Preface
Discuss about the Cultural intelligence workshop and training.
Cultural intelligence or cultural quotient (CQ) in business is a measure of the individuals’ capability to function in a working environment that is characterized by a multi-cultural dimension, which is applied by organizations to enhance cross-cultural interactions (Sandhu and Anmol, 2017, p.12). In the study of cultural intelligence in hospitality management, the focus is on Rydeges Hotels strategically located along the 272 Fenton St. Glenholme, Rotorua 3010 in New Zealand where it can easily be accessed by a huge number of customers seeking for restaurant and accommodation services. The hotel being in an easy to access location, it receives many local and foreign customers who call for the management to be well equipped with an efficient workforce management in order to sustain the high standards of services to the esteemed customers.
The workforce is composed of people from different cultural diversities across New Zealand who work in shifts and according to the number of hours. The hotel experiences peak seasons during the summer where the demographic number of the workforce is increased to render the services. With the increase in the workforce numbers, the management implements additional leadership skills such as the clear definition and sharing of tasks and duties of every member among others that enable the coordination and collaboration of the expanded staff.to achieve this the management has to impact heavily on the means of the flow of information among the staff so as no vital detail is left out during the line of duty. The hotel management conducts a cultural intelligence workshop and training to ensure that all the staff are well equipped and competent in their various fields of work which is a practice supported by (Wong and Simon, 2017, pp.384-400).
The cultural intelligence workshop training for Rydeges Hotels’ workforce would enable the management to end the cultural biases and blind spots during the service delivery among the staff (Kalargyrou and Valentini, 2017, pp.68-114). Moreover, the workshop training will help to bring awareness to the employees the importance of understanding the cultural difference among the colleagues at work and how the differences can be avoided for the common objectives of the Hotel. Additionally, according to (Miller et al., 2017, pp.196-215), understanding the cultural aspects involved at work enables the employees to appreciate these aspects and become more efficient at work. When servicing customers who come from different parts of the world requires a well understanding of cultural diversities for an employee such as a waiter to engage them with comfort and ease. This such skills and tactics can only be obtained through cultural intelligence workshop training. When the employees have an understanding of international cultures, it would help the Hotel to achieve the cultural diversity needs of the customers and improve its marketing approaches, therefore, wining more deals for the Hotel.
Aims and objectives
The capability of the Hotel employees across the world to function efficiently in an intercultural setting has increasingly gained the attention of the management in this industry due to its relevance to globalization, workforce diversification, and international management (Vassou et al., 2017, pp.14-25). Research has shown that cultural intelligence highlights important outcomes based on intercultural contexts, which includes; cultural adaptation, global leadership, intercultural negotiations, expatriate performance, and multicultural team processes. Moreover, the learning outcomes and rationale of the cultural intelligence workshop should be entirely be given a reflection of the four CQ capabilities as demonstrated in the figure below.
CQ Strategy
This is a metacognitive aspect of the cultural intelligence that enables an employee to acquire the ability to strategize before, during, and after engaging different cultural setups (Manoharan and Ashokkumar, 2017, pp.77-91). It provides an employee with the ability to observe and visualize the idea that is going on inside the other person’s mind. The CQ strategy entails planning where the employee takes time to prepare for an intercultural encounter while anticipating the best way to approach different people, a situation, or a topic concerning a cultural difference and be able to make high-quality decisions in a diverse cultural setting workplace. After the workshop and training, the employees should be equipped with the capability to determine and make sense of the culturally diverse experiences and planning, and quickly make a suitable decision basing on the quick judgment made.
CQ Action/ Behavior
According to (Chen and Chi-Ting, 2018, pp.1-8) the cultural intelligence action is the behavioural dimension that prompts the employee to act appropriately in different intercultural situations and effectively accomplish the desired objective or goal. It is very crucial for the employees to be aware of when to apply the action of adopting another culture and the time when not to adapt as the actions should be always executed in a flexible manner and tailored a specific cultural context. The workshop and CQ training should enable the employees to acquire the capability to apply verbal and non-verbal actions in the most appropriate way during intercultural encounters at the workplace. The workshop should provide the trainees with the skills to modify the behaviour in a fast way and make a decision of action in a fast way so that the other party can never realize the course of actions during the intercultural encounters (Goh and Edmund, 2018, pp.20-28).
CQ drive/ Motivation
Learning outcomes and rationale
The CQ drive is a motivational dimension that is useful in the determination of the level of interest, drive, and the required energy needed to adapt to intercultural differences (Andresen and Maike, 2017, pp.170-195). The workshop should be able to equip the trainees with confidence and the drive to handle the challenges and various conflicts that are usually brought about by intercultural work environments. The trainees should be able to engage and persevere through these intercultural challenges to ensure that the goals and objectives are arrived at in the most convenient and professional way.
CQ Knowledge
This outlines the cognitive dimensions of the cultural intelligence workshop and training, which refers to the knowledge with regard to the culture and the relevant role in shaping employee interactions at work (Kim et al., 2018). After the CQ workshop and training, the employees should be able to reflect on the general structural knowledge about different cultures which cuts across the economic and legal systems, the social interaction norms aesthetic values, the religious beliefs, and language in different cultures.
Training schedule, methods and activities
To cover the mentioned learning outcomes and rationale of the cultural intelligence workshop and training, the following sample-training schedule would help to achieve the outcomes with illustrated methods and activities to be carried out for the one day CQ workshop and training (Chang and Wen, 2017, pp.48-57).
A cultural intelligence workshop and training for Rydeges Hotel’s workforce
TIME |
ACTIVITY SEQUENCE AND FACILITATOR NOTES |
REQUIRED RESOURCES |
8.30-9.45 a.m. |
Introduction Introducing of facilitators and the present consultants to the participants and an outline of the purpose of the CQ workshop and training. |
The powerpoint slides responding to the cultural intelligence training outcomes using a projector. |
8.15-9.00 a.m |
Introductory exercise-diverse cultural intelligence Refer to the facilitator notes for cultural intelligence exercise. Purpose; To promote discussions about cultural intelligence in a diversified hospitality workforce. To link real-life intercultural encounters at workplace among staff members |
Whiteboard, markers, notebooks, and pens. Exercise: cultural intelligence |
9.00-9.45 a.m |
What is culture The purpose of this exercise is to; To explore culture as something amidst everyone that influences our beliefs and practises. Position cultural intelligence in a workplace perspective. Then in groups of 2-3 members; The participants to discuss what they know about their ethnic cultural backgrounds. Discuss the religious beliefs and traditions, economic cultural arrangements from their origin |
Whiteboard and pens |
9.45-10.15 a.m |
Break |
|
10.15 a.m-12.30p.m |
Challenges of cultural differences Still in small groups of 4-5 participants Purpose; To discuss the challenges facing the workforce in relation to the cultural differences experienced in the past financial year. To determine the findings with evidence of every challenge highlighted. Discuss how such challenges can be avoided to achieve the desired goals and objectives within the intercultural working environment. Highlight how such challenges affect the flow of information among the employees. Discuss the role of management or how leadership can be deployed to solve the documented challenges within the hotel workforce. Create power point slides of the discussed factors for presentation |
Deployment of data visualization techniques such as Tableau software. Related case studies from different sources in form of video files, audio or articles from the internet |
12.30-1.30 p.m |
Lunch Break |
|
1.30-3.00 p.m |
Individual efforts towards embracing cultural diversity at the workplace Form groups of 4-5 with different participants from the previous session. Purpose; To get an overview of different definitions and opinions of the trainees on cultural diversity at the workplace. To discuss how individual workers can engage in appreciation and acknowledgement of cultural diversities at the workplace. The participants to bring forth different case studies from any sources and discuss the incorporation of the four cultural intelligence factors or model in relation to the individuals efforts in facilitating the cultural diversity at the workplace. |
Can refer to Videos, DVD players, audio files, written journals and articles |
3.30-4.00 p.m |
Closing and evaluation Invite all the participants in groups or individual’s to report or share what they will do differently as a result of the workshop and training. Handout the final evaluation forms for completion and collection before the depart of the participants |
Ppt slides for the presentation of findings. Data visualization techniques |
From the above, the lead personnel will collect the findings after the presentation for the future reference of effectiveness and impact of the training on the performance of the workers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, (Vassou et al., 2017, pp.14-25) acknowledges that intercultural differences are evident among any set of a workforce and should never be overlooked. With the facilitation of a substantial cultural intelligence workshop and training, the cultural differences and diversities can be addressed for the common good of the organisation. This will help in the decision making of the staff members and enhance effective communication, which are key factors towards the achievement of goals and objectives.
References
Andresen, M., & Bergdolt, F. (2017). A systematic literature review on the definitions of global mindset and cultural intelligence–merging two different research streams. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), 170-195.
Andresen, M., & Bergdolt, F. (2017). A systematic literature review on the definitions of global mindset and cultural intelligence–merging two different research streams. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), 170-195.
Chang, W., & Busser, J. A. (2017). Hospitality employee’s promotional attitude: Findings from graduates of a twelve-month management-training program. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 60, 48-57.
Chen, C. T., & King, B. (2018). Shaping the organizational citizenship behavior or workplace deviance: Key determining factors in the hospitality workforce. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 35, 1-8.
Goh, E., & Lee, C. (2018). A workforce to be reckoned with the emerging pivotal Generation Z hospitality workforce. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 73, 20-28.
Kalargyrou, V., & Costen, W. (2017). Diversity management research in hospitality and tourism: past, present and future. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(1), 68-114.
Kim, S. H., Kim, M. S., Holland, S., & Han, H. S. (2018). Hospitality employees’ citizenship behavior: the moderating role of cultural values. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Miller, D. W., Ngunjiri, F. W., & LoRusso, J. D. (2017). Human resources perceptions of corporate chaplains: enhancing positive organizational culture. Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion, 14(3), 196-215.
Sandhu, A., & Kaur, N. (2017). Generational Differences in Job Involvement: A Review. In International Conference on Technology and Business Management April (Vol. 10, p. 12).
Vassou, C., Zopiatis, A., & Theocharous, A. L. (2017). Intercultural workplace relationships in the hospitality industry: Beyond the tip of the iceberg. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 61, 14-25.
Vassou, C., Zopiatis, A., & Theocharous, A. L. (2017). Intercultural workplace relationships in the hospitality industry: Beyond the tip of the iceberg. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 61, 14-25.
Wong, S. C., & Lee, P. C. (2017). Competencies of training professionals in the Hong Kong hotel industry. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 16(4), 384-400