Abstract

Inbound tourism is already an important contributor to the economies of Southeast Asia. Predictions suggest that this economic activity will continue to grow.  This necessitates qualified human resources who are are able to provide the kind of service that sophisticated international tourists expect.

In the provision of hospitality service for international tourists, there are several kinds of culture at work. The first of these is the culture of service, that is, the values and meanings which give to service its essential quality. In a service encounter a tourist and a waiter ( for example) engage in the culture of service and the waiter performs emotional labour in addition to performing technical skills.

The actors in the service encounter bring to the interaction their own ethnic identities and engage in cross - cultural communication. To ensure the provision of appropriate hospitality service human resource development must take account of the cultural dimensions of hospitality.

The Context

For several years now the founding states of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) have made inbound international tourism an important economic activity. With their abundance of cultural and natural attractions they have lured tourists from a variety of culturally diverse generating regions. Great progress has been made since 1958 when Checci and Company, in association with the United States Depart of Commerce and pacific Area Travel Association, began an investigation of the potential for tourism in the Asia - pacific region (Clement, 1961). At that time tourism in Indonesia was virtually non - existent (ibid:213). At the same time the Government of Singapore had eliminated its tourism program on the grounds that tourism was "frivolous" and "too vague" to be of use to the economy (ibid:109). According to the Checci Report, in 1959 the Thai government had only recently begun to see tourism as an important source of jobs, foreign exchange and income and had accordingly taken action by forming the Tourist Organization of Thailand (ibid:127).

The pursuit of inbound tourism as a prominent component of national economic life has, in recent years, not been confined to the foundation members of ASEAN. While those states have continued to expand their frontiers of tourism to provide new attractions for tourists, other Southeast Asian states have begun to pursue economic diversification through international tourism, For various reasons these states, until recently, had not been prime destinations for travellers. For more than two decades Myanmar's pursuit of the isolationist Burmese Way to Socialism deprived international tourists of the chance of extended stay during which to experience the country's cultural and natural attractions. Now Myanmar seeks tourists to enhance its economic positions ant its international reputation. Another perhaps surprising newcomer to the business of attracting tourists is the conservative oil-rich Islamic state of Brunei which according to Roger Mitton (September  12, 1997:31-32), is in the process of becoming a 'hip tourist destination' in order to diversify its economy.  Mitton reports that the sultanate is 'loosening up' in order to become 'a fun place to visit.'

Vietnam and Laos are also now open for tourist business after years of Cold War conflict and economic rigidity. Their Indochinese neighbour, Cambodia, was identified by the Checchi Report (1961:127) as the single greatest potential tourist attraction in Southeast Asia because of the remains of  the  Khmer  civilisation  at  Angkor. Unfortunately,  however,  continued  political instability, by creating a perception of danger, so far prevents it from realising its full potential as a tourist destination.

According to Kim (1997), international tourism growth in the Asia - Pacific region is anticipated to rise to approximately 200 million visitor arrivals by the year 2000. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the tourism and hospitality industry will be a major employer of labour. Leong (1996) found that I in 12 of the work force in Singapore is already employed in tourism and that world-wide in 1996 the industry itself employed more than 255 million people.  This means that 1 in 9 of the world's work force provides both direct or indirect labour to the industry (Chaisawat, 1997).

The Need for Quality Service

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC, 1994:3) the Asia Pacific region's tourism industry is still in its infancy and therefore the full impact of tourism is yet to be realised. Whilst tourism growth in the region provides cause for optimism, it has already created labour supply problems for employers (WTTC, 1994:7).  By 2004, Metzger (1994:8) estimates that 122 million jobs will be created in Asia alone and if a consistently high level of service is to be maintained across all sectors of the industry, some 122 million skilled workers will have to be found to deliver tourism service.

Economically, much is at stake in the region if its service providers fail to meet the demands of its tourists. For example, the gross output in Thailand for 1996 from tourism was estimated to be 8.5 billion United States dollars (Chaisawat, 1997). Due to continuing economic uncertainties in Thailand, tourism authorities are likely to seek an increase in this figure due to the need for additional foreign exchange. In a recent issue of Asiaweek (Morgan, February 20, 1998) bargain-price holidays were being offered not only in Thailand but also in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, all victims of the Asian economic melt-down. If such advertisements are successful, there will be increased pressure on these countries to provide the skilled labour needed for quality service. Although current economic conditions in Japan are affecting outbound tourism in that country resulting in more Japanese taking their holiday at home, nevertheless Ilakim (1994:17) believes that, so far as outbound Japanese tourism is concerned, the majority of the jobs catering for their needs will be in the customer contact area. It is here that there will be a need for host countries in the Asia-Pacific region to have customer contact people who can communicate effectively and sensitively with the Japanese. According to Yee (1992:14) the competitive edge of an economy is not found in its commodities or low wage labour, but in the contribution of a rising quality labour which can provide high levels of service (Metzger, 1994:9). Thus the notion of quality service will play a crucial role in the economic contribution of tourism and hospitality to the region.  As quality service is possibly the foremost determinant of success in the tourism and hospitality business (Yuan, 1997) it is important that the focus be placed on improving service (Jang, 1997). If more tourists are to be attracted to the region, it is imperative that the strategy is not put in jeopardy by the lack of quality service. It is, however, one thing to identify the need for quality service, but it is entirely another matter as to how such a service might be supplied.

The tourism and hospitality industry in the Asia Pacific region has an image problem which results
in  government,  employers  and  prospective employees all sharing reservations about the nature of the industry itself. For example, the industry is perceived by potential employees as being dominated by expatriate staff in its key managerial and professional positions thereby offering limited career opportunities to the domestic work force (WTTC, 1994:12). It is also perceived as offering low status employment for young adults or marginally skilled workers (WTTC, 1994:18), a situation which may well lead governments to conclude that it is a minor player in the economic life of a country (WTTC, 1994:12). Its poor image as an employer is reinforced when students undertake work experience during their industry placements. Certain lessons might be drawn for the region from the Hong Kong experience. Yee (1992:34) reports that in Hong Kong some students in tourism and hospitality are so negatively affected by their hotel placement that they choose not to enter the industry because they feel they are being used as cheap labour or as fodder for the operational needs of the hotel (Yee, 1992:48). One conclusion that might be drawn from this example is that hotels do not see in the students the future of the industry itself and do not see service to the student in the same light as service to the paying customer.  This lack of service to the student appears to emanate from areas of the hotel industry that should know better, namely the Human Resource (HR) people and departmental heads who apparently believe students are incapable of thinking through a problem with which they are confronted. Given such an image, the issue of the industry being able to recruit talent and expertise to its ranks (WTTC, 1994:9) is a very serious matter indeed.  If talented potential employees believe there is little or no opportunity for recognition, advancement and reward, then the question must be asked as to the calibre of employees ultimately recruited to serve the ever expanding tourist market. Fortunately there are bright spots in this disturbing picture when it comes to the recruitment and placement of people in the  industry
(WTTC, 1994:14).

Lessons may be learned from the approach of a Taiwanese hotel to the recruitment of talented employees. This involved the use of a variety of marketing approaches involving direct mail, flyers, window displays, magazine articles, hotel tours, school presentations, exhibition booths, and an internship program.   Through these means potential employees have been attracted to a career in the hotel industry. There is also a 'Casual Club' to recruit part-time workers, giving these people a sense of belonging to the hotel (WTTC, 1994:14-15). Whilst the marketing of recruitment seems reasonably well handled among employers of the region, more attention appears to be needed in the area of effective selection and placement of employees.

There is no doubt that the region has been experiencing labour shortages (WTTC, 1994:iii) particularly  in  the  areas  of  managerial, professional, skilled and semi-skilled labour, and to a lesser extent of unskilled labour (WTTC, 1994:8). Whilst cross border labour movement is in part offsetting labour shortages (WTTC, 1994:iii). labour movements are increasingly likely to pose problems for some parts of the region as countries struggle to ensure that jobs are available for their own nationals who have become unemployed by the current economic crisis. The current emphasis on management training to the detriment of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled jobs (WTTC, 1994:5-6) raises the question as to just how well non-managerial employees in hospitality are being prepared to provide customer service There is also the question of how well the existing service is being delivered and whether visitors leave with a favourable impression of a destination as well as a desire to visit the destination again.

Hospitality Service Provision: Its Cultural Dimensions

In the provision of hospitality service there are several kinds of culture at work.

The Culture of Service

In relation to hospitality provision the culture of service refers to the values and meanings which underlie hospitality and give it its essential quality. Essential to hospitality are the reception and entertainment of guests who are to be provided with psychological and physiological comfort and security  (Cooper et. al., 1994:42). Hospitality includes both tangible and intangible services. When a service encounter takes place between a tourist and a waiter (for example), both are engaging in the culture of service. In performing the required technical skill for serving the food and drink, the waiter provides the tangible service. The social interaction between the waiter and the  tourist is the intangible service and contributes to the tourist's total experience (Powers, 1992:407). According to Powers, the social interaction requires genuine warmth and friendliness and necessitates empathy (ibid: 414 and 411).

This paper argues that service is a process which can be described using the following model.
 
 

This kind of labour in which emotion plays a key role is referred to as emotional labour. Hochschild (1983) sees it as exploitation of emotion. She describes it as labour that 'calls for the coordination of mind and feeling' for the purpose of producing 'the proper state of mind in others' (ibid. :7).   According to John Urry (1990:70), the establishment of a contrived emotional relationship through emotional labour is 'difficult and demanding, under-recognised and relatively under-rewarded.'  The relationship is also an unequal relationship between the recipient of the service who is dependent on the service job for employment.

The Culture of Identity

The actors in the service encounter bring to the interaction their own ethnic/national identities. Using the language of the computer age, Geert Hofstede (1991: 5) describes this kind of culture as 'the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people  from  another'.   The programming involves the establishment within the person of 'patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting' which Hofstede calls  'the software of the mind' (ibid. :4). Culture of this
kind is learned from the various groups within which a person interacts during the course of his or her lifetime.  The family, for example, plays a major role in the cultural development of an individual. According to Hofstede, much of this cultural development is acquired during early childhood 'when a person is most susceptible to learning and assimilating' (page4).

Cultural differences are demonstrated in a variety of ways. In some societies, for example, great respect is accorded to age to a degree not evident in other societies. Ideas about personal space vary from culture to culture.  In some cultures, making eye contact during verbal communication is unacceptable; in other cultures eye contact is important as a sign of openness. These various examples of cultural difference are generalisations.  Besides belonging to cultural groups people are also unique personalities. Uniqueness does not, however, diminish the importance of culture.   According to Singer (1987:53) 'uniqueness does know bounds'; these bounds are set by the cultural groups with which individuals identify.

While language differences are likely to be the most obvious component of cross- cultural service
encounters, there are other aspects of Hofstede's 'software of the mind' that need to be taken into account.    For  example,  what  'collective programming of the mind' has taken place to influence the attitude of a young man or woman towards the desirability of being a waiter in a restaurant? Anecdotal evidence from Southeast Asian tourism and hospitality students in Australia suggests that such a job is not considered desirable for its own sake. Instead it is seen as a way to make money for immediate living expenses and, in the long term, as a springboard for a managerial position. In some cases there is reluctance to learn what are considered to be the more menial hospitality skills. If the job is not highly regarded within the cultural group, how will this affect the waiter's enthusiasm for and performance in the job?   There is also the likelihood that the 'collective programming of the mind'  has included animosity between cultural groups. Will this animosity affect the service encounters between members of those groups?

Yuan (1997) highlights the major issues associated with the cultural dimensions of service. The service received in a host country is often judged by the tourist's own cultural standards. For example, the Asia Pacific region  is host to approximately 10 million Japanese tourists each year (Hakim, 1994:17). According to Jang (1997) there is a great chance that visitors to the region will find customer contact people either unaware of or unable to respond to their clients' needs.

Service Providers as Culture Brokers

Tourists in foreign lands are likely to be in search of cultural knowledge and experience. Whilst this knowledge and experience is formally provided by tour operators and guides they employ, informally hospitality service providers such as waiters and receptionists may, through conversations with guests, serve as another source of cultural knowledge.

Anecdotal evidence from tourists who have visited Bali, for example, indicates service encounters in restaurants during which young Balinese waiters, anxious to practise their English, engage with guests in the exchange of knowledge about their respective cultures.  In some cases friendships  are  formed,  correspondence  is exchanged and contacts are renewed on repeat visits to Bali. In the anthropological literature, the waiter performing this role is described as a culture broker. According to social anthropologist, Naomi Brown (1992:361-362), 'culture brokers are found in all cross-cultural situations ... amongst taxi drivers, tourist guides, tourist police, security guards, hotel workers and market vendors. They act as mediators between tourists and the resident population'.   In this capacity they play an important  part  in  enhancing  the  tourists' experience of a destination.

The Culture of the Organisation

In their discussion of culture within an organisation, Paul Thompson and David McHugh (1995:198) make reference to 'the way that management mobilises combinations of values, language, rituals and myths' in order to unlock 'the commitment and enthusiasm of employees'. They also cite Martin and Nicholls (1987) who see the outcome of a positive organisational culture in terms of the employees' 'sense of belonging to the organisation'  combined  with  'a  sense  of enrichment in the job, and confidence in management' (ibid. :202). While it must be pointed out that Thompson and McHugh are somewhat critical of the concept of organisational culture and its links with commitment, arguably it may be possible  to  draw  from  their  descriptions dimensions of organisational culture appropriate to large and small enterprises which provide hospitality services. If the idea is accepted that the service encounter has the potential to provide intangible as well as tangible benefits, it would seem to follow that management should have in place the appropriate 'combinations of values, language, rituals and myths' to encourage 'the commitment and enthusiasm of the employees' in enhancing the tourist's total experience.

When service is examined within the context of hospitality organisations, it can involve what Kim (1997) calls affective and continuance commitment responses from employees. Kim has found that
those who have positive feelings of identification and involvement with their organisation develop an emotional attachment to it.  This results in employees wanting to maintain their tenure, relate positively to their customers and provide the customer with quality service. This view of service is similar to that of Urry (1990:69) who in part described service as involving intimacy with the customer as well as a concern in providing a quality service for the consumer.  Kim (1997) contrasts this view with what he terms continuance commitment where employees, through longevity of service and past promotions, feel trapped in their employment. If these employees left their organisation it would be at great financial and personal cost to themselves and their plateaued careers.  Continuance commitment people were found to relate less positively, and in some cases, even negatively to their customers as well as doing no more than was necessary to maintain their membership of the organisation. The implication of this study for service is that those organisations that succeed in winning emotional commitment from their employees and engage in career development are likely to be better service providers than those that have employees who feel trapped with nowhere to go. For people serving time in their organisation their own needs may become more important than serving the customer.
 

HRD and Hospitality Service Provision

What then are the implications of these various kinds of culture for Human Resource Development (HRD) in hospitality service provision?

HRD: Meaning, Purpose and Importance

Human Resource Development has improved performance as its ultimate goal in order to enhance the competitiveness and efficiency of an organisation (Gilley and Eggland 1989:5).  The term HRD is made up of three core components:
 

As tourism and hospitality is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world, it has, in the view of the WTTC (1994:ii), a need to address increased and improved tourism education in the region. This step is necessary in order to accommodate and adapt to ever increasing pressure on tourism and hospitality resources in the region. According to Yee (1992:14) HRD is one of the most widely used terms in Asia-Pacific gatherings because it is seen as central to the competitive edge of the economy of a nation.

The key HRD stakeholders in any country are its HRD providers, supporters and users in terms of government,  employers,  and educational institutions.    Tourists  also  are  indirectly stakeholders in that they receive the benefit or otherwise of the outcomes and effectiveness of HRD initiatives. Governments will not become involved in HRD initiatives unless they believe tourism can make a positive contribution to their economy (Yee,1992:6). As tourism employs 1 in 9 of the work force of the world, and it is predicted by 2005 to contribute some 2.0 trillion dollars from travel and gross output in the Asia Pacific region (WTTC, 1994:2), it would seem good economic sense for government to support well constructed arguments for quality improvements in the industry.

HRD:  A  Strategy  for  Consideration  Skills Development

While this paper has indicated that technical skills are not the only component of hospitality service encounters, in any HRD strategy they obviously  cannot  be  ignored.    Ideally  the development of a program for skills development should be a joint project for industry and vocational education which together bring to the task an understanding of the requirements of industry and an appreciation of the pedagogical factors involved in providing training for skills development.  The refinement of competency- based modules and train the trainer programs in recent years means that standardised training can take place in vocational education institutions and in the workplace through on - the -job training.

Within the domain of skills development, there i5 the opportunity to empower employees by engaging them in a process of commitment to quality service When skills are applied within a Quality framework (Hilmer and Donaldson, 1996:97), these can be used to achieve satisfying service outcomes.   If employees are engaged actively in continually improving their service processes to meet the needs of their customers, hospitality service provision will be the beneficiary. For example, through their direct contact with customers in a bar, hospitality staff may become aware that long queues form no matter how expertly they perform their skills. Because of their first-hand knowledge of the situation, bar staff, if consulted, may recommend a change to the work process such as a series of minibars within the establishment to reduce time pressures on staff and satisfy their customers. In this instance both the customer and staff experience satisfying outcomes.

Developing a Culture of Service

Competency-based   modules   for   skills development cannot guarantee the inculcation of the values which underpin the culture of service. Customer relations modules, through role play methodology, may attempt to develop behaviours which are supposed to indicate a commitment to the emotional content of service but such behaviours are mere surface acting (Crang, 1997:141) and may lack the ring of sincerity. While there are good reasons for the 'stereotyped forms of address' and the programmed presentation of service in fast food restaurants (Urry, 1990:77), it is unlikely that many customers take the performance seriously. Crang likens the performance of emotional labour to a theatrical event directed by management (1997:141). While surface acting training is one means of preparing people for their roles as service-givers, Crang also draws attention to staff training 'in a deeper Stanislavskian level of performance', that is, deep acting which, if Hochschild's view (1983) is accepted, can have a psychologically damaging effect upon the performers because they lose touch with their true feelings. If acting, either surface or deep, is inappropriate, how then can a truly genuine culture of service be developed? At the level of management in a hospitality enterprise there must be a genuine appreciation of the values underlying the
culture of service and an understanding of what constitutes a positive total experience for guests. This genuine appreciation is reflected in the manner in which staff are recruited with attention being given to the recruitment of people with personality characteristics  suitable for empathetic service provision. It is also reflected in the culture of the organisation which creates 'a sense of enrichment in the job' (Martin and Nicholls, 1987).  Cited in Thompson  and  McHugh,  1995:202)  besides providing suitable role models who exemplify authentic concern for the customer. These criteria for appropriate management have implications for the education of managers who, besides needing studies in business and management, would have a greater understanding of the importance of the psychosocial dimensions of hospitality provision through in-depth study of relevant social sciences such  as  sociology  and  psychology.    This understanding  would  encompass  both  the psychosocial dimensions of the tourist experience as well as the need for protection of the psychological well-being of the service workers from the deleterious effects of emotional labour.

The Appreciation of Cultural Diversity

The hospitality worker is likely to work in a multicultural environment.   Besides the cross-cultural encounters front of house, there are also back of house encounters which have their own cultural dimension. While globalisation may result in superficial cultural homogenisation, the strength of traditional values and attitudes developed over many centuries should not be underestimated. The Chinese chef, for example, is the end result of a long established Confucian tradition which is not shared by the Irish waiter.  Each is the product of a particular cultural programming.

How should hospitality workers be prepared for interactions with a multicultural clientele and a multicultural workforce? Within current hospitality education and training programs one may find components    relating    to    cross-cultural communication. The danger with short courses such as these is that they will highlight the apparently exotic aspects of a culture and thus encourage stereotyping and ridicule.

Cross-cultural  understanding  may  be  best achieved by a long-term systematic development of cultural knowledge beginning in elementary school. Yee (1992:19) argues that any human resource development strategy in terms of the cultural dimensions of service ought to have its roots in the elementary education of a nation. Such an education should highlight humanity's shared experiences as well as cultural diversity and should span all the years of one's education.

Raising the Status of Hospitality As an Occupation

Earlier in this paper it has been indicated that service work in hospitality has low status as an occupation. At the same time the customer contact aspect of hospitality, it has been argued, plays an important role in the total tourist experience.  It therefore seems imperative to take steps to raise the status of the occupation.  One way in which an attempt can be made to achieve this goal is through educational provision for careers in hospitality. While considerable attention has been given to management training (WTTC,  1994:14), more attention needs to be given to the integration of operational training into educational programs at degree level. There are, no doubt, several ways in which this can be achieved. For example, a degree may be constructed by building a one or two-year program at university on to a two-year program at vocational college. Alternatively, a three or four-year degree program may be taken concurrently with a hospitality program at a vocational college. The latter approach has the advantage of introducing students to the culture of academic reflection from the beginning of tertiary study.

In university circles it is likely that combining vocational and academic study within a degree program will meet with some disapproval. The old status division between working with the hands and working with the mind has not disappeared. The combination of the two strands within a degree program, however, has many advantages.   It supports an integrated career path for hospitality workers thus helping to overcome the perception that hospitality work is a dead-end job. It enables students who, through a relatively poor academic performance at school, did not gain entrance to university to prove their capabilities at vocational college and then to have a second chance at a university education. Lifelong learning cannot be constrained by artificial structures in education. In the vocational college component of the degree, assuming that hospitality practitioners are employed as teachers, it puts students in touch with the 'real world' of hospitality. In the university component of the course, it facilitates objective reflection on practice and lays a foundation for research which is grounded in the world of work.

Conclusion

In writing this paper, the authors  have endeavoured  to  highlight the  importance  of hospitality provision to the tourist industry in the Southeast Asian region.  In particular they have sought to explore the cultural dimensions of hospitality and the implications of these dimensions for human resource development.  The authors believe that, from this paper, three topics have emerged that are worthy of further research.

The first of these relates to the most effective way of ensuring cultural sensitivity within the hospitality workforce. Arguably, role playing and short course approaches to customer relations are not sufficiently grounded in an understanding of cultural diversity to ensure intelligent cross-cultural contact.   The second topic warranting further research is the degree to which the alleged deleterious effects of emotional labour on hospitality workers is an issue of importance to management in hospitality establishments.   Thirdly, there would seem to be the possibility of research into the success   or  otherwise  of  an   integrated vocational/university degree programs in producing a competent and creative hospitality workforce.
 

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