whyte in his studies of restaurants, where status and other social differences
between kitchen staff and those waiting on tables often create many operational problems. When
a high-status group interacts with a low-status group, or when groups with very different
occupational attitudes are placed in a relation of dependence, organizations can become plagued
by a kind of subcultural warfare. Different norms, beliefs, and attitudes to time, efficiency, or
service can combine to create all kinds of contradictions and dysfunctions. These can be
extremely difficult to tackle in a rational manner because they are intertwined with all kinds of
deep-seated personal issues that in effect define the human· beings involved.