Cultural Management Theories and Challenge for Global Managers
Preface
The hospitality and the tourism industries are inter-related. Neither industry is limited to country boundaries. They are growing very rapidly. In a world which has become globalized, international trade barriers are becoming less and funds can be more easily obtained at present than in the past which boost the development of these industries throughout the world. More and more multinational organisations have emerged in these fields. These organisations are working in different countries in different cultural environments. This cultural difference in different countries introduces to the managers with the classical problem of cross cultural management which involves problems regarding understanding, interacting and communicating with individuals from different cultures (Ayoun and Moreo, 2008).
Organisations in hospitality and tourism industries, especially hotels, are being more widely spread across the globe. As such, all managers have to think about culture. There may be two types of manager in this scenario. One is a global manager, actually the best person available for the job from any culture, who is responsible for coordinating business in more than one country. The other one is an expatriate manager, a person from any culture, who is assigned to control the business of one country and who thus becomes an expert of that culture (Capellen and Leuven, 2006. p. 1-4). The global manager’s competency and success depend more on his or her knowledge about cross cultural management and his or her adaptability towards different cultures. Usually, global managers have to formulate overall company strategy. This may be identical for all subsidiaries or it may differ according to the country. In contrast, expatriate managers only have to develop a strategy for the country in which s/he is working or