In a rapidly changing environment and continuing insights into organizational effectiveness, tourism industry, as most other organizations thought about that what they do and how they can create and accomplish their goals and objectives. Once goals are defined is culture that is necessary to advance these goals and objectives and ensure the successful implementation of the necessary changes. In addition, the organizational effectiveness literature has been increasingly emphasizing the importance of culture in motivating and maximizing the value of its intellectual assets, particularly its human capital. And it can be say that-
(1) Culture is essential for both successful organizational change and maximizing the value of human capital
(2) Culture management should become a critical management competency, and
(3) While the right culture may be a necessary condition for organizational success,
It is by no means a sufficient condition. An important challenge for managers is to determine what the most effective culture is for their organization and, when necessary, how to change the organizational culture effectively.
The Beach House Maldives has joined Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts. The resort was renamed by the name of ‘The Beach House Maldives. The Beach House is located on the pristine, lagoon-ringed Haa Alifu Atoll which is fringed by powder-white beaches and has un spoilt leafy jungle at its centre, the 35-acre resort comprises 83 Maldivian-style villas, three restaurants, four bars and a luxurious spa. Each villa comes complete with a private pool and butler.
In 2007, this independent branded hotel has built a solid reputation for world-class luxury and quality that epitomizes the Waldorf Astoria name. The Maldives remains one of the most sought-after luxury leisure destinations in the world and it has delighted to be able to offer its guests the unique experience of Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts on the beautifully private and breathtaking island of Manafaru.
Since 2009,1st July Hilton Worldwide management team has been in situ at the resort which has overseen a number of key developments as part of the US$58 million renovation project and now the restaurant are becoming the first Waldorf Astoria property in Asia Pacific.
Their restaurants and three bars have been redesigned to incorporate local heritage and ingredients with global influences. Including over-water fine-dining restaurant Saffron, a Tapas and Sangria bar with a Maldivian edge at the Mediterranean-themed Salt Water and martinis and cocktails inspired by Waldorf Astoria properties around the world that are experience offers a local twist. Source: www. maldives beachhouse.com.
They also introduced a new art gallery with a cafe serving traditional Maldivian High Tea and also offers 30 degrees private dining in a glass floored over water pavilion. The new spa programmers, upgraded villa and restaurant interiors from UK which are based on Aromatherapy Associates, Ayurvedic philosophies are also join in this place with developments to the Kids club, and new designer boutiques.
The opportunity of this hotel has always tried to introduce their tradition and their history. That’s why; thehistory of the Maldives will be on offer with excursions to the nearby island of Utheem which is famous for home to a Sultan’s Palace. The resort has also been improved with a direct 75minute seaplane transfer that they offered as an alternative to a domestic flight and boat transfer. The first ever property of the Waldorf Astoria in the Asia Pacific could be found nowhere but in the Maldives.
In March, 2010, The Beach House Maldives was renamed The Beach House Maldives the collection of The Waldorf Astoria. The Beach House Maldives has affiliated with legendary Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts and in celebration to the newly upgraded resort‘s debut, guests from different parts of the world were invited to join its inauguration ceremony and became part in a chapter of the resort‘s exclusive history.
Marketing strategy of Beach House Maldives:
There is a marketing principle that states that a company cannot survive in the market without its clients. Therefore, the company always destined their significant resource to the design of innovative promotion strategies aimed at attracting new clients. The development of communication systems, especially the internet, has made it possible for products from millions of companies to reach all kinds of audiences in almost every corner of the world. Increasingly innovative and attractive web pages advertising countless products and services appear every day. A Hotel is a company and their guests are its main clients. High occupancy rates must be achieved to ensure success. Many hotels have developed unique products whose high quality standards have contributed to increasing retention and loyalty rates. Customized services offer the possibility of achieving high quality standards, generating positive overall satisfaction levels by turning the stay into a fulfilling experience in itself. All of us have been tourists in one way or another. After a pleasant experience, we have felt the need to share our trip with our family and friends. This is where one of the most important ways of promotion starts: word of mouth. Word of mouth continues to be, according to experts, the most decisive factor when it comes to choosing the destination and the place of stay. One of the main advantages of this kind of promotion lies in its low cost, as it is the guest who bears most of it: the time consumed and the interest in communicating his/her experience to a group of people who might be in turn motivated to go through it themselves. Another advantage is its high impact, as the level of credibility that a member of the family or friend has cannot be matched by any other promotion strategy, thus turning it into a powerful tool. The expectations of the new guest who chose the hotel on the basis of this kind of promotion shall be determined by the level of satisfaction experienced by the person who recommended the hotel & the expectations of the new guest (real or imaginary) regarding the experience promoted. If, before the arrival of the new guest, the identity of the person who recommended the hotel is known, it is possible to determine, through the analysis of the guest’s profile, his/her level of experience and, particularly, the means by which it was attained, so that it can be reproduced or adapted to the new guest, thus ensuring the same level of service or even a better one. Therefore, the expectations of the new guest can be satisfied, turning him/her into another guest who will in turn attract more guests. There are several means by which hotel employees may obtain the identity of the guest who recommended the hotel by word of mouth: from direct questions on the on- line reservation form, polls-questionnaires or through the hotel butler while assisting the guests. This information is valuable for the hotel, as it primarily allows creating customer valuation policies aimed at stimulating the guests’ need to share their experiences after the trip. If a guest checks out from a Hotel feeling that all his/her expectations have been met and even exceeded, he/she will become one of the company’s best allies, as his/her positive comments will attract new guests who are willing to go through the same experience themselves.
Tactics and strategy which should have to be practice for managerial success in hospitality and hotel management across in a cross cultural diversify environment:
Management style:
In international business, culture is a critical factor in a global economy. In that case manager should need to engage in learning processes to develop international cultural competence. That’s why today’s manager has use behavioral approach. From the way managers design motivating job to work with employee teams to way they use open communication. In addition, the system approach on decision and actions taken in organizations and managers coordinate the work activities of the various part of the organization are working together so that the organization’s goal are achieved.
Reputation Management:
Online reputation plays a huge role in the level of success achieve the majority of travelers. Today use the internet to make travel plans, and say the reviews they read from other guests influence their buying decision Reputation management begins by listening to what people are saying about online.. Use tools like Google Alerts, Technocratic, and Radian 6 to track praise and criticism Monitor all important terms for examplehotel name, any old hotel names, restaurants, the names of manager and concierge. Review sites such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Qype allow management responses, and this is a good chance to participate in the conversation. A recent survey by Trip Advisor/Market Matrix found that 85% of hotels have no guidelines on how to handle negative guest reviews published online. Developingresponse policy ahead of time, and make an effort to follow up with all feedback Complaints can be an excellent opportunity to improve hotel service. If you get legitimate negative feedback,thank the reviewer for pointing it out… and explain the stepstaking to ensure it never happens again Trip Advisor: The most important thing a hotel can do to improve rankings is provide a great experience for their guests. Effective online reputation management is more than just playing defense – it’s all about proactively building a positive buzz. Social media is a great way to begin doing this.(ISSUE HOSPITALITY MALDIVES 022 ISSUE 26).
Email: Email may have taken a backseat role to social media hype, but it’s still a very powerful tool when used correctly. It is the cornerstone of permission-based relationship marketing. Email usually has higher psychological value than other types of online communication. Email is an effective branding tool for creating top-of-mind awareness Email drives action and profits Messages don’t always have to be sent to guests and customers. Build systems to nurture partner relationships. Fairmont Hotels sends nearly half of their newsletters for other business partners. You must create your lists organically with the explicit permission of your prospects. Always provide a strong benefit for the person signing up for your list. Receiving updates (marketing messages) alone isn’t usually a very strong offer. Exclusive discounts also preferred for attract the customer.
Customs and cultural difference:
Maldives is a place of very hospitable for visit. Here people are always take care to avoid religious offence. They are always concern about religion and culture, they learn about local rules and values even they also keep knowledge about some of language. In a word they are so much sensitive to cultural difference. Their patience, friendliness, and courtesy have won the respect and confidence to the customer. In this hotel, people come from different countries and they discover the beauty and harmony of the country because their staff and manager are always most welcoming.
Entertainment:
The Beach house of Maldives has its own restaurant, bar, water sport facilities, health club, and spa. The hotel also organizes the Maldives traditional folk music and dance.
Environmental Responsibility:
Global warming and increase the sea level pose are great threats for this island people. This hotel management always concern about this issue and that does why they play a role in National Environmental action plan for protect the nation’s coral reefs, marine life, and its land surface.
Government policy:
The Maldivian government has strict anti drugs policy. Alcohol is only permitted only one the resorts island and not in the other inhabited island.
Food and Drink:
Maldives beach house is offer spicy blend of Arabic, Indian, Sri Lanka, and oriental flavors with fish, mainly tuna a favorite dish. This resorts usually have international cuisine and their local dishes as a part of their buffets.
Language and Religion:
The Republic Maldives is a Islamic state and their language is Dhivehi. But English is also widely by the Maldivians to make easy for communicate with visitor. In this beach house staff speaks several other languages including French, German, Italian and Japanese.Research OBJECTIVES:
I propose to reviewhow managing diversity can create a competitive advantage, with a focus on human resources, marketing success, creativity and innovation, problem-solving quality and organizational flexibility. These six dimensions of business performance are directly impacted by management of cultural diversity.
In this review the following goals and objectives are achieved-
Critically evaluate theories of leadership and motivation. Critically evaluate theories relating to managing cultural diversity, how these theories apply to the chosen organisation and what can be import end/changed in the light of the theories.Cultural Diversity:
Definition of culture and organization culture:
There are verities of definitions of culture. According to Sathe(1984;68)”culture is asset of a important understandings that members of a community share in common.” Organizational culture refers to a pattern of beliefs, values, and learns with experience the course of a organization’s history and in behavior of its members.
National culture and Subculture:
National culture defines by that people from different countries may be influenced by cultural difference in their work environment. It is important to understand people’s different cultural backgrounds. Subculture can be identified as understandings, behaviors and culture forms that characterize as distinctive group within an organizations (Trice,1993;85).
In tourism sector, the company motivates each subculture to develop its own cultural life to understanding other cultural grouping so that the subcultures are developed.
Theories of cultural issues:
Culture presents the biggest challenge to businesses working internationally shared by beliefs, norms and values. Culture influences management also including negotiation tactics, decision making, and rewards and recognition programs. According to Geert Hofstede, culture is more often a source of conflict than
sof synergy. Cultural differences are nuisance at best and often a disaster. In that case, such dimensions do explain the behavior with respect to how cultural differtiation interact with this tourism business.
Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions (source: Greet Hofstede cultural dimension website, http://www.greet-hofstede.com)
Culture dimension Value Definition Power distanceIndividualismUncertainty avoidance
Masculinity/FemininityThe degree of equality, or inequality, between people in the country’s society.Degree to which a society reinforces individual or collective achievement and interpersonal relationship.
The extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and have created institutions and beliefs for minimizing or avoiding those uncertainties.
The degree to which “masculine” values like performance, success, and material things and “feminine” values like quality of life, caring, service, personal relationship.
Maldives work values:
The Individualism is low and collectivism is high in Maldives culture. Hofsted indicates that a positive relation between individualism and per capita GNP( Gross Nation Product). Individualism may be increase in Maldives.
Uncertainty Avoidance, this dimension define when the workers are respective to different ideas and opinions or feel threats. This dimension is too clear in Maldives because they are traditionally been ruled by men rather than the rules. In Maldives the uncertainty Avoidance with strong desire to maintain social order.
Masculinity/Feminists, this dimension describes how assertive and acquisitive worker were in a materialistic sense In Maldives. Hofsted studies had medium score for this dimension. For example, Maldives managers score high in masculinity.
With high power distance countries like Maldives, managers should make autocratic decisions and they have business structures that are typified by close control of operations and fairly weak work ethic.
However, the biggest problem of this organization is cultural awareness which may cause of problem. If service managers are unaware of core cultural expectations of customers it will result in a gap in performance of service.
Role of Manager in Beach House of Maldives:
Managers are expected to provide instruction, guidance, advice and encouragement to help taem members to improve their performance. The managers in this beach house are always be alert about their duty and they know that their job is specially to guide the employees in order to fulfill their responsibilities and to adjust to the new cultural and physical environment. Managers are concern and respond that handling the uncertainties. They have also ability to checking quality of the product and transferring technical knowledge about product.
Cross cultural management& employee performance and benefits:
Beach house Maldives usually involves service and dealings with consumers from different cultures. The organization has tended to keep a culture alive and measure the cultural fit between the organization and its employees. The human resource practices such as section, performance, training, and career development reinforce the organization’s culture. Beach House of Maldives beliefs also tend to influence the work norms, and communication practices. This research indicates that cross culturally aware management provide their culturally diverse service. They are able to provide their serving styles to meet the needs of their foreign customers. To provide best service for customer they associated the following steps-
Free training programmes for members Marketing and promotion and implementation of quality. Management should effort much on different cultural staff and train the staff to hospitalized the guest. Problem Analysis:What’s the suit ion being create if the tourism and hospitality related Hotel Company not familiar with a foreign culture?
We know about that how American mega-investor Kirk Kerkorian sued DaimlerChrysler for after their German chairman, Jurgen Schrempf had bragged in a Financial Times interview that the merger between the two companies are officially promoted as a ‘merger of equals’ was really no more than a takeover. The case is still in court but a similar class-action suit by other investors has already been settled by the company for $300 million. Technically, the issue was a legal one but however, what got DaimlerChrysler into trouble was that Schrempf lacked the cultural sensitivity and experience to realize that in the US, they won’t get away with that of their two faced-behaviors. The same act would expectably have much less dramatic consequences in his home country. Microsoft reported losing several millions of dollars in India, the Arab world, and in South America because of cultural mistakes in some versions of their Windows program. Incorrect maps, poor translations that introduced offensive language, and other inappropriate material offended locals and in some cases led to government action. The company had to recall the affected versions, replacing huge quantities of its software packages. A spokesman admitted that “some of our employees, however bright they may be, have only a hazy idea about the rest of the world”. As a consequence, Microsoft now sends their staff to dedicated training classes.
A large high-tech corporation lost more than $10 million in development costs and missed market opportunities when they set up two of their international teams, one in Israel and one in Japan, to directly compete with each other in the same project, developing an important new product. What the division’s manager was not aware of was that in many cultures, such an approach sends a message to the team that it is incompetent and cannot be trusted. Rather than serving as a motivator as it might have in the U.S., the decision led to low morale, increased turnover, and poor results in both countries. The project had to be stopped and re-initiated.
Fortunately, most cross-cultural blunders are less severe, or at least less costly, then in these examples. Nevertheless, the list still goes on and on about how businesses waste money and miss opportunities because of a lack of international experience or preparation.
What Goes Wrong
There are three fundamental ways in which hospitality and tourism hotel business interactions and engagements fail or become more costly these are following in below-
Failure to cross the culture gap: The interaction falls because the parties involved are unable to make a relation the culture gap between them. Many negotiations end at this stage. They asked always too much and expect to optimum service or keep a statement that never trusts others because they lived up their promises. These statements might be provides the end of such failed attempts. Most of the time, these negotiations may be fall in the trace back to poor mutual understanding and faulty initial assumptions rather than bad intentions on either side.
“Competition”: The cross-cultural interaction limps along, but the parties involved fail to communicate effectively and to build sufficient trust between them. As a result, the competitive element outweighs the cooperative one, introducing issues over contracts terms, intellectual property, budgets and payments, and so on. This case is both more common and more devastating than the previous one. Rather than adding value to a company’s global business strategy, such an engagement can become a major distraction from its key objectives and cause a lot of damage.
Limited collaboration: The parties have to involve with each other the ways of communicate and interact. However, they never fully trust each other. In many foreign cultures, people will not make any major business commitments unless a strong business relationship has been established and they feel that the partner can be fully trusted. In this beach house hotel may be more at ease here because its culture encourages a competitiveness that maintains an element of rivalry business partners are used to. Dealing with foreign partners thus represents a bigger challenge if the goal is to achieve extensive collaboration. Recommendation or suggestion:Common Causes
Six elements can be identified that make or break the success of a global business in tourism and hospitality sector. All of them are ultimately linked back to people’s to understand the issue of cross culture.
1. Strategic Objectives
Objective is the main power point for any company. However, many international business interactions suffer from poorly defined objectives. Strategy, goals and approach all need to be set with the target in mind about culture. Culture’s values, strengths, and preferences can be a long term strategic objectives and tactics if it being realized that they are well aligned with others culture.
2.Approach
Like any other running business, the properly planning approach has gain a success in cross-cultural interactions. Strategic objectives need to be translated into a plan of action that defines steps, timing, roles, and responsibilities. That plan must also take into account the specific preferences and sensitivities of the targeted culture. Ad-hoc approaches in foreign countries have a very limited chance of success.
3.Negotiation
Negotiating in a different cultural context is one of the most difficult and toughest challenges in international business. What is really effective and what is the most considered inappropriate varies greatly between countries. At the time, the stakes are usually high and make any mistakes which approach costly. Finding someone best and most skilled negotiators won’t help much unless they are well-prepared. If they lack a thorough understanding of the other culture, the company may be in for a business disaster.
4. Leadership
Once a cross-cultural engagement the leadership are more focused because behind this visionary leadership becomes pivotal. Leaders will need to consistently demonstrate that they are serious about the situation and willing to work through the cultural differences. They have to take a strong commitment as well as they have to need the accurate skills to identify the sensitive areas and have to act appropriately to build and maintain trust. Executives or middle managers who maintain an “us-versus-them” attitude can cause huge damage. Extensive communication both within the own camp and with the foreign side is also essential and requires constant leadership attention.
5. Facilitation
The importance of relationship and trust building triggers a need for proper facilitation throughout the engagement. While early in the interactions senior leaders often drive the progress, they may have to become less involved once the engagement is under way. At that point, it becomes essential that a facilitator be assigned who continues to build the relationship. Sending an expatriate who lives in the foreign country can be very effective, but only if he or she is sensitive and well familiar with the specific culture. Companies not paying attention to this aspect frequently find their employees inadvertently triggering confrontations that hurt the business relationship.
6. Team Preparation Well-defined strategy and good leadership are not enough to make global business interactions successful. It also essential to get support and help from all team member because they are involved in business and they have taken a important part in hotel business sector. Without proper preparation for the engagement, cooperation will likely be poor and concerns may prevail. The objective has to be to get both sides into the right mindset, opening up to the engagement as an opportunity rather than viewing it a threat. Again, it will be very important to understand and address any cultural differences. Aspects such as how to motivate a team can differ significantly and may dictate a new approach in a foreign culture.
Organizational culture must now take into account:
¦ The organization must be proactive, not just reactive.
¦ The organization must influence and manage the environment, not just adapt.
¦ The organization must be pragmatic, not idealistic.
¦ The organization must be future-oriented, not predominantly present/past oriented.
¦ The organization must embrace diversity, not uniformity.
¦ The organization must be relationship-oriented, not just task-oriented.
¦ The organization must embrace external connectivity, as well as promote internal integration.
These fundamental assumptions are key to eliminating obstacles that will inhibit the kinds of
internal and external organizational adaptations necessary for future success. They are not,
however, sufficient. They must be reinforced by values, behavioral norms and patterns, artifacts
and symbols, as well as accompanied by a particular mission, set of goals, and strategies.
Conclusion:As Globalization accelerates business around the world, companies are realizing that proper preparation for international business is a mandatory step that has a strong positive impact on the bottom line. Effective communication and trust building are the primary factors in making a foreign engagement successful. They are influenced by several elements that take careful planning and orchestration. While this requires significant efforts, it is critical to the business success, and the tradeoff between costs and benefits is clearly favorable. Hospitality and Tourism industry grows globally, as the managers are exposed to more and more cross cultural dealings, as the workforce become more and more diverse, then the cultural values increase, as the customer become more knowledgeable about the environment around them, it all generates challenges for the managers. So managers should recognized and acted upon for the success of business.
Reference: Alan M. Rugman and Richard M. Hodgetts,(2003). International Business.3rd ed. Pearson education ltd. Calori, R & Sarnin, P.(1991). Corporate Culture and Economic performance: A French study, Oganization Studies,12(1);49-74. Chatman, J. A. & Jehn, K. A.(1994). Assessing the Relationship between Industry Characteristics and Organizational Culture: How Different Can You BeThe Journal of Management,37:522-553. Deal, T.E & Kennedy, A.A.(1982). Corporate Cultures. Menlo Park: Addition Wesley publishing Co. Geof Lancaster and Lan Waddelow,(1998). Strategic Marketing Planning. Journal of Marketing management.14.853-878 Hamel, G and C.K Prahalad,(1994). C ompeting for Future Boston: Harvard business school press. Schien, E. H.(1992). Organaizational Culture and Leadership, 2nd Edition. San Francisco; Jossey-Bass. Stephen P. Robbins/ Mary Coulter.(2004-2005). Management.8th edition. Pearson Education LTD. WWW. Maldives beach house.com.[/level-freee-rstricted]
