Multicultural Workforce Improvement - Hyatt Hotel Group Development - Case Study Example

Multicultural Workforce improvement: through Hyatt hotel group development plan

Introduction

With the high globalization rates in the world, the workforces of several companies have continued to adopt a multi-cultural face. Practices like outsourcing of jobs have also continued to propagate the concept of diverse workforces where several cultures converge. The workplace has become occupied by a variety of employees from different cultural backgrounds. With this new orientation, it is incumbent upon managers and owners of businesses to improve their workforces to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for high-quality goods and services in the 21st century (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2009). A sound improvement of the workforce must recognize the myriad cultures that now characterize the workplace and come up with improvement plans that encompass the diversity of employees in existence. Cultural diversity in the workplace can be a huge plus for a company if leveraged correctly; however, it can also be a significant bottleneck if not appreciated as it should. This paper aims to dissect the various management steps that can be employed in a multicultural workforce, the merits, demerits, and the recommendations to overcome any challenges that may crop up. Additionally, this paper will delve into how Hyatt Hotel groups can manage their multicultural workforce by applying their development plan. The outcomes of this report will be a plus for Hyatt hotel group in its continued development. This paper will rely on a variety of academic sources including journal articles in order to support the arguments raised.

Multicultural workforce at Hyatt

The current world is characterized by clients from diverse backgrounds who subscribe to different values. All these clients have to be served satisfactorily to ensure the continued existence and prosperity of the company. To serve these customers requires an extensive repertoire of skills in handling diverse clients with diverse needs. These skills can only be provided by a workforce that can understand different cultures and provide services to fit the different cultures – a multicultural workforce. The hospitality industry serves an array of customers from a variety of backgrounds hence the importance of a diverse workforce in the hospitality industry cannot be underscored. Hyatt has embodied a multicultural workforce which has played a greater role in helping bring several benefits to the table (Baum, 2006).

Benefits of Multicultural workforce to Hyatt

One of the fundamental benefits of a diverse workforce is increased adaptability. Challenges to a company regarding sourcing, procurement, service, as well as allocation of resources can be addressed from different viewpoints hence ensuring a greater variety of solutions. Additionally, the understanding of a company is widened, and thus, the company can respond to myriad changes in the industry. For Hyatt in the hospitality industry, adaptability in services provided is essential to how clients are retained and kept gunning for more and more services (Debrah & Smith, 2003).

Diverse workforces also ensure the provision of a wide range of services. Since several languages, as well as cultural understandings, are brought on board, it becomes easier for the company to provide services to a global clientele. The wide range of services offered also gives the company an edge when it comes to competing with peers in the industry where the company operates. Hyatt company is entrenched in the very competitive hospitality industry where the ability to fulfill a wide variety of service needs for clients is essential to survival.

Also, multicultural workforces ensure that different perspectives to varying realms of a company’s engagement with the market are covered. These different perspectives are essential to the propagation of the ethos of a company. For instance, at Hyatt limited where multiple perspectives from different business locations are required for improvement in the company, the different perspective help fuel development.

Possible drawbacks of multicultural workforce at Hyatt

One of the primary disadvantages of a multicultural labor force, especially for Hyatt, is the difficulty in expediting communication. A multicultural workforce presents with cultural and language barriers which have to be overcome for communication in the enterprise to be effective. The vast amount of time likely to be spent in skipping beyond these barriers limits the time spent in propagating company business. Additionally, since proper communication is essential to executing tasks in the firm as adequately as possible, some tasks may stall or take a longer time to complete thus have an adverse impact on Hyatt.

Also, multicultural workforces present a difficulty when it comes to the implementation o policies and procedures for the company. The diversity of cultures makes policy implementation a core problem due to the likelihood of policies conflicting with the views of different individuals in the company. This can especially be crucial when the policies to be implemented are essential to elevating the competitiveness of a business like Hyatt where swift decision making and implementation is critical.

Another problem that Hyatt might face in managing its diverse workforce is resistance to change. This is due to the failure of some employees in the firm to accept change in the social and cultural stand of the company. Consequently, this poses a huge challenge in the company’s quest to achieve its objectives and thus stay competitive especially in the hospitality industry where such attributes as critical to business. Also, resistance to change is likely to spill over into other departments in the firm thus stagnating the company.

Motivation of a diverse workforce

Motivation is critical in the amelioration of performance in various facets of life. Be it student learning, sales, or marketing a form of motivation is key. A diverse workforce needs to be continually motivated to improve performance and keep the business as competitive as possible (Jinsoo, n.d.). To succinctly execute motivation models in this type of workforce, a proper understanding of motivational theories is essential. The theories of motivation relevant to managing a diverse workforce include Herzberg’s hygiene-motivation theory.

Herzberg’s theory posits two classes of needs which are motivational needs and hygiene needs. Hygiene factors have to do with the creation of a conducive environment in the company to enable employees to go about their work without hassles. The hygiene issues for Hyatt Company will encompass things like policies and procedures at the workplace (Csaba, 2012). These policies and procedures have to be designed in such a way that they cater to the interests of all the members of the diverse workforce present at Hyatt. Motivational needs, on the other hand, encompass those acts that cater to employees’ need for personal growth and fulfillment. These actions include responsibility, advancement, recognition, and achievement. To this end, the management at Hyatt hotel groups should endeavor to provide employees with responsibilities that recognize their diversity and needs for progress.

Mayhew (2009) also provides a different approach to motivating a multicultural workforce. He identifies five steps that managers should take as indicated in figure 1 below;

This approach is unique in that it proposes that employees be treated as individual entities with varying worldviews. To this end, a manager can employ different methods when it comes to the motivation of employees. Additionally, this method also appreciates the role that a multicultural workforce has on a company such as Hyatt hotel group.

The Hyatt Story

The Hyatt hotel group has been a great destination hotel in the world over the years. Hyatt hotel group was founded in 1957 by Jay Pritzker and has since then grown to become a distinguished member of the hospitality industry. Hyatt has embrace diversity as an essential driver of its operations. Workers and suppliers alike come from a wealthy background of diversity. Inclusivity is also a fundamental framework that drives operations at Hyatt. Inputs from every member of the team regardless of how high or low the individual is placed in the chain of command is taken seriously to help inform the work at Hyatt. Motivation is also a key realm of activities at Hyatt; employees are rewarded for outstanding service to encourage them to continue their hard work in the company. With the small start that Hyatt had, it has grown to own several hospitality properties around the world that provide exquisite services to a wide variety of clients in the hospitality industry (http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/about/).

Recommendations that Hyatt can embrace

Assessment of diversity in the workplace

Assessment of diversity in the workplace at Hyatt is essential to making diversity a positive feature. The assessment can be executed by use of a customizable employee satisfaction survey. The survey will determine those areas of weakness in the company’s diversity that needs to be addressed. The outcomes of this study can then be used by Hyatt management team to determine which procedures or policies can be added or tweaked to facilitate a positive impact on diversity.

Creation and implementation of a diversity in the workplace plan

After assessing the diversity at Hyatt, the results of the survey should inform the development of a workplace diversity plan. The contents of this plan should encompass how best the diversity at Hyatt can be leveraged for the benefit of promoting Hyatt’s competitive edge in the market. Additionally, the plan should incorporate programs that can be implemented to get the most out of the employees about their diverse backgrounds.

Encouraging openness at Hyatt

The managers at Hyatt should encourage a culture of openness to allow employees express their ideas and opinions. Also, the inputs from employees should be accorded an equal value and used to inform areas that Hyatt can develop. Openness also has an added advantage in ensuring that employees have the freedom to expedite the company tasks without pressure which provides better outputs.

Diversity in leadership positions

Hyatt should make appointments to leadership positions in ways that reflect the diversity at the workplace. Such appointments make it easy for employees to accept the changes in culture at the workplace. Also, it gives a multicultural outlook to solving emerging issues at the company.

Conclusion

It is conclusively evident from this paper that employees are a prized asset to any organization. Employee diversity is quickly becoming commonplace with the advent of increased globalization. The hospitality industry, for instance, has high levels of employee diversity, thus the necessity of understanding how to work with multicultural workforces. Hyatt hotel groups are a big actor in the hospitality industry thus the need for their managers to possess requisite skills relevant for the management of diverse teams at work. The multicultural workforce brings a lot of benefits at Hyatt, which include high versatility, wide service scope, as well as varied viewpoints. Dealing with multicultural teams requires an understanding of motivational methods that can elevate their performance.