Incorporating Ethics and Culture in Hotel and Hospitality Management

This article discusses the importance of incorporating ethics and culture in hotel and hospitality management. It highlights the example of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and how it incorporates ethics and culture into its brand. The article also explores the impact of cultural components on hotel management and marketing strategies in Australia.

Running head: HOTEL AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
Hotel and Hospitality Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is an example of a hotel that incorporates ethics and culture into
its brand.
Part A
An organization’s culture can be defined as the underlying mindset of an organization.
The culture of an organization shapes and influences the attitudes and behavior of the people
working in an organization towards customers, and how the organization complies with ethical
rules. A company having a good corporate culture will also have a good ethical conduct. One can
start a good corporate culture by developing the values of those who work in a firm and ensuring
that these values are implemented in practice. Culture gives an organization an identity as well as
determines through a company’s vision, values, norms and language. According to Schein,
culture can be defined as a personality or character of an individual that will be reflected in a
group. As a matter of fact, the underlining factors like behavior is also responsible to influence
the culture. In this context, one has to keep in mind about link between the personality and
character embedded into the behavior of an individual. Henceforth, the role of the culture is to
guide and identify the behavior of a group with the help of shared norms. Culture is driven by the
leaders of a company and is incorporated into the business through a myriad of processes and
reward systems.
All companies include ethics into business. It can be argued that there are four types of
ethical issues in this regard, that is, the supply chain, the local community of the tourism
destination, the workplace and customers. “There may be concerns about forced labour in the
supply chain, or exploitation of migrant workers in the workplace for example; or local people

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may - often rightly- perceive that they have little or no share in the economic benefits of tourism,
while bearing a disproportionate burden from environmental degradation. As far as the
workplace safety and hazards are concerned it can be argued that there should be no practice of
forced labor in the supply chain management. As a matter of fact, it is also essential to prevent
any kind of exploitation regarding the exploitation of the migrant workers. Furthermore, the
environmental issues are also intertwined with this” (Mason 2015). By 1999, the UN World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) advocated various principles of ethics related to tourism with
the intent to curtail the adverse impact of tourism on the tourism industries. The hotel industry is
coming together and assuming a united approach to human rights and business ethics by
incorporating human rights risk mapping, training of employees and ensuring that the local
population of the tourism destination is also benefitted. The global hospitality industry can
incorporate ethics into the business by supporting the Youth Career Initiative and many
international companies are giving their support and appreciation in this regard. The Youth
Career Initiative entails a six month education program wherein the disadvantaged young people
aged between 18 and 21 are given practical training on various hotel management activities and
services. Besides this, these people also get to make an informed choice about their careers
thereby enabling them to enhance their social and economic opportunities. The Youth Career
Initiative thus tackles the major threats and challenges of unemployment, poverty, social
exclusion and economic exploitation among the young disadvantaged people.
A company which focuses on ethics is Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. This resort was
going to install a code of conduct by 2009. As a matter of fact, in order to check the regulations
whether working properly or not, the company officials visit 150 suppliers in order to check the
employee related issues like wages, health and safety and environmental practices. In addition to

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this, practices like training hotel skills in local schools can also be an important aspect in this
regard.
Embedding ethics into business enhances a company’s employee relations, public image apart
from garnering profits for the company.
Part B
The three countries with high indulgence are the United States, Australia and Mexico.
The three countries with high restraint are Egypt, China and Russia.
Countries with high Indulgence scores have few constraints on the pursuit of fun and
enjoyment in life, while countries with high Restraint, restrains these pursuits of fun and
enjoyment with strict social customs and practices. In the United States of America the pursuit of
fun and enjoyment extends to the workplace unlike in China, where people are more formal,
strict, disciplined and restrained at the workplace. Therefore, while establishing a hotel in a
country with high Indulgence like in The United States of America, companies have a free hand
in building a hotel and offering a plethora of services to its customers for leisure purposes, unlike
in China where the society is a lot more conservative and hence the opportunity to provide
activities for leisure is limited. Since indulgent societies have leisure ethic as opposed to work
ethic as is prevalent in countries with high restraint, a person setting up a hotel in The United
States of America can offer a wide array of services to its customers for leisure, unlike in China
where a company has to think twice before starting a service to offer enjoyment and leisure as
the society in China has a high restraint and is a lot more conservative than societies with high
indulgence. Also, people in indulgent societies enjoy sports as opposed to people in high
restrained societies, and therefore while establishing a hotel in an indulgent society, one can

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provide various types of sports to its customers which however cannot be done while
establishing a hotel in a highly restrained society like China.
PART C:
1. The cultural components that I would include if my hotel were to organize a festival
abroad to highlight the cultural diversity for domestic and international visitors are an art
exhibition since Australia has some amazing painters whose works are displayed at the National
Gallery of Victoria, Australia’s oldest gallery. I would also organize a performance in my hotel
as they have at the Sydney Opera House, which includes opera, theatre, classical music and
ballet. I would also try to rope in some very popular singers and request them to perform at my
hotel just as they do at the Enmore Theatre in New Town for the enjoyment of the guests
residing at my hotel. I would also host a literary festival at my hotel where there would be book
launches and where I would invite famous Australian authors to come and interact with the
audience just as they do at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. I would also host a film festival in my
hotel wherein the works of famous Australian directors would be screened. I would also hold an
exhibition displaying over three thousand artefacts celebrating the cultural life of Australian
Aborigines and last but not the least I would make a documentary displaying the vast scenic
beauty of Australia, the wildlife of Australia and the myriad hues of Australian culture thereby
offering people an insight into the beautiful country that Australia is and urging them to come
and visit Australia.

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2. I would use films, music, theatre, adventure sports, dance, art and the beautiful scenery
because these tools and techniques are very helpful to attract maximum number of target
customers and tourists to Australia.
3. It can be argued that the marketing strategy coupled with the cultural factors of
Australia would include aboriginal tourism, culture and heritage. Many tourists come to
Australia to see the Aborigines of Australia and experience their history, culture and heritage.
The Aborigines are the native people of Australia and people around the world come to Australia
to see the art and culture of the Aborigines, which is very popular and a subject of study. Their
art and culture is based on ancient stories centered on the “Dreamtime” the period in which
indigenous people believed the world was created. It can be argued that these stories are very old
with transcended into generations after generations without changing its flavor in terms of
paintings, stories, songs in order to safeguard ancient aboriginal tradition and customs.(Tacon
1989).
Australia is also a country of festivals displaying its rich cultural heritage. The Falls
Festival in Marion Bay, Australia has a line- up of stellar performances, the Cygnet Folk Festival
held in the town of Cygnet is a premier folk festival, featuring folk and world music
performances and African dances. Mofo is another festival which is held in summer showcasing
music and arts featuring an eclectic line up of world class artists. The Festivale, held across the
second weekend in February brings together Tasmanian food, wine, arts and performance and
wine master classes are also held. The biennial 10 days on the Island festival, is Australia’s only
state wide multi – arts festival that is held in Tasmania. Each festival has more than 200
international and local events held throughout the state showcasing arts, music, theatre and

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comedy. The Festival of Voices held each year in July features workshops, international acts,
songs etc.
Thus Australia is a melting pot of cultures and these cultural components of Australia
makes the country truly diverse and enriching.

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