Blog 2: Challenge of Managing Diverse Teams in Hospitality and Tourism Industry

Blog 2: Challenge of Managing Diverse Teams in Hospitality and Tourism Industry

Figure 1. Picture Depicting Cultural Diversity

[Courtesy of McDermott and Oetzel, 2012]

With globalization, diversity within teams has become an inevitable consequence. Many researchers have seen this as a problem whereas others noted it to be the solution to the issues of ineffective team formation. Ibarra and Hansen (2011) suggested that “research has consistently shown that diverse teams produce better results, provided that they are well led” (p. 71). Based on their study, diversity within teams create better idea generation, and more knowledge than in a case where the team is made up of individuals with the same cultural and national backgrounds. As further stated by Ibarra and Hansen (2011, p. 71) “people from different background, disciplines, culture and generations” is what makes up a team of diverse background, that is, diverse teams.

As suggested by Belbin (2013, p. 18) “there is no team role formula for a given functional role since this may change from one organizational culture to another”. As a result, it is not only the diversity within a team that matters, but also the cultural aspects of the organization, that may influence the team formation, setting and effectiveness. Gratton and Erickson (2009) and Bertcher (1994) suggested that in many cases the challenges lie when the team is made up of people from various culture and when the members are not familiar with one another. As they state “when too many members are strangers, people may be reluctant to share knowledge. The best practice is to put at least a few people who know one another on the team” (Gratton and Erickson, 2009, p. 104). However, in cases where it is not possible to create a team with prior familiarity, then it is important for them to place people with the right task and relationship mind-set into a team, in order to form a team that helps both in the achievement of objectives and also in the case of reaching relationship goals. This may include, as suggested by Belbin (1981) and Belbin.com (2014) a series of events, including the use of informal meetings such as movies, activities and etc., followed by formal meetings associated directly with the work. Some studies have suggested such as that of Gratton and Erikson (2009) and Katzenback and Smith (1993) that the use of too many experts in the team is also not a good idea. “The greater the portion of experts a team had, the more likely it was to disintegrate into nonproductive conflict and stalemate” (Gratton and Erickson, 2009, p. 102). The following video from IMD Business School demonstrates how to lead a diverse team.

Figure 2. Video Description/Photo

[Courtesy of IMD Business School YouTube, 2013]

The video demonstrates that the diversity can have a huge impact on the environment of the workplace and the team itself. An individual’s ability to work adequately is directly associated with the environment that the team creates, and as suggested by IMD Business School (2013) that cultural diversity within a team can indirectly affect the individual’s ability to perform, which can be both positive and negative in its impact.

In the hospitality and tourism industry, the ability to manage diversity within a team is absolutely important, as it is indeed a center of diverse interaction. For example, Hilton Pattaya, the leading 5star hotel of the prestigious Hilton Group, has created some productive team settings. Each team consists of a local Thai member, and foreigners (that is other nationality but Thai). The reason for placing a team in this setting is to have a local input into all idea generations. However, the question did this lead to conflict, the conclusion was with the training that they were receiving, and the teams were able to reduce conflicts that arose due to the cultural differences that was innate within each individual. Therefore, it is can be suggested that in a good way to manage the challenge in a diverse setting is to create and develop procurement strategies that ensure diversity exist, however, cultural sensitivity training is given to every individual that enters the workplace.

In conclusion, diverse team is an inevitable consequence of the 21^st century globalization process. However, conflicts as well are inevitable, and even with studies suggesting that diversity creates a better and more productive teams, challenges need to be faced and handled. It involves dealing with issues of knowledge differences, cultural values, traditions, morals and even ethics (Puck, Neyer and Dennerlein, 2010). A good and productive diverse team is capable of viewing one another within the context of the same society that is, being human beings, with knowledge differences that openly is shared.

References

Belbin, R. M (1981) Management Teams: Why they succeed or fail, Butterworth- Heinemann and (1993) Team Roles at Work, Butterworth-Heinemann

Belbin (2013). Method, Reliability & validity, statistics and research: A comprehensive review of Belbin Team Roles. [Online]. Available at: http://www.belbin.com/content/page/5599/BELBIN(uk)-2013-A%20Comprehensive%20Review.pdf [Accessed 28^th August 2015]

Belbin.com, (2014) Belbin Training and Team Role Accreditation – Belbin Team Roles. Online. Available at: http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=9&gt [Accessed 28th August 2015]

Bertcher, H. J. (1994) Group Participation: Techniques for Leaders and Members. London: Sage.

Edmondson, A. C. (2012). Teamwork on the fly. Spotlight on the secrets of great teams. Harvard Busienss review, April, p. 72 – 80

Gratton, L., and Erickson, T. J. (2009). 8 Ways to build collaborative teams. Harvard Business Review. November 2007, p. 99 – 109

Ibarra, H., and Hansen, M. T. (2011). Are you a collaborative leader? Harvard Business Review. July-August 2011 Issue. Online. Available from: https://hbr.org/2011/07/are-you-a-collaborative-leader [Accessed 29th August 2015]

IMD Business School (2012). Leading Diverse Teams. IMD Business School. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpWY1WmVvXY [Accessed 29^th August 2015]

Kazenback, J. and Smith, D.K. (1993) ‘The Discipline of Teams’, Harvard Business Review. March-April, p.110-120

McDermott, V. M., and Oetzel, J.G. (2012). Who will survive? Diversity and team dynamics. A Publication of the National Communication Associations: Communication Currents, 7(3). Available Online at: https://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=2442 [Accessed 28^th August 2015]

Puck, J., Neyer, A. and Dennerlein, T. (2010). Diversity and conflict in teams: a contingency perspective, European Journal of International Management, 4(1), p. 417-39