Workforce Diversity in the Hospitality Industry - Literature review Example

Introduction In the hospitality industry, the topic of workforce diversity has been awarded much attention as key players in the context seek to manage matters related to gender, religion, and age to mention but a few. The idea of managing diversity is to retain and enhance cohesion within the involved stakeholders so that the industry’s growth is maintained and improved. According to Gong (2008, p.7), one critical area has however been denied the amount of attention it needs, that is cultural diversity. Cultural diversity is an important aspect of the hospitality industry due to the big size of the industry, which means it covers persons from all walks of life. Within the hospitality industry, human resource managers are constantly struggling to create unity and cohesion amongst their workforces who are drawn from multiple cultures. Beyond the workforce, cultural diversity dominates as a needy factor in that the players in the industry have to devise means of catering for their clients who are drawn from all over the world, meaning putting up with different cultures. Cultural diversity affects the entire hospitality context. This is beause the industry serves clients from diverse backgrounds. As such, the players in the hospitality industry need to understand and deal with new cultural experiences as they meet tourists from distant regions (Kim &Mattila 2011, p.4). Collectively, the need to foster the growth and effectiveness of this industry through managing cultural diversity stands out. In the light of these, the following paper will discuss the importance of managing cultural diversity in the hospitality industry with regards to the benefits that come with it. In addition, it will design an effective model of addressing the issue through training. Finally, the paper will justify the benefits that training offers to the industry, and how these work in developing the industry. Discussion Chapter 1: What is culture? Culture is simply defined as a people or person’s way of life. The phrase “way of life” is broader, encompassing the cumulative deposits of values, hierarchies, roles, material objects, beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, beliefs, experiences, and concepts of the universe to mention but a few (Birukou, Blanzieri, Giorgini&Giunchiglia 2008, p.3). Culture is a concept which guides how a person perceives of things and how they live their lives. Sadri and Flammia(2011, p.194) define culture as a symbol of communication. This means that people of a certain culture can be identified using certain qualities such as motives, values, or attitudes. As such, once a culture has been established, it goes down and down the generations without major alterations happening to its patterns and values (Goonatilake 2013, p.23). According to these definitions, culture can be perceived of as a limiting factor in the hospitality industry. The reasons for this being that owing to its nature of defining a group of people by some qualities, it acts to segregate people in different groups (Ihara 2011, p.889). Why managing cultural diversity? One of the biggest reasons why managing cultural diversity is necessary lies in the fact that the hospitality industry is no longer a domestic or multinational entity (Ihara 2011, p.4). Rather, it has attained a global significance. This in turn means that it has to deal with employees, organizations, and clients from all over the globe. As is the sense, difference in geographical location influences culture, and that means dealing with multiple cultures day in and out (Reisinger&Dimanche 2010, p.41). First, the employees working under this context should be able to attain their maximum potential by pursuing their career objectives regardless of their culture. In a nutshell, no one cultural group should act superior to the other, and again, an Asian, American, African, Christian, or just any person should be able to work in any part of the world without any discrimination whatsoever. Second, management of cultural diversity is important to the hospitality industry in that owing to its global nature, it has to deal with clients from any part of the earth. In the light of this, every hospitality entity should be able to attract, receive, serve, and satisfy any individual irrespective of their cultures (Saee 2006, p.6). Again, understanding cultures will ensure relevancy in the business. For instance, one should understand the accepted etiquette of a region before they can work or set up a business. This reduces the risk of irrelevancy as Reisinger&Dimanche (2010, p.41) reveal. Again, an entity in this industry should be able to understand its clients and provide them with what they need. This is because the hospitality industry is what caters for “the feel of home” to tourists who visit faraway places for multiple reasons. The only way that this can be possible is by understanding cultural diversity and devising the best means of addressing it so it works for, and not against the hospitality industry. Third and most importantly, the hospitality industry treasures people from all cultures, that is it different cultures, because it realizes the accompanying benefits. These benefits include acquiring multiple interests, talents, skills, and viewpoints. In having a workforce decorated by all these factors, the hospitality industry can do more in better ways. This is because if each person brings a unique ability or quality with them, then more ideas are generated, and that makes it easy to come up with uniqueness (Nzonzo&Chipfuva 2013, p.92). Apart from uniqueness, competitiveness is achieved as an entity is able to provide unique products or services. Again, having persons with these qualities makes it easy to deal with clients drawn from different cultures. The reason is that if an organization takes up a holistic approach and eliminates all forms of injustices and discrimination, it embraces positive diversity and can work with and serve persons from all walks of life. The Importance of Managing Cultural Diversity The above factors collectively suggest the importance of managing cultural diversity. First, in being able to manage such, the hospitality industry successfully qualifies to enter the international arena, according to Kriegl (2000, p. 41). This means more and better business. Second, managing cultural diversity enhances the innovation and creativity of an entity in this industry since the players drawn from multiple backgrounds bring unique ideas with them. Once implemented, creativity and innovation are the result. Third, in being able to deal with its internal issues inclusive of cultural diversity, the hospitality industry becomes flexible and swift at responding to change. Better put, it means that in the event that a similar issue occurred, it would be easy for an entity in the industry to deal with it (Whitelaw et al. 2009, p. 12). Fourth, managing cultural diversity binds all the involved parties together leading to the industry being a single or whole unit. An entity that is united is morally and socially developed, and can effectively move forwards (Black & Crabtree 2006, p.420). Finally, a mode of communication is enabled amongst the involved players in the industry. This happens when the industry acquires players from multiple cultures and they have to find a way of communicating between them. Again, the employees from many cultures can help with lifting the communication barrier when dealing with clients from their backgrounds. In general, managing cultural diversity is a key factor in fostering growth and development of the hospitality industry. Challenges of Cultural Diversity One of the key challenges to cultural diversity as Kiss (2008, p.425) highlights are communication barriers. One thing that comes along with different cultures is different languages. Language is defined as one of the predominant features of identifying culture. The challenge emerges in the sense that people from different cultures are likely to speak different languages. This in turn hampers communication between employees or between employees and clients in the hospitality industry. This results in lack of or miscommunication. Language barriers may lead to one feeling excluded at their workplaces (Kundu 2001, p.1). The second challenge of cultural diversity lies in the fact that culture segregates people according to common values. Again, culture makes people to notice differences between themselves and other people, and worse still, creates the urge for one to be with their own kind (Cox 1993, p.89). If this materializes within the hospitality industry, it may sum up to discrimination. Discrimination means that a person from one culture sees or is seen by others as an outsider and as such may be treated differently. Discrimination is caused by the characteristic of the culture that once fully developed, it tends to resist changes. Although it may not stand out on its own, discrimination is usually inspired when conflicts occur at workplaces (Steers, Sánchez-Runde, &Nardon 2010, p.126). Finally, lack of, or inadequate training may challenge management of cultural diversity. Training should be a role of the human resources department in the hospitality industry to disseminate to the employees. Training is important in that it works to reduce shortsightedness and ethnocentric cultural behavior which makes the employees to be guided by culture (Taylor 2006, p.54). If an individual thinks along cultural lines, they can easily make wrong decisions such as discriminating against or looking down on others. If there is no training, the employees do not understand the benefits and requirements that cultural diversity brings. Additionally, lack of training on cultural diversity makes it hard for players in the hospitality industry to deal with people from varying cultural backgrounds (Kusluvan 2003, p. 519). Chapter 2: Understanding cultural diversity management Organizations and individuals in the hospitality industry would overly benefit from managing cultural diversity. One of the key benefits associated with managing culture is acquiring competitive advantage over one’s competitors (Friday 2003, p.869). When cultural diversity is properly managed, the staff of an entity in this industry can cooperate better and this would add up to provision of quality customer service. Customer service is one of the most important aspects in the hospitality industry since it is more of a service-oriented sector. It therefore emerges that managing cultural diversity is critical for both employees and organizations. The hospitality industry as earlier defined is composed of employees derived from diverse backgrounds which translate to diverse cultures. Cultural diversity management is therefore important in that it would assist in creating cohesion between them so that they can effectively work together. In short, it is the factor that will ensure they experience less misunderstanding, miscommunication, and conflicts within themselves. It therefore stands out that the managements of organizations in this industry need to devise strategies which satisfy the wants of customers. Managing cultural diversity is important in that a united workforce is highly motivated. One of the objectives of cultural objective would therefore be motivating the employees from diverse backgrounds. Finally, managing cultural diversity is important in that it has a direct effect on the failure or success of an organization (Forbes Insights 2014, p.4). This is because similar to gaining quality customer service; it determines other key factors such as performance, conduct, and production of an organization. A company in being culturally diverse means it is hard to be copied by others, thus uniqueness and classification as being above the rest. Generally, managing cultural diversity is all about providing a satisfying environment for an organization’s employees as well as a desirable environment for its clients. Training Training on cultural diversity is a sure way of equipping management and employees in the hospitality industry with the knowledge of handling culture so that it works for, and not against the sector (Clarke& Chen 2009, p. 41). This approach acknowledges that both managers and employees in this sector are affected in some way by cultural diversity. Training on managing cultural diversity should be incorporated in the training curriculum at college for hospitality students before they join the marketplace (Eade 2000, p.36). The training should equip the students with the knowledge on the sensitivity and awareness of various forms of diversity. This will be effective in that they will know what to expect even before they meet the real issue once they start working. In a nutshell, regular training programs should be designed to constantly update senior administrators and upper managers in the hospitality industry. At the workplace, lack of the necessary leadership skills of addressing cultural diversity endangers the entire entity since the employees will have no one to mediate or resolve issues related to such (Dubrin 2012, p. 459). It has been proven that lack of or inadequate skills in managing cultural diversity accounts for low productivity as well as high employee turnover in the hospitality industry. This means that an unskilled management would not be able to sustain a satisfied workforce and this would lead to loss of employees, lawsuits, and constant conflicts between the management and subordinates. In the light of these, it is mandatory that the managers in the hospitality industry should have the required skills in this context so that they can control their workforce when issues of cultural diversity emerge. This training should begin before the [learner] managers join the marketplace. This would ensure they are well prepared to exercise the skills on cultural diversity management from an early stage. Once the managers have been equipped with the right skills of managing cultural diversity, it would be overly effective if the same was extended to their employees. Similar to those aiming for top positions in the hospitality industry, students aiming to be service providers should also be trained while at college on managing cultural diversity. Learning institutions should incorporate diversity training in their curriculums. The first objective of this would be enabling them to increase awareness on cultural diversity and most importantly assist them with handling cultural differences. They should acknowledge that cultural difference is an unavoidable occurrence in this industry and as such, they have to learn to use it positively rather than it being a discriminating factor. Beyond the learning institutions, the senior management should also be mandated with the role of regular training their employees on managing cultural diversity. The idea of training the management is that the management would in turn transfer the skills acquired to its subordinates. The seniors should be trained on how to create relationships with people from different cultures. Additionally, the management should train them on what is expected of them while they serve in the hospitality industry. In equipping their employees with these skills, managers will have enabled the building of trust, minimize misunderstanding, increase harmony, and make communication more efficient (Johnson 2014, p. 399). Collectively, training both managers and employees will boost the hospitality industry in that internal barriers caused by diversity in culture will be minimized and this will in turn boost the industry as a whole thus foster constant growth and development. Benefits Acquisition of competitive advantage is attained through many aspects which are supported by managing cultural diversity. First of all, managing this aspect helps organizations to advance their decision-making. This is because in dealing with persons from diverse backgrounds, more ideas are presented for brainstorming, and second, the processes involved in the brainstorming foster the decision-making strategies. Competitive advantage is also attained in that managing cultural diversity reduces the issue of employee turnover. Employee turnover results from lack of mitigation measures when conflicts or issues such as bullying lead to job dissatisfaction (Groschl 2010 p.226). Together with prevention of lawsuits against an organization, low turnover saves an organization unnecessary expenditure. As such, the organization and individuals benefit as a whole thus higher competitiveness. The other benefit of managing cultural diversity in the hospitality industry is increased adaptability. This means that an organization can deal with more problems, get more employees as well as serve more clients from different cultures. This is because they will have learnt to deal with emerging issues related to culture. This translates to a broader range of service. Second and more importantly, fewer conflicts are experienced within an organization. Employee turnover also decreases and collectively, these factors add up to a stable organization with a united workforce. In the long run, productivity and growth increases (Lussier&Achua 2010, p. 403). Lower employee turnover, better decisions, and no lawsuits all add up to better performance and flow of processes thus increased productivity. Concisely, fewer disruptions occur, thus better flow of inputs. When productivity is high, an organization’s reputation and profits remain high or grow further (Romanenko 2012, p.67). These too contribute to better competitiveness. Individuals will also benefit from the training which helps with managing cultural diversity. First of all, people learn to break off from the stereotyping caused by culture and which makes them perceive of others as different or enemies. In most cases, discrimination and negative perception of others happens without an individual’s knowledge. However, training helps to distinguish between when they are being unjust or unfair to others, thus desist from such. Again, training on cultural diversity enables people from different backgrounds (cultures) to coexist. Training helps overcome barriers to healthy relationships which includes communication, conflict resolution, cohesion, and enhanced creativity. (Dana & Allen 2008, p.103). Conclusion As this discussion justifies, workplace diversity has been a matter in focus for long in the hospitality industry. However, cultural diversity has been ignored, regardless of the significant effects it has on the industry. Cultural diversity can be a limiting and fostering factor depending on how it is channeled. In this context, the negative influences of cultural diversity have been highlighted such as miscommunication, discrimination, conflicts, employee turnover, low productivity, and a limited scope of service to mention but a few. These negative consequences make it necessary to manage diversity in culture which in turn faces its own challenges such as language barriers, lack of the required skills, and discrimination along cultural lines. Mitigating the challenges, thus management of cultural diversity, can be attained through training. Training in this context refers to equipping both the management and workforce with the necessary skills in managing cultural diversity. Once applied, the training approach will benefit both organizations and involved individuals. 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