An empirical study of how management engage with cultural diversity in the West of Ireland's hotel sector

Abstract

In Ireland, non-nationals play a very important role in the Irish hospitality sector. The long hours they put in, their hard work and their efficiency has proven invaluable to the sector both in the good and the bad times in the Irish economy. During the boom years when hotel managers found it hard to fill job vacancies within the sector, nonnationals from all over the world were more than willing to come to Ireland to take these jobs that at the time, it seemed the Irish was not prepared to do. Due to the sheer size o f the influx o f non-national workers into the sector, hotel managers may not have been ready to deal with important issues such as the language barrier and integrating non-nationals with their Irish colleagues who brought different cultures with them. The author has previously worked in one o f the hotels that was researched as part o f this study. It was while working in this particular hotel that the issues surrounding the objectives o f this research study was first noticed. The author witnessed first hand the problems that non-nationals incur while trying to adapt to the language barrier and also adapting to the cultural changes they face in Ireland. The author believes that now is a good time for managers within the hotel sector to look at how they performed while managing a diverse workforce during the height of immigration into Ireland. The reason why now is a good time is because many nonnationals have returned home in the last couple of years due to the economic downturn. By this happening it will give them a chance to look back and see what ways they can change their management style so that they can manage cultural diversity during a boom with a different approach. Even though this has occurred, there are still many non-nationals working within Irish hotels to date. This research study looks at three key research objectives that are related to cultural diversity. Within any organization, it is vital that these three areas of research are managed with great care and sensitivity as chapters four and five will highlight for the reader.