managing cultural diversity 6ho 027
TRANSCRIPT
Managing Cultural Diversity 6HO 027
Critically evaluating theories of culture and cultural diversity within InterContinental
Hong Kong and to manage a culturally diverse workforce in the service sector
FUNG Hin Kwan, Tidus (FUHI280890)
Prepared for: Ms. Zainab ATTA
Submission date: 18th March 2011
An essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
with Honors in Hospitality Management
SHMS UC
University of Derby
2011
Acknowledgement
I hereby present my appreciation to Ms. Regina Chu, the Director of Training and Development and
Ms. Theanna Wong, the Training Officer from InterContinental Hong Kong for providing the
precious information to the successful completeness of this report.
Also, by this opportunity, the author would like to appreciate Ms. Atta for her kindly teaching and
giving advices for conducting this report.
“The essence of culture is not what is visible on the surface. It is the shared ways groups of
people understand and interpret the world” (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997:3)
If a company wants to gain loyalty and the understanding from their employees according to the
viewpoints of corporate’s commitment and goals, policies, services or products, they have to
understand those aspects means in different cultures. Particularly in certain places, like Hong Kong,
one of the most multicultural cities in the world, the historical factor of the British colonization made
Hong Kong to have a unique east meets west culture and working style. Thus, companies, especially
the hospitality industry, since it’s naturally a very labor intensive, team working and human oriented
industry, have to real focus on this issue of managing cultural diversity among the growing fierce
competition in the market.
A successful company commonly develops and spread their business internationally. These
multinational corporations (MNC) have played an important role in globalization. The trend of
globalization leads to the increasing numbers of people working overseas, a place with different
culture or even in a totally strange and new environment. It also reflects the “increased ease of
mobility and communications for organizations and individuals” (Crowe, 2007). The globalization
means that “An increasing needs to get groups of managers from different nationalities to work
together in MNCs effectively either as enduring management teams or to resource specific projects
addressing key business issues” (Higgs, 1996).
With the advantages of being the international city and the rapidly growth of the hotel business,
Hong Kong is one of the greatest concentrations of international branded hotel chain in the Asia-
pacific region, such as Hyatt, Four Seasons, Starwood and last but not least, the Intercontinental
Hotels Group that is going to probe into in this study.
Hong Kong is a modern, highly dynamic city followed under the rule of British and shortly
occupation of Japan during the WWII which makes Hong Kong strongly influenced by other’s
culture, especially the British. Now, being the major gateway to the Mainland China, “the Basic Law
ensures the rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong are based on the impartial rule of law and
an independent judiciary” (GovHK, 2011). Giving the data from the Census and Statistics
Department of Hong Kong, there are 7097600 inhabitants and 55% are female. Chinese has the
majority of 95% among the total population and the other 5% are Filipino, Indonesian, White, Indian
and Japanese etc. (Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, 2011).
The Hofstede theory indicated that Hong Kong’s is almost identical with other Asian countries,
except the level of uncertainty avoidance which is dramatically lower. It shows that Hongkongese
tends to be a greater risk taker than the others. Hong Kong's Individualism ranks fairly low which is
a “high level of emphasis on a Collectivist society as compared to one of Individualism” (Hofstede,
2011). Besides, the theory also shows that Hong Kong has rather high power distance, moderate
between culture of masculinity and femininity and long-term orientated which can describe the
features of Hong Kong’s culture.
The InterContinental Hotel (IHG) that is going to investigate is a MNC, which has more guest rooms
than any other hotel company in the world with 640,000 rooms and over 4,400 hotels in 100
countries around the world (InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, 2011).
“IHG is an international hotel company whose goal is to create Great Hotels Guests Love”
(InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, 2011). This company emphasizes the importance of employee
satisfaction and wants to be one of the best companies in the world said by Andrew Cosslette, the
CEO of IHG.
The hotel group is growing rapidly, especially in the Great China Area with 147 new hotels in the
pipeline (InterContinental Hotels Group, 2011). The skilled labor shortage in China (NRC
Handelsblad, 2011) provides opportunities for the cooperation between the western management
styles with the eastern workers and will occasionally create problems and conflicts because of the
very different culture background.
InterContinental Hong Kong is a 496 rooms’ five-star hotel, internationally acclaimed as one of the
best hotels in the region. Having a culturally-diverse workforce structure, the hotel works with
around 460 full time workers, approximately 196 causal workers and 30 trainees on average. Jean-
Jacques Reibel is the managing director, coming from France but has worked in the States for long
years. The majority of other head managements from both management and operation are coming
from the western world, such as Norway and Germany. On the other hand, the front-line staffs are
identified as local Hongkongese, Nepalese, and Japan etc. With total 44 nationalities working in the
hotel, the hotel can be recognized as a very pluralistic organization.
IHG formulated a new strategy called “Winning ways”. “The Winning Ways provides a strong sense
of shared purpose, and is critical to driving the business performance forward, as well as making us a
great, enjoyable place to work”. (InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, 2011).
The “Winning Ways” re-defines the corporate spirit and culture to be more employee-oriented.
However, the employees are necessary to strictly follow the Stand Operation Procedures of IHG.
Moreover, there is also a highly implementation of the hierarchy system with bureaucracy in the
organization. The employees never overstep one's authority. From the organization structure and
culture, it can be defined as Eiffel Tower in the Trompenaars' four diversity cultures. Understand the
corporate culture is important since it becomes more important in local employees’ value
orientations. Also, it affects the staff’s behavior (Hofstede, 2011).
From the points of view of the author, in managing the cultural diversity approach among the
workforce; it shouldn’t be like a “program” or in a “structure” within the organization, but with more
humanized diversity practice and integrated into short-term and long-term thinking.
“Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should
therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it”
(John Hume - The Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1998)
Cultural diversity means a country where having loads of cultures living together and be respectful to
other cultures besides your own. “Culture also plays a significant role in workplace assumptions,
behavior and organizational cultures” (Crowe, 2007). Nevertheless, “The more fundamental
differences in culture and their effects may not be directly measurable by objective criteria, but they
will certainly play a very important role in the success of an international organization”
(Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997).
The concept of managing cultural diversity is to “accept the workforce consists of a diverse range of
people is to accept the workforce consists of a diverse range of people. The diversity consists of
visible and non-visible differences which include factors such as sex, background, age, race and
personality and more importantly, the working style. It’s founded on the premise that harnessing
these differences will create a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where their
talents are being fully utilized and in which organizational goals are being met” (Kandola &
Fullerton, 1994 cited by Crowe, 2007).
Through the correct and effective approach, the organization can justify the relevant training
programs and policies. The involved employees may feel to be more respected by the company since
the management notice and try to fulfill their needs, also the sense of care from the managers.
Many MNCs have done or is undertaking the initiatives for managing the cultural diversity, and of
course the InterContinental Hotels Group is one of them. Since InterContinental Hong Kong is a
hotel directly owned by IHG, the management style of the cultural diversity policies are strictly
following with the head office’s instructions and guidance. In the following session, the author will
elaborate and utilize the model of Kandola and Fullerton Cultural Diversity Strategy Web with
implementation in InterContinental Hong Kong. The Strategy Web consists of eight elements (See
Figure 1). It can be seen as a spider’s web as the elements are related mutually. “The eight elements
that make up the model should be looked upon as the range of activities that need to permeate the
entire organization if managing diversity is to be success”. (Kandola & Fullerton, 1994).
Organization vision is a form of share
vision for the organization among the
employees and based on their common
values. “It promotes fair and
harmonized co-operation among
employees of diverse groups and
capitalize employees’ potentials”
(Kandola & Fullerton, 1994:71). It’s
indeed, is a way to unite the company and make the staffs insist on the ability to achieve common
aspirations. However, clear indications should be given. This vision should “encapsulate the
Figure 1, Kandola & Fullerton Cultural Diversity Strategy Web
principles of managing diversity, communicating a shared vision of where the organization is going
and he expected rewards” (Kandola & Fullerton, 1994:75).
The mission statement of InterContinental Hong Kong is to “Create Great Hotel Guest Love”.
Through this statement, the author found out that the company is rather focus on the guest expedition
while their stay in the hotel and the service quality, but without emphasizing the diversity on their
workforce. In addition, it hasn’t encapsulated the principles of managing the diversity.
For the Top management commitment, it’s one of the “big main reasons why organization had
taken action” (Kandola & Fullerton, 1994:75) and the specific and critically important aspect or of an
organization. Commitment is needed to be visible and achievable and evidently communicate in
action but not only with writing. Besides, the top managements have to accountable towards
themselves while making the commitment to be fair to everyone.
In IHG, it stated that, “Our commitment to diversity and inclusion extends to all aspects of our
business. This includes ownership, supplier relationships, recruitment, community relations,
franchising and marketing. It means creating a working environment and establishing business
relationships in which every group fits, feels accepted, has value and contributes” (InterContinental
Hotels Group PLC, 2011). To oversee the diversity, the group set up the Office of Diversity which is
led by the senior diversity executives. They formulate and establish the policies and review them in a
yearly based. In InterContinental Hong Kong, training department is mainly responsible for
providing those diversity training and oversee the implementation at all levels in the hotel. However,
the targets who mainly receive the diversity training are mainly from middle management or above.
Thus, the author believes that it’s necessary to promote the diversity training to all people in order to
treat everyone rational and fair with the equal opportunity to take part in.
The process of Auditing and assessment of needs is rather essential. To have an internal audit can
reveal the hidden issues as well as the potential bias that may exist within the organization structure,
policies and management process. In InterContinental Hong Kong, other than the internal audit, there
is also the employee survey conduct in a regular basis for collecting the attitudes, feedback and for
assessing the needs from the staffs. The feedbacks are positive and there’s always a high satisfaction
with 93% on average. However, the data may not be representative, since the affect from the local
culture of high power distance (Hofstede, 2011) that the employees are rarely challenge their
superior and avoid trouble because the survey require staff to sign their names. For reaching the
world standard and the requirement from the Office of Diversity, inspectors from the Research
companies, such as DiversityInc and also the executives from the head office will check the standard
and comments. It can increase the awareness of the issues. The good feedback from the externals can
also enhance the company’s reputation and gain competitive advantages. In 2004, the IHG rewarded
with no.14 among the 50 top best cultural diversity companies in the world (4Hoteliers, 2004), and
this gave a goodwill and status among the industry continuously.
Company needs to Clarity the objectives before applying the policies. The objective and the action
plan should be clear and can integrate and fit in the business needs. The management has to
effectively communicate with their subordinates and to gain the support from them. It needs to be
flexible and quantifiable within the set time scales as well.
IHG stated “We recruit and promote individuals based solely on their suitability for the job without
discriminating” and “We ensure that our training programs, including leadership and management
training, are inclusive and non-discriminatory” (InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, 2011) as their
objectives. The first statement is undoubtedly indisputable. However, the for the second one, the
author thinks that it’s unspecific and unclear regarding who is going to give the training and whom is
going to receive the training. Due to the limit of budget and policies restriction, non-permanent
employees are not being allowed to be attending the training course, and it’s kind of unfair to them.
The statement also doesn’t indicate the flexibility and the time-scale which makes it to be
immeasurable to the hotel.
A Clear accountability should be implementing and extend across the entire organization. The
individual should be accountability for their responsibilities. The management should be accountable
for running the system and modify the system to ensure the fairness (Kandola & Fullerton, 1994:81).
In the hotel, there are no such policies that forcing the employees to use a particular language while
at work. This may leads to the communication barrier between the staffs with different background
since it’s not most of the people speak Cantonese or English. Team-building is an effective way to
overcome this problem. It’s good to see that the application of joining the activities is fair and open
for all levels of employees in the hotel. The activities usually organize by the Human Resources or
the Training Department in order everyone can receive the information accurately and impartially.
For the Effective communication, the information that regarding to the cultural diversity should be
shared out throughout the organisation internally and externally. “Implementation of communication
strategy is a vital element to ensure all employees understand diversity issues and benefits, hence,
solicit feedbacks” (Dessler, 2004). “Winning Ways” that mentioned in the front, is a set of behaviors
by IHG based on our values that are helping IHG to become a very best company. In the session that
focus on their employees, it emphases that they “listen to each other and combine the expertise to
create a strong, focused and trusted group of people” (InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, 2011). It
shows that IHG encourages communication between all levels and lines in the organization structure.
Communication underpins effective leadership. InterContinental Hong Kong is under the
transactional leadership. Its core ideal is the leader who provides incentives for the employees to do
what the leader wants as an exchange. It’s good for increasing the work performance, however it
doesn’t provide the meaning of works to those staffs, and the company is very likely to be full of
corporate politics, special treatment, people are try to take credit rivalry and exclusion strife.
The Coordination needs to take place at all levels within the organization. As stated on the above,
IHG has set up the Office of Diversity to oversee the issues of managing cultural diversity.
According to the IHG Reconciliation Action Plan 2010, the General Managers with the assist from
the Training and HR Department have given to be the key coordinators. Their responsibility is to
keep supervise the implementation and to promote the alertness of the cultural diversity.
For the Evaluation. As have said, the Office of Diversity and the hotel top management audit and
evaluate the hotel’s diversity policy in a yearly basis. It should be continuously to have the
evaluation process while managing the cultural diversity, which can allow the opinion and feedbacks
and be revised quickly in case there’s any problems revealed. As have said, the Office of Diversity
and the hotel top management audit and evaluate the hotel’s diversity policy in a yearly basis. The
feedbacks should be given from or to those employees to keep their attention to the importance of the
diversity. The strategies of MCD should be reassessed after the evaluations.
All in all, the InterContinental Hong Kong is a pluralistic organization and running under the
transactional leadership. The setup of the Office of Diversity enable to company to manage to
cultural diversity issue independently with professional view. It has the clear guidance for
implementing the diversity policies. However, their mission statements and goals are focus on the
guest satisfaction and service quality rather than mention about the aspects on cultural diversity with
the employees. Nonetheless, the “Winning Ways” strategy compensate the shortages with the
statements by the ideal of “Celebrating the differences” as well as “Work better together”
(InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, 2011). Whatever the MCD policies success or not, the postural
of initiative imposed to the public create the positive feeling to the general public and can benefit
back to the company while gaining the competitive advantage and reputation.
The Kandola and Fullerton Cultural Diversity Strategy Web is good for applying to the situation of
IHG, but there’s a loophole of missing the parts of recruitment and training development. Induction
is somewhat a channel can provide an insight of the hotel’s diversity policy which makes the new
employees to have a better impression.
Cultural diversity management is not just about for making the organization to be more effective and
profitable, but to value the employees. Managing cultural diversity is a long-term process so the
management should be patience and keep eyes on it continuously. It’s recommend by the author that
the InterContinental Hong Kong has to keep emphasize the importance and awareness of diversity to
the employees. All staff including the part-time and casual workers can able to join the diversity
training. Encourage team works and avoid stereotypes among the working environment. The
employee survey can be anonymous in order to embolden them to give out the “real” opinion instead
of keeping by themselves.
List of References
1. 4Hoteliers (2004), InterContinental Hotels Group recognized for its diversity efforts, [Online].
Available at: http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_nshw.php?mwi=1451 (Accessed: 13 March 2011).
2. Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, (2011), Population and vital events, [Online].
Available on: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistics_by_subject/index.jsp
(Accessed: 15 March 2011)
3. Crowe, D. (2007) Cultural Diversity in the Workplace. Dublin: Irish Management Institute
4. Dessler, G. (2004) Human Resource Management. 9th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited
5. Garschagen, O. (2010), Chinese labour shortage drives up wages, NRC Handelsblad, 4 March
6. GovHK (2011), Hong Kong – The Fact, [Online]. Available on:
http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/facts.htm (Accessed: 15 March 2011)
7. Hofstede, G. (2011), Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Resources, [Online]. Available at:
http://www.geert-hofstede.com/geert_hofstede_contrarian_position.shtml (Accessed: 15 March
2011).
8. Higgs, M. (1996) Overcoming the problems of cultural differences to establish success for
international management teams, Team Performance Management: An International Journal
9. Hofstede, G. (2011), SAR Hong Kong China Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Explained,
[Online]. Available at: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_hong_kong.shtml (Accessed: 15
March 2011).
10. InterContinental Hotels Group (2011), About us – Overview, [Online]. Available on:
http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=16 (Accessed: 16 March 2011)
11. InterContinental Hotels Group (2011), Corporate responsibility - Community - Our people -
Diversity and equality, [Online]. Available on: http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=762
(Accessed: 13 March 2011)
12. InterContinental Hotels Group (2011), IHG hotel and room world stats. London: IHG
13. Kandola, R. & Fullerton, J. (1998) Diversity in action: Managing the mosaic. 2nd ed. London:
Institute of Personnel and Development.
14. Trompenaars, F. & Humpden-Turner, C. (1997) Riding the waves of culture: Understanding
cultural diversity in Business. 2nd ed. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.