The Impacts Of Cultural Diversity On The Hospitality Industry
Main Impacts on the Industry
Diversity in culture is something that shapes the thoughts, the opinions and the personality of the individual (Jaelani, Setyawan and Hasyim 2016). The culture we adopt within ourselves reflects in our behavior and our identity. It is the way we do something especially the way we talk, our language, the beliefs the norms, material objects and the behaviors that are conveyed from generations to other generations. According to the reports of the census bureau 2009, the population of America was 80 % white, 16 % Hispanic and 55 % Asian (Jauhari and Bharwani 2017). Therefore, I have observed that there are various races in a particular community and other ethnic groups which are encompassed in each of the races. The concept of being culturally diverse means multiculturalism in specific community. It can rather be referred to as a system that covers the beliefs and behaviors and identifies the presence of various cultured people in a single organization (Kenesei and Stier 2017). The system of cultural diversity acknowledges and at the same time gives value to the social and cultural differences along with inspiring a continuous contribution in an all-encompassing context.
The cultural diversity empowers the society and organizations in the society. The hospitality industry is primarily an industry of hotels. In this industry, a culturally diverse environment the sales increases up to greater extent. The soft skills of the intercultural workforce assist in addressing the needs of the guests. In also enriches other aspects of the hotel in many ways. According to my own observations along with the explorations of the relevant literature, the cultural diversity helps to find out the best talent and establish a positive work culture. The hotel is also facilitated by the talent retention and gives flexibility to the working arrangements. Moreover, cultural diversity also provides better tea work and there a better customer service is also facilitated. The primary focus of this report is to provide a reflection on the influences of diverse culture on industries. The report will discuss about the main influences on the hospitality particular industry and at the same time analyze the affectation on the essential stakeholders in the industry. It will proceed with evaluating the influences of the contextual factors along with the examples. The report will not leave the cultural factors undiscussed with huge examples. The strong evidences from the existing literature will support the arguments of my report and the it will finally conclude by giving appropriate recommendations.
Analysis of Stakeholder Effects
The hospitality industry specially includes the people and also the global market. It is seen from the perspectives of the customers and the employees. Since it combines the different people in both the internal and external environment, there are various problems from the arising from this aspect. The major issues arise from the intercultural communication and the industry requires the cultural awareness in order to evade such issues in future (Jaelani, Setyawan and Hasyim 2016). The best help comes from the cultural awareness which functions by creating understanding and sensitivity for the differences in culture. The culturally diverse workforce can also create huge problems. There are instances of researchers who are of the opinion that language is not always the main issue with the cultural diversity in the organization.
Moreover, the working environment of a firm is promoted by a workforce that is multicultural with multicultural guests. The culture of the firms is enhanced by variety of opinions, perspectives and talents. The lack of communication and variety of language can inevitably heighten the probabilities of the dissatisfied guests. It can further damage the environment of the hotel and incur enraged employees (Jauhari and Bharwani 2017). The organizations under the hospitality industry should first understand the mentality of the guests to address this particular problem. The deeper understanding of their motifs will help the firms to measure the type of service or product they should offer to please them. The guests get pleased and maintain their loyalty to the organization /hotel once its service is culture oriented.
The globalization, the changes in the economic status and the growing population along with the organizational behavior helps to reflect the diversity of culture evident in the industry. A person is bound to come across a diverse culture unless he/she is completely alone. The cultural diversity might be received from the business associates and the colleagues too and even from the clients (Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous 2017). In this regard, it is to be noted that each type of cultural difference is contributory of impacting the organizational behavior. The working environment, the innovative aspect of the organization and the product also gets impacted by the cultural diversity.
The organizational behavior becomes impacted in tow of the primary ways by the cultural diversity. Firstly, the staffs’ culture and the workplace too gets affected. In both the cases, the collaborative effort helps to modify the momentum and the business grows for something better and the customer relationships are also strengthened. The customer relationships are the most essential in the hospitality industry. Since the decades of the 1980s, the researchers have found that the employees’ cultural backgrounds often foster better organizational outcomes. The very notion of the organizational behaviors along with the culture proves as successful components when these are applied in the proper way by the organization (Kim, Choi and Li 2016). It has been found that the firms which possess well-managed cultural diversity in its workforce, enjoy 10 time greater profits and on the sales leaving behind those organizations which do not have such. Notably, cultural diversity in the hospitality industry has its own challenges which cannot be always controlled by the employees or even the management.
Influence of Contextual Factors
The workplace culture is formed of some of the important aspects and the most important ones are the economy, the staff members, the customers and the location. The negative effects of the cultural variety can be handled by the incorporation of the suitable policies and refreshing the vision statement to the members of the organization. The diversity in culture supports the business structure to strengthen and the improve the decision making capabilities of the people in the firm. In the work culture, a loss of harmony among the members can result in poor productivity and poor quality of work (Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous 2017). The talents extracted from various corners of the world can support to enrich the standards of service. On the other hand, the cultural change can disturb the situation along with the daily routines or operations in the organization. An innovative environment in the workplace is facilitated and supports in the progress of the team as a whole.
The possibility to solve few problems is enhanced in the organization in various ways. The amalgamation of the different values and different cultures help to give rise to a type of environment full of innovative ideas and creativity. When the organization faces various issues such as related to the customer services, in the front house/ the back house and or n the food and beverage department, there are diverse minds present to handle the matter in various ways. The employee as well as the customers get inspired after seeing that the organization they are dealing with is supportive of intercultural workforce.
According to the studies of few researchers, the cultural diversity is something which initiates an environment of multiplied production and quick fulfillment of the business objectives. Studies have also found that almost 48 % of the organizations in the US context have enjoyed heightened market growth whereas 33 % of the organizations are facing reduced growth due to reduced diverse culture. It is an integral part of the international business trends and results in better outcomes for the diversity of language. Taken for example, those organizations which are operating in china are supposed to be hiring the local Chinese employees who have strong command over the Chinese language. This strategy helps to grow strong relationships with the local guests and ultimately bring in higher revenues and improved sales.
In another way, the cultural diversity helps to enable improved engagement of the employees. A strong learning culture is facilitated by the interaction between the management and the employees. It provides an opportunity to know each other’s cultures, language, way of eating and talking that ultimately widens the periphery of one’s knowledge and reception. The employees learn to respect one another’s culture, ways of thinking and looking into the matters(Kim, Choi and Li 2016). The bonding of trust and friendship is grown when an employee shares the personal experiences with the others. It is heathy for the working environment. The capacity of tea, work is also benefitted by it. Therefore, a heightened engagement among the employees heightens the motivation of the employees as well as overall service of the organization.
Influence of Cultural Factors
The rates of employee turnover are reduced by supporting the diverse culture in the hospitality industry. The firms operating in the hospitality industry especially those which embrace the diverse culture also embrace an effective and efficient talent pool. The result is, those executives or employees who have been a part of the cultural diversity since their university days, support this culture. The cultural diversity undoubtedly has some of the negative impacts too. It is true that most of the times, cultural diversity is seen as positive for the workforce, it also has its own drawbacks and challenges (Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous 2017). The negative impacts of the cultural diversity are justified because a cultural drift or diversity cannot be accepted all of a sudden in an organizational context. The communication barriers are the first impacts of a diverse culture. It can rather lead to breaches in the flow of coordination, issues in management and many others. When people are hired by organizations from different parts of the world, it is likely that they will leave huge impact on the internal and external environment of the organization. The reputation and productivity of the organization/hotel gets negatively impacted by it.
The scholars have suggested that workforce diversity s closely connected with the resistance to cultural diversity. In a diverse organizational environment, the employees of the organization are likely to initiate resistance to the change. The employees are likely to come under stress and the affectations becomes reflected on the performance of the employees. The morale in the workforce indirectly gets demeaned and creates kind of chaos in the workforce. It is also possible that the employees will face hug discriminations and bullying problems along with unfair treatment (Kim, Choi and Li 2016). Hence, the cultural diversity can initiate such traits of distinction of not managed in the proper way. The people in the workforce can get distinguished based on their race, language, tradition and culture. This distinction can be embarrassing for the employees. Another reverse affectation of diversity in culture is that it initiates the dire need of the organizations for the training programs arrangements. The training programs are important for shaping the staffs according to the vision and mission of the hotel/organization. It is seen that huge investments are made on the training programs, hiring a suitable trainer and the training equipment. On the other hand, the language training is essential and the organizations are compelled to provide this training to the employees coming from intercultural backgrounds.
Challenges and Negative Impacts of Cultural Diversity
In any on the business industries, the general stakeholders ate the end users, the government, the suppliers, the owner and the investors of the business. In a particular organization, when a quality workforce is fostered, along with the awareness of diverse culture and the languages, it supports to provide greater consumers engagement and customer services (Kim, Choi and Li 2016). The guests feel no hesitation in talking or filing their queries when the employees is of the same culture they belong to. The probability of better customer service is accentuated and the sales are highlighted with continuing the quality standards of their service. As a contrary, it can also leave negative impact on the loyalty of the customers and disrupt the smooth customer relationships. When the way of clear communication is blocked by the cultural issues, the overall scenario gets disrupted. The staffs are one of the most important stakeholders in this particular industry.
The diversity in the workplace culture improves the working capacity of the employees and also works as a motivating factor being instrumental in the psychology of the employees. The people coming from the different backgrounds helps to reveal the condition of the outer market and provides an overview of the ideas of competition. The employees feel inspired when they see that there are various talents which enrich the environment of innovation and creativity. The talent management in the organization becomes simple and easy and there is established a wholesome environment of work. People outside of the organization feel the desire to associated with the organization having seen the well –maintained environment that is well-structured too at the same time. The reputation of the organization is strengthened and the investors become ready to invest in the firm/hotel. The foreign investment rates are heightened and the firm receives profits as far as the familiarity and the revenues of the organization is concerned. Notably, the diverse culture can destroy the reputation and prosperity of the organization if not managed strategically.
The scholars are of the opinion that work stress and the effects are highly contributory of influencing the hospitality industry. The occupational stress has attracted the attention of the researchers. The existing literature has been enriched by the studies of various scholars (Tabari, Wilson and Ingram 2016). It has to be noted that, this industry has been found to be one of the largest industries in which the occupational stressors are exhibited. The literature suggests that the hospitality industry workers often go through many emotional stress and the other types are the esthetic stress, the physical stress and others (Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous 2017). The emotional labor is what it is called. The stressors ca rather be recognized as the expectations on the presence in the weekends too. The employees are also expected to have longer hours of interaction with the guests who have some queries or dissatisfaction. Another huge stressor is the lack of empathy from the part of the managers or the leaders that ultimately heads towards employee turnover. They are always expected to go through the proper guidelines and here their autonomy is lost completely (Sheehan, Grant and Garavan 2018). It also needs to be focused on that the gravity of the employee stress is not completely understood or mitigated in the industry. The researchers validated the point that the interpersonal stressors and the overload of work are the major stressors in the hospitality industry. It has also been found that the effectiveness of the stressors varies based on the marital status, gender and the job roles. Most importantly, the manager suffers from higher stress than the employees. Serious health issues have been found to be caused by the stressors. It is likely to disturb the work -life balance and creates psychological issues too(Kim, Choi and Li 2016). Moreover, the consequences are the reduced job satisfaction and higher attrition rates in the hotel/organization. The expenses of the attrition are extreme in the organization which sometimes lead to short –existence of the organization.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The ever changing business environment is responsible for every organization to change itself. In today’s scenario, the hospitality industry is highly impacted by the changing environment. It is not at all stagnant in one single place. It also changes according to the customer expectations, the time, culture and the market trends (Kim, Choi and Li 2016). The cumulative deposit of knowledge is the culture of the organization, meanings, values, notions, religions and experiences too. In the span of generations, it is the acquired possessions of an individual. Culture can be considered as a contributory factor where any type of business exists in the contemporary market. The organizations must take the cultural aspects seriously because they need to survive in the highly competitive industry (Lee, Weber and Rivera Jr 2019). The notion of culture varies from place to place and it changes with time too. Few of the cultures pave way in order to cross the limitations and reach new destinations. Here, it has to be noted that the hospitality industry falls under the service industry but the service of this industry differs from the service of the travel industry. Regarding the culture mix of the industry, it can be said that it creates disaster for the maximum times (Madera, Dawson and Guchait 2016). This industry focuses on the customers and the customers belong to different parts of the world. Therefore, it is likely that they will have different cultures. It creates problems to manage all the issues under one roof. Prior to the establishments, the new place and their cultures must be researched properly. Otherwise, it might create confusion in the organization. Taken for example, the case of Starbucks is a lively example. The company has gone through failure in the Australian context as they entered without knowing and understanding the culture of the nation (Sheehan, Grant and Garavan 2018). Overall, in the internal business context, the employers also face certain issues.
Conclusion
Hence, from the above discussion, it can be said that culture we adopt within ourselves reflects in our behavior and our identity. It is the way we do something especially the way we talk, our language, the beliefs the norms, material objects and the behaviors that are conveyed from generations to other generations. I have learnt that there are various ethnicities and races exist in the world and there must be respect for the communities. The cultural diversity is a system that covers the beliefs and behaviors of the people. In an organization or the society, a culturally diverse system values and acknowledges the social varieties while encouraging the consistent contribution in an all-encompassing context.
Reference
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