Managing a Diverse Workforce in Indias Hotel Industry - Case Study Example

Managing a diverse workforce in India’s Hotel Industry Diversity involves the differences among people in terms of race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, age, disability and religion (Özbilgin &Syed 2010, 75). Diversity in India is common in the area of religion and region of origin. In addition, more women and the physically challenged are joining the workforce and employees are composed of the young and the old. In India the workforce in the hotel industry is so diverse. Furthermore, the hospitality industry being a major employer and area of investment attracts many people of different races who want to work or invest in India. A manager in India’s hotel industry must have an understanding of cross cultural management. Managers should also be knowledgeable about Hofstede’s work on cultural dimensions. This essay seeks to discuss in detail how understanding cross cultural management and Hofstede’s work can help a manager in the hospitality industry to manage a diverse workforce in the hotel sector in India. Diversity in India India is known as a country of diversity. It has 28 states with seven union territories and a very complex regional culture. India is home to the second biggest labor force in the world. Apart from Africa, India is the most diverse geographical region in terms of genetics, language and culture. The diversity in India is so much that the country has more than 1,652 languages. The diversity in India is also reflected in the hotel sector. It is common to find hotels with people from many different states and languages in India (Özbilgin &Syed 2010, 92). Diversity management Management of diversity in the workforce is critical to the success of any company. When an organization has workers with much diversity, there are always issues arising from the treatment these people receive. The manager is supposed to appear to be treating all the people with fairness regardless of their differences (Sheppardson & Gibson 2011, 21). Otherwise, there can be unhealthy friction and a feeling of discrimination. Such a state of affairs could result in lawsuits and poor organizational performance. Diversity management involves concerns about the majority and minority. Both the majority and minority must receive a kind of treatment that does not seem to favor in one particular group. The wide diversity in India requires that a manager be informed about the cultural diversity and its management. Such a manager should also be equipped with knowledge on Hofstede’s findings about cultural dimensions. Since the manager has people under him with diverse cultural origins, managing them such people can be very challenging (Sheppardson & Gibson 2011, 21). Cross cultural management If the manager fails to understand cross cultural management then the organization can suffer from high employee turnover, reduced productivity, poor morale, and poor image for the company, costly operations and the manager may suffer from stress (Özbilgin & Syed 2010, 99). An understanding of cross cultural management may help the manager to understand people of different cultures, communicate with them well, and interact with them and operate with different cultural calendars. Communication is very important to the manager and therefore he should know how to provide it in an accurate and prompt manner. This in critical when there is a problem in a certain project and people need to know. For example, people from varied cultures relate to bad news differently. The manager should know this (Özbilgin & Syed 2010, 104). Certain cultures are individualistic while others value cooperation among teams. Issues of team building are complex if the teams have people form different cultures. Effective team building that is cross cultural in nature is important for a diverse organization. Cultures are also different in the way they approach the issue of time. There may be a difference in the way people balance work and family and the way they balance social behavior and work. Other variations may involve deadlines and overtime. Different perceptions on these issues can be a source of misunderstanding between the manager and employees. The manager should consider cultural management when handling deadlines and scheduling (Özbilgin & Syed 2010, 116). Another important factor that the manager can understand from cross cultural management is how calendars are organized. The business world operates on the secular year of the West that starts on January 1 and ends on 31 December. However, some cultures other types of calendars to set holidays like New Year and others. For example, Friday is a prayer day for Muslims; Western Christians have a different day for Christmas from the one the Eastern Orthodox Christian have. These variations must be known to the manager because they affect the organization as people need to take time off to celebrate these holidays (Brotherton 2003, 77). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions Hofstede came up with 5 cultural dimensions which are power/distance (PD), individualism (IDV), masculinity, uncertainty/avoidance index and Long term orientation. A manager of a hotel in India should be aware of the PD in that country. The PD shows how people accept inequalities amongst themselves (Hofstede 2001, 37). The manager will therefore have to analyze the society and know if its PD is high or low. This would help him to know how to treat various groups of people. India scores highly at 77 on PD meaning that hierarchy is acceptable. A high PD means inequalities are accepted and every one understand his position. People can accept big differences in compensation, respect and authority. A low PD would mean that the manager should strive to treat all people equally because they won’t accept discrimination or inequalities. For example, people will need to be involved in team work and decision making. The manager will also need to have an understanding of individualism (IDV) which according to Hofstede, shows how a society has weak or strong ties between people. A high score on IDV shows that the connections are loose while a low IDV shows strong connections. If India had a high IDV score then the manager must have high valuation for the time of his workers and grant them freedom. He will also have to allow them the work on challenges and reward them for hard work. Such people also need their privacy respected (Hofstede 2001, 32). Low IDV would require that the manager allows the workforce to build their skills and get intrinsic rewards. The manager should value harmony more than honesty. India scores 48 points on IDV meaning that people prefer belonging to a wider social framework. For example the manager should respect the older employees for their wisdom, bring in change very slowly, suppress his emotions and feelings for the sake of harmony and respect traditions (Clarke and Chen 2007, 88). Hofstede’s third cultural dimension is masculinity (MAS) on which India scores 56. From an understanding of this dimension, the manager will have to know how his workforce values traditional gender roles for men and women. If India is a low masculinity society, the manager would need to give equal treatment to both men and women and ensure that there is no discrimination in job design for men and women. However, Hofstede found that India is fully masculine and therefore the manager needs to allow the men in his workforce to lead. For example he must distinguish between male and female roles and never make decisions based on emotions (Hofstede 2001, 39). The manager would also need to understand the uncertainty or avoidance index (UAI) of the Indian society which stands at 40. A high index would mean that people expect formal business conduct where many policies and rules apply. People expect structure, they avoid differences and their nervousness causes expression and emotion. The manager would also need to understand that a low index as in the case of India means that he should maintain an informal business attitude, know that people are concerned with long term strategy than the happenings of each day and they easily accept risk and change. For example he should not impose structure and rules, remain calm and contemplative prior to making comments and show curiosity whenever he sees differences (Hofstede 2001, 36). The last dimension by Hofstede is Long Term Orientation (LTO) for which India scores 61. From this, the manager would be able to know how the Indian society values long term values and traditions. The manager must know that in India people value the family and the societal basis, men and parents carry more authority when compared to women and the youth and that there is a strong work ethic. Training and education are highly valued. These things can help him to handle the workforce based on what they prefer as the values of their society. The manager must not show extravagance, he should respect tradition, reward those who are loyal, persevering and committed (Ball, Horner &Nield 2007, 43). Conclusion In conclusion, the essay has presented a discussion on cross cultural management and diverse workforce management. A manager in India’s hotel sector will find information on cross cultural management and Hofstede’s work very crucial because India is a country with much diversity in its workforce especially in terms of region, gender, race, language and disabilities. The manager must consider all these differences and ensure that all people receive fair treatment. Unfair treatment can make an organization to fail in its performance. Understanding cross cultural management can help the manager to know how to handle people of different cultural backgrounds and maintain harmony among them. Hofstede’s 5 cultural dimensions can help the manager to understand his workforce in terms of degree of inequalities, the strength of the ties existing among people, value for traditional male and female roles in the society, level of anxiety felt by people when in unknown places and the value their society places on long standing values. Bibliography Ball, S., Horner, S. and Nield, K. 2007. Contemporary hospitality and Tourism. Management issues in China and India. Butterwoth Heinemann Brotherton B., 2003. The International Hospitality Industry. Structure, Characteristic and Issues. Butterworth Heinemann Clarke, A and Chen, W. 2007. International Hospitality Management Concepts and Cases. Butterworth Heinemann Hofstede G., 2001.Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organizations. Sage Özbilgin, M., Syed, J. 2010. Managing Cultural Diversity in Asia: A Research Companion. Edward Elgar Publishing. Sheppardson C and Gibson H. 2011. Leadership and Entrepreneurship in the Hospitality Industry. Goodfellows Publishers ltd. Oxford Read More