1. Employee Empowerment in the European Cultural Context: Findings from the Hotel Industry by Antonios K. Klidas IRIC, The Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation Tilburg University

2. Research Background  Financed by the European Commission in the context of the Training and Mobility of Researchers Programme (TMR) – Marie Curie Fellowships  Hosted by the Department of Leisure Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands  Started in November 1997 ended in April 2001

3. Research Aim To provide an understanding of the concept of empowerment within the five-star hotel industry and examine the implications of applying the concept in the international, cross- cultural context within Europe.

4. Main Concepts  Empowerment of (customer-contact) employees in Hospitality defined as: “The notion of devolving decision-making authority and responsibility to frontline employees for control and enhancement of service quality and customer satisfaction.”  National Culture defined as: “The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 1991)

5. The cultural relativity of empowerment  Propositions about organisation: -Flat structure -Low centralisation -Low formalisation BUT: Is this likely in large power distance and strong uncertainty avoiding cultures?

6. The cultural relativity of empowerment  Propositions about leadership: -Employees demand participation - Employees wilfully accept responsibility - Employees independent in thinking and acting - Leaders share power, delegate  BUT: Is this likely in large power distance and strong uncertainty avoiding cultures?

7. The cultural relativity of empowerment  Propositions about motivation: -Self-actualisation as top motivator -Satisfaction from increased autonomy, responsibility and self-direction  BUT: Is this likely in strong uncertainty avoiding cultures?

8. The cultural relativity of empowerment  Propositions about employee behaviour: -Creativity and innovative behaviour -Risk taking (decision-making, initiative) -(Creative) rule-breaking  BUT: Is this likely in strong uncertainty avoiding cultures?

9. Research Design  Research in 16 upscale hotels of a single (US) hotel-company in 7 EU countries  Qualitative part: -Interviews with HR, FO and F&B Managers -Some (participant) observation  Quantitative part: Survey among customer-contact employees in FO and F&B outlets (personal administration)

10. Sample Country (No. of hotels) Employee survey (n) Interviews England (5)8115 Sweden (1)203 Netherlands (2)385 Italy (4)19213 Greece (1)132 Portugal (1)302 Belgium (2)535+1 Total:42746

11. Findings Southern Europe  Low delegation  Lower levels of “empowered behaviour”  Low intensity of training, mostly on the job.  Less open communication (taking place informally)  Less willingness to share information Northern Europe  High delegation  Higher levels of “empowered behaviour”  More extensive, intensive and formal training  More open communication (many formal processes for upward communication)  Systematically sharing information

12. Findings (continued…) Southern Europe  Imposed equal compensation according to seniority and rank  Mainly local, sporadic recruitment  Very low labour turnover – very experienced workforce  Rigid regulatory framework Northern Europe  Merit pay allowed, but restricted to incentives  International, intensive recruitment  High labour turnover – less experienced workforce  More flexible regulatory framework

13. Conclusions  The notion of empowerment more readily embraced in N. Europe compared to S. Europe  Different cultural context, which seems to influence employee empowerment  Considerably different environmental context (e.g. regulatory framework, labour market, business environment), generally favouring empowerment in the north

14. Implications for management  Need for local understanding not only of visible, but also invisible factors  Need for empowerment initiatives to consider and adapt to national context  Empowerment not incompatible with non-Anglo- Saxon cultures  Empowerment process: -In the north can rely on formal processes -In the south cannot rely as much on formal processes, management style is crucial

15. A final word of caution… Empowerment, just as many existing theories (e.g. organisation, management, HRM) are strongly Anglo-Saxon in origin and perspective

16. Antonis K. Klidas Employee Empowerment in the European Hotel Industry: Meaning, Process and Cultural Relativity Amsterdam: Thela Thesis

17. Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ... (Thank you very much…)