We have recognized that MNCs face choices in both the manner in which they develop their overall approach to IHRM and then how this will determine their approach to international staffing and what HR policies and practices they seek to transfer. Of course, MNCs are likely to want to maintain and develop a degree of consistency in their ways of managing people on a worldwide basis. Equally though in order to be effective locally, they may also need to adapt those ways to the specific cultural and institutional requirements of different societies. We can now briefly assess some of the evidence of how tourism and hospitality MNCs may be seeking to address these issues.
Nankevis and Debrah (1995) report on management practices in a selection of hotels in Singapore and Australia to discuss common and disparate themes within diverse national, cultural, social and labour market environments. The basic prem- ise of Nankevis and Debrah is that the hospitality industry is increasingly looking to HRM to enhance organizational success and competitive advantage. To test this proposition they used a questionnaire with 35 multiple choice questions, which were occasionally supplemented by open-ended follow-up comments for clarification
or enlargement. The questionnaire was divided into four major categories: type of hotel; employee details; personnel management/HRM practices and guest feed- back. There were 109 responses (89 from Australia and 20 from Singapore) from 201 questionnaires. In relation to a range of HR issues Nankevis and Debrah found considerable differences in approaches in Singapore and Australia and such dif- ferences were attributable to elements such as national, cultural, social, labour market phenomenon and management styles. Nonetheless their findings did ‘also appear to confirm the increasing globalizm of guest market requirements and hotel management responses’ (ibid.: 512). This was particularly so in relation to the MNC hotel companies surveyed, leading Nankevis and Debrah (1995: 511) to suggest that, ‘A potential consequence of [the high proportion of hotels owned by multinationals] is the standardization of service along with increased efficiency, productivity and thence profitability’.
Similarly, Jansen-Verbeke (1996) reports on research undertaken in hotels (including international hotels, e.g. Hilton International) in Belgium and The Netherlands which suggested a high level of uniformity in managerial practices.
Jansen-Verbeke utilized Hofstede’s seminal framework to assess the extent to which cultural differences may exist between Belgian and Dutch managers. The research consisted of a written questionnaire, comprising 45 questions asking managers about their everyday practices in hotel management, and the sample consisted of 64 respondents. As Jensen-Verbeke (1996: 547) notes ‘The analysis shows that there are only a few differences in the practices of hotel managers in Belgium and The Netherlands’. To explain this convergence Jansen-Verbeke points to a range of factors, such as: the two countries belonging to the same cultural region; the homogenizing effect of organizational culture, reflecting the fact that most MNCs have a strong organizational culture; and the culture of the hotel industry in general, particularly in terms of uniform procedures in guest contact and an emphasis on quality of service. Of these, it is particularly noteworthy that organizational culture and the culture of the industry seem to play such a key role in the process of homogenization and convergence.
Review and reflect
What are some of the potential challenges facing tourism and hospitality MNCs in attempting to transfer their HRM practices across national boundaries?
The above discussion seems to suggest that the continued growth of multinational corporations is likely to lead in the future to greater standardization of services, as organizations seek greater efficiency, productivity and profitability, by utilizing the full range of ‘soft’ techniques leading to a burgeoning sector wide ‘best prac- tice’ approach to HRM and quality service (and see also Nickson, 1999). A counter argument though is offered by Mwaura et al. (1998). In their research on the ITT Sheraton Hotel China they found significant evidence of Sheraton’s corporate cul- ture being in conflict with several aspects of Chinese culture. For example, Chinese managers and subordinates were not prepared to accept responsibility to ensure responsiveness to the hotel guests. A similar issue was also apparent in attempts to engender a commitment to customer satisfaction via training. Many of the local employees were reluctant to contribute to discussions in training sessions in case they lost ‘face’. Similar results were also found by D’Annunzio-Green (2002) in her research on the experience of expatriate managers in Russia. Here the attempts by expatriate managers to engender and maintain high service standards were often thwarted by the different attitudes to service of the Russian staff. Many of the staff, particularly those over 30, still exhibited behaviours which were developed dur- ing the previous communist-era Soviet system. Under this system Russians would never complain about service, no matter how bad it was. Resultantly, the lack of a customer orientation is still apparent in a large number of the staff. What the work of Mwaura et al. and D’Annunzio-Green exemplifies is that western management practices cannot always be transferred in the tourism and hospitality industry, due to differing cultural and organizational working environments (and see also Lucas et al., 2004; Zhang and Wu, 2004).
Conclusion
We noted how increasingly tourism and hospitality organizations may be operating on an international or even global basis. It was recognized that in internationalizing organizations face choices in their strategic disposition, for example whether they adopt a broadly ethnocentric or polycentric approach. The overall strategic dispo- sition of a MNC will also impact on how they develop their international staffing.
In addressing issues of this nature MNCs may seek to utilize practices only from its home country, imitate practices typical of other countries or increasingly utilize an amalgam of HRM practices drawn from many other companies and countries,
especially in pursuit of notions of ‘best practice’. We noted how this has led many to talk in terms of whether there is increasing convergence in the manner in which HRM policies and practices are developed. In this view HRM practices are ‘culture free’ and universalistic and so the transfer of managerial practice is straightfor- ward, particularly if that practice is considered as ‘best practice’. On the other hand we also noted the enduring influence of host countries’ culture and institu- tions leading many to argue for divergence. In the latter view HRM practices are
‘culture bound’ and difficult to transfer because of the primacy of differentiating effects of national culture or the need for MNCs to respond to differing legal and regulatory framework in a number of countries.
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Websites
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