Cross-cultural awareness of hospitality staff: an evaluation of a pilot training program

Abstract

Abstract With increasing numbers of international travellers arriving annually in Australia, the cross-cultural awareness and skills of hospitality and tourism staff is becoming an increasingly important component of guest service and satisfaction. Front-line service staff need to be able to anticipate and `read' guests' verbal and non-verbal communication styles. This paper discusses the development and evaluation of a pilot cross-cultural training program conducted for hospitality stair in Melbourne in 1998. Included is an explanation of the educational underpinnings of the program, the methodology used to evaluate its success, how the program was delivered and some of the positive outcomes from the training. Whilst the pilot study was limited in scope, the study presents some interesting insights into an often overlooked area of the hospitality industry and an area much in need of further research. Keywords: Hospitality Education, Cross-culture, Australian Education Introduction Cross-cultural interaction, whether with overseas guests or with domestic travellers of diverse ethnic background, is a fact of life for anyone working in the Australian hospitality industry. In some workplaces, an employee may experience dozens of what the service industry sometimes refers to as `moments of truth' (Normann 1984, p. 8) every day, involving an exchange with a guest from a different culture. A previous study found that hotel managers generally pay lip-service to the notion of cross-cultural awareness, or they assume that language study rather than cross-cultural awareness training is what staff need (Mallinson 1998). A conclusion drawn from the study was that many elements of culture were not immediately apparent, and until interviews succeeded in raising these issues to consciousness, management did not appreciate the significance of cultural awareness in guest interactions and overall guest satisfaction. Although the study determined that only limited training was being undertaken, respondents indicated a genuine interest in addressing cross-cultural issues in their workplace, and in encouraging and facilitating cross-cultural training for their staff (Mallinson, 1998, p. 72). The research project described in the present paper was a direct result of this interest; it set out to develop and pilot a cross-cultural training program for hospitality staff and to assess the usefulness of a range of methods for evaluating the training. Much of the cross-cultural training literature has looked at preparing business people and managers for overseas postings, or students for education-abroad programs, but it appears limited research has examined the specific issue of cross-cultural awareness training for hotel or hospitality industry staff in Australia or even globally. With particular reference to Japanese guests, Bochner, an expert in cross-cultural communication, states that `whereas a great deal of statistical information is available about the demography, destination, and economic impact of Japanese tourists, virtually no systematic data has been gathered about the social psychology of this process' (Bochner 1997, p. 8). A review of the education and training literature revealed a variety of training approaches, with two papers in particular attempting to classify cross-cultural training methods. Gannon and Poon (1997, p. 431) employ Gudykunst and Hammer's (1983) two-dimensional matrix: didactic vs. experiential, and culture-general vs. culture-specific, to categorise cross-cultural training methods. Bennett (1986) classifies different cross-cultural training approaches by way of a three-dimensional model: the nature of the training goals (cognitive, affective or behavioural), the nature of the content (culture-general or culture-specific), and the nature of the process (intellectual or experiential) (see Figure 1). Figure 1: ORIENTATION TRAINING EDUCATION Goals Cognitive Affective Cognitive Behavioral Behavioral Affective Behavioral Content Culture Specific Culture Specific Culture Specific Culture General Who, what, when Who, what, when Who, what, when & where where & how where, how and why Process Intellectual Experiential Experiential Intellectual M. …

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