Contents in this Page
Introduction
Trompenaars’ 7 Dimensions of Culture Model on Hilton Hotels & Resorts will be applied in this report with examples. Leadership refers to the process of setting a new direction or vision for a group and encouraging them to follow (Mládková, 2012). Management is the process that controls or directs the human resources of an organization by considering the principles and values of an organization (Algahtani, 2014). Companies need both leadership and management to ensure their success and sustainable business. Management helps companies to plan, organize and coordinate their employees; whilst, leadership motivates and inspires the employees to utilize their capability and deliver the best performance. In this advanced era, companies do not have any trade boundaries and they execute business across the world. Every country has its own culture, value and ethics; companies have to handle different types of employees from different cultures and values. Therefore, international companies have to be careful while managing and leading different types of employees in host countries in order to have the best outcome from them. A key concern of the report is ‘How companies face situations across cultures when they operate business globally’. Employees of host countries are different from the local country; therefore companies have to consider the culture of host countries when they manage and lead the employees. When employees will see that the company respect and values their culture, it will make them satisfied and loyal to their company. To evaluate ‘How companies face situations across cultures when they operate business globally’, Hilton Hotels & Resorts has been selected to show how they face situations in managing and leading their employees globally. Trompenaars’ 7 Dimensions of Culture Model has been applied to the selected company because the dimensions of the model help companies to understand the difference among cultures. The model has 7 dimensions Universalism vs Particularism, Individualism vs Communitarianism, Specific vs Diffuse, Neutral vs Affective, Achievement vs Ascription, Sequential time vs Synchronous time and Internal direction vs External direction (Gutterman, 2010).
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Main Body
Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions model shows the variation in cultures across the world. Companies that operate businesses globally become capable of knowing about the cultural differences by evaluating this model.
Figure 1: Trompenaars 7 Dimensions of Culture Model (Expert Program Management. 2020)
Universalism vs. Particularism
The first element of the model is Universalism vs Particularism which indicates the preference of a nation between relationships and rules (Gutterman, 2010). The nation that follows universalism emphasizes on maintaining rules and regulations, laws, values and obligations. These types of people are fair to other people and do not break the rules, values and regulations for the sake of relationships because they believe in non-discriminatory deals. People of Australia follow universalist culture, and they understand that their work ties into their values and beliefs in effect they follow the instructions, processes and procedures they get from their organizations (Srivastava and Banaji, 2011).
Hilton Hotels & Resorts identifies the Universalism culture of different nations from Trompenaars 7 cultural dimensions model. Hilton Hotels & Resorts can easily ensure better results from the employees who belong to the Universalism culture because the employees consider rules, regulations and laws more than their relationships. For instance, employees from the U.S. focus on laws, values, and beliefs and furthermore do not consider their relationships more important than the factors (Broeke, 2016). Employees from the country always maintain the rules and regulations of Hilton Hotels & Resorts and follow the instructions, processes and procedures of the company that brings better outcome for the company. Employees from Universalism keep their promise. In effect, they work hard to fulfil their promise of bringing growth to their company. As a result, Hilton Hotels & Resorts is able to enhance its productivity.
Particularism is the culture where people focus more on relationships other than laws, rules, regulations, beliefs and values (Bãlan and Vreja, 2013). In a country where Particularism culture has its presence, people of the country can break laws, regulations, rules and values for their beloved ones, such as family members, close friends or the person they love. Russia is a country where particular culture is seen, and people of the country break rules for their loved ones because they focus on building and maintaining relationships. They do not stay fair to everyone because their beloved one gets priority from them. Companies face difficulties in maintaining a fair work environment because of the culture.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts faces different types of complexities because of the particular cultures of some countries. For instance, China is a country where particularistic culture is present, and people give more importance to their relationships by breaking the laws and regulations of their companies (Dong and Liu, 2010). Managers of Hilton Hotels & Resorts who belong to the country or particularism culture, appoint the people of their choice and give them priority in the workplace over other employees which make feels other employees down. Therefore, the employees who have no connection with managers feel that the company does not value their effort and employee turnover increases. Besides, the employees who have connections with managers enjoy rewards and other benefits from the company even if they do not worth the benefits because of their lacking of skills. As a result, these types of employees cannot bring a better outcome for Hilton Hotels & Resorts.
Individualism vs Communitarianism
The second element of Trompenaar’s seven cultural dimensions model is Individualism vs Communitarianism culture, which refers to the working preferences of nations, such as: working in a team or working individually. Individualism is a culture where people believe in their personal freedom and achievement (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2011). Employees who belong to this culture believe that they should make their own decision without involving others, and no one cares for others’ happiness so they have to take care of themselves to keep themselves happy. People of the U.S. fall into a nation where Individualism is present (Broeke, 2016). Therefore, employees of the country emphasize individual achievement and benefits and do not like to work within a team even if they want to make their own decision. Individual praise and reward make these types of employees more focused and proactive.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts faces different types of complexities and benefits while managing employees who belong to an Individualism culture. For instance, the U.K. is a country where people have an individualistic mind and they want to lead a life on the basis of their own choice (Wang and Rafiq, 2014). Hilton Hotels& Resorts has to give the freedom that employees need in the U.K. and it will keep them satisfied with their company; therefore they will make an effective decision after considering the betterment of the company. Employees from the Individualism culture are fond of individual praise and reward, and the company have to praise and give reward to their employees individually while operating business in countries with individualistic culture. As a result, employees will be more creative and proactive, which will help Hilton Hotels & Resorts to find out a new way of doing work and increase profitability.
Communitarianism is the culture in which people of a nation believe that they cannot make their own life better, and they have to consider the betterment of one another to maintain the quality of life (Lacerda, 2011). People from these culture love to work within a team because they do not enjoy working individually. Employees within an organization help themselves when they belong to a communitarianism culture. Everyone in the team is allowed to express their opinion, and they make a decision by negotiating with everyone furthermore they are loyal to their team members. Employees feel proud when their teamwork gets praised because of outstanding teamwork. Team members think about team members’ interests and ensure their safety. furthermore stay loyal to their team which maintains a fairly work environment in the workplace.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts get benefits from the Communitarianism culture because employees from this culture deliver the best teamwork by working together. For instance, Japan is a country with a communitarianism culture; therefore, employees from the country love to work within a team and they get satisfied when their teamwork gets appreciation and reward (Harootunian, 2011). Hilton Hotels & Resorts gets the best team output from the employees of Japan because the team members take decisions by negotiating with one another and helping themselves in their work. The employees want teamwork appreciation from the company; therefore, Hilton Hotels & Resorts has to appreciate the teamwork of the employees, but they should avoid appreciating individuals from a team. Team appreciation will make the employees happier, and it will encourage them to make their bond stronger and furthermore deliver the best teamwork.
Neutral vs Affective
The third dimension of the model refers to the nature of a nation that they like to express their emotions or not and Neutral vs. Affective are the two aspects of the dimension (Qamar, Jusoh and Idris, 2013). Neutral culture refers to the nature of people where they are used to controlling their emotions and do not show their feelings to others. People think that it makes them cool because people will not know their inner sorrows. In Germany, Neutral culture is seen within people, and they do not share their emotions with others and have full control over their feelings (Broeke, 2016). As a result, they do not have conflicts with others, and it helps them to maintain good relations with others.
While operating a business in Germany or other countries with Neutral culture, Hilton Hotels & Resorts has to be careful in handling the employees of the culture. For instance, German employees hide their emotions and do not express how they feel about their co-workers and managers or leaders (Broeke, 2016). Therefore, they do not get engaged in conflicts with their co-workers and managers or leaders, which maintain the discipline and peace of the workplace. Leaders and managers have to focus on their body language so that they do not express negative reactions to these employees because the employees will not express their expressions, but it will harm the output of their work because they will not be satisfied with their company. For that reason, the company has to manage the employees of Neutral culture carefully.
The nation belonging to Affective culture is reversed from the Neutral cultured nation. People from Affective cultures like to express their emotions because it makes them feel better; therefore, they find different types of ways to show and express their feelings (Pîrlog, 2017). This openness helps them to build trust and loyal relationships with people because they interact with others freely without any hesitation. It also helps them to solve problems by negotiating with each other and avoiding conflicts. Companies who operate businesses in Effective culture have to communicate with their employees in that way which will create an emotional attachment with the employees. As a result, employees will feel good and stay motivated because they can express their feelings to the company, and their company value their feelings.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts have to focus on their employees who belong to the Affective culture because these employees are emotional. The employees want to share their feelings with colleagues and managers because they want to strengthen their workplace relationships. Therefore, the company has to consider the factor and managers of the company will give their employees the scope to share their feelings. It will make employees feel comfortable in the workplace, and they will negotiate with others to avoid conflicts and other problems, which will increase the effectiveness of Hilton Hotels & Resorts’ workplace. Leaders and managers of the company will show a positive attitude towards the workers to maintain good relations with them, and it will keep the employees highly motivated.
Specific vs. Diffuse
Specific vs. Diffuse is the fourth element of Trompenaars 7 cultural dimensions, which refers to the capability of a nation to keep their personal and professional life different from one another and not let one influence the other (Cacciattolo, 2014). People belonging to Specific cultures have the ability to keep their personal and professional life separate from one another and not let one harm other. Employees from this culture focus on their professional life more than their personal life and emphasize achieving their goals. They do not focus on building relationships at the workplace because they believe that people can work together without having good relations. Employees focus on their work more than other things which helps them to deliver the best result.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts faces considers the Specific culture to manage their employees better way who belong to this culture. The company get both benefits and disadvantages from the nature of its employees. For instance, Netherlands is a country where Specific culture subsists; therefore, employees from the country focus on their professional life more than their personal life (Denison et al, 2012). The employees give their full effort to their work, and Hilton Hotels & Resorts to gets a hundred per cent of their employees that, helping the company to ensure its success. The disadvantage that the company face is employees does not focus on building relationships and do not share good relationship, which creates conflict among them. Therefore, managers and leaders of the company have to be careful to solve conflicts and manage them by maintaining discipline in the workplace.
Diffuse culture in that nature of a nation in which they cannot separate their personal life and professional life and think that both are related to one another (Suadamara, Werner and Hunger, 2011). They believe that they can achieve objectives more effectively if they become able to build strong relationships. Employees of this culture make effort to build better relationships with their colleagues and respect their age, status and background. They build the same type of relationship with everyone and believe that better relationships will help them to achieve business objectives Therefore, employees spend time with their colleagues and clients after the office and outside of their work hours. Employees of this culture discuss business issues in social programs and personal issues in the workplace.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts operates business in countries where diffuse cultures is seen. For instance, Argentina is a country where diffuse culture is present (Sutton, 2010). Employees from this culture create more problems than advantages. Employees are too social and maintain good relations with their co-workers. They discuss personal issues with each other in the workplace, which is a waste of work hours. Employees waste work hours discussing their personal issues, which can be used in doing official work. Therefore, managers of the company have to build better relationships with employees and encourage them to utilize work hours properly. The advantage of the diffuse culture is that employees discuss business issues outside of work hours which helps them to find better ways of doing their work.
Achievement vs. Ascription
Achievement vs Ascription is the fifth element of the model, and the concept of this element is that some nations work hard to get everything in life by ignoring their power and status, and some nations think they should get things because of their status, power and title (Williams, Moeller and Harvey, 2010). The people who are from Achievement culture do not consider their position, status or power and work hard to get status by utilizing their skills and knowledge. Employees who belong to this culture are capable of increasing the profitability of their company because they utilize their talent and knowledge. Even they challenge the decisions of their companies if they have a logical argument which helps their companies to take the right decision. As a result, a company can ensure the quality of their products or services.
The achievement culture of employees also makes employee management easier for Hilton Hotels & Resorts. For instance, employees of the UK fall into this culture because Achievement culture subsists in the country, and the employees believe in working with full concentration to get status (Maduagwu and Igwe, 2018). They do not utilize power to get status in companies. Employees utilize their talent, knowledge and skill to deliver the best services from Hilton Hotels & Resorts to their customers, which increases customers’ satisfaction. The company has to motivate and appreciate their employees to keep them motivated. Hilton Hotels & Resorts need to reward these employees for better performance and give the title they deserve. As a result, employees will deliver quality services to customers always.
Ascription refers to the culture where people get status on the basis of their social status, age and study without considering their knowledge and skills (Zakaria and Yusof, 2015). These types of people get status in their companies because of their social status, education and age. The skills and knowledge of these type of people are not considered while giving status in companies. They expect respect from everyone, and everyone does that because of their social status and power. Employees from the Ascription culture cannot give the best output for their companies because they do not have enough skills and knowledge to fulfil the responsibility they get for their power. Co-workers cannot challenge their decisions if they take any wrong decisions and only higher authorities have the right to challenge their decisions.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts faces many complexities because of the Ascription nature of host countries. People get status in companies because of their social status, education and power, where skills and knowledge are ignored; therefore, they are not capable of delivering better performance. For instance, Italy is the country where Ascription culture subsists, and employees of Hilton Hotels & resorts get status on the basis of their social status, power and age in the country (Caiani and Della Porta, 2011). The employees do not worth the status they get in the company because they do not have enough skills and knowledge. Even managers of the companies are chosen on the basis of their social status, age and other factors. As a result, they cannot manage the employees properly, and the company’s productivity gets influenced in the country.
Sequential time vs. Synchronous time
The sixth element of Trompenaars 7 dimensions of culture is Sequential time vs. Synchronous time, and it refers to the punctuality nature of a nation (Layes, 2010). The nation belongs to the Sequential time culture is punctual, and values time without wasting a single moment (Lindholm, 2013). Time is money, and time should not be wasted; the nation focuses on the factor and utilize its time properly. Employees from this culture always finish their work on time and do not attend meetings in late. They always maintain a schedule that helps them to do more work within their work hour. In the U.S. the presence of Sequential time culture is seen, and employees prepare and finish their work within the deadline. These types of employees are proactive enough, which reduces time consumption from an organization.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts also get benefits from the Sequential culture of their employees. These types of employees are very careful in utilizing time and give full concentration on their work. For instance, U.S. employees fall into Sequential culture, and they are punctual (Cheung and Chan, 2010). Therefore, employees of Hilton Hotels & Resorts in U.S finish their work within its lime limit. They are never late to attend meetings which saves time for a meeting. Employees from the culture do not waste time in handling more projects because of the focus on completing a project within its time with the best result. As a result, Hilton Hotels & Resorts is able to save time and get the best output from the employees. Therefore, the company have to give freedom to the employees to do their work in their own way because they deliver work at the right time.
Synchronous time culture is the opposite culture of Sequential culture. The people who belong to the Synchronous culture are not punctual and do not consider time as money (Maleki, and de Jong, 2014). Employees from the culture take different types of projects together and make plans and deadlines flexible by changing because they do not focus on finishing work within its deadline. Because of taking many projects together, they cannot complete them properly within a fixed time, and companies have to change deadlines for their employees. Even the employees come late to meetings, and it is normal for them. Coming late to meetings increase time consumption which the employees should utilize in doing work. Sometimes they miss the important discussions or meetings because of their nature of coming late.
Synchronous time culture is not beneficial like Sequential culture for Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Employees of the company who belong to Synchronous culture are not punctual and do not consider time as a value (Réthi, 2012). They do not focus on their work to finish them within the work time limit and change the deadlines when they want. Therefore, the company fail to have work done within the deadline, and it harms their operations. Employees of the company from Synchronous culture take more than one project on their hands and cannot focus on the projects properly; therefore, they change deadlines. Employees do not concentrate on the projects properly because doing more projects together harms the quality of services. Hilton Hotels & Resorts has to make their employees realize the importance of time, and finishing work within deadlines. furthermore encourage them to attend meetings at the right time. All these steps will help the company to ensure the best services to their customers.
Internal vs. External direction and the dimension
The last element of Trompenaars 7 cultural dimensions model is Internal vs. External direction, and the dimension indicates the factor of how people relate to their environment (Acar, 2014). Internal direction refers to the culture where a nation believes that they are able to control its environment to accomplish its goals (Réthi, 2012). Employees from the culture have aggressive personalities, and wining is the most important thing for them. They are selfish in nature and can go to any extent to achieve their goals. Therefore, employees of an organization can be engaged in conflicts to win, and it harms their relationships. These types of employees do not share good relationships with their colleagues. Employees from this culture give their best to change the environment that helps them to change the circumstance according to them.
Internal direction culture has both advantages and disadvantages for Hilton Hotels & Resorts. The advantages of the culture are people have faith that they can change the environment by making an effort to achieve their goals. Therefore, employees of the company from an Internal direction nature give their effort to change an environment that helps the company to overcome complexities. Employees overcome different types of challenges to be the winner, which makes the company beneficial. Therefore, Hilton Hotels & Resorts has to give their employees the opportunity to develop their skills and utilize them to overcome complexities which will make the company more successful. The disadvantage of the culture is employees have aggressive personalities. They are desperate to become the winner which creates massive environment within the company. Therefore, Hilton Hotels & Resorts managers and leaders have to be careful in handling the employees and maintain discipline of the workplace.
External direction refers to the culture where people believe that they cannot control the environment and they have to work within the environment by adopting the environment (Ildikó, 2014). Saudi Arabia is a country where External direction culture exists, and employees of the country focus on their activities to cope up with the environment. These types of employees do not have aggressive personalities, and they are careful about relationships. They avoid conflict where it is possible to keep relationships good, which helps companies to maintain peace in their work environment. Because of this good relationship, employees help each other to accomplish their goals, and it increases the possibility of the success of their company. The employees need reassurance from their companies about their work, and constructive feedback enhances the quality of their work.
Hilton Hotels & Resorts get employees from External Direction culture in Saudi Arabia, Russia and China (Ildikó, 2014). Employees of the company who belong to the External direction culture have the ability to adapt to the environment and focus on their activities to ensure success by interacting with the environment properly. They maintain good relations with colleagues and avoid aggressiveness, maintaining the peace of the workplace furthermore unity of the employees helps Hilton Hotels & Resorts to ensure their success. Therefore, the company has to provide constructive feedback to the employees, which helps them to develop their performance and boost their motivation. The company have to allow constructive conflict to get the best solutions for their problems. Hilton Hotels & Resorts has to boost their employees’ confidence to have a good job from the employees and become more successful.
Conclusion
Hilton Hotels & Resorts become able to understand the difference between cultures by evaluating the Trompenaars 7 cultural dimensions model. In Universalism vs Particularism, Universalism is more beneficial for the company because employees of this culture maintain rules, regulations and laws. Whilst, Particularism cultured employees, consider their relationship more important and break rules that harm the peace of the workplace. Between Individualism vs Communitarianism, Communitarianism employees contribute more to their company’s success because they work within the team by helping each other. On the other hand, Individualism cultured employees work individually that cannot contribute to Hilton’s success more. Within a Neutral vs Affective culture, Neutral cultured employees deliver better outcomes and contribute to the success of the company because they do not express their feelings and do not get engaged in conflicts with others. Whilst, Affective cultured people, express their feelings; therefore, they often get engaged in conflicts with colleagues because they inform others about their problems with their colleagues. As a result, the discipline of the workplace gets hampered. Between Specific vs. Diffuse culture, Specific cultured employees are capable of giving their best effort because they keep their personal and professional life separate, that helps them to concentrate on work properly. On the other hand, Diffuse cultured employees cannot keep their personal and professional life separate which removes their concentration from work. Achievement-cultured employees work hard to get status in the workplace and utilize their skills and capabilities that help Hilton Hotels & Resorts to deliver the best performance. Whilst, Ascription cultured employees, achieve status by utilizing their social status and power which is harmful to the company’s outcome because the employees do not worth the status they get. Between Sequential vs. Synchronous time culture, Sequential cultured employees are punctual and utilize time in a proper way that helps the company to save time and achieve goals within the targeted time. Internal vs External direction is the last dimension External direction cultured employees work hard to adapt to the environment by focusing on their activities, but Internal direction cultured employees try to change the environment. It seems that External direction employees can bring better results because they are not aggressive like Internal direction cultured employees and work hard to overcome the complexities of the external environment. As a result, Hilton Hotels & Resorts is able to ensure their success.
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