Writing a thesis is a solitary job
"Someone told me when I was still at the beginning of this research. At that point I was of the opinion that this statement was slightly dramatic and exaggerated. As I proceeded with the thesis, however, I realized that perhaps there was something true in what was said. Writing a thesis is truly a solitary, and sometimes very hard work. It is a period full of stressful and desperate moments, in which one sometimes thinks of never making it to complete the research that has begun with so much confidence. Also in my case it was not always easy to write this thesis adding up all the projects and commitment to the committees in Glion Institute of Higher education. There were times when I wanted to give up everything because I thought that I would not be able to write something good.
In these most difficult moments there have been people who have always been close to me, and I would therefore like to thank them here. A heartfelt thanks to all my friends who have lived through the same stressful period called "Bachelor Thesis" and who were there when I needed to take a break, and they left me alone when it was time to work hard.
Statement of Authorship
“I confirm that this work is my own. Additionally, I confirm that no part of this coursework, except where clearly quoted and referenced, has been copied from material belonging to any other person e.g. from a book, handout, another student. I am aware that it is a breach of GIHE regulations to copy the work of another without clear acknowledgement and that attempting to do so render me liable to disciplinary procedures. To this effect, I have uploaded my work onto Moodle and have ensured that I have made any relevant corrections to my work prior to submission.”
Theoretical Background
Putting together experiences and perceptions matured by working on the theme of Cross Cultural Training the thesis pursues a dual objective: to share a reflection on the trend of Intercultural Training, and then to propose a re-examination on the role and responsibility of Human Resources in the intercultural sphere; with a description of the the possible approaches that can be followed by organizations to train their people on the topics of intercultural management. The dissertation proposes a precise notion of “Intercultural” and Intercultural Training, in fact, there are many meanings of these terms: it is useful first of all to share its meaning in order to create a common language.
Cross Cultural Management is identified as the investigation and administration of a multifaceted context or setting within the business environment. (Thomas, 2014) Thanks to this investigation there is an understanding of the impact of how the societal culture may or may not have an influence on the management practices within an organization and how chiefs and employees live within this type of context. (Brislin, 2000) Within Cross Cultural Management there is the possibility to find different sub-topics like “cross-cultural psychology, human sciences and anthropology” (Thomas. 2014) with a more in-depth study on disciplines of management, hierarchical conduct and human resources management. The incorporation of the social context in which the business setting is analyzed, the role within a company and the impact of cultures on the “organizational structure and procedures” (Bhawuk, 1996) are all different topics that may be brought on into study on how they may have an impact in business growth. (Thomas. 2014)
Intercultural Management refers to the relationship between people and groups of different cultures. (Brislin, 2000) It is a dynamic concept, which presupposes an exchange and an interaction, referring simply to the proximity, coexistence of people, groups of different cultures in the same space or time and does not involve any interpersonal interaction or relationship; it is a descriptive term that represents a static phenomenon. In the organizational world, refers, for example, to the dynamics between people from different countries who have to work in teams integrated with shared objectives, to managers who must manage collaborators who, in addition to speaking a different language, have a different culture, people who must relate to customers, suppliers or foreign partners.
It also refers to people with back-to-back roles who, even if they do not travel abroad or work in teams with foreign colleagues, still have to respect deadlines with the support and contribution of their colleagues from foreign companies. If these people are not appropriately prepared to face and manage intercultural dynamics, often (if not always) they are generated, in the wholly personal and professional considerations, misunderstandings, anxieties, doubts and disorientation.
When looking at Cross Cultural Management as specified before there are some important subtopics like Human Resources Management (HRM) which can be identified as the process of hiring employees that are a perfect match for the business standards, organizational structure and for the business growth. Human Resources Management includes: “conducting job analysis, planning personnel needs, recruiting the right people for the job, orienting and training, managing wages and salaries, providing benefits and incentives, evaluating performance, resolving disputes, and communicating with all employees at all levels.” (Human Resource Management, 2018).
These phenomena are not always visible and explicit: due to the lack of adaptation of expatriates, the sometimes massive delays in the transfer of “know-how” to local resources, the failure in international mergers, the difficulties in realizing strategies like 'think globally, act locally' or building a system of transnational corporate values. In the everyday of individual micro behaviors, intercultural dynamics translate with the establishment of a status quo that leads to a flattening of solutions and results.
In this context, the goal of Intercultural Training is to develop one mutual understanding between two or more people / groups of different cultures and in relation to each other, as a precondition for an effective relationship and satisfactory professional results. It is about recognizing, accepting and enhancing their differences and to be recognized, accepted and valued in despite the differences: this implies that the Intercultural Training is intended to facilitate the creation of trust relationships between people. As is well known, the commitment that allows productive and effective exchange does not develop naturally: it is established through a feeling of security and predictability, precisely those feelings that, in the intercultural encounter, when the other involves in ways unknown, 'strange', for us incomprehensible are called into question. To create a sense of self, one must first know and recognize one's own cultural codes, that is, the implicit references that guide our behavior, in order to understand ourselves first and then understand the other.
Business growth is the process by which some measures are enhanced in order to improve prosperity and enterprise success. Business development can be accomplished either by boosting the “top line revenue of the business with greater product sales or service income”(Business Dictionary 2018), or by “expanding the bottom line or profitability of the operation by limiting expenses”(Business Dictionary 2018). Thanks to the profits made during its business growth there is a great chance of reinvestments for the actual business and training for employees, especially in countries where cultural difference might have a great impact within the context where people are living in. Only in this way, through direct experience, can the knowledge of the mechanisms of defense and protection that characterize the first meetings with a culture different from one's own can develop, developing over time the awareness of diversity as an opportunity and wealth. Only if we have really lived the exchange, the contamination, the enrichment that come from the encounter with other cultures can be witnessed by the companies.
We will see, speaking ahead of the approaches to Intercultural Training, that only some of these provide for the reading and understanding of their own and others' codes of behavior: these approaches are the most effective because they are aimed at developing a sense of self-respect towards the other; therefore, to generate positive behaviors first on the interpersonal relationship, then on the performances and professional results. From what has been reported above, it is clear that the Intercultural Formation is an issue on the agenda (just think of the strong processes of internationalization and globalization of companies and the continuous migratory uses affecting ever-larger regions), but also working on skills that go well beyond the simple knowledge of another language, participation in international meetings or the belief that the other's culture is positive, rich or interesting.
Rationale
The main purpose of this study is to understand why such strategies are applied from a business which have different and various cultures working within the same environment in order to obtain a perfect and healthy workplace. Harrison and Hopkins (1967), psychologists, have had great impact in human resources management as they “evaluated training programs that used lecture method to prepare people” not only in living abroad but to face and interact within the working environment with new cultures (Harrison & Hopkins,1967). To obtain the information required there shall be an in depth study of the different ethnicities involved, with direct exploration of the European workplace and how the interaction between employees and board of directors goes along.
This study brings up different cross cultural theories like Hofstede’s model, Trompenaar’s dimensions with an incorporation of“psychologist, teachers and lecturer’s who brought experiential methods” (Brislin, 2000) which might help to succeed in a cross-cultural workplace, the implications that might occur if human resources doesn’t tackle the problem properly and a conceptualization of business growth if the requirements and standards are kept on point.
To maintain a stable cross cultural environment it essential that each individual in the organization copes well with the working environment, respects rules and standards. The globalized world, the expansion of hotels and different businesses worldwide has brought together various ethnicities in the same working place. it is essential to not undermine that culture has great influence in decision making and dealing with customers and thanks to the application of different SMART goals, the understanding of the psychological aspect of a company with an examination of the research gap in each company.
Human Resources might tackle the issue of miscommunication, and perceive the working environment and focus on the relevance of “high performance teams, executive coaching and environmental sustainability at work” (Harrison & Hopkins,1967). The research aims to understand the gap that students might encounter nowadays when dealing with internships abroad, and as interns they have to deal with other cultures other than their own. Thanks to the use of questionnaires and other research tools, the thesis is going to focu itself on which training students might have had in the past in the hotels they have worked for and how these might have helped or not the cultural dilemma in the working environment. The research will base itself on “recognizing the contrasts they had with other cultures, recognize their own cultural values, with a probable final insight on intercultural interaction” (Bhawuk & Brislin, 2000).
Aims of the Research Study
`Research and analyze the main strategies for effective Cross Cultural Training in the hospitality industry; thanks to the help of previous studies, researches, the use of Hofstede and Trompenaar’s cultural dimension the Human Resources department might want to tackle and face internal issues with intercultural barriers and understand how cross cultural training leads to a better working environment and a deeper involvement of different cultures in the workplace.
Objectives of the Research Study
1) Investigate employees’ perceptions towards the effectiveness of cross cultural training at hotels.
2) Identify how cross cultural training helps employees to overcome cultural barriers (individual).
3) Employees’ opinion on whether cross cultural training helps establishing workplace relationships (company)
Intercultural Training of Teachers & Educators
The evolution and the increasing demand for Intercultural Training brought up more sophisticated and articulated working objectives; an underestimation of this question generated by the belief that the organizational culture is sufficient to manage the emerging moods from the intercultural encounter although as more corporations and organizations moved abroad, there was a greater and more meticulous attention to a multi-cultural workplace.
In this scenario not only Human Resources Department has a complementary role and responsibilities but even but also workers have been educated in High School and in Universities to cope and interact properly with people of different ethnic background. Teachers needs to better structure training modules and courses that effectively meet the needs of the people involved (more or less directly) in intercultural projects / activities, and group works.
In the field of cross cultural training, we believe that Human Resources and professors should educate people on different cultures through their know-how experience and interactions. Cross cultural research and cross cultural studies compare relatively in the face of leadership or communication research which contribute immensely to this study. Furthermore, it is important that the Human Resources department collaborates effectively in the design of an Intercultural Training engagement, with an in depth contextualization not only with regards to participants and their roles within the business or activity, but also to the improvement of knowledge of culture and nationality.
Studies in Italy have shown how in the past years’ teachers and educators managed to introduce new ways of teaching in order for their students to be prepared and fully equiped with skills that can help them to overcome the challeges posed by the the growing global intercaltural community. Educators are professors in the hospitality industry should emulate this and expand their lessons and teachings to encampass:
• Action research, (teacher-researchers) where in schools or institutes of higher education you are taught how to interact in different situations and both within the working environment and outside;
• Set Up Teams or Groups working and analyzing professional practices;
• Start a critical reflection (individual and collective) on teaching practices;
• Reflection on teaching styles to avoid contradictions between
the contents taught and the behaviors adopted;
• Enhance the experiences of the participants and their previous training;
• Supervision of experts and how they might interact with different trainees or other colleagues;
• Encouraging individual study and cultural and disciplinary study;
• Increase the development of self-training skills and self-learning;
• Learn to document the experiences made;
• Promote the exchange of experiences between schools and teachers.
Diversity Management in Tourism and Hospitality
Diversity management is seen as a practice which addresses the importance of how to manage “multiple lifestyles” (Malik, Madappa, & Chitranshi. 2017) for a specific group; there have been studies showing how diversity management or cross cultural management have been seen during the years by the human resources department, not only in any organizations or companies but even in the hospitality and tourism industry, that deals both with internal workers and clients from all over the world.
Back in the 1990’s, globalization started conceptualizing business growth by moving their businesses or organizations into other countries (Malik, Madappa, & Chitranshi. 2017) on the small level companies which were believed to have a better control over the retention of employees for the success of the business. When moving into a different culture, employees may have a different opinion about work and as a result may greatly impact the standard levels of the brand, thus contributing to the downfall of the business down.
Hofstede’s model frames reveals what a business should follow in order to integrate all the different cultures within a globalized country starting from its cultural dimensions. An individualistic or collectivist environment with an understanding on whether the work should be done in group or in smaller teams; furthermore, an analysis should be conducted on power distance and how to manage the inequality between each member of the team or organization. Analysis should be conducted on risks and uncertainties that may posit major and minor challenges to the business so as to prevent stress and mistakes. Lastly is the analysis of the diversity of the culture, whether it is a masculine or feminine, HR recruiters and the Quality department have to ensure that each chosen individual in the company qualifies for the position and perfectly match the job description, role, skilled to handle the challenges and pressure, with a specific requirement on gender without compromising decision-making.
Long term or short term orientation is equally useful when moving companies to different countries, it can lead to increase in performance of the company. Consequently, extensive research should be conducted on both the consumer behavior and cultural diversification of the inhabitant, “extensive research that happens to analyze the consumer behaviour for similarities and differences across various targeted cultures” (Malik, Madappa, & Chitranshi. 2017).
Organizations through their Human Resources Departments need to work and prepare sufficiently employees through training and education about culture diversification in the hospitality industry so as to prevent implications or problems with other cultures. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions presents a key example of how the company should conduct itself, by identifying main issues that directly or indirectly is potentially capable of affecting the business.
Connect Diversity to Performance
Diversity programs are commonly introduced within the American work environment; either formally or then again casually, associations have encouraged diversity programs intended to instruct representatives about social contrasts or to enhance culturally diverse communications. Sadly, a large number of these projects have neglected to convey the coveted outcomes. One explanation behind this absence of accomplishment is the inability to interface cross cultural projects to hierarchical execution frameworks. This article offers a five-advance procedure to use in deliberately creating an execution centered decent diversity programs and assessing their effect on individual and authoritative achievement.
There have been studies done by the Society for Human Resources Management showing that 68% (2010) of surveyed organizations answered that somehow they have enacted a few initiatives and protocols in order to tackle cultural diversity and improve their economic growth through years and their main objective was to connect diversity programs to “organizational performance systems and processes such as strategic planning, performance management, compensation, and human resource development” (Holmes. 2016). Different actions are taken into consideration to understand the performance gap within the organization and what has caused it: first of all there has to be a clarification of the benefits of the diversity programs, second the human resources department has to identify “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goals”; (Holmes. 2016) third the company needs to develop some action plans with a further analysis of performance expectations and what could be the impact within the organization (either positive or negative).
By applying the five stages portrayed in this article and utilizing the SMART objective process alongside diversity programs as an establishment for assessing achievement, any association can effectively “improve individual and organizational performance, enhance a tailored customer service and improve the organizational bottom line by implementing new objectives”. (Holmes. 2016)
Relationship between Hotel Employees’ Cross-Cultural competency and team performance in Multi-National Companies
This research is based on the collection of data from six of the most important multinational companies worldwide: Accor, Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, IHG and Best Western. The study was brought along to “identify the necessary competencies to work with team members from a multinational context” (Sucher & Cheung. 2015) and “build up a reasonable system for the improvement of multi-social group execution in multinational companies” (Sucher & Cheung. 2015).
Maznevski and Chudoba (2000) have stated that a team within an organization depends all on the choices made by the Human Resources Department: “selection process, skills, attitudes, objectives, willingness to work in group and standards to follow” (Sucher, Cheung 2015). The authors brought up this research to understand what could be the relationship between a cross-cultural environment and the contribution of the team could give to multinational hotel companies and showed that through "relationship building" there is a great probability to fortify their system, create abilities, and perform strikingly well.
The “cultural sensitivity" (Bennett, 2009) and "cultural awareness" (Bennett, 2009) capabilities are identified with conduct, abilities that are vital in the present universal workplace (Bennett, 2009). These two aforementioned skills is capable of equipping a person with the relevant attitude that can enable them to succeed in any intercultural circumstance. Furthermore, "Group aptitudes," (Sucher & Cheung. 2015) "group establishment,"(Sucher & Cheung. 2015) and "group atmosphere"(Sucher & Cheung. 2015) as the transcendent factors in general group execution, ought to be considered by all stakeholders, including the association and colleagues. As the supporter of authoritative achievement and development in the world market “organizations that successfully implement practices for improving the cross cultural environment will gain competitive advantage worldwide” (Sucher & Cheung. 2015).
Conclusively, the above article provides in-depth information that aid in the understanding of how cross cultural training has an influence on business strategies which in-turn can boost the performance of any multinational company irrespective of the environment. This approach is not unidirectional but can be used across different cultures and nations.
The Research-Practice Gap in Human Resources Management
This study shows an examination on the effectiveness of the HR practices in the working environment by interviewing HR managers from three different countries with diversified culture and the results were based on the HR managers who were hailing from Finland, South Korea and Spain. Hofstede's social measurements examines the inconsistencies existing crosswise over nations with respect to HR experts' convictions about the adequacy of HR rehearses and the part that national culture plays in making them as people and workers. (Tenhiälä., Giluk., Kepes.,, Simón., & Kim, 2016).
Various surveys were given to HR practitioners and have realized that there were two main issues which had to be dealt with: first is the improvement of miscommunication across different cultures and second the perception that HR managers have on workers. Another important aspect of the research is how each country perceives itself within Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, for example “Finland has a lower rate of Power Distance compared to Spain and South Korea whereas Finland has lower rate on Uncertainty Avoidance than Spain or South Korea as per shown in the graphs.” (Tenhiälä., Giluk., Kepes.,, Simón., & Kim. 2016).
There has been an in depth study of each cultural dimension but one of the main issues encountered during the research was the response bias given by HR practitioners. Half of the answers had to be discarded mainly because they weren't answered correctly, especially the ones related to staffing and culturally diverse employees; as the researchers went further on, they realized that if working in a cross cultural environment, HR managers don’t want to “collaborate with the academic community” (Tenhiälä., Giluk., Kepes.,, Simón., & Kim. 2016) so as a solution it was brought forward to study “The Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behaviour” (Locke. 2009), identified as an excellent “practitioner friendly” (Tenhiälä., Giluk., Kepes.,, Simón., & Kim. 2016) book, which brings up the social sciences of administration of individuals, work and associations: it coordinates huge measures of research to reach conclusions so experts don't need to swim into essential examinations all alone. A second opportunity to tackle this organizational gap is by participating one of the most important international conferences driven by the most important psychologist in the world: “The Leading Edge Consortium Series” (Tenhiälä., Giluk., Kepes.,, Simón., & Kim. 2016), and focus on “relevant topics such as high performance teams, executive coaching, and environmental sustainability at work.” (Tenhiälä., Giluk., Kepes, Simón., & Kim. 2016).
This journal equip people with a different perspective which are useful in the understanding of the relevancy of this organization in relation to achieving the organizational gap, and makes readers understand not only the importance of how employees have an influence within the business, but even how HR managers and practitioners should involve themselves more into understanding really how it feels like when working in a cross cultural workplace.
Relationship among Human Resources Management and Organizational Commitment
Joseph C. Rode, Xiaowen Huang & Barbara Flynn have examined the relationship among human resources management practices and organizational commitment with an in depth clarification of how collectivist countries have a higher score and economic performance compared to other countries. “A collectivist culture is one that's based on valuing the needs of a group or a community over the individual” (Rode, Huang & Flynn, 2016). By this they want to emphasize that a collectivist culture “prizes the notion that we are interdependent and part of a larger group and collectivist cultures, one's orientation is outward, toward the group, rather than inwards to himself” (Rode, Huang & Flynn, 2016).
On a daily basis, especially in the hospitality industry, we are working with different ethnicities and cultures from all over the world and we are not working anymore in a “mono-cultural world” (Clark, 2014) this is why this journal wants to emphasize the importance of a management team that is international which bonds easier with both clients and colleagues. In the article they try to accentuate the importance of contracts in order to convince “individual’s beliefs regarding the exchange agreement between themselves and the organization” (Rode, Huang & Flynn. 2016). There are two types of contracts provided, namely, psychological and transactional with a sub contract also known as the relational agreement.
The first (psychological) refers to the relationship the employee has for the company, the second (transactional) is more “short-term, there is limited involvement with a focus on the exchange of economic resources” (Rode, Huang & Flynn. 2016), furthermore the last type of contract and the most successful leading to commitment and organization success is the relational contract; seen as the “long-term, with an open-ended involvement and the ongoing exchange of socio-emotional resources.” (Rode, Huang & Flynn, 2016).
Research Philosophy and Approach
As far as the retrieval of data is concerned, the research will focus on the analysis of the historical series of flows concerning the offer in the labor market (employees and students who worked in the hospitality industry). The research activity will also focus on the profile of job demand (tourism businesses). An analysis of the possible effects of a sectorial shock on employment in the tourism sector will also be carried out, also through the use of non-linear models.
The tourism sector in fact presents peculiarities that involve important implications in the innovation process and in the transfer of the same: a close interrelation between production and consumption, intangible information content and a fundamental role of human resources and organizational factors. The resulting innovation is geared towards adapting the service to the needs of the user, and therefore has a lower technological content than other sectors and regards the phase of service provision and training of human resources.
Consequently, the channel most accredited to the transfer of skills is the mobility of the workforce that improves the managerial “know-how” and promotes the development of local tourism entrepreneurship with the implementation of making different cultures work for the same company. In this sense, the research intends to capture the possible presence of spillover of knowledge among the companies operating in the tourism sector by analyzing the ability of the leading companies to influence the process of economic development of the territory with particular reference to the consequences on local entrepreneurship.
The objective of the analysis is therefore to formulate a model of economic policy of work aimed at supporting and developing tourism activities through cross cultural training, in order for different cultures to interact together, without any cultural clash. On the basis of the data available, a detailed analysis, initially of a descriptive nature, will be conducted on the flows of workers between enterprises, which, as mentioned, constitute a fundamental means of disseminating knowledge.
