Hospitality, Culture and People as Enacted in Shangri-la Hotel - Essay Example

Running Head: HOSPITALITY, CULTURE AND PEOPLE Topic: Hospitality, Culture and People as Enacted in Shangri-la Hotel Lecturer: of Presentation: Introduction Hospitality organizations operate in environments with people of diverse cultures and ethnic backgrounds. For them to be competitive, they are required to adapt to the diverse needs of customers as well as the communities within which they operate. Shangri-la hotel is situated in Singapore along Orange Groove road. It has been in operation for 36 years offering hospitality services. There are two hotels operating with the brand name Shangri-la, with the head office in Hongkong. The brand name is associated with affluence and mainly offers services to the high economic class in the society. The hotel offers luxurious accommodation to its clients. The organizational structure comprises of two divisions including the Hongkong mainland hotels and those in the Asia Pacific and Dubai. This paper will explore the enactment of various elements of the organization, which include hospitality, culture & people. It also highlights issues that the organisation faces in relation to these elements. The paper also provides recommendations as regards improvement on delivery and management of these elements by the organization. Literature Review Hospitality organizations are usually focused on maintaining a competitive advantage in the industry through maintaining strong relations with their clients. It is important to understand while engaging in the hospitality industry that consumers will always make a rational choice, mainly to go for the alternative that will give them maximum satisfaction (Paula et al. 2008). In other words, they are free to seek services from the provider whom they feel is most pleasing. Competition in the hospitality industry has increased due to Liberalization of trade whereby investors are free to establish business beyond political boundaries. Large multinational companies are competing with local companies and hence each company in the hospitality industry has to develop strategies to enable it to maintain competitiveness. Effectiveness depends on the organization’s ability to market its products and maintain reputation in the market. To the customers in the hospitality industry, competition among service providers is to their advantage. This is because competitors improve their services in a bid to attract more consumers (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006). Hofsted defines culture as a tool that the mind applies to guide a person’s day to day activities and interactions with others. He believes that culture is a collective aspect of a population that has occupied a particular social environment where individuals learn unique norms and also develop standards that guide their behavior. These behaviors make a distinction between cultures since all individuals in a particular culture share norms and customs (Hofstede, 1991). Prosperity in hospitality business is highly dependent on the culture in which the organization operates. A hospitable community is significant for promotion of the organization’s services since clients feel welcome not only within the hotel but also within the local community where there is an opportunity to learn more regarding other cultures. On the other hand, if the local culture is hostile towards foreigners, hospitality business can not thrive (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006). Culture has a great impact on productivity since the organization pools employees mainly from the local community. The worker’s performance is influenced by how the entire community understands work. For example, the Chinese and Japanese communities have a culture of collectivism, which for them allows accomplishment of a shared vision. On the other hand, there are some such as the European and the American cultures that demonstrate individualism in the workplace and people believe that it enhances accomplishment of the targeted goals (Oliver, 2005). The management should therefore appreciate cultural diversity and ensure that the individual talents are utilized to accomplish the strategic goals. The more the employees as well as the local people feel appreciated by the organization, the more hospitable they are likely to be and hence the organization can accomplish its mission through their support (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006). Employee satisfaction is significant for success in the hospitality business. They interact with clients regularly and are a significant marketing tool for the organization. Dissatisfied employees are discouraging to clients and may affect the organization’s reputation. In extreme situations, they may even sabotage the clients’ activities thereby causing the organization to loose competitiveness. Organizations strive to ensure that employees are aware of the organizational goals to enhance coordination in the workplace. The management tasks are made easy when employees are motivated through understanding the organizational goals. The goal theory postulates that people are motivated when they realize the expectations of the organization (Hitt et al. 2005). It requires that goals are set and employees adequately informed regarding the cause of action and also receive feedback appropriately. Employees are facilitators of the accomplishment of organizational goals. Their skills and commitment are required for the organization to remain competent in the operating environment. It is therefore prudent for managers to ensure that they promote a shared vision, which encourages the employees to own organizational goals. Once they own the goals and increase productivity, the organization gains in terms of profitability and therefore it is capable of offering better compensation packages. Motivation through reward schemes is also a significant technique applied by many organizations. Rewards are usually offered to the employees as an encouragement for them to continue with good performance in a particular field. In other words, the management offers rewards to an employee so that he/she can do a particular task in the same way that it was done earlier. Strategies for training and coaching empower employees to accomplish tasks effectively. The need to continuously acquire knowledge is important especially for the constantly changing business environments (Paula et al. 2008). New technologies that require skilled workers can not be applied if the organization does not train its employees. Alternative would be to hire skilled workers, which is a move that might be costly for the organization. Sometimes training can be costly for the organization, which is the reason employers tend to employ highly qualified individuals with diverse skills in the various fields that the organization operates. This is an indication that training of employees may be a burden and therefore is among the unnecessary expenditures that employers should avoid. In other words, it is not in the heart of employers to incur the extra costs of motivating employees through training (Brooks, 2002). On the other hand, coaching requires constant interactions to help employees improve their performance. Coaching is usually focused on giving the employees additional skills to improve their competence. For example, when new employees are engaged in a company, they usually possess some skills but have little experience in the organizational operations (Paula et al. 2008). Coaching them is necessary to improve their knowledge regarding the organization. It helps them to apply the skills acquired in studies in real practice (Kesler, 2002). The coaching meetings involve time that could be used for other productive activities in the organization. Nevertheless, the result is usually positive and the employees can perform better, thereby increasing productivity among the employees. According to Davenport (1999), coaching motivates the weaker employees to perform better and also facilitates the transfer of knowledge from the experienced employees to the newly employed. The overall goal of empowering employees through training and coaching is to improve their skills, mainly to maintain the organizational competitiveness and to a lesser extent for their benefit. However, in the long-run, employees benefit from the skills acquired since they make them competitive in the labor market. The skills support their promotion and future aspirations as they seek better employment opportunities in other organizations. Moreover, they can accomplish tasks better and with ease through application of the new skills, which increases self-actualization (Hollinshead et al 2003). Employee satisfaction motivates them to increase commitment and productivity. Organizations adopt different strategies for employee satisfaction (Davenport, 1999). For example, flexible work practices enhance commitment. They increase the willingness of employees to accomplish organizational goals. Such practices include; non standard work whereby the organization employs workers on contract, temporary or part time among other non permanent employment. When employees are allowed to work at their most convenient time, they are motivated to work harder. Part time employment allows people to accomplish a work-life balance (Kesler, 2002). They can attend to family matters and expediently undertake their workplace responsibilities. However, as much as the flexible work practices are appreciated by employees, they deny them the benefits that are entitled to permanent employees while the organization benefits from increased productivity and reduced cost of labor. The humane aspect of such motivational strategies is therefore debatable even though they might be attributed to the success of organizations in employee satisfaction and retention (Dyer, 1998). Discussion The hospitality industry in Asia was affected by the economic crisis of 1997, which began and spread rapidly in the region. Tourism was largely affected and clients reduced in hotels. However, Shangri-la emerged successful and identified new openings in Asia. The Asian culture is among the factors that contribute to the organization’s strength. The people are hospitable to newcomers in the community. The hotel has adopted the local culture that has enabled it to maintain uniqueness in the midst of competitors. The organizational culture has helped it to maintain a strong reputation in the industry (Oliver, 2005). It is one of the successful organizations in managing the interests of stakeholders even during the global economic crunch. For example, the organization’s success is as a result of its employees’ dedication, satisfaction of guests as well as commitment by the investors in the hotel. Without satisfaction, there can be no success. The management understands that workers are the greatest assets for the organization. They are empowered through constant training to acquire the relevant skills necessary to cope with the changing operating environment. They are made to own the organizational goals to enhance success (Hollinshead et al. 2003). There is a correlation between employee satisfaction and delight among clients, which the management tries to maintain through ensuring that the employees love their work and always feel contented (Davenport, 1999). Organizational communication has helped Shangri-la to maintain a competitive advantage through maintaining efficiency in the day to day operations. Employees and the management are adequately informed regarding the organization’s progress and the strategies to accomplish targets. The organization has been able to maintain a low employee turnover, which on the other hand is important in maintaining a large market share in the hospitality industry due to consumer satisfaction. The organizational culture is consumer focused, which is accomplished through applying best practices in managing the human resources (Oliver, 2005). The success of employees is celebrated in the organization and they are also made to feel valued and appreciated. Career development programs are among the strategies that generate employee loyalty. There are strategies for enhancing work-life balance among the employees through the five-day work week, which has helped in maintaining a motivated workforce, thereby lowering the employee turnover rate by 6%. However, the turnover still remains high at 22% (Lim et al. 2000). This is a problem that needs to be addressed to ensure that the resources that the organization utilizes in training, motivation and empowerment of employees are not lost. Once employees leave the organization, they withdraw significant skills that necessitate recruitment of new workers and outlay more resources for training and empowerment. If employee retention could be increased, such unnecessary expenditures could be avoided and hence increased profitability. According to Chan (2000) the organization is faced with difficulties in maintaining staff motivation because of the many challenges emanating from the high competition. Each competitor is focusing on maintaining a highly motivated workforce and is also seeking to engage the most experienced employees and therefore there is high competition as regards employee motivation. Recommendations It is important for the organization to engage in research and development, which will enable the management to adopt the best practices as regards motivating employees. It is important to establish what the other hotels that are the major competitors are doing to maintain experienced workers, which will enable them to lower the rate of staff turnover. More strategies need to be developed to enhance communication between the management and the employees. When the employees’ needs are understood, it is possible for the hotel administration to determine the areas that need improvements, and also to provide what the competitors use to attract them to their companies. In essence, as Brooks (2002) observes, competitors utilize the available opportunities and ensure that they capitalize on the weaknesses of others. For example, if competitors find that the performance and reward management of Shangri-la is weak or fails to motivate employees, they establish better strategies of performance and reward management to attract skilled employees from the hotel. It is therefore necessary for the management in Shangri-la to be analytical and establish the weaknesses as regards employee motivation to ensure that loss of skilled labor to companies that seem to be more attractive to employees is contained. Davenport (1999) argues that “reality checks” are important for the management is to understand clearly the workers’ needs. This should be accompanied by constant interactions to establish harmonious relations in the workplace. In essence, such interactions are significant in reducing the level of uncertainty among the employees. Multi skilling is important to ensure that the employees are able to perform various tasks within the organization so that they can be in a position to break the monotony of work. References Brooks I. 2002. Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organisation, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall Chan, E. S. (2000). “Foreign Firms in China: Facing Human Resources Challenges in a Transitional Economy”, SAM Advanced Management Journal, Vol. 6(3) pp 34-42. Davenport, T. O. 1999. Human Capital: What It Is and Why People Invest It, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Dyer, S. 1998. “Flexibility models: a critical analysis” International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 19, 4 pp 223-233. Hatch, M. J. & Cunliffe, A. L. 2006. Organization Theory: Modern, Symbolic, and Postmodern Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. & Colella, A. 2005. Organizational Behavior: A Strategic Approach, Indianapolis: Wiley Hofstede, G. (1991) Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Hollinshead, G., Nicholls, P. and Tailby, S. 2003. Employee Relations 2nd ed., Financial Times, Pitman Publishing Kesler, G. C. (2002). “Why the leaders never gets deeper: Ten insights about executive talent development”. Human Resource Planning, Vol. 25, 1 pp 32-34 Lim, V.K.G. , Loo, G.L. and Chow, K.B. (2000) Coming of age during the Asian economic crisis: Effects on youth’s perceived career opportunities and their work values and attitudes. Paper presented at the Second Asia Academy of Management Meeting: Managing in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities in the New Millennium. Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. Dec 15-17 Oliver, T. (2005). “Shangri-La Asia Plans Expansion in China, Europe and North America” International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 71 pp 23-31 Paula, M., Kerriann, D. & Sandra, B. 2008. “Industrial Relations Journal”, Vol. 39(3), pp. 229 247. Read More