Managing Turnover in the Hotel Industry for Immigrant Workforce

This essay discusses the problem of employee turnover in the hotel industry for immigrant workforce and its impact on organizational culture and behavior.

Running head: MANAGING TURNOVER
MANAGING TURNOVER
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Introduction
The aim of this essay is to discuss the problem of employee turnover in the hotel
industry all over the world by focusing on the immigrant workforce. The hospitality industry
in all over the world poses the highest number of immigrant employees because this industry
is spread in all over the attractive destinations across globe. This is the reason why the
employees despite try to who work in their local hotels but often get posted in other branches
another country. this enhances immigrant labour force for hospitality industry so also develop
issues of turnover as the culture of different countries create stress on this immigrants . The
hospitality sector Constitute first entry point into the labour market because this industry
employees largest number of migrant workers. This is the reason why the hospitality industry
in the world has the greatest diversity in its workforce. This paper will be analysing and
interpreting diverse socio-cultural context on which the hospitality industry operates,
compare the organisational behaviour across countries as well as cultures and apply different
theories and concepts to understand the contemporary Global management problems. Finally
this is a real critically evaluate major cultural attributes to inform the management decision
making in hospitality sector. It will apply critical thinking problem solving and leadership for
enhancing organisational business operations and employee management in the hospitality
sector of the world.
Importance of the issues:
Managing turnover in the hotel industry for immigrant workforce is a global issue.
Hotels leisure and catering industry of the world women’s the sector with highest level of
staff turnover. The organisations are highly affected by this negative employee growth
leading to worst business performance. According to the studies employee satisfaction,
relationship with supervisors, undesirable working condition, tremendous stress, lack of

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career development are the main factors which are causing high employee turnover in the
Global Hospitality industry. However in the case of immigrant workers in the hospitality
industry gets worst when the problem of difference in culture and organisational behaviour
contributes to be the main issue behind employees dissatisfaction. This creates skill shortage
in the job market and challenge the successful growth of the companies when it enters
another market for business. For example the national culture of UK is completely different
from that of Indonesia therefore if a hotel chain from the UK if enters the tourism market of
Indonesia it needs to adapt with the different culture. In that case the company needs to
change its organisational structure, behaviour and service process. The tourism industry is
highly sensitive because it is completely dependent upon the customer satisfaction on the
basis of service quality. Therefore the employees need to get along with the different culture
of Indonesia from that of the UK. In order to save the cost of recruiting new local employees
and giving training to those the companies decides to transfer expatriate staffs to maintain the
reputation of the organisation. In that case as pointed out by Holston-Okae and Mushi (2018),
the migrants open face problem with the communication and cultural attributes which
demotivate them and they leave the jobs. Thus, the organisations are compelled to
compromise the service quality and long-term sustainability because they need the time for
recruiting locals and provide them needed trainings. In addition to this the problem gets
worsen as the hard costs, soft costs and opportunity costs enhance for replacement of staff.
Literature review:
As mentioned before the organisational culture is manipulated by the national culture
of the country. As found by Davidson and Ying (2011), in the case of hospitality industry
how to make the service more appropriate and acceptable the organisations try to localise
there service process remains the problems of many hotels. This is the reason why
organisational culture of the company gets a huge transformation. The organisational

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behaviour also get transformed on the basis of different national culture. According to Kumar
(2013), the organisational behaviour has become a field of study which investigates the
human behaviour within the organisation. It is an interface between organisation and human
behaviour that improve the effectiveness of the organisation. Organisational behaviour
applies to the knowledge possessed by the individuals as well as the groups which make the
workplace more efficient for adaptation. To Pearlman and Schaffer (2013), the global
hospitality industry is facing labour management problem due to illegal hiring alliance,
federal job and skill development programs and country administrated workforce
development programs. These are different on different countries. Different culture of
different countries closely associates the decision making power, motivation, leadership,
personality, human performance and productivity of the firm. In this regard the theory of
cultural dimension by Greet Hofstede can be mentioned. According to this theory cultural
differences impact on the workplace etiquette and structure of the organisation. In the case of
hospitality industry the managers find various obstacles for smooth adaptation with new
culture this is the reason why early requirement for understanding of the differences leads to
overcoming such problems and acquiring cultural Awareness of the host country is effective.
According to Beugelsdijk, Kostova and Roth (2017), the cultural dimension theory of state
has 6 aspects which include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation,
individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity versus femininity and indulgence versus restraint.
In the case of hospitality industry cultural dimension theory is particularly applicable because
these factors actually manipulate the employees mainly the migrated one to feel motivated to
remain in the organisation working successfully or to leave them without being able to adapt
the culture.
The power distance dimension allow the organisations to follow the social structure of
the host country. The culture of China, India and Singapore have scored high in the power

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distance dimension. This points out that the individuals in the society are not always equal.
The inequalities on the basis of age and experience need to be respected in such countries. on
the other hand the western countries like that of United Kingdom, United States and Australia
in the east score low in the power distance dimension which denotes that capability of the
employees determine their position in the organisation. According to the study by Duncan,
Scott and Baum (2013) this is the reason why the employees of hospitality sector feel
motivated as their skills are not judged on the basis of their age or tenure in the organisation.
In the individualism dimension the western countries score high because the people here tend
to work individually and achieve their personal goal to gain success. On the other hand the
culture of China and other Asian countries tend to be more collectivist where the people tend
to work in teams and they perform better in group tasks (Rohmetra & Arora, 2015).
Masculinity dimension denotes how much competitive the organisational culture of the
company is where the employees try to work for power and position without thinking of the
others. In the uncertainty avoidance dimension the theory reveals that most of the European
countries tend to avoid uncertainty therefore make their plans ready to be executed. On the
other hand to Beugelsdijk and Welzel (2018), the countries like China, in the uncertainty
avoidance dimension which disclose that the members of this culture have adaptability with
the ambiguity or unknown situations. Therefore the people can more effectively adaptor with
different situations without much effort. In the long-term orientation the theory the knots that
every society needs to maintain connection with their own past so that they can deal with the
challenges for the future as well as present. In most of the Western countries the long-term
orientation is low hence prefer to maintain a time on a tradition while viewing the social
changes with suspicion. Finally the indulgence dimension relates to the capability of
maintaining work life balance that help the employees of the hospitality Industries to manage

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stressors like lack of time, multitasking, tentative status, lack of resources and knowledge (Li,
Canziani & Barbieri, 2018).
In order to understand the effect of culture on the organisational behaviour for the
vulture of the organisation it is important to discuss the context theory of Edward Hall that
has pointed out different aspects of different culture on the basis of context. According to this
theory there are eight factors that help to understand the differences among the low and the
high context cultures. Most of the factors of this theory is connected with communication
process of different culture (Huang & Crotts, 2019). Effective communication has an
important role to play for the success of hospitality industry in a region. Cultural differences
can really lead to face risk if is not handled properly. For many international hotels the mode
of communication is English which the de facto language of business is in this era. However
it is not adequate that the employees can use same language hence effectively communicate
among one another. It is about to understand and convey message properly. In that case
difference in culture may create barrier for proper understanding and communication among
the employees. like the employees from Finland value direct and gravity whereas the
professionals working in the hotels of India will be indirect and Nuance with their
communication therefore fluent English does not help in giving professional boost worldwide
because there is usage of nonverbal communication between the cultures which play crucial
role in the hospitality industry business. This is the reason why to Munjal and Jauhari (2015)
cross-cultural communication pose challenge for the immigrant employees and approaching
the cultural differences with openness, sensitivity and curiosity may not be possible all the
time for this immigrant workforce. Therefore retention of these employees become a
challenge for the organisations.
According to the theory of Hall, there are many implicit messages present in the high
context culture which mandates the employees to read between lines. On the other hand the

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low context culture has simple and clear communication with less nonverbal language. The
people of high context culture has inner locus of control which make them capable to accept
their failure. The low context culture has outer locus of control the people tend to blame
others for failure (Sobaih 2015). The people of high context culture are deserve having
involved reactions but the low context culture mandates the people having outward reaction
which are visible externally. In the high context culture the people understand difference
between the in groups and out group but the low context culture does not allow particular
grouping pattern. In high context culture the bond among people is strong where the priority
is given to the family and community. It is not present in low context culture where the
people has low commitment to the relationship and put more importance on the tasks. The
flexibility of time is more organised in the low context culture then the high one.
Analysis:
In every industry cultural differences create impact on business directly. This is due to
the fact that the companies when entered the market try to use the available local, cheap yet
skilled labours. Therefore the national culture of these workers create impact on the
organisational culture and behaviour of the company. In the case of hospitality sector when a
hotel enters a particular destination tries to incorporate the local labours in the already
existing workforce. This new labours create impact on the organisational culture
manipulating the expatriate employees to adapt their local culture for getting success in the
region. This creates scope for conflict and the expatriate employees tend to leave their
organization more easily.
As the hotels continue to expand across the borders and grab the Global Marketplace,
tend to develop more multinational and cross culture themes. Thus the business benefits from
increasingly insightful approaches and diverse knowledge base to solve the business

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problems through different types of insight and expertise. However, these Global
organisations operating in the hospitality industry focus on potential stumbling problems
immediately. In the international business of hospitality industry what is accepted and
common for the local employees can be different for a migrant employee. Therefore
recognising as well as properly understanding how the culture affect the business in
hospitality industry is important. There are different conditions that affect the multinational
organisations in the hospitality industry of the world. These organisations can add new
dimensions in socio cultural contexts. Basically the socio-cultural context refer to the idea
that language and behaviour is closely linked with the culture and Society in which these are
used. In the social cultural context the behaviour of the employees will have distinct factors
which will identify the culture of the region. There are three basic areas which create
differences among the employees in the hospitality industry and they tend to leave their
organisation despite of having every type of benefits. These three four areas are
communication, organisational hierarchy and etiquette.
As mentioned before hospitality industry across the world undergo challenges to cope
up with the different culture of the markets. This become more serious problem in hospitality
industry because it is purely based on the customer satisfaction through proper service. The
companies operating in this particular industry need to have skills to deal with people there
come across like the customers, competitors, for leaves, suppliers and the government from
different countries. This is due to the fact that the companies taking risk to step into different
social, political, economic and legal environment that primary affect the multinational
corporations of those companies in hospitality industry of the world.
The social conditions of socio-cultural context relates to two different working Ethics
of the employees across different cultures. In addition to this the national culture may not be
familiar with the organisational culture of the company entering the tourism market for

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business. Another social condition that effect these hotels are only develop human resource
that limit the organisations to employ the local workforce productivity. This is the reason
why these companies need to import skills from their home country which gradually become
a group of immigrant employees. until and unless the local employees get proper training for
handling the operation of the organisation, these migrant workers keep on working in the
foreign countries.
The legal and ethical conditions that affect these companies of hospitality sector of
the host relates to the different legal systems regarding relevant employee rights as well as
business practices . In such cases immigrant loss create barrier for the companies to bring
skilled workforce with them from the home country which create issues for the immigrant
workforce to work with the same organisation. The judicial system of the host country will be
different that Associates time for disposition of case and penalty for offences in addition to
this difference in culture brings difference in in perspective that create loss on the basis of
customs as well as ethical behaviours of that particular culture. To Kogovsek and Kogovsek
(2015), the problem relates to the women immigrants is not easily solved therefore retention
of immigrant employees in the hospitality sector becomes problematic.
The economic conditions of the host country may not be attractive to the immigrant
workforce in the hospitality sector therefore employee turnover increases. The issues like low
per capita income and Rapid inflation make the economic life of the labours insecure in the
foreign country. This is the reason why the immigrant workers who feel insecure with their
economic situation in the foreign country leave their job to return their home country more
convincingly. Finally the political instability of the host country which actually create
problem for the immigrant workers leave them to leave their organisation. To Taylor and
Dori (2008), in the instability of the Government of the host country and strong Nationalist
drive can clear the path for the migrant workers to feel insecure in the host country. In some

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cases the foreign managers despite of having expand skill, are not accepted properly and get
targeted for displeasure and disobedience among the local workforce. The idea of organised
labour is quite common in some countries but in some others are not. These unions may
create problem with the recruitment of the expatriates reducing the chance for the locals to
get employment in the hospitality sector. Therefore it becomes problematic for the migrants
to work for the organisation in the host country.
Concluding recommendations:
Therefore it can be concluded that it is essential for the organisations operating in the
Global hospitality industry to find out path for employee retention in no time. Employee
retention becomes critical Industry shoe Hills the operators feel powerless to prevent this
incredible amount of industry turnover therefore recognition of the people who will definitely
leave the organisation is important. The younger Hoteliers who are not career minded tend to
leave their job when asked to join forign companies. The hotel jobs are highly substitutable
therefore these type of employees get chance to be recruited on the other hotel within a short
time. This is the reason why the recruitment process of these immigrant workers must be
strict where the contracts can be signed with the organisation.
Secondary the employee relationship with the managers for higher level authority
need to be strong. This is due to because the migrant workers highly depend upon their
Bosses in the difference cultural context. They need proper training about different
organisational culture and behaviour along with the learning of Cultural values beliefs and
communication system. This is the reason why the hotel industry must focus on investing in
the employee training process so that they can help the organisation to enhance service
quality thus organisational performance.

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Finally, the immigrant employees try to construct their social circles in the foreign
lands. This leads to manage the stress level inevitable in the busy schedule of hospitality
industry. Finally enhancing the facilities to the migrant workers in the Global hospitality
industry is essential because through this process the immigrant employees feel empowered
and facilitated from their local co-workers. By providing them financial securities, health
facilities and positioning them in the higher ranks according to their contribution can help the
organisations operating in the Global hospitality industry. Thus, employee retention rate in
the industry will enhance definitely.

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