Employee Empowerment in the European Cultural Context: Findings from the Hotel Industry

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Employee Empowerment in the European Cultural
Context Findings from the Hotel Industry

• byAntonios K. KlidasIRIC, The Institute for
  Research on Intercultural CooperationTilburg
  University

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Research Background

• Financed by the European Commission in the
  context of the Training and Mobility of
  Researchers Programme (TMR) Marie Curie
  Fellowships
• Hosted by the Department of Leisure Studies at
  Tilburg University in the Netherlands
• Started in November 1997 ended in April 2001

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Research Aim

• To provide an understanding of the concept of
  empowerment within the five-star hotel industry
  and examine the implications of applying the
  concept in the international, cross-cultural
  context within Europe.

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Main Concepts

• Empowerment of (customer-contact) employees in
  Hospitality defined as The notion of devolving
  decision-making authority and responsibility to
  frontline employees for control and enhancement
  of service quality and customer satisfaction.
• National Culture defined as The collective
  programming of the mind which distinguishes the
  members of one group or category of people from
  another (Hofstede, 1991)

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The cultural relativity of empowerment

• Propositions about organisation- Flat
  structure- Low centralisation- Low
  formalisation
• BUTIs this likely in large power distance and
  strong uncertainty avoiding cultures?

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The cultural relativity of empowerment

• Propositions about leadership- Employees demand
  participation- Employees wilfully accept
  responsibility- Employees independent in
  thinking and acting- Leaders share power,
  delegate
• BUTIs this likely in large power distance and
  strong uncertainty avoiding cultures?

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The cultural relativity of empowerment

• Propositions about motivation- Self-actualisatio
  n as top motivator- Satisfaction from increased
  autonomy, responsibility and self-direction
• BUTIs this likely in strong uncertainty
  avoiding cultures?

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The cultural relativity of empowerment

• Propositions about employee behaviour- Creativit
  y and innovative behaviour- Risk taking
  (decision-making, initiative)- (Creative)
  rule-breaking
• BUTIs this likely in strong uncertainty
  avoiding cultures?

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Research Design

• Research in 16 upscale hotels of a single (US)
  hotel-company in 7 EU countries
• Qualitative part
• - Interviews with HR, FO and FB Managers
• - Some (participant) observation
• Quantitative part
• Survey among customer-contact employees in FO
  and FB outlets (personal administration)

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Sample
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Findings

• Southern Europe
• Low delegation
• Lower levels of empowered behaviour
• Low intensity of training, mostly on the job.
• Less open communication (taking place informally)
• Less willingness to share information

• Northern Europe
• High delegation
• Higher levels of empowered behaviour
• More extensive, intensive and formal training
• More open communication (many formal processes
  for upward communication)
• Systematically sharing information

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Findings (continued)

• Southern Europe
• Imposed equal compensation according to seniority
  and rank
• Mainly local, sporadic recruitment
• Very low labour turnover very experienced
  workforce
• Rigid regulatory framework

• Northern Europe
• Merit pay allowed, but restricted to incentives
• International, intensive recruitment
• High labour turnover less experienced workforce
• More flexible regulatory framework

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Conclusions

• The notion of empowerment more readily embraced
  in N. Europe compared to S. Europe
• Different cultural context, which seems to
  influence employee empowerment
• Considerably different environmental context
  (e.g. regulatory framework, labour market,
  business environment), generally favouring
  empowerment in the north

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Implications for management

• Need for local understanding not only of visible,
  but also invisible factors
• Need for empowerment initiatives to consider and
  adapt to national context
• Empowerment not incompatible with non-Anglo-Saxon
  cultures
• Empowerment process
• - In the north can rely on formal processes
• - In the south cannot rely as much on formal
  processes, management style is crucial

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A final word of caution

• Empowerment, just as many existing theories (e.g.
  organisation, management, HRM) are strongly
  Anglo-Saxon in origin and perspective

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• Antonis K. Klidas
• Employee Empowerment in the European Hotel
  Industry Meaning, Process and Cultural
  Relativity
• Amsterdam Thela Thesis

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Sa? e??a??st? p???...

• (Thank you very much)