MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION :

As well as the more obvious cultural differences that exist between people, such as language, dress and traditions, there are also significant variations in the way societies organize themselves, in their shared conception of morality, and in the ways they interact with their environment. It is debatable whether these differences are merely incidental artifacts arising from patterns of human migration or whether they represent an evolutionary trait that is key to our success as a species. By analogy with biodiversity, which is thought to be essential to the long-term survival of life on earth, it can be argued that cultural diversity may be vital for the long-term survival of humanity; and that the conservation of indigenous cultures may be as important to humankind as the conservation of species and ecosystems is to life in general.

This argument is rejected by some people, on several grounds. Firstly, like most evolutionary accounts of human nature, the importance of cultural diversity for survival may be an un-testable hypothesis, which can neither be proved nor disproved. Secondly, it can be argued that it is unethical deliberately to conserve "less developed" societies, because this will deny people within those societies the benefits of technological and medical advances enjoyed by those of us in the "developed" world. Finally, there are some people, particularly those with strong religious beliefs, who maintain that it is in the best interests of individuals and of humanity as a whole that we all adhere to the single model for society that they deem to be correct. For example, fundamentalist evangelist missionary organisations such as the New Tribes Mission actively work to reduce cultural diversity by seeking out remote tribal societies, converting them to their own faith, and inducing them to remodel their society after its principles.

Cultural diversity is tricky to quantify, but a good indication is thought to be a count of the number of languages spoken in a region or in the world as a whole. By this measure, there are signs that we may be going through a period of precipitous decline in the world's cultural diversity. Research carried out in the 1990s by David Crystal (Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor) suggested that at that time, on average, one language was falling into disuse every two weeks. He calculated that if that rate of language death were to continue, then by the year 2100 more than 90% of the languages currently spoken in the world will have gone extinct. year 2100 more than 90% of the languages currently spoken in the world will have gone extinct.

EMERGENCE OF THE TOPIC:

The topic of diversity has raised significant attention over the past decade (Marx 1999; Kandola et al. 1998; Connerley 2005). Changes in the demographic composition of the workforce in the direction of increasing representation of minority groups mirrored by changes in other parts of the world have created the need to understand how ethnically and culturally diverse individuals respond to managerial practices (Warner et al. 2002).

Human beings come in all shapes and sizes, colours and forms, but we do not seek to be different, rather we seek to be with our own kind. We are a visually oriented species so perhaps it is somewhat natural that we tend to notice differences. We describe ourselves as Christian, Jew, Democratic, or even as a Manchester football fan. These categories do not refer to natural biological attributes or necessarily to a particular geographical region, but they have an enormous impact on our behaviour. (Denton 1997) The hospitality industry is an international and global industry, many companies and organisations are working international and their employees are from many different countries. The hospitality industry is becoming increasingly `internationalized′. Indeed, we can say it is `globalised′, where a common global experience is taking place.

Waters (1995, cited in Francesco and Gold, 2005, p.2) defines globalisation as `a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding. Guttal (2007) goes further and stated: `The term `globalisation′ is widely used to describe a variety of economic, cultural, social, and political changes that have shaped the world over the past 50-odd years, from the much celebrated revolution in information technology to the diminishing of national and geo-political boundaries in an ever-expanding, transnational movement of goods, services, and capital.′ Due to this globalisation we are faced with a diversity of our workforce. But is it a problem to work with people from other countries and other cultures.

2. Managing Diversity vs. Equal Opportunities

In its traditional form, equal opportunities has been described as rights based, liberal , rooted in legal compliance, based upon equality through `sameness′ and merit with a focus on non discrimination, and geared towards increasing the proportion of women and other under represented groups in senior roles in organisations (Kirton and Green, 2000) Diversity should be seen as merely a replacement for the old equal opportunities policy: it must be a corporate value, an integral part of the business strategy, a formal business objective (Harisis and Kleiner 1993 quoted in Fisher 2001) Arguably the most fundamental development in approaches to workplace equality in the past 20 years has been the introduction of `diversity management′ as second major approach in addition to `equal opportunities′. (Cornelius 2002)

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:There are so many articles written on the given topic. These articles tell us about the importance of management of cultural diversity.This paper seeks to explore cultural diversity issues pertaining to employers in the hospitality sector of Northern Ireland. The study centred on the question “What opportunities and challenges does a culturally diverse workforce create for hoteliers in Northern Ireland?”. Information gained from the in-depth interviews showed evidence that integrating cultural diversity into an organisation is not an easy process, but must be part of a long-term strategy to be effective.

It has been identified that many of the international workers work in urban and rural hospitality establishments of Northern Ireland. In 2002-2003, work permit holders from 66 different countries came to Northern Ireland, in addition to nationals from EEA countries (Jarman, 2004, p. 59). In the majority of cases international staff were viewed as “loyal, committed, and always willing to work hard being employed mostly by word-of mouth and being referred by family and friends”.

It was found that many of the employers tended to assume that the international workers were only capable of low-skilled work, offering positions mainly in back-of-house in departments such as the kitchen and housekeeping. As a result, the skills of many migrant workers may be under-used in the labour market. This highlights the need for employers to recognise the talents of migrant workers, improved innovation could be based on the concept that differences will provide new and different ideas for the workplace.

In the majority of the establishments, the positive potential of international employees, for example their language capabilities and their cultural identities remain untapped. There is a perception that international workers are temporary and may not be included in the normal career development or promotion opportunities. There is a need to recognise that international workers are a growing category of employees in Northern Ireland and they can be seen as a necessary factor to overcome the labour shortages reported in the hospitality industry. There remains a danger that international staff is considered as a “quick fix” to solve the skills shortages in the industry.

There are some but not major issues relating to harassment and racism and these could be overcome if appropriate human resource policies and procedures are in place and communicated to all staff (national and international) in order to deal with cultural diversity. There is a need to train the domestic workforce as to why the firm is hiring from abroad and what to expect (Paton, 2004; Fáilte Ireland, 2005). Therefore, the role of multi-cultural training for all employees is important.

Finally, comments from the employers support for the need for better integration and socialisation of international workers with their local colleagues and indeed the wider community. Some good practices have been identified in the form of free and subsidised accommodation and a planned football tournament with the local community. More staff integration activities such as social events (hill walking, shopping trips) involving the wider community are more likely to help international workers to settle in quickly and feel more comfortable in their new environment.

It is difficult to predict how the numerical picture with respect to international employees in Northern Ireland's hospitality sector will evolve. The arrival of new international workers to Northern Ireland will depend on a range of factors including continued active recruitment for shortages in the industry, government migration policies, the accession of further countries to the EU, the initiatives of recruitment agencies and the economic conditions in the countries of origin of international workers.

This paper points to the need for further and more detailed analysis of the role of multicultural training in assuring business benefits associated with diversity. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates some of the opportunities and challenges which hospitality and tourism employers in Northern Ireland faces with respect to the management of cultural diversity. There is a need for the hospitality sector of Northern Ireland to invest in long-term strategies to employ a quality labour force that will be sustainable in the future in order for the hospitality industry to compete worldwide.

Practical recommendations

Training will be fundamental to ensuring the managing of cultural diversity. Practitioners need to remove barriers to the successful integration of international staff into the workplace and society while benefiting all staff, their organisations and the Irish tourism product. Training programmes could focus on training goals, which are practical and job-specific. Training goals including increasing employee teamwork among culturally diverse employees and improving cross-cultural skills must be a part of the training goals to encourage employee participation and eventually help in facilitating the recognition of cultural differences.

Induction programmes could be developed for recently-arrived international workers (and indeed all employees), including:

opportunities for career development; English language (pitched at a level to suit the employees); skills training manuals could be developed into different languages, for example, French,

German, Spanish, Irish, Polish and Russian; a simple guide to understanding Irish cultural cues for use by employers and employees

may be a good investment; ensure that service excellence programmes are translated into several languages and

distributed among all employees; and develop and pilot an introductory “Welcome Workshop” open to all international

employees on Irish culture, customer care, health, safety and hygiene and teamwork to mention a few possibilities.

By involving international workers in such training it may reduce stress for them particularly if they know local tourist information and understand cultural differences both between people but also with work practices. It is also clear that a range of key information relating to activities in the area, practical help on opening a bank account, and how to acquire a National Insurance number, will ease the employee's assimilation into Irish life.

ARTICLE 1:

Cultural diversity: a plus for a third of companies

Top British companies are increasingly seeing staff with culturally diverse backgrounds as a potential asset in performance terms. A survey from Oxford University Department of Experimental Psychology reveals that a third of the top British companies are actively managing cultural diversity and another 12 per cent plan to do something about it very soon.

The cultural mix includes people from ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, older people, women with families, and different business cultures.

The case for more diversity is strengthened by the finding that - given the right conditions - culturally diverse teams can actually perform better as well as more creatively than teams made up of people with similar backgrounds. The repeated finding by psychologists is that the superior creativity of such teams is usually achieved at some cost to performance, while performance from homogeneous teams is usually at the expense of creativity.

Dr Peter Collett, whose three-part study was funded by the ESRC, conducted two experiments with groups of MBA students, grouping some of them into teams with similar backgrounds and some into groups with diverse backgrounds. All the teams were charged with both designing and implementing set tasks.

The results of the experiments showed that, given at least as much co-operation, solidarity, agreement and commitment between members of the diverse team as would be normal between members of the homogeneous team, the diverse team will perform much better and is able to exploit its creative advantage. The group dynamics of diverse teams, however, are such that mostly such teams do not achieve the same degree of co-operation and agreement, for instance, as teams with similar backgrounds.

The survey of 65 companies, from the top 200 British companies, and their attitudes to cultural diversity revealed some unexpected results. For instance, companies which have a "management of diversity" policy are not necessarily those which have noticeably increased the proportion of their workforce with diverse backgrounds. Their top management is dominated as much by white males (86 per cent) as companies with no diversity policy (87 per cent). But companies with active diversity policies are more likely to have brought in flexible work arrangements, help with childcare, paternity leave and career breaks

Title: Cultural diversity: a plus for a third of companies

Journal: Leadership & Organization Development Journal

Year: Dec 1999 

Volume: 20 

Issue : 7

ARTICLE 2:

Cultural diversity a plus for companies

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 31, Issue 7.

Keywords: Cultural synergy, Performance teams

Top British companies are increasingly seeing staff with culturally diverse backgrounds as a potential asset in performance teams. A new nation-wide survey from Oxford University Department of Experimental Psychology reveals that one-third of the top British companies are actively managing cultural diversity and another 12 per cent plan to do something about it very soon.

The case for more diversity is strengthened by the finding that - given the right conditions - culturally diverse teams can actually perform better as well as more creatively than teams made up of people with similar backgrounds. The repeated finding by psychologists is that the superior creativity of such teams is usually achieved at some cost to performance, while performance from homogeneous teams is usually at the expense of creativity.

Dr Peter Collett, whose three-part study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), conducted two experiments with groups of MBA students, grouping some of them into teams with similar backgrounds and some into groups with diverse backgrounds. All the teams were charged with both designing and implementing set tasks.

The results of the experiments showed that, given at least as much co-operation, solidarity, agreement and commitment between members of the diverse team as would be normal between members of the homogeneous team, the diverse team will perform much better and is able to exploit its creative advantage. The group dynamics of diverse teams, however, are such that mostly such teams do not achieve the same degree of co-operation and agreement, for instance, as teams with similar backgrounds.

The survey of 65 companies, from the top 200 British companies, and their attitudes to cultural diversity revealed some unexpected results. For instance, companies which have a "management of diversity" policy are not necessarily those which have noticeably increased the proportion of their workforce with diverse backgrounds. Their top management is dominated as much by white males (86 per cent) as companies with no diversity policy (87 per cent).

But companies with active diversity policies are more likely to have brought in flexible work arrangements, help with Chiltern, paternity leave and career breaks. They put a high priority on managing diversity along with other business objectives like Investors in People, business excellence and total quality management. And these companies are more involved in campaigns that advance the cause of minorities.

Reasons advanced by companies which do not have a specific policy included: financial (not enough resources); managers not recognizing the importance of diversity as a business issue; some companies seeing no need to concentrate on being a "fair and equitable employer", or, in one company, specifically avoiding following "the latest fad".

ARTICLE 3:

Managing Cultural Diversity In A Global World*

By Edward Burman

1. Introduction and background

For telcos with global ambitions, success in the next twenty years will stem from successful joint ventures and alliances. But while it is a simple matter to draw lines across the globe in the manner of the nineteenth century colonial powers and to devise a Concert, an Atlas, or a Unisource, there is no guarantee that such alliances will thrive - or even endure. Where once a global company such as Coca-Cola simply sold its product or imposed a taste, and multinationals geared the names or colours of identical products to the results of market research, the survival of transnational telcos will depend on flexibility in managing cultural diversity.

Primarily, this entails the successful management of a multi-cultural workforce in a global context. But it also means being able to vary services across cultures: not simple marketing ploys imposed from outside, but an understanding of how culture drives differences from within. A simple example of this is the way in which different cultures use the phone: an American walks into his appartment after a week away and switches on the answerphone; an Italian rings his mother. One requires an add-on device; the other needs single number dialling and favoured-number discounts. These differences may appear trivial, but they are profoundly culture-driven.

The development of genuinely transnational business organizations therefore requires managerial approaches and systems which allow for variations deriving from such diversity. This might be "national" cultural diversity between nations, races or ethnic groups (eg. in a two-nation joint-venture), intra-national diversity involving the range of cultures within a single nation (eg. in the USA), or internal cultural diversity where managers need to deal with foreign-owned transnational companies in their own country (eg. a British telco manager dealing with a Korean manufacturer in the UK). All this is well known, and there is indeed a burgeoning literature on the management of cultural diversity. But the problems go deeper than is often appreciated: it is not simply a matter of minding manners or learning to deal with varying attitudes to punctuality. These are the surface manifestations of much deeper differences in mental structures.

A few examples will make this clear.

# Negotiating Alliances

In a world in which cross-cultural joint ventures and alliances are essential, problems of ethics and trust will loom large. How is it possible to achieve a balance between the necessary and the contingent in business ethics, or in other words to allow for flexibility between a strong corporate ethic and the need to adapt to difficult local conditions? And how can we learn to build a lasting trust relationship with people from a different culture? How can managers going to the negotiating table be prepared for the very different styles they will face? It is not merely a question of setting bargaining ranges, toning down confrontational styles, or following pre-established rules. That is sufficient for making a deal, but not for setting up a permanent alliance. It is essential to grasp the deep structures - religious, social, ethnic and ethical - which influence the way the opposite party will reason, the way they will react to different presentational styles, what they expect and how they listen.

This requires a level of genuine understanding which goes beyond rapidly-acquired skills. Recent studies have shown how an inherent sense of cultural superiority is often enough to undermine European joint-ventures in Third World countries even when extensive training has been provided. Such "superiority" emanates from non-verbal aspects of behaviour like the tone of voice and body language, which few people other than accomplished actors are able to control. If, then, as this would suggest and has recently been asserted in telco documents on cultural diversity (eg. by BT and France Telecom), humility is a key factor, how is it possible to inculcate this quality in managers whose education has often prepared them for anything but humility?

# Human Resources

The global operator obviously needs managers capable of working globally. Some European telcos are now recruiting "non-nationals" in order to resolve their problems quickly, but how does a human resource specialist trained in his own culture, who can make a rough assessment of a candidate's capabilities in a brief interview, deal with the problems of recruiting staff in other cultures? How valid is psychological testing when applied cross-culturally? How much do most human resource managers know about other school and university systems? Suppose a German manager needs to choose between, say, a Finn, an Italian and a Portuguese. That would require an awareness not only of the very different education systems in European countries but the ways in which educational background influences patterns of thought and managerial style: how, for example, education underlies the way in which the same conflict might be addressed in France by seeking orders from a superior, in Britain by sending the people in conflict on a management course, and in Germany by employing a consultant.

Assuming for a moment that these problems can be resolved, how might the issue of dual allegiance be tackled? For the employment of local managers necessitates the creation of loyalty on their part to a distant entity with culturally diverse norms and assumptions. Even a long-term expatriate who is nominally still of the same nationality but has in fact "gone native" might respond to an order in this way: "I'm sure my local employees won't like this, so I won't tell them and try to smooth over the issue in some other way." It can be much more difficult for the locally employed manager, especially under stress.

# Everyday Work

Then there is the nitty-gritty of everyday working together, the problem of creating the rituals, the back-room humour and the "off-stage" relationships which are so vital to harmonious corporate life. Company jokes and in-group stories, for example, are notoriously difficult to translate into other cultures: what sounds laudable to a Briton can seem risible to an Italian. Companies which contrived to impose a global corporate culture, such as IBM, did not face the insidious cultural problems of a transnational organization.

Language is another problem. Although it might appear that the use of English as the common working language of the international teleco community favours native English-speakers, this can turn into a disadvantage when one of them is unaware of the problems that a regional accent or rapid speech might create, and how linguistic confidence can be perceived as a manifestation of quasi-colonial arrogance. Non-conformity with what might be termed the "industry pidgin" can also generate unexpected tensions.

Worse still, behind the words on the surface lurk centuries of cultural and ideological rivalry which has often exploded into war. At moments of strain, when a minor conflict might have irreversible consequences, simmering stereotypes and prejudices boil up. Studies of cross-cultural teams indicate that often it is the most superficially similar cultures which in the end experience the greatest traumas: while differences such as those between the US and Japan are obvious, serious problems often occur where they are least expected - say, between Britain and Denmark

- and warning signals are neither perceived nor acted upon. In a world as competitive as that of the telcos will be in coming decades, nothing may be taken for granted.

2. The Way Forward

Cultural training is essential to avoid potential conflict, and to improve the disastrous failure rate of joint-ventures in the recent past. In fact, most telcos with global ambitions now provide cross-cultural training in order to create genuinely international managers. This sometimes involves in-house training, and is also provided by consultants and business schools. Yet much of this training deals with the traditional, superficial problems without seeking to explore the deep causes of underlying cultural differences. Another problem is that much of the research and background material is rapidly out-dated as the pace of change accelerates.

An innovative approach has been taken by the collaborative venture known as "Euroteam". This was started in 1991 by the five main European operators (BT, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, STET and Telefónica de España) with the aim of contributing by means of the organization of regular workshops and exchanges to the internationalization of telco operators. Euroteam was later expanded to include all European operators who were members of ETNO (the organization of European Telecoms Network Operators), and at present has about eleven members ranging from Finland, Norway and Denmark to Portugal. It runs a series of international workshops - hosted alternately by the members - whose focus is on Europe and Telecommunications. There is a regular programme called "Working Across Cultures", and there has been a successful pilot version of a more theoretical workshop called "Understanding Cultural Diversity" which may be run again in the future. Other programmes also include at least one session on cultural diversity. These workshops allow managers from member companies to learn and work together, and thus facilitate cross-cultural personal networking even within the ambit of fierce competition.

The problem of devising some form of training within the industry has also been recognized at the inter-governmental level, where "Cross-Cultural Training and Education" has been included among the Global Information Society projects of G-7.

3. Conclusion

No comprehensive solution to the problems of cultural diversity in the context of the telecommunications industry has yet been conceived. Indeed, there has been little specific research. Yet it is clear that preparation for the successful management of such diversity in all its ramifications will be a vital component of long-term success in the global market.

ARTICLE 4:Cultural Diversity:   An Asset, Not a Liability by Sally J. Walton, M.A.

Ms. Walton is a professional speaker, consultant, seminar leader and author, who focuses on maximizing human performance with a global perspective.  She has offices in Washington, D.C., and Santa Cruz, California.

In time, it's probably inevitable that your organization will grow more culturally diverse, and this reality calls for a change of attitudes, strategies and methods.  When we think about multi-cultural issues in the 1990's, we're not talking about non-discrimination or equal opportunity.  We're talking about using multiple cultural backgrounds as competitive tools.

People's culture, age, and gender make them see the world in different ways.  These perspectives are a key to creative thinking, and that, in turn, is the key to successful R&D.

We must stop seeing diversity as a problem, and start seeing it as an advantage.  To succeed, organizations must understand and use the skills, traditions and backgrounds of a diverse workforce.

In reality, diversity gives businesses a key advantage in the world marketplace.  Our wider range of viewpoints offers a spectrum of talents—meticulous craftsmanship, for example—which can improve many aspects of product and process research.

Diversity helps when:

            • You are marketing internationally

            • You are negotiating with people from abroad

            • You are launching a campaign to a new population (whether domestic or international). 

In situations like these, it’s an asset to have someone from that population on your planning team?  Couldn’t the person whose accent made you uncomfortable during a job interview have just the perspective you need to help your R&D efforts?

Can't Find the Staff You Want? Create It

Once you appreciate cultural diversity, your organization can appeal to a wider base of employees, and that in turn will improve your staffing.  As you make diversity an integral part of policy and procedures, it's vital to work at all levels and in all departments.

•  Plan strategically at top levels to incorporate multicultural managing and motivating.

•  Recruit diverse leaders, not just staff.

•  Train supervisors in multicultural skills.

•  Review interviewing and selection procedures and criteria.

You may need to learn new skills as you begin to recruit and interview candidates from diverse backgrounds.  Are you adapting to the culturally-appropriate behavior of the people you're interviewing?  How do you respond when others don’t act as you expect? 

Because stereotypes can keep you from understanding what's really going on, be alert to your assumptions.  Take eye contact as an example.  Most interviewers think a direct eye-to-eye gaze connotes the desirable traits of honesty and attention.  But people from cultures with great respect for authority may think this signifies disrespect, even (or especially) during an interview.  So when someone refuses to look you in the eye, perhaps it reflects culturally correct behavior, not deviousness!

Most recent immigrants are still learning the "rules" of the new culture.  They may be uncomfortable with assertiveness, questioning an interviewer, or volunteering information.  "Self-marketing," in short, may still be a foreign concept to them.

If you continue to seek the personality traits you have always sought, you may not hire the people you need.  By staying in this "cultural rut," you may lose talented candidates.

The Learning Must be Mutual

As we start taking cultural diversity seriously, we are embarking on a two-way learning process.  Just as we need to learn about the culture of newcomers, they must learn about ours.   Coaching and mentoring thus become indispensable.  This is also a two-way street:  As the newcomer learns what is expected and how to succeed, the mentor gains insight into other cultures and customs.

What must newcomers learn? 

•  general business practices (e.g., frequent witness signature on lab notebooks);

•  the particular requirements or "culture" of your organization (e.g., joining the Friday beer session);

•  what they must do to get promoted or succeed.

Management Style

Now that you're on the way to getting the staff you want, how do you manage them?   Let's look at motivation.  Remember that motivations other than money may be equally important in other cultures.  Many people are motivated by feeling that they are being heard and respected, that they are making a meaningful contribution.  Receiving incentives and recognition as part of a team may be more important, or more comfortable, than as an individual.

Relationships become more important as the workplace grows larger.  Allow sufficient time to communicate with individuals and groups.  If I can generalize for a moment, the purpose of communication for white American males seems to be to transmit and receive information.  But for most women as well as culturally diverse populations, communication also establishes and maintains relationships.  If you're concerned about employee retention and effectiveness, take the time to build rapport with individuals and support team spirit.  Have celebrations when the team reaches a goal.

Also, check that your terminology is understandable to everybody.  Our daily parlance is so chock-full of clichés and heavy on slang that sometimes we are barely comprehensible to

foreigners.  Do all your employees understand when you "up the ante" or "deep-six" a project?  (Remember that some people who seem to understand are just trying to save themselves the embarrassment of asking a lot of questions.)

Saving Face

Do you criticize employees in public?  Despite the common conception that only Asians are concerned with saving face, it's also a concern of many others.  That's one good reason for correcting people in private.  If you must make an immediate correction, make it general—don't single someone out.  For a chronic problem, schedule a private talk or use a go-between.  You can also save face and increase team solidarity by instituting group performance appraisals.

Other points to consider:

•  In some cultures, leaders act decisively, from the top down—if they ask a subordinate's opinions, they lose respect.  In other cultures, conferring widely helps people "buy into" the resulting decision.

•  In many cultures, youth lacks the high value it is accorded in the United States.  Because it is more common to respect age, young managers must work harder to earn respect than older managers.

• To exploit the advantages of diversity, question all assumptions; base employees evaluations on results, not preconceptions; and demand that managers be accountable for developing the talents of all employees.

To work effectively in the new reality of cultural diversity, you must be able to hear and respect other points of view.  You must be ready to take risks, have a sense of humor, and retain your intellectual curiosity.  You must look forward to new experiences.

As an R&D manager, your leadership in valuing cultural diversity can influence the thoughts, attitudes and behaviors of your organization.  If you understand that changing demographics represent a strategic opportunity, you put yourself in a position to lead your organization into the next century.

ARTICLE:-5

Managing cultural diversity: opportunities and challenges for Northern Ireland hoteliers

The Authors

Frances Devine, University of Ulster, Portrush, UK

Tom Baum, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

Adrian Devine, University of Ulster, Portrush, UK

Article Type:

Research paper

Keyword(s): Multicultural management; Hospitality management; Northern Ireland.

Journal: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

Volume: 19

Number: 2

Year: 2007

pp: 120-132

Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ISSN: 0959-6119

Introduction

Cultural diversity is important for the twenty-first century hotel industry due to high levels of mobility between and across continents which impacts both upon work and society (Baum, 2006). Yet, the contemporary industry has largely ignored the benefits of cultural diversity, perhaps because it has not correctly anticipated the fast growth in labour migration. Recent labour migration flows have occurred to rural regions such as Northern Ireland.

Despite the religious “Troubles”, Northern Ireland is regarded as a predominantly homogeneous society (Jarman, 2004). All sectors of the province's economy have enjoyed remarkable growth in recent years, and this has permeated to the hospitality and tourism industry, where a combination of factors has generated significant international tourism. The Good Friday Agreement,

infrastructure developments and improved flight connections have further facilitated access to the region.

Growth in Northern Ireland's tourism has stimulated the demand for workers in tourism and hospitality, and international workers increasingly provide a solution to this labour shortage. Thus, the changing composition of the hotel workforce throughout Northern Ireland is of interest. This paper probes initial experiences of Northern Ireland hoteliers in managing cultural diversity and what opportunities and challenges a culturally diverse workforce creates for hoteliers in Northern Ireland.

Factors facilitating the increase of migrant labour in the hospitality industry of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has been slow to recover from its troubled past, but the hospitality and tourism industry have experienced significant growth and Northern Ireland is gradually emerging as an international tourist destination. More and more air routes are opening to the capital city, Belfast, which, in 2003, had 1.95 million visitors: a record, and an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year (Smyth, 2005).

A more peaceful society has not yet produced a more buoyant economy, although the service sector, including tourism and hospitality, has grown by more than 10 per cent since 1998 (Smyth, 2005). The tourism and hospitality industry is an amalgam of heterogeneous businesses, the majority being small, owner-managed enterprises. The industry currently supports some 20,000 full time equivalent jobs, and contributes about £291 million to the economy. Together with an additional £121 million from domestic tourism, it represents approximately 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) (Northern Ireland Tourist Board, 2004). Thus, tourism is important in reducing dependency on the public sector for employment in the province. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (2004) aims to increase visitor spend by 9 per cent per annum to £400 million by 2007, with visitor numbers up by 7 per cent per annum and the share of all-Ireland visitors by 26 per cent. An essential factor in achieving these targets is the attraction and recruitment of skilled staff.

Evidence suggests that the hospitality industry suffers from a range of employment problems including recruitment, retention, skills and image. The Northern Ireland Skills Monitoring Survey (DHFETE, 2002), found that across all industrial sectors, employee turnover was highest in the hotel and restaurant sector (at 36 per cent) which had the highest level of vacancies (19 per cent; 3,225 unfilled vacancies). About half (48 per cent) of vacancies were difficult to fill because not enough people wanted to do that type of work. Consequently, employers have focused their attention on recruiting staff from abroad.

Ireland has introduced a system of work visas and work authorisation schemes to attract particular skills. This is not atypical, as other European Union (EU) member states have relaxed visa requirements for non-EU citizens who have certain skills. For example, in May 2003, the UK introduced a new sector-based scheme (SBS) aimed at short-term workers at the lower skills end of hospitality and food industry. The scheme allows 20,000 migrant workers to take employment in the UK for up to 12 months (Protheroe, 2005).

Many factors contribute to diversity in Northern Ireland's hospitality workforce and hospitality employers need to recognise that international workers face challenges of acclimatising and acculturalising. This study is a starting point in identifying the opportunities and challenges faced by employers of a diverse workforce in a variety of hotels in Northern Ireland.

Benefits and challenges of cultural diversity

Williams (2005) considers the benefits of labour migration in terms of knowledge transfer, innovation and competitiveness, both within the organisation and within the wider economy. Cultural diversity may create specific benefits for the tourism industry, including improved innovation and a wider economic perspective (Fáilte Ireland, 2005). Employees may be more in tune with the customer base so that problem solving and creativity are enhanced. Other benefits can include competitive edge, better public image and increased productivity.

However, managers need to be sensitive to the cultural nuances that may affect the working relationship of different migrants. A major problem is the communication gap between Irish and international staff (Caball, 2005 cited in Saavedra, 2005).

Communication challenges

According to Gudykunst and Kim (1992) intercultural communication employs the same processes as communication within a culture, but poses several special problems. For example, in an intercultural encounter, there may be a lack of knowledge and experience in dealing with a person who is different in significant ways. There is the uncertainty of how people will respond to communication, and it is difficult to interpret their behaviour. There may be a problem managing the heightened levels of uncertainty inherent in intercultural encounters. Devine (2006) highlight some perceptions from migrant workers presently working in the hospitality industry in Northern Ireland. When people with different cultural backgrounds or nationalities work together, there is often a moment of misunderstanding when communication, both verbal and non-verbal, seems to hinder working relationships and productivity.

Conflicts arise when two or more individuals differ or disagree in a particular situation. Two related dynamics are prejudices and stereotypes. A prejudice is a preconceived judgment, opinion, or assumption about an issue, behaviour, or group of people (Roosevelt Thomas, 1990). Saavedra (2005) reports on the challenges Irish hospitality have faced in the early stages of cultural diversity management. Some migrant employees come from very formal backgrounds where it is seen as disrespectful to speak up and ask questions. Saavedra gives the example of a French waiter, disciplined for providing “slow” service that would have been normal in his native country. Managers need to know about these cultural differences so they can monitor their own perceptions and view diverse co-workers more accurately. When verbalised or acted upon, these cultural barriers can cause discomfort and stress for the judged individual. In some cases, there is outright discrimination.

Discrimination issues

Northern Ireland has specific legislation, designed to outlaw discriminatory practice on grounds of race in the workplace and elsewhere, for example, the Race Relations (NI) Order 1997. Such legislation is by no means universally applied or entirely effective where it is in place.

There are some indications that employers do not provide career progression for new international employees (Fáilte Ireland, 2005). This may reflect a perception that the employee is only there for a short period of time. However, the case, the number of work permit renewals in the Republic of Ireland, suggests that many non-EU nationals wish to work in Ireland for longer than a year (Holland, 2005). Consequently, proper training and planning of career opportunities for non-nationals may improve retention of these workers with the firm and indeed the industry.

Training challenges

O 'Connell (2005, p. 9) cautions the need to ensure that local employees understand the needs of multicultural workers:

When non-nationals are getting breaks to fit in with religious observance but the existing staff isn't allowed cigarette breaks, it can feel as if the overseas workers are getting concessions.

Local employees may be unaware of how to deal with people with different cultures, beliefs and abilities. Torrington and Hall (2002) note that employees often feel threatened by unfamiliar situations. Wood (2004) notes that diversity training can play a major role in breaking down employee ignorance, creating a more culturally enriched environment. An understanding of different cultures should allow hospitality and tourism organisations to maximise benefits of cultural diversity (Lee and Chon, 2000). Thus, the management of diversity should really be as much about changing of attitudes, mindsets, and cultures as about regulations and procedures.

Methodology

This research stems from a wider comparative study of international employees in the hospitality industry. It examines the experiences of employers in a variety of hotels in Northern Ireland, which were gathered through interview. The main question was: “What opportunities and challenges does a culturally diverse workforce create for hoteliers in Northern Ireland?”. Five areas were addressed in this study. The first part covered general questions about the organisation background: room numbers, main markets and operational status. The second part dealt with proportion of International workers, key positions of responsibility offered to the migrant workers and language abilities. The third part focused on the procedures of recruitment and the costs involved in recruitment. In addition, part four was used to gain insight into training and induction practices and part five outlined the business benefits experienced from a multicultural workforce.

In-depth interviews were carried out over the summer months of May/June 2005 in hotels in both urban and rural areas of Northern Ireland, including Belfast, Derry and the more rural locations of Portrush, Maghera and Limavady (see Table I).

The choice of locations was opportunistic to a certain degree in that participation was granted as a result of established relationships with these organisations by one of the researchers. Contact was made with the management of 130 hotels in Northern Ireland to confirm the number of international personnel working at the premises. Eight establishments with a substantial number of international workers were chosen to be representative of the Northern Ireland hospitality industry. This sample represented approximately 10 per cent of the total number of hotels (84) with migrant workers in Northern Ireland. The number of international workers employed in the participating hotels ranged from seven to 55.

Detailed interviews lasted for approximately 30 minutes and the employers were generally very forthcoming in the discussions. Responses were received from all eight hoteliers. In the main, participating hotels were small to medium in size. Two were nationally owned in Northern Ireland, two were operating as part of an international chain and four described themselves as being independent/family owned. All eight respondents relied on the business market. Leisure guests are equally important to the sample, with several properties emphasising country and coastal amenities.

Findings and discussion

Proportion of international workers and the positions they occupy

It was interesting to note from Table II, that migrant workers seem to be concentrated in urban areas. Hotel B, in Portrush, appears atypical, despite its coastal, rural location, the number of migrant workers were similar to that of city locations. In general, employers appear more concerned with the task of recruiting employees from outside the EU including such countries as Russia, Philippines, India and Bulgaria. This does not diminish the importance of the EU as a labour market, as Hotels B, C, and E appear highly dependent on EU nationals from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania. Figures from Table II when calculated show that, just over one in four employees (242 from a total of 874=27.6 per cent) are non-UK and Republic of Ireland nationals working in the hospitality establishments surveyed in this study.

An overarching trend from this study is the limited presence of international workers in front of house positions, e.g. only two hotels offered front office and conferencing positions. All eight hotels offered their international staff the Kitchen department, closely followed by the housekeeping department. This may reflect language difficulties. However, the level of English spoken by the international staff is described as being “relatively good”. Furthermore, the employers have stated that other languages spoken by their international staff exceeds that of the native workforce in Northern Ireland. This finding suggests that the language capabilities of this international labour market is being untapped. Segal-Horn (2000) argues that because of the variety of languages that international workers possess they can interact more effectively with the international clientele that is the core market of most international hotel companies.

The level of responsibility mostly offered to the international employee was a junior or entry-level position. Only one employer offered a management position, which was in the housekeeping department, to a South African national (Hotel H).

This finding evokes the idea that many of the employers tend to assume that international employees are only capable of low-skilled work. As a result, the skills of many migrant workers may be under-used in the labour market. This view is shared by (Jarman, 2004; Holmquist, 2005) in stating that despite appreciating the talents of migrant workers, employers may be under-utilising their skills.

Recruitment

Although six out of eight establishments relied on employment agencies in the early stages of international recruitment, all are now recruiting directly through contacts or recommendations from existing workers and employing family and friends.

Hotel E stated:

On placing advertisements in the local papers – seven out ten applicants were of international origin.

Hotel A reported similar casual recruitment:

I work part-time as a nurse in Altnagelvin hospital. I have come to know many migrant nurses from the Philippines. The opportunity arose to offer family/friends work in this hotel. This approach offers benefits to employers in terms of effectiveness and to the employee in terms of integration to a new country.

The main reasons provided for recruiting such labour were, “not enough local available labour and local people are not interested in working overtime”. Indeed, international workers appear essential to Hotel B:

The whole tourism industry would not survive without them.

From this study international workers are viewed as essential personnel. It is thought provoking that all respondents had little confidence in the indigenous labour market. This coincides with evidence suggesting that the hospitality sector of Northern Ireland suffers from a range of problems relating to recruitment, retention, skills and image (DHFETE, 2002).

Employers were asked about the duration of work from migrant workers in their hotels. Most employers stated that the migrant workers are only here for a short period, i.e. eight to 12 months. Employers agreed that very few stayed for longer than two years as they tend to move onto other jobs in a different industry (an example of a local meat factory was provided) or return home to partner and family. This finding suggests that employers view these migrant workers as a short-term resource to solving recruitment problems.

The employers were asked if there were any other issues which they felt were important in the integration of an international workforce. The issues considered of most importance were ensuring integration with local staff, reducing language barriers, celebrating all holidays and encouraging integration with the local community. Examples of good practice were presented in the form of allowing an international chef to devise a themed menu which was marketed to customers, free and subsidised accommodation and a planned football tournament with the local community.

As respondents reported no issues relating to EU citizens, it is surmised that recruitment of this segment of the market is not problematic. In relation to non-EU citizens, none of the employers considered the recruiting procedures to be complicated. All the employers were on the SBS, via the Home Office. However, some stated that the Home Office could be more supportive. The length of time the process entails was problematic for all parties. It was reported to take four to six weeks for the hotel to become registered and a further two to three months for the employee to receive work permits. It was generally felt that the timeframe could be shorter. This long lead time appears to be a significant problem for this labour intensive sector. One employer called for more support with this process:

The paper work was excessive, and much more support could be given by the Home Office. Despite the fact that international workers are essential to stay in business, government policies are getting tougher (Hotel B).

On a positive note, once employers were familiar with the process, it appears to be feasible to plan ahead and allow two to three weeks for recruiting.

Costs of recruitment

The employers were asked on labour turnover issues relating to international workers. They identified that turnover with this group was high mainly influenced by the desire to return to the home country (partner and children) with their savings. In most cases the workers were paid the minimum wage, some were paid higher, depending on experience, however, only one hotelier offered a supervisory/management position which afforded extra pay. Again this highlights the idea that international labour is seen as a “quick fix”, paid basically the minimum wage.

Other costs were not a major issue as all concerned appeared to believe that there are few options for resolving the labour crisis in the sector. The employment agency was paid a fee,

usually £400-500 per worker and each work permit cost £155. In addition, the employer had to pay a registration fee of £200.

Respondents emphasised a proactive approach in relation to recruiting overseas employees. One employer advocated that other sources of international labour should be researched to avoid an over-dependence developing on one particular nationality:

Employers must look to the future, plan ahead and do not treat international labour as a quick fix, proper training and treatment should be applied (Hotel F).

By contrast other employers view migrant labour as vital to the future of the industry:

The hospitality industry must be prepared to change and accept international labour as a source of employment to survive (Hotel D).

One employer emphasised the competition for the international labour from both Ireland and other European countries, which will have implications for future availability of labour and wage demands.

Training and induction

Employers reported that many migrant workers did not study any formal full time school, college or university programme in hotel work before entering their hotel. Other educational backgrounds identified are wide ranging, for example: law, nursing, economics, education, engineering, languages, medicine, and politics. This is in line with Devine et al. (2006) noting that the underpinning level of education attainment of international workers is excellent, suggesting a degree of over-qualification relative to the demands of the job. Furthermore, this trend towards non-specialist training for hotel work also appears across a number of European countries. Baum and Odgers (2001, p. 9) note that hotels accept the reality of the marketplace and are willing to recruit staff without hotel experience provided they have good general education, appropriate transferable skills and a willingness to learn.

At first glance employers appear to have made limited attempts to adjust the training function to meet the needs of international employees. Most of the employers reported that the standard induction programme was offered to all staff and few hoteliers offered part-time and short courses. This situation probably reflects perceptions that international workers are temporary and do not need to be included in normal career development, promotional or training initiatives. Training is often viewed as a cost rather than a benefit and must be kept at the lowest possible level.

However, there appeared to be some informal induction for international employees as two employers had organised a local bank and doctor to come to the hotel to open accounts and register the new staff. Similarly, two of the employers stated that a “buddy system” was used, along with personal security training and basic English language training.

Respondents were also asked to comment on any problems encountered in the recruitment process. One employer reported a problem with indigenous/local staff at supervisor and managerial levels:

Some management level staff are intolerant of the foreign labour, until they adjust (Hotel G).

Others reported language difficulties, and the employees experiencing homesickness. There was a general consensus that it was important not to exclude local workers from the decision to recruit international labour:

Once the issue was highlighted, local staff seemed to understand, although some expressed a fear of their jobs being in jeopardy.

The same employer stated that talks took place in relation to “embracing” new international staff (Hotel H). Another employer was using a mentoring system, which entailed weekly meetings for international employees.

It is encouraging to note the recognition of the need to educate domestic staff on the decision to recruit significant numbers of international workers. Such a proactive approach should minimise the potential for reverse discrimination. This is consistent with O'Connell (2005, p. 9) as she cautions the need to assure that local employees understand the needs of multicultural workers.

Business benefits

Hoteliers were also asked to recount their perceptions of the benefits of a culturally diverse workforce. All respondents reported considerable advantages from recruiting international labour. Business benefits identified included the reliability of migrant workers enhanced language skills and greater innovation. Migrant workers were also identified as important when growing the business:

As we are continuously trying to expand our business we need workers. From advertisements in local papers seven out of ten applicants interviewed are international. There are fewer and fewer local people applying for the jobs. These international workers are relatively well-skilled with good English, and are willing to work (Hotel E).

In order to explore the concept of actual benefits over perceived benefits, respondents were asked to comment on the performance of the international workers. Some statements included:One hotelier has similar praise for Filipinos and Chinese employees:They're never sick, never late; they work all the hours given. Sometimes you have to tell them to stop working and go home. We value them very, very highly (Hotel F).

These positive comments reflect the advantages identified in other studies of cultural diversity .

ARTICLE 6:-Book Review : Managing Cultural Diversity in Technical Professions

The Reviewers: Philip R. Harrs, Harris International Ltd, La Jolla, California, USA

RR: 2004/4

Review Subject: Managing Cultural Diversity in Technical Professions

Publisher Name:

Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier Science and Technology Books

Place of Publication:

Oxford and Burlington, MA

Publication Year:

2002

Emerald Journal:

European Business Review

Volume: 16

Number: 4

Year: 2004

With the emergence of a more diverse, global workforce, coping with cultural differences in all industries and professions has taken on added significance. Developing such skills has special relevance for dealing with customers and suppliers in a global marketplace. Unfortunately, the typical education of engineers, scientists, and technical personnel rarely makes provisions for preparation in cross-cultural communications. That is why this new book by Dr Lionel Laroche, an engineer himself, is so timely. This Canadian author deftly examines the differences in the education and training of technical personnel, as well as their career expectations and communication styles world wide. Succinctly, he explains cross-cultural concepts and competencies required today by technical professionals of all types, especially those in high tech and Internet services.

This volume is primarily for technical management types, but it does have an appendix directed to human resource managers, diversity trainers and consultants engaged in career development of

this special audience. The writer draws upon his own extensive experience as an instructor and consultant with technical personnel. He provides strategies to improve employee effectiveness, useful anecdotes and case studies, as well as quantitative data offered through charts, tables, and other exhibits.

Managing Cultural Diversity in Technical Professions is organized into six pithy chapters. The contents cover appropriate topics on culture and differences, technical management, multicultural teamwork, technical communications, career management and planning ahead. Anyone who has struggled with detailed and incomprehensible technical manuals and instructions written by technical people recognize that this book's message is very needed and long overdue. Other helpful appendices analyze technical education from a cultural perspective, in addition to professional associations and requirements. Although this work addresses an international problem and challenge, it does so from the perspective of North America, thus including an appendix on new immigrants to that continent along with a glossary of terminology.

ARTICLE: 7

Dimensions of Indian culture, core cultural values and marketing implications

An analysis

The Authors

Saikat Banerjee, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, India

Article Type: Conceptual paper

Keyword(s): National cultures; India; Social value; Marketing strategy.

Journal: Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal

Volume: 15

Number: 4

Year: 2008

ISSN: 1352-7606

Introduction

Consumption decisions made in the market cannot be viewed as an independent event – these are closely related with values and social relationship and cultural allegiance. According to past research, national culture has considerable influence on consumer behavior (Jaishankar, 1998). National culture of any country, as outer stimuli, influence on the diffusion of products across countries (Kumar 1998). With globalization, culture becomes predominantly important strategic issue in market that has to be faced and properly managed. People of each country possess a distinct “national character” (Clark, 1990). Countries are a source of a considerable amount of common mental programming of their citizens (Hofstede, 1991). Core values of any country shape its national culture. As culture varies country to country, a close insight about country-specific culture and core values is almost essential for a smooth sailing in any country market. For brand marketing, cultural dimensions play a vital role to formulate imagery about the brand and help marketer to communicate better. In this backdrop, an attempt has been made in this paper to discuss overall fundamental dimensions of Indian culture and core values with the help of a verbal model. The model has further been examined with the help of empirical marketing evidences from Indian market with an objective to help marketers to address those cultural and value dimensions at the time of their brand marketing in India.

Literature review: role of culture and values in consumer marketing

From anthropological point of view, there are two schools of thoughts behind evolution of culture. Half century ago two leading anthropologists, Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952), identified 161 formal definitions of culture. Further, in 1871, Tylor define culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man (sic) as a member of society”. Boas popularized “culture” as a result of group's responses to environmental conditions and their specific historical development (George, 1974). Old school of thoughts describes features of culture as: bounded small scale entity; defined characteristics; unchanging; shared meanings, identical. So, old school of thought describes “a culture” with “a people with some specific characteristics”, which may be defined within a specific boundary. New school of thoughts describes features of “culture” as an active process of meaning making and contestation over definition, including of itself and in its hegemonic form, culture appears coherent, systematic and consensual like an object, beyond human agency (Wright, 1998).

Hofstede (2001) refers to culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”. Culture refers to a set of values, ideas, artifacts and other meaningful symbols that help individuals to communicate, interpret and evaluate as members of society. It is a normally homogeneous system of collectively shared meanings, way of life and common set of values shared by a member of society. Culture comprises the shared values, assumptions, understandings and goals that are learned from one generation, imposed by the current generation, and passed on to succeeding generations (Deresky, 2003). It governs how we wish to be treated and how we treat others; how we communicate, negotiate process information and make decisions (Scarborough, 2000). The present article is based on the view that cultural values are principle determinants to how people see themselves and others, and how they treat each other. Our values shape our attitudes and beliefs about work, success, wealth, authority, equity, competition and many other such components of the content and context of the work environment. In the nutshell, culture is learned by the members of the society and it is also shared simultaneously. Culture is fundamental base of a society. It has a long-lasting influence on behavior of its people.

Due to rapid globalization, though we are fast absorbing concept of “no-border” world, yet cultural factors moderate many aspects of consumer's buying behavior. There is a growing interest in cultural differences of countries and understanding the cultural context of consumer behavior in a globalized marketplace (Maheswaran and Sharon, 2000). The consumption of market-made commodities and desire-inducing market symbols is central to consumer culture and yet the perpetuation and reproduction of this system is largely dependent upon the exercise of free personal choice in the private sphere of everyday life (Holt, 2002). It also conceptualized an interconnected system of commercially produced images, text and objects that groups use to make their collective sense of environments and to orient their members' experience lives ( Kozinets and Handelman, 2004).

In the market place, it is almost true that consumer's perception of a product's attributes is based upon its abilities to satisfy needs on which culture and values have a great impact. The relationship between culture and values manifesting themselves through consumption of products is well-documented, with material goods being important to individuals due to their ability to carry and communicate cultural meaning (Askegaard and Kjeldgaard, 2002). Over the time values, beliefs and practices of a society are shared by all of its people and these influence individual decision-making. In this context, marketers must gain unique dimensions of consumer culture to finalize their strategies relating to segmentation, position and marketing mix.

Verbal model of cultural and value dimensions of Indian consumers

India, as a country, is so heterogeneous in nature that it is complex for a marketer to identify common threads of Indian culture and core values. There are many different sub-cultures coexist in Indian society with their own distinctive values, norms, beliefs and behaviors. So, In India, people are socialized by getting input from their cultures and core values.

Culture can be conceptualized as dynamic production and reproduction of meaning by concrete individuals' activities in particular contexts (Kashima, 2000). It ensures a set of behaviour patterns transmitted symbolically through language and other means to the member of a particular society ( Wallendorf and Reilly, 1983). Culture generally refers to those aspects of human activities that are symbolic and meaningful and identifiable. Bartlett (1923) defined culture as a part of two components: firstly, cultural elements which denote material behaviour and objects and secondly, cultural materials that cover forms of cultural practices, artifacts, social and religious rituals, customs. According to Blackwell. (2007), culture has two fundamental components: Abstract and Material. In terms of abstract components, one may consider values, attitudes, ideas, type of personalities, symbols, rituals and summary constructs like politics and religion. Material component represents visible cultural objects which represent the society as a whole. Thompson and Rayner (1998) expressed his view about culture in a two-by-two matrix. In this model four competing worldviews were presented. These are combined with models of cultural solidarity and social organization. These two are based upon particular myths of nature and prescriptive in nature. In this model, the axes represent degrees of social regulation or equality (grid) and social contact or competition (group). Four cells present four different views. These are: individualists, egalitarians, hierarchists and fatalists. It also talked about fifth group- autonomous hermits. Members of the group are indifferent in nature. According to McCracken (1986), process of culture describes the movement of members of the cultural group through three layers. As per the model, cultural meaning is present in three locations: in the social and physical environment, in products and services and in individual consumers. He further emphasized “culture” as: Lens: Through which the individual views phenomena; Blueprint: It denotes human activity and determine the co-ordinates of social action and productive activity.

Hawkins. (2006) propagates that the main operational regime of culture starts by earmarking stated boundaries for individual behavior and by guiding the functioning of such institutions as the family and mass media. In a societal setup these boundaries are termed as norms. Further, norms are derived from cultural values. In the same line with McCracken (1986), cultural values are classified into three categories: other, environment, and self. Firstly, Other-oriented values tell about a society's viewpoint about the appropriate relationships between individuals and groups within that society. Individual/collective, extended/limited family, competitive/cooperative, diversity/uniformity, masculine/feminine and youth/age are some of the relevant values of this nature. Secondly, Environment-oriented values depict a society's associations with its economic, technical, and physical environments. Factors under consideration of environment values are cleanliness, performance/status, tradition/change, risk taking/security, problem solving/fatalistic and nature. Thirdly, Self-oriented values frame the objectives and approaches to life that individual members of society aspire for. These include active/passive, material/nonmaterial, hard work/leisure, postponed gratification/immediate gratification, sensual gratification/ abstinence and religious/secular. Based on the discussion raised by eminent scholars, in this section, we propose a verbal model of cultural and value dimensions of Indian consumers. The model talks about two dimensions: Culture and Value. Cultural dimension consists four categories: Languages, Symbols and Signs, Rituals and Customs and Traditions. Values dimension consists six categories: Individual and Family, Society through Conformity, Success and Growth, Age and Youthfulness, Happiness and Adaptability and Religion and Spirituality. In this next section we have discussed the categories in detail and further address those from application point of view by citing examples of existing marketing practices.

Cultural dimension of Indian consumers

Languages

Language of a country has a prominent role to enrich its culture. India's linguistic diversity is intense. It has more than thousand languages and dialects (Mohanty, 1994). Three-fourths of the populations communicate through different languages belonging to the Indo-Aryan group (Source: Census of India 2001). For majority of the languages fundamental base is Sanskrit. Examples are Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kashmiri, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu etc. Nearly one-fourth of all Indians speak languages belonging to the Dravidian family. Examples are Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu etc. (Devaki and Kou, 2000). Hindi is spoken by about 40 per cent of the population and covers most of the northern states (Source: Census of India 2001).

Marketing implications

As communication play a major role in marketing, marketers should consider role of language at the time of communicating with their target audience. To ensure success, marketers should touch mind of the consumer and they have to speak in consumer's language. This can only be possible by knowing insight of a language. For example, Cartoon Network has captured a sizable amount of viewership by offering Hindi dubbed version of their all cartoon films to respect national language of the country. Again, Nokia addressesed this dimension of Indian culture by introducing Nokia 1100 model specialized designed for Indian consumers with Hindi SMS facility, dust-free keypad, a built-in torch and anti-slip grip and grabbed a major market share in mobile handset market.

Successful companies put much effort to understand the uniqueness of Indian national language and other regional languages, and try to find a brand name and communication message that fits perfectly within the setting of cultural dimension. For example, to attract Indian rural market with value for money offerings, Korean consumer durable major LG introduced Sampoorna (means “complete” in hindi language), range of color TVs, semi-automatic washing machines and direct-cool refrigerators. Sansui India too took advantage of the market situation. The company launched a sub-brand Dhanpoorna (means “full of wealth” in hindi language), which was targeted directly at the rural masses and modified its communication strategies to increase penetration in the rural markets. National Geographic Channels also went for localizing its content with programmes such as Mission Udaan and “It happens only in India”.

Symbols and signs

Nonverbal communications play a vital role in Indian culture (Vilanilam, 2005). The country is rich in her ceremonial greetings. Each gesture is meaningful and bears its own name. Marketers should be clear about the “meanings” associated with the signs and symbols. In their product offering and communication, they may use those signs and symbols as stimuli to find a place in the mind of the consumer.

Marketing implications

In Indian market, ICICI Prudential, an insurance company, used Sindoor, the greatest symbol of “protection and benefit” in Indian culture, to communicate with their target audience. By symbolic representation of the protector of the family through various snap-shots of life, they tried to establish their claim to shield consumers at every step in life. Further, in their communication, “ICICI” used “shoulder” as a sign of dependability. In India, “committing one's shoulder” is a culture to show one's sharing attitude. Whether it is the bride coyly laying her head on her

husband's shoulder, or the little baby asleep on the dad's shoulder in the train, through this communication, ICICI tried to integrate societal culture and individual emotions.

Rituals and customs

Rituals and customs are ways in the hands of people of a country to express and practice their identity (Lal, 1996). These are set of actions practiced in a society to follow cultural norms. Mostly symbolic in nature, these travel generation to generation. The purposes of rituals and customs include maintaining social bondage, gaining social acceptances, satisfaction of different levels of need. As consumers are part of the society, so their behaviors are guided by those rituals.

Marketing implications

For marketers, these rituals play a vital role to anticipate behavior of their target consumers. For example, wishing one's near and dear good luck is a basic human emotion and in India, popular custom is that one can ensure good luck of the dear one by setting free a bird. Visa International used this particular custom in one of their commercial, where Richard Gere (the model) saw a girl who was trying to buy a bird that she could set free and brought luck to her brother who was leaving home. She could not buy in a lot because of shortage of money. Gere used his VISA card to gift her all birds to set free for good luck of her brother. Further, Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is God) is the custom that represents culture of India globally. Tourism Ministry of India has communicated through the Atithi Devo Bhava ad campaign to make world aware of India's rich cultural heritage and the philosophy of treating a tourist like God. Global fast food giant McDonald's dispensed with its most prominent ingredient in order to lure taste buds of its Indian customers. In India, majority eat no beef or pork, or any meat at all. For McDonald India, it was necessary to adapt the company's offerings according to the culture while maintaining the core brand values consistent across cultures. McDonald India introduced local creations like McAloo Tikki Burger, Curry Pans, Wraps Pizza McPuff and McVeggie to win over consumers. Aquaguard, a major plauer in water purifier market in India, launched a new commercial in recent past to link water with customs of “prayer” in India. In the communication, the song in the background talked about how life revolved around water and how pure water was an important part of offering a prayer or making a wish.

Traditions

Over the years, traditions of a society evolves and it is durable in nature (Eaton, 2006). It plays a vital role to control behavior of individuals. Over time, some traditions retain their original forms. In some cases, modifications happened to offer some more benefits to the member of the society. In any country, these underline traditions rule the responses of people and it is true for the market also. India, as a country, has also cultivated a strong traditional heritage (Danielou, 2003).

Marketing implications

Marketers often try to identify inherent traditions of country and incorporate those in their market offerings to ensure a positive response from their target audience. For example, Cadbury Dairy Milk noticed inherent tradition of Indian culture. People prefer to make a visit of anyone's house with a box of mithai (box full of sweets) as a good gesture. Further, people of India normally exchange gifts before major festivals like diwali (festival of light) etc. CDM identified a huge potential market here and fine-tuned their entire product packaging to cater to this buying habit. They introduced pack of CDM in different sizes and prices to serve different sets of buying occasions. In the same manner, to go by gifting culture of India, Titan watch positioned itself as automatic choice as a gift in a relationship and at the time of any occasion.

Godrej Agrovet, another major player, burnt its hand by trying to brand a commodity business. It launched a RTC chicken brand; Real Good-processed and chilled chicken meat. “See-touch-feel” tradition of Indian culture posed a hurdle for RTC chicken brand to experience a significant growth and till today market share of processed meat is far behind in comparison to overall chicken meat market of India. Alternatively, to address “See-touch-feel” tradition in right manner, home appliance major Whirlpool went for setting up “customer experience centers” across India, which would enable potential customers to actually experience the range of Whirlpool products before purchasing any of them. Further, In Indian tradition, we trust on “herbal” products. Medimix Soap positioned itself as an herbal-based product by ensuring use of traditional ingredients strongly associated with skin/complexion care. Another Indian tradition is that any Indian woman takes the pride to flaunt her collection of jewellery, which travels generation to generation in spite of her modern progressiveness. Through their campaign, Tanishq TVC addressed the same values of Indian women. The tag line of ad created as, Parampara Ki Nayi Kahani… Tanishq (new definition of tradition… ..Tanishq) to position Tanishq as a brand, which stands both for traditions and modernity.

Value dimensions of Indian society: analysis and marketing implications

In this section, we discuss core value dimensions of Indian Consumer. As consumer behavior is an outcome of interaction between culture and values, to get success in Indian market, marketers should well-decode these dimensions of Indian consumers.

Individual and family

Hofstede (1980) identified Indian society as “collectivist”. It was defined collectivism as a social pattern that consists of individuals who see themselves as an integral part of one or more collectives or in-groups, such as family and co-workers (Triandis, 1989). It encourages connectedness and mutual deference or compromise and social interdependence as dominant values creating a collective identity among individuals (Tafarodi and Swann, 1996). In India, family plays a vital role all along. Family is of dominant concern for most Indians (Mandelbaum, 1970). This trend is also true among Asian Indians and Indian immigrants, noting that possessions brought more prestige to the family than to the individual (Mehta and Belk, 1991). Role of patriarch is very crucial in Indian society. Because of spreading out of income generation units at random; family members are forced to be part from their parents. But, mentally still they are close to each other. So, relationship is of prime concern. In India, people search security and prestige within the confines of the near and dear. Individual responsibility of head of the family is much more, but this thrust on relationship gives security and identity. Ownership pattern travels through generations. Value system transmits through elder members by word of mouth or by placing them as role models. Strive for individual space is not in top priority. In India, people rely on balance between independent self and interdependent self-concept.

Marketing implications

In India, Calcium Sandoz, the global pharmaceutical giant, tried to touch this core value of family bondage through recent in-film placement of their brand in Viruddh (The Opposition). Calcium Sandoz placed itself in the story where Amitabh Bachhan (the hero in the film) offered Calcium Sandoz to Sharmila Tagore (played the role of his wife in the film) for better look after of her health. In this manner they tried to project the idea that ideal husband should offer his wife calcium pellets (read Calcium Sandoz) not only to keep her bones healthy but also to nurture family bondage. Himalaya Drug Company, another pharmaceutical major, also portrayed an elderly man having fun with his grandson in communication message of their “Pure Herbs Shallaki” which is used to prevent/control joint pains. Further, when General Mills took entry in Indian market with their “Pillsbury” brand, they faced a major threat to address Indian homemakers. Indian culture believes in family bondage and prominent role of woman in the family as a mother, daughter, daughter-in-law and wife. Indian women expect acceptance and

pride in her role. So, General Mills in India offered Indian specific pounded wheat flour (chakki atta), which required some amount of garnishing and cooking in place of their most common heat-and-eat category of products.

Society through conformity

Indian society is not hardcore competitive in nature. More harmonious and less comparative in nature, people believe in group performance. Performance through consensus is underline assumption of the society. People strive for individual achievement but they are also ready to share it with others. Social hierarchy structure is very strong. Age-wise and income-wise divisions are both present. Society is not with rebels. Changes are welcome but incremental change with a right balance between old and new ideas is acceptable. Individual human being and society are interrelated and one cannot create an independent identity (Dev and Babu, 2007).

Marketing implications

As a result, clothes marketer of India, S Kumars Group, tries to capture this core value of Indian culture through their communication that showcases small acts of honesty, integrity and conformity and emphasizes traditional Indian values. The main objective behind the campaign is to create profile of “the S Kumars individual” as someone who goes by harmony and always offer hands to cooperate others as a true Indian. Another, suiting brand Siyaram also tried to link their brand with the retrospection of Indian core values through their “Come home to Siyaram” campaign.

Success and growth

There is a general agreement among experts that socio-cultural influence on the personality and general behavior of people in India is very strong (Shivani 2006). In Indian society, recognition or social acceptability enjoys much value than individual achievement. “Where from I?” is more important than “What am I?” In the core value system of India, success is enjoyed from the perspectives of a group than individual. Concern for the group welfare is considered as a fundamental virtue for all class of people in the society. Commitment to the service of others for achieving the ultimate objective is the stated route of success. Concern for others has been given the highest place.

Marketing implications

In recent past, Femina, popular magazine for women developed a communication on the tune of “believe” to indulge this core value of India. The ad soundtrack was “know nothing can stop me from trying and breaking the chains and flying, don't stop me, I can be anything I want to be, don't stop me”.

Age and youthfulness

India may be the only single country in this world where gray hair have no grey shades (Banerjee, 2006). Indian culture respects for the wisdom and experience of older generation. In India, older generations are much more socially engaged and open enough to renovate their thought process and this lifestyle has been responsible for their happy and longer life (Krishnan and Mahadevan, 1992). They prefer to have more shimmer and shine with their age. They are socially active and ready to enjoy every second of their life. Family elders play this role of transforming the values to next generation through storytelling.

Marketing implications

In Indian value system, “health is wealth” and it is a synonym of wellness in the food. It means of eating foods made from whole grains, which provides nutritional benefits such as vitamins, minerals and fiber. Nestle India got positive feedback from consumers by launching “Maggi vegetable Atta Noodles”. They worked on same platform. They acknowledged Indian definition of health. And to match itself with that, in their new variants Nestle offered whole wheat and vegetables that gave nutrition equivalent to three rotis.

Happiness and adaptability

Role of values on a person's happiness is fundamental (Stevens, 2000). Core value of Indian society is that, for happiness of her family, Indian mother may sacrifice her comfort and ambition. Further, it not only provides a specific set of conceptions of happiness but it also constructs particular pathways for its achievement. In India, materialistic gain is not prime route of ensuring happiness. The average Indian is a “safe player” by nature. He takes calculated risks in terms of investment, expenditure and advancement. Search for higher plains of life is inherent culture of India (Pande, 1990).

Marketing implications

Brands like Moov (a pain relief balm), Horlicks (a nutritious drink brand from SmithKline Beecham) tried to touch this unique value system of the society by way of their communication. The Horlicks mom is a caring mother whose top priority is nutritional value of the food consumed by children. Moov mother is almost absorbed to ensure happiness of her family and at the end wants healing touch from her family in return to recharge her. Big Bazaar (Indian version of Wallmart) aimed to connect with the consumer on the basis of core value of India, i.e. “happiness”. In their campaigns, they projected people and their happiness at Big Bazaar with catchline like Khushiyon se bhari jholi (bagful of happiness).

Religion and spirituality

In India, people are more involved to search unanswered questions of life (Kodikal, 2005). Deeply spiritually inclined country in nature, in India, irrespective of social hierarchy, people are spiritually conscious and more inclined towards religion (Peter, 2002). Trust on own religion is higher; failures are being rationalized on the idea that one cannot alter events and these are pre-determined. People are happy by depending on supreme power; they are not in a mood to rule God. It can be said that core Indian value is a functional interdependence to the universe. The growth in technology could not play a major role to change the belief that the world goes around because of a supreme power that is above everything else in this universe.

Marketing implications

In India, people worship goddess Laxmi as goddess of wealth. Core belief is that if you please her by your prayer, she will bless you with wealth. Sanctity is prime concern to all religions of India. It gives a vital clue to marketers also to market their brands. To address this, Mangaldep, an agarbatti brand from ITC launched with an original idea of “fragrance-locked” packaging to preserve the sanctity of the agarbattis.

Conclusion

From the above discussion we may conclude that deep-rooted cultural diversity and values of a country make it difficult for a marketer to opt for a standardized strategy to outperform

competition. It has been found that even after tremendous exposure to globalization, consumers from different cultures have different attitudes, perceptions, tastes, preferences and values, and remain reluctant to purchase foreign products (Suh and Kwon, 2002). As brands have become the focal point of many a company's marketing efforts and are seen as a source of market power, competitive leverage and higher returns (Dawar, 2004), the relationship between consumers and brands is a multifaceted construct to capture the richness of fabric from which brand relationships arise Fournier (1998). As a result of consumer acculturation to the country of origin, consumers respond in a manner that is consistent with their culture's norms and values (Zhang and Neelankavil, 1997). Further, there are some codes and beliefs that stretch across countries while there are others that are culture-specific (Langlois and Schlegelmilch, 1990). Brands with a strong local character, such as motorcycle maker Bajaj in India or Tsing Tao beer in China, play on the potential identification between the brand and consumers. These brands position themselves as sons of the soil who understand local consumers (Cayla and Eckhardt, 2007). A right identification of country-specific cultural and value dimensions and proper consideration of the same in brand marketing play a pivotal role in ensuring success in the highly competitive market scenario. Inputs about Indian culture and value dimensions can be of immense use to brand managers to strategies their marketing road map to minimize chances of erroneous decision-making. A table summarizing the aspects that have to be considered at the time of building brands in India may be proposed to facilitate useful marketing decisions to penetrate in Indian market (see Table I). We may conclude that right management of Indian culture enables organization to ensure competitive edge and it minimizes chances of erroneous decision-making decrease. At the time of starting its journey in a new country like India, the best approach a firm can adopt is to accept major issues involved with culture and values.

How companies are handling the issue of cultural diversity??????Today’s businesses are more and more expanding into other countries and thus becoming global. Operating outside the country origin means adapting to local and national aspects. Therefore it is evident that companies, factories and offices consist of different people with various attitudes and backgrounds. Doubtlessly it has become normal that people of different countries and needlessly to say of many different cultures are working together. It is evident that appreciating and knowing how to manage these different aspects is becoming more and more a part of international business all over the world.

There are various big cities that are inhabited by many people of different countries and cultures. Each culture possesses its own unique lifestyle which is ”import” by its people. Singapore for example hosts 4 cultural and linguistic groups: Chinese, Eurasian, Indian and Malay.

Organizations around the world has been realizing the cultural diversity within organization is not

negative aspect, rather can facilitate organizational stalk for glory (Papers4you.com, 2006).

However it is not an easy task to manage employees with different cultural backgrounds.

Nevertheless there are many policy guidelines that can make task easy.

On a broader perspective, cultural diversity can be manage through communicating (creating

awareness among all employees about diverse values of peers through communication),

cultivating ( facilitating acknowledgement, support and encouragement of any employee’ success

by all other workers), and capitalizing (linking diversity to every business process and strategy

such as succession planning, reengineering, employee development, performance management

and review, and reward systems) strategies ( Cascio, 1995).

There are many different innovative ways that organizations have adopted to manage diversity.

For instance Tabra Incorporation, a small manufacturer of jewellery and accessories in California

comprised of modest workforce is composition of Third World immigrants from Cambodia, China,

El Salvador, Ethiopia, India, Laos, Mexico, Thailand, Tibet Vietnam and other nations. To

acknowledge importance of their cultural association, at least 10-12 different flags are always

hanged from the ceiling of its main production facility which represents the countries of origin of

the employees. The owner’s view point is ‘I would like for this to be a little United Nations

everybody getting along and appreciating each other’s culture instead of just tolerating it’. (Bhatia

& Chaudary, 2003)

If cultural diversity can be managed effectively, there is a potential to use diverse workforce for

organizational benefits. Cox and Balke (1991) asserts that multi-culturism is directly linked to

organizational success as

Effectively managed multi culture companies have cost effective competitive edge

It helps in promoting minority friendly reputation among prospective employees

Diverse cultural corporations help to get better customers which has a variety of people

Diverse group of employees are perceived to be more creative and efficient in problem solving as

compared to homogenous group

Ability to manage cultural diversity increases adaptability and flexibility of an organization to

environmental changes.

Many organizational examples can be taken in this regard. In Australia, for instance, Hotel Nikko

in Sydney has unique edge that staff members in direct guest contact areas speak a total of 34

different languages. Similarly Qantas Flight Catering has sixty-six nationalities on staff, with

various overseas-born chefs. So dedicated diverse ‘ethnic’ kitchens gave Qantas a huge

competitive edge that offers food based on customer’s ethnic taste and requirements. Moreover

Don’s Smallgoods through literacy, language and cultural trainings increased cross-cultural

communication and increased profits while lowering costs at the same time. Similarly The

Cheesecake Factory had put special effort to understand Japanese quality and packaging culture

as Asian employees assist management to understand Asian tastes so that they can target

exports to Asia (Nankervis et al, 2002)

Hence the discussion suggests that it is imperative to realize that cultural diversity should be

taken as a tool for better organizational progress rather than a managerial problem and if

effectively managed, it can be a key to gain competitive edge and success

CRITICAL APPRAISAL

The purpose of this course is to study the cultural diversity issues in organizations today. “At a time when management practitioners and scholars alike expound about the accelerating pace of change both within and around our business organizations, most will agree that the ability to recognize and respond to diversity of all kinds is a critical skill for success today and in the future” (Gentile, 1998, p. vii). This course is designed to enable students to develop skills of recognizing and responding to diversity in a productive way.

Diversity is not only in the workforce but also in the customer base of all organizations. The dimensions of diversity (also termed factors of diversity) are numerous: race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, physical ability, sexual orientation/life style, economic and educational background, learning and communication styles and functional/technical expertise—to list the most commonly encountered. Studying diversity is learning about differences to expand understanding and affect previous ways of working with others. Critical thought and respectful openness are required to benefit most from studying cases in cultural diversity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.wikipedia.com www.emeraldinsight.com

www.ssrn.com

www.university-essays.tripod.com

www.highbeam.com

www.efs.mq.edu