Improving Diversity Practices In Singapore Hotel: Suggestions For An Expatriate Hotel Manager From New Zealand

Challenges Faced by Expatriates in the Hospitality Industry

Discuss about the Impact Of Cultural Intelligence On Communication.

Globalization has resulted in expanding the business operations across nations, among which hospitality industry is one of the most noticeable sector that is rapidly developing. Expatriates are mostly found to face cultural challenges pertaining to language, tradition, ethnicity and diversity. Such challenges often lead to cultural blunders (Huff et al., 2014). Often it is found that misinterpretation of language or common gestures made by the expatriates create cultural blunders. On the other hand, traditions and ethnicity followed by an expatriate in host country lead to stakeholder disrespect, which eventually create communication and performance gap (Wood & Peters, 2014).

This report aims to suggest some of the practical things that an expatriate hotel manager could do in order to improve diversity practices in the host country hotel. A new expatriate hotel manager is being posted from New Zealand to Singapore.

The objectives of the report are follows:

• To analyze the basic facts of Singapore
• To discuss the Cultural Values of Singapore
• To recommend practical ways by which the expatriate manager can improve diversity practices

The report will proceed according to the following structure:

Figure 1: Report Structure

(Source: Created by Author)

In this research, data will be collected from secondary sources such as journals, empirical articles, case studies, books and websites. Sources will be gathered from Google Scholar database and data will be collected for analyzing the basic facts about Singapore country. On the other hand, Hofstede cultural dimensions will be analyzed in descriptive manner using data from website. Finally, data pertaining to cultural diversity and CQ Four Factor Model will be collected from both journal articles and online sources. Qualitative data will be analyzed only in descriptive method using the accessed case studies.

Figure 2: Data Collection and Analysis

(Source: Created by Author)

This section will present the facts about Singapore that might be necessary for analysis.

Table 1: Singapore Country Facts

(Source: Created by Author)

It can be said that the expatriate will not have to face extreme challenges in language and religion as both English and Christianity is popular in Singapore. The exchange rate being quite low will not impact on financial considerations as well. On the other hand, according to Tradingeconomics.com, (2018), Singapore is one of the most politically stable countries with 99.52% stability and Absence of Violence. Furthermore, Smu.edu.sg, (2018) pointed out that the standard of living in Singapore is quite high with readily available luxuries and necessities.

Power Distance Index assesses the degree of power distribution among the employees in organizations. It determines the degree to which the less powerful employees of an organization except or accept the authority or power of more powerful employees. According to ?ahin et al. (2014), organizational power is equality distrusted in the hotel sector of New Zealand. Moreover, the opinions of all employees are equally treated and taken into consideration for making organizational decision. However, Bücker et al. (2014) opined that organizational power is centralized among the employees of higher position. The hotels of this country follow formalized and centralized organizational structure for managing employees. However, the new manager of New Zealand is mostly habituated with managing employees with flat organizational structure. Hence, the new hotel manager of New Zealand may face the issue of managing employee productivity with highly formalized organizational structure.

Objectives of the Report

Individualism vs. collectivism index reflects on the cultural value of an organization, where the employees are more likely to be integrated in a team or group. The organizations having individualistic culture prefer individual success of the employees for leading organizational success. On the other hand, the organizations having collectivism culture prefer team success for leading organizational success. Thomas et al. (2015) pointed out that the hotels of New Zealand mostly follow individual success for getting high level of organizational success. However, Andresen and Bergdolt (2017) stated that the managers of hotels of Singapore mostly prefer team culture and team success for achieving organizational success. In such situation, the new hotel managers of New Zealand may face the issue of managing the team culture of the hotel situated in Singapore.

Masculinity vs. femininity index assesses the priority of power and authority given to the women as compared with their male counterparts. Reichard et al. (2014) opined that the employers of New Zealand are more likely to prefer male employees over the female employees for the higher position of the hotels. However, Côté (2014) opined that the employers of Singapore are more likely provide equal power to both male and female employees for the higher positions of the hotels. In such situation, the new hotel manager of New Zealand may face the issue in hiring the female employees, as he may be incapable of identifying the values and capabilities of the female employees.

Uncertainty avoidance index assesses the willingness of the organizations towards accepting the ambiguity. The societies having high degree of Uncertainty avoidance index are adhered with stiff rules and regulations. According to Tuleja (2014), the managers of hotels in New Zealand do not prefer more new ideas and thoughts to include in business process. However, Trong Luu and Rowley (2016) opined that the managers of hotel in Singapore are open to new ideas and thoughts for fostering innovative business ideas. Hence, the employees are highly motivated to input their new ideas in organizational process. In such situation, the new hotel manager of may face the issue of motivating the employees of Singapore through allowing them in inputting their innovative thoughts in business process.

CQ-Strategy is associated with the ways in which a person makes sense of inter-cultural experience. It also reflects the way through which the diverse employees of an organization understand and acquire different cultural knowledge (Olszak, 2016). The new hotel manager of New Zealand should properly make judgment regarding their own thought process for understanding different culture of the employees of Singapore branch. Moreover, the new hotel manager should initiate diversity training for understating and acquire different culture of the employees in Singapore branch. It would help the manager to adjust his mental maps, while actual experience differs from his expectation of culture.

Report Structure

CQ-Knowledge can be defined as the understanding level of the expatriates regarding the ways different culture is similar or different with their own. It reflects on the general mental maps and knowledge structure regarding the culture. It can also include the knowledge regarding norms of group interaction, language, aesthetic values and religious beliefs in different culture (Njoroge & Yazdanifard, 2014). The new hotel manager of New Zealand should enhance his communication level with the employees of Singapore branch for better understating of their different culture. The more the new manager will communicate with the employees of Singapore, the more he will be able to adapt with the differing cultural values of the Singaporean employees and better perform diversity practice.

CQ-Motivation represents the interest level of the expatriates towards experiencing and interacting with the employees having different culture. It is the direction of energy and magnitude applied towards learning the functioning of cross-cultural situation (Tuleja, 2014). Flexible and supportive workplace condition can motivate the employees of Singapore to sharpen their cultural intelligence level. In such workplace culture, the Singaporean employees can flexibly approach the new hotel manager and understand his different culture.

CQ-Behavior is associated with the capability of the employees towards adapting with the verbal and non-verbal behavior most appropriate for the different culture (Njoroge & Yazdanifard, 2014). In such context, diversity training and long term strategy planning would encourage the Singaporean employees to adapt with the verbal and non-verbal behavior of the new hotel manager coming from New Zealand.

Figure 5: 4CQ Factor Model

(Source: Tuleja, 2014)

Conclusion

While concluding the study, it can be said that the cultural values of Singapore hotels are quite different from those of New Zealand hotel. Hence, the new hotel manger being posted from New Zealand to Singapore will face extreme challenges in his diversity work practice in Singapore hotel branch. Unlike the employees of hotel in New Zealand, the employees of hotel in Singapore are accustomed with team work organizational culture. Hence, the new hotel manager may face the issues in managing and motivating the team performance of the employees. The new manager should sharpen the cultural intelligence level of the Singaporean employees for better aligning them with differing culture and improve the diversity work practice.

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.

Bücker, J. J., Furrer, O., Poutsma, E., & Buyens, D. (2014). The impact of cultural intelligence on communication effectiveness, job satisfaction and anxiety for Chinese host country managers working for foreign multinationals. The International Journal of Human Resource management, 25(14), 2068-2087.

Chew, P. G. L. (2017). Remaking Singapore: Language, culture, and identity in a globalized world. In Language policy, culture, and identity in Asian contexts (pp. 83-104). Routledge.

Côté, S. (2014). Emotional intelligence in organizations. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 1(1), 459-488.

Huff, K. C., Song, P., & Gresch, E. B. (2014). Cultural intelligence, personality, and cross-cultural adjustment: A study of expatriates in Japan. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 38, 151-157.

Njoroge, C. N., & Yazdanifard, R. (2014). The impact of social and emotional intelligence on employee motivation in a multigenerational workplace. International Journal of Information, Business and management , 6(4), 163.

Olszak, C. M. (2016). Toward better understanding and use of Business Intelligence in organizations. Information Systems management , 33(2), 105-123.

Reichard, R. J., Dollwet, M., & Louw-Potgieter, J. (2014). Development of cross-cultural psychological capital and its relationship with cultural intelligence and ethnocentrism. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(2), 150-164.

?ahin, F., Gurbuz, S., & Köksal, O. (2014). Cultural intelligence (CQ) in action: The effects of personality and international assignment on the development of CQ. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 39, 152-163.

Smu.edu.sg. (2018). Living Conditions in Singapore Are Amongst the Best in Asia With State-Of-The-Art Facilities for Education, Shopping, Sports and Recreation. Retrieved from https://www.smu.edu.sg/global/international-students/living-expenses

Thomas, D. C., Liao, Y., Aycan, Z., Cerdin, J. L., Pekerti, A. A., Ravlin, E. C., … & Moeller, M. (2015). Cultural intelligence: A theory-based, short form measure. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(9), 1099-1118.

Tradingeconomics.com. (2018). Singapore Political Stability and Absence of Violence Terrorism Percentile Rank. Retrieved from https://tradingeconomics.com/singapore/political-stability-and-absence-of-violence-terrorism-percentile-rank-wb-data.html

Trong Luu, T., & Rowley, C. (2016). The relationship between cultural intelligence and i-deals: Trust as a mediator and HR localization as a moderator. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 24(5), 908-931.

Tuleja, E. A. (2014). Developing cultural intelligence for global leadership through mindfulness. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 25(1), 5-24.

Wong, N. H., Jusuf, S. K., Katzschner, L., & Ng, E. (2015). Urban climatic map studies in Singapore. The Urban Climatic Map: A Methodology for Sustainable Urban Planning, 129.

Wood, E. D., & St. Peters, H. Y. (2014). Short-term cross-cultural study tours: impact on cultural intelligence. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(4), 558-570.

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