Cultural Diversity in an Organisation - Term Paper Example

Table of contents 1. Executive Summary…..……………………………………………..…….3 2. Introduction.…………………………………………………………....….4 3. Cultural diversity: a brief perspective.......……………………………....5 4. Case Study – Park Plaza Hotel……………………………………….…..6 4.1 Park Plaza Hotel Cultural Diversity.............................................6 4.2 The Gender Issue..........................................................................7 4.3 The diversity in the workplace: Park Plaza Hotel ......... ..............8 4.4 Equal Opportunity in Park Plaza Hotel.........................................8 4.4 Communication and training ........................................................8 5. Advantages of Diversity……………………..…………...……………...….9 6. Recommendation…………………………………..……………….….........9 7. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….….10 8. References...........…………………………………………………………...10 1. Executive Summary The rationale of this report is to state the importance of workforce and in-house communication in regards to cultural diversity. According to Ruffino (1996) people from different cultural and educational backgrounds, with different work experiences bring in different skills that assist in solving problems as well as different viewpoints. Therefore, cultural diversity should be taken as an asset as it should be used to come at the top in the competitive business environment that exists in today’s world. Cultural diversity acts as a driving force to economic growth for any organisation and this in turn results to an organisation achieving its set targets and objectives (Leaderbrighton-hove.org, 2003). The result of socio-economic growth would be inadequate in terms of classifying people by their background, qualification and physical condition. This is not a right or a wrong subject, however, serious consideration is essential for internal strength and positive acceptance from all the parties concerned. Further detailed explanation will be shown using a case study of Park Plaza hotel. 2. Introduction Diversity in the workplace is a people issue whereby the various differences that they have as well as similarities are taken into account. In this paper cultural diversity shall be looked into in relation to a service industry and in this case, the hotel industry. Cultural diversity in an organisation that wishes to emerge the top in its operations is taken to be multi-culturalism which is that aims at embracing and valuing the different cultures. Diversity has become a business necessity and not a legal or moral issue as the case was decades back. In this respect it has become a necessity that organisations take advantage of the diverse cultural backgrounds of its workforce in competing in the today’s rather global business arena. The hospitality industry has not been left behind in this aspect of managing cultural diversity in the workplace. (Devine 2006; Baum 2006) However, at the work place, women, older and less educated people are the ones that are most discriminated. The same case applies to those coming from developing countries by those from the first world. The disabled is the other group that is discriminated to the extent of their disabilities; an act that is not only wrong but inhumane (Deluca 1992). Therefore, organisations’ managements need to put these issues into consideration and come up with policies that are aimed at minimising these forms of discrimination at the very least so as to cater for the needs of the minority groups in the workplace as they are the ones most vulnerable. Discrimination to these people results in low morale and self esteem thereby resulting to low productivity; a costly affair to the organisations where such is being experienced. As a result of this realisation, there have been dramatic developments especially in the hotel industry (Nickson 2007). The chosen hotel to elaborate this aspect further is Park Plaza which focuses on core values and what they can offer to the employees by way of improving communication through training and looking at the income levels. The management of Park Plaza focuses on improving the working conditions and trying to be in line with the internationally accepted standards. This encourages employees to work substantially well at optimum levels so as to achieve the set targets and objectives in regards to revenue and profits. This report will review the way diversity in the workforce has been managed in the earlier mentioned hotel. In managing cultural diversity the management has had to deal with gender issues, equality issues in relation to opportunities available and communication training and practical applications. This report will provide an understanding of the following categories: Cultural diversity with regard to society membership Cultural diversity in relation to Park Plaza’s workforce communication Park Plaza’s attitude on equality in regards to opportunities available 3. Cultural diversity: A brief perspective Gee (1994) says that culture is that which is shared among members of a society or people who share nationality. It also includes traditions, habits, language, art music, religion, literature, and mode of dressing as well as shared behaviors and feelings in a group. It is important to appreciate cultural diversity especially in the hotel industry as communication, transacting business, and dealing with employees from different countries can be quite a challenge for the management and the employees as well. Secondly, working for a foreign-based hotel calls for one to be familiar with the culture of the people there as well as those that will are work colleagues. The management needs to analyse the various backgrounds that define individual employee in order to enhance easy working relations among the staff members and in coming up with policies that will affect these people (Hoque 2002). The policies should as much as possible be in line with the wishes of a majority of the stakeholders if not all. Lastly, appreciation of cultural diversity in an international hotel setting also facilitates easier understanding and communication with customers who come from different countries from around the globe. These customers should be made to feel at home by being served in a manner that is quite similar to that of their home country as well as use of their language where possible. These guests therefore feel fully accommodated in such a hotel and this is what Park Plaza has been endeavouring to do in order to gain a competitive advantage in the international hotels category. According to Rock (1999), the idea of diversity puts into consideration the fact that each individual is unique, and in recognition of individual differences respect and acceptance are accorded to those whose cultural background is different from that of others. This is in respect to race, gender, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, ethnicity or other ideologies that may be the basis of the differences or diversity (Redman & Wilkinson 2009). It is very important to understand that differences that manifest themselves in individuals that revolve around simple tolerance to celebrating and embracing the rich dimension of their diversity (Nickson 2007). Managing cultural diversity thus aims at maximizing employees’ potential and assists them to develop and contribute positively towards the growth of the company. Companies have to recognize that employees from different countries carry with them different but valuable ideas and perceptions which can be used to improve on quality of services and products and more efficiently in the workplace. Good management of cultural diversity will bring in growth in creativity and innovation, which will increase the company’s capacity to compete (leaderbrighton-hove.org. 2003). 4. Case Study – Park Plaza Hotel 4.1 Park Plaza Hotel Cultural Diversity Figure 1. (Employee Population Different Race) Source (Park plaza hotel HR manager Marin.11/03/2009) As seen from the above figure, Park Plaza hotel has a majority of its employees from Europe and in particular from Britain. The least accommodated in the hotel workforce are people from South East Asian decent (Mullins 2001). The hotel management therefore is seen to have a task of trying to have a level playing field where individual employees irrespective of their origin and cultural background are to be treated equally. It is also evident that the hotel is tolerant to cultural diversity since if it were not it would not have hired such diverse workforce in terms of their cultural affiliation. According to Gro¨schl and Doherty (1999) managing diversity is about understanding that the work place is composed of diverse population of employees and that this is a situation that the hotel in this regard put into consideration in developing policies and advancing HR practices. The company has thus hired as indicated in the above figure more Europeans than the rest since a majority of its customers are from there (Bohlander & Snell 2009; Mor-Barak 2005). However, the others still carry a good 25% of the workforce which are meant to cater for the communication needs of those from the other regions of the world. In this regard any form of discrimination is not allowed and if a case on such is proved either to have occurred towards a customer or among the employees, the person responsible or behind it risks suspension or dismissal depending on the gravity of the proved accusation. For the hotel management to enforce these rules and regulations against discrimination it has to show by example. It has done this by ensuring that the workers are treated equally regardless of their national or cultural background (Directgov 1995). 4.2 The Gender Issue Figure 2. The diversified workforce in the hotel Source (Park plaza hotel HR manager Marin.11/03/2009) 4.3 The diversified in the workforce: Park Plaza Hotel The above chat well illustrates the diversity in the workforce of the hotel in relation to gender and age. From the chat it is evident that gender parity issue is quite wanting in that the hotel has employed more men than it has women. This is a scenario that is not reflecting the overall equality that the hotel claims to promote in respect to equality. The hotel needs to look into this and avail more employment opportunities to women as it is clear that this is an area that is much regretted by the management (Mullins 2001). The age group that dominates the hotel has been seen to be in the 30s. This means that young as well as people with more years for example in their 40s or 50s do not stand a good chance to be employed in this hotel. This shows that the hotel in this respect is discriminating people on the basis of their age; a scenario that leaves one wondering whether the discrimination at one point could spread to be cultural based. However, the hotel management has put measures in place as seen earlier to ensure that mo discrimination is witnessed in the workplace. 4.4 Equal Opportunity in Park Plaza Hotel Park Plaza hotel has a religious holiday policy, if one observes a certain holiday as pertaining to their religion; the hotel grants this person the chance to take the holiday even if it is within someone’s time of duty. Other occasions given prominence are religious festivals that the employees are allowed or given permission to attend. For example in case of Christians, most of their off days fall on weekends and particularly on Sunday. This enables them to attend church and take the day off as their religion stipulates. This is one of the ways this group feels accommodated. The rest of the employees who are left at work while others are free are also given their days off in accordance to their religious affiliations. For the Muslim workers the hotel always grants them leave days when they are holding their holidays, the same applies to Hindus and the other religions (Kwintessential 2001). Some religions and cusltures have dietary restrictions that need also to be looked into whereby those taking certain foods should have their choices respected and be allowed to cook them (Hay 1996). 4.5 Communication and training In the hotel industry there is the need for the employees to know how to communicate with the customers especially in a hotel that has quite a good number of its customers being foreigners. The hotel must identify the language to be used where and when. This necessitates the hotel to either employ people who are able to speak many languages or take the employees through language training. This enhances communication among the employees themselves since they also come from a diverse background and with the customers from different nationalities. The hotel has taken the initiative to take its employees for courses in languages and more importantly, in communication. This course improves the interpersonal relation among the employees and the customers (Hofstede 1997). Considering that the biggest population of the customers comes from Europe Park Plaza hotel has emphasised the use of English in offering customer service. This makes the hotel achieve a clear competitive advantage since through this its customers derive satisfaction. 5. Advantages of diversity Cultural diversity in an organisation and for the purposes of this paper, Park Plaza Hotel, is of huge importance. Some of the advantages are; the hotel is able to reduce on the cost of recruiting staff members and offering intense training on language and how to provide service to customers from a particular cultural background (Tanke 2000). This is because the hotel has employed people from those backgrounds that most of their customers come from. These are the employees given the chance to serve these people. The management is of an improved quality since the decisions made should reflect the wishes of many and that they should be in line with the cultural diversity issues of all the employees. On the same note the hotel becomes more competitive since it is able to accommodate customers from different cultural backgrounds. The policy also enhances or creates room for innovation and motivation levels are heightened since homogenous groups are not as creative and innovative. This in turn increases the hotel’s efficiency in service provision and thereby increases its revenue (Bono, Heijden & Jones 2008). 6. Recommendations According to Gee (1996), many organizations’ have adopted a positive attitude towards managing cultural diversity and by so doing there has been increased tolerance of the various differences that the various cultures hold. However, in relation to the case of Park Plaza Hotel a number of issues need to be looked into in embracing a fully fledged cultural diversity policy. Firstly, employees should undergo training that aims at sensitizing them on the various implications of discrimination based on ones background culturally and on the various benefits that accrue from having such a diverse workforce as well as customer base culturally (Baum 2006). Customer care and service provision should be in line with the aforementioned training so as to retain them and attract more thereby ensuring competitive edge in the hotel industry. 7. Conclusion Diversity in culture is a reality in Park Plaza Hotel and this should be reflected in the human resource management style. The hotel needs to embrace this fact in a more positive way and ensure that that both the employees and customers from different cultural backgrounds are taken care off equally. This will in the long run ensure a huge customer base that is derived from satisfied employees; as the saying goes, service with a smile makes the customer smile. This will translate to more customers and in the long run the hotel will find itself achieving and maintaining a market leading position. 8. References Anthony, WP 1999, Human resource management: A strategic Approach , N/A. Baum, T 2006, Human resource management for tourism, hospitality and leisure: An international perspective, Cengage Learning EMEA, Bohlander, G & Snell, S 2009, Managing human resources, Cengage Learning. 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Hay, C 1996, Managing cultural diversity: Opportunities for enhancing the competitive advantage of Australian business, Australian Government Pub. Service. Hofstede, G 1997, Cultures and organizations, Software of the mind , New York, McGraw Hill. Hoque, K 2002. Human resource management in the hotel industry: Strategy, innovation, and performance, Routledge. Jackson, SW 1995, Understanding the dynamics of diversity in decision-making team, Team effectiveness in Decision Making in Organization , San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Johnston, W 1987, workforce 2000. Hudson Institute, Indianapolis, N/A. Kwintessential 2001, Cultural-services/articles/islam-in-the-workplace, viewed 16 November 2009, from . Leaderbrighton-hove.org 2003, viewed 11 November 2009, from . Melissa,YR 1999, Summer diversity. Summer diversity ASUO-Multicultural, N/A. Mor-Barak, ME 2005, Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace, SAGE. 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