THC 9: WEEK 1 AND 2:
INTRODUCTION TO
MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY AND
CONCEPT OF CULTURE
Vanesa G. Fenete
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• You should be able to:
• Discuss the concept of multicultural diversity in
workplace.
• Describe what is culture
• Discuss the different features od culture; and
• Identify the different dimensions of culture
MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY IN
WORKPLACE
• The whole market has become more accessible, resulting in increased
competition.
• Linearization, Privatization, and Globalization
• As a result of globalization the interconnectedness of nation has grown.
• If companies wish to succeed in international commerce, they must map
their culture.
• Manager’s must well-versed in various cultural ideas, attitudes, and
conversations, among other things, to be effective.
HOW TO ACCOMMODATE
MULTI-CULTURE
• First Step
• Recognize that one of the main goals of diversity is to recognize people’s
uniqueness.
• Second
• Diversity must be a component of an organization’s intended business goal,
including outreach initiatives.
• Third
• There should be a system in place to hold managers responsible for achieving
diversity objectives. Represented in evaluating performance.
• Fourth
• Open communication channels must be established
• Final
• Corporate rituals and rites should allow for religious holiday, dietary preferences, and
clothing styles that do not conflict with organizational operations.
HOW TO ACCOMMODATE
MULTI-CULTURE
• Among difficulties and opportunities are:
• Cultural influences on job satisfaction
• Levels of inter-group biases and prejudices;
• Degrees of cooperativeness; and
• Overall individual and group performances
CONCEPT OF CULTURE
• Culture refers to the socially constructed and learned ways of
behaving and believing that identify individual and distinct social
groups.
• Culture shapes a person’s identity and influences the way how he/she
thinks, behaves, and forms his/her values system.
• Elements of culture are transmitted or passed on to other generations
through a combination of communication, oral and or writing, and
art, and they institutionalized as acceptable for current group or
community.
CULTURE
• Culture is derived from the Latin word “cultura”, which
means “cult, worship, or civilization.”
• In the context of International HRM, it’s the acquired
knowledge that individual use to understand experience
and create social behavior.
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
Geography
ART
Beliefs &
Values
RELIGION
CULTURE
Language
Law and
Politics
Social
Organization
Technology
ART
• “THE IMPORTANCE OF ART IN OUR SOCIETY” this was
mentioned in the blog of Price (2018)
• Art is an expression of the creative ideas and imagination,
and the artist can choose a medium to express their craft.
• Some consider art pieces valuable as they were created by
artist who are recognized by their people.
• Art piece is easily identified as coming from a particular
place or person and may bring good memories of that
place or person.
Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo was a portraitist and
painter of rural Philippine landscapes. Nicknamed the
"Grand Old Man of Philippine Art," he was the first-ever
to be recognized as a National Artist of the Philippines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Amorsolo
• The Tinikling
• The Binasuan
• The Sayaw sa Bangko
• The Sayaw sa Bangko is
performed on top of a
narrow bench. Dancers
need good balance as
they go through a series
of movements that
include some
impressive acrobatics.
This dance traces its
roots back to the areas
of Pangapisan,
Lingayen and
Pangasinan.
• The Binasuan is an
entertaining dance that
is usually performed at
festive social occasions
like weddings and
birthdays. Dancers
carefully balance three
half-filled glasses of rice
wine on their heads and
hands as they gracefully
spin and roll on the
ground. The dance
originated in
Bayambang in the
Pangasinan province.
• The dance originated
in Leyte, Island in
Visayas. It imitates the
movement of the tikling
birds as they walk
between grass stems, run
over tree branches, or
dodge bamboo traps set
by rice farmers." Dancers
imitate the tikling bird's
legendary grace and
speed by skillfully
maneuvering between
large bamboo poles.
https://folkdance607.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/folk-dance-in-philippines/
BELIEFS AND VALUES
• Humans are social beings from birth.
• Each person has its own set of values formed from childhood that will
continue to change as they interact with other people.
• Beliefs are reflected in the attitudes and behavior that are exhibited by the
person.
• Values are based on ethics, principles, beliefs, standards, and qualities that a
person or group of people may hold in high regard.
• These value guide how a person will live, make decisions, and nurture and
keep relationships.
• Tourism professionals
• expected to provide products and services as required by the enterprise.
• Understand and aware of differences in personal values, beliefs, and attitudes of
both collegues and clients in group settings.
• As Tourism Professional:
• “Our work ethic should always driven by supporting
the organization’s and customer’s values.”
GEOGRAPHY
• Cultural geography looks at the forms of differentiation as well as the
material culture of gatherings that tie together people’s ideas in the region
and make them sound.
• Geography refers to the various forms of natural or man-made physical
landscape affected by human activities and how people arrange the
physical space around them.
• Tourism professionals
• The geography of where their colleagues and customers come from may have
an impact on the relationships that they will have in workplace or in provision of
certain products and services customer may acquire.
LANGUAGE
• Linguistic differences can make it difficult to communicate with
people from various societies or places (Barken, 2012)
• Language is very important as this is how culture is communicated to
colleagues and costumers.
• Culture is preserved, changed, or transmitted to colleagues and
customers using language.
• The accent or the unique speaking style, may give someone an
indication of the origins of a person.
LANGUAGE
Philippines has around 180 dialect
more than 1000 dialects in Southeast Asia.
At least 6500 languages spoken in the world
With the multitude of languages and dialects spoken locally and
internationally, there is a need to identify the most acceptable
languages in tourism.
• In the Philippines, aside from Filipino, English is considered as an official
language.
• In Southeast Asia, the lingua franca is English.
•
•
•
•
LANGUAGE
• Tourism professionals, advantage to be able to use English, written
and spoken, as it used by greatest number of people.
• Good opportunity for tourism professionals to learn another language,
as being proficient in another language is advantage in term of
qualifications and/or increase in salary.
• Understanding and misunderstanding are often traced to
communication, and language plays a major role in the process.
LAWS AND POLITICS
• There are several approaches that link culture to law.
• The historical school which looks at law as a product of the culture of a nation
and as a part of the daily practice of it’s people.
• The constitutive approach which looks at the law as part of constitution of a
culture; thus, the constitution of people’s minds, practices, and social relations.
• The concept of right and wrong and fairness and injustice draw from cultural
practices in a particular area that may gradually accepted as a practice in
a bugger area.
• As a professional, one must aware of laws and politics that apply in the
country where their work I undertaken, especially delivery products and
services to colleagues and customers.
RELIGIONS
• The dual roles religion are essential in preparing social
policies and reforms (Rahmani and Tayyebinia, 2016)
• Religion is a very strong source of cultural influence in many
countries. It has permeated every facet of daily living.
• Based on the CIA Factbook updated last 2019, the
Philippines’ religion distribution is enumerated as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
Roman Catholic 80.6 %
Protestant, 8.2 %
Iglesia ni Cristo & El Shaddai, 3.4%
Muslim 5.6 %
Tribal Religion,0,2% and others 1.9 %, None 0.1%
RELIGIONS
• Philippines is one of the 10 member states of Association of the
Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)
• Three Pillars of ASEAN
• ASEAN Political Security
• ASEAN Socio0cultural Community
• ASEAN Economic Community
• The religion distribution profile has changed
• 1. Muslim are about 42% (mostly Sunni, from Brunie, Indonesia, and Malaysia)
• 2. Buddhist are about 18%( Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Mayanmar, Singapore &
Vietnam)
• 3. Christian are about 17% mostly from Philippines.
RELIGIONS
• As a tourism professional, awareness of unique religious practices,
whether specific place or practiced nationally, should be considered
a ”must-know” competency.
• This allow the professionals to treat their colleagues and customers
correctly
• One biggest attractions in the Philippines are its religious festivals,
church destinations, and religious practices that impact in the
operation of the tourism enterprise.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
• The development of tourism in one part of the system creates
multitude ecological changes capable of disrupting the broader and
highly embedded-sociocultural system (Movono,Dahles, and Becken,
2017)
• Changes in Social Structure
• Include the type of work being pursued in tourism destinations
• The authenticity of the cultural elements is jeopardized
• Need for tourism professional to recalibrate social organizations
TECHNOLOGY
• “Technology can aid in a variety of ways to co-create tourist
experience. It can serve as an enable, producer, attractor,
enhancer, and educator. However, it may also become a
destroyer’ of tourist experience due to shift in service
experiences that lack interpersonal charm and thus generate
negative effects I retaining the authentic culture of the area.”
(Oktadiana and Pearce, 2020)
• Due to technology many work by tourism professionals replaced
by some system.
• Smartphone: can use as calendar, camera, appointment
book, can access internet, and used as calculator.
• PMS like Opera help process reservation, check-in & checkout
TECHNOLOGY
• There are changes in people’s behavior and practices of
the socialization skills due to their preoccupation with their
devices.
• As tourism professionals, the hospitality and service attitude
has to be the priority mind set for colleagues and customers.
• Building and sustaining relationship with colleagues and
customer should take precedence over anything else in the
workplace.
FEATURES OF CULTURE
• Culture
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Learned
Social
Shared
Transmitted
Continuous
Accumulative
Integrate
Changing
Varies from society to society
FEATURES OF CULTURE
• Culture is Learned
• Culture has to be taught by someone, usually older person, that is valued by the
younger person.
• The first teacher of a child is his/her family
• Child’s circle of acquaintances
• A community with people of varied culture can learn from the other community.
• Culture is Social
• A person needs to interact with other people for culture to be transmitted.
• Interaction with other people, you see how other people behave or act and
make decisions
FEATURES OF CULTURE
• Culture is Transmitted
• The transmittal of culture can be done through practice, written form, or verbal
form.
• There is means or method used wherein elements of culture are passed on the
other persons and other generations.
• Culture is Continuous
• The transmission of cultural elements must be continuous.
• It ensure that there is a common understanding of the practices, history, and
origin.
• Culture is Accumulative
• There is bound to changes in culture as compared to when it was initially
practiced.
• As a result of culture being transmitted to several people, there will be changes
due to the current situation in the community.
FEATURES OF CULTURE
• Culture is Integrated
• Common practices bring people together. It is way of sharing with other and
making it easier for people to understand and give preferences.
• Culture is Changing
• With the interaction od many variables across time and people, culture is bound
to change.
• For example handloom versus machine
• Culture Varies from Society to Society
• Of the many sub-groups in a society, each one brings their own cultural mindset
to a bigger community.
• Expect that their will be similarities and many uniqueness practice within a givn
community and among different countries also.
TOURISM AND TOURISM
PROFESSIONAL
• Tourism according to United Nation World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO) - A social, and economic phenomenon which entails the
movement of people to countries or places outside their usual
environment for personal or business/professional purposes.
• These visitors ( which may be either tourist or excursionist; residents or
non residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of
which involve tourism expenditure.
• Define the tourism that though tourism is an industry itself, there are
support industries that help it make an industry.
• The “umbrella concept” of tourism where various sector, either directly
or indirectly participate in tourism activities.
TOURISM AND TOURISM
PROFESSIONAL
• Tourism Act of 2009 (RA 9593) Identifies the tourism enterprise and
classifies them as primary or secondary.
• Primary enterprise includes; travel and tour service, land/sea/air
transport service exclusively for tourist use, accommodation
establishments, convention and exhibition organizers, tourism estate
management service, and such other enterprise as may identified by
the secretary, after due with concerned sectors.
• While the rest are classified as secondary type
TOURISM AND TOURISM
PROFESSIONAL
• ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Tourism Professional
• Signed last 2012 by all AMS, a tourism professional is a person who
holds the nationality of an AMS certified by the Tourism Professional
Certification Board (TPCB).
• In the Philippines, the TPCB is the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA).
TOURISM AND TOURISM
PROFESSIONAL
• Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA)
• This government agency was established by Republic Act No. 7796
and signed into law by Pres. Fidel V. Ramos on August 25,1994.
• This enacted to encourage the full participation and mobilization of
the tourism industry, labor division, local government units, and
technical-vocational institution in developing the skills of the country’s
human resource.
• TESDA has promulgated several tourism qualifications in the NC II to IV
levels, based on the Philippines Qualification Framework, and some of
these qualification have been aligned with the ASEAN Mutual
Recognition on Tourism Professional (ASEAN MRA-TP).
TOURISM AND TOURISM
PROFESSIONAL
• Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA)
• This government agency was established by Republic Act No. 7796
and signed into law by Pres. Fidel V. Ramos on August 25,1994.
• This enacted to encourage the full participation and mobilization of
the tourism industry, labor division, local government units, and
technical-vocational institution in developing the skills of the country’s
human resource.
• TESDA has promulgated several tourism qualifications in the NC II to IV
levels, based on the Philippines Qualification Framework, and some of
these qualification have been aligned with the ASEAN Mutual
Recognition on Tourism Professional (ASEAN MRA-TP).
TOURISM AND TOURISM
PROFESSIONAL
• Labor Division
• The ASEAN MRA-TP identified two primary and secondary labor
division. There are 30 job titles in 54 qualifications (Levels 2 to 4,
Diploma and Advanced Diploma) that have been identified from the
242 competency standards in the Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum
(CATC).
• Various Labor Division and Qualification in the CATC
• There are many are many workers in the tourism industry. There are
also many training and educational institution offering tourism and
hospitality related program and a great number of students taking
technical and vocation education and training qualifications or
higher education institution programs.
• Assessment and certification are highly encouraged for individuals to
indicate that their learned competency standards have been
assessed by a third-party agency recognize by the ASEAN.
TOURISM AND TOURISM
PROFESSIONAL
• Various Labor Division and Qualification in the CATC
• The qualification of a tourism professional may be recognized by
other AMS and they will be eligible to work in any AMS provided
that valid tourism competency certificate in a specific tourism
job title as specific in the ASEAN Common Competency
Standards for Tourism Professional (ACCSTP).
• There are many processes in the tourism industry that have been
computerized. However, the uniqueness of the tourism industry is
that most of the service that need to be rendered required an
actual person.
• Personal touch is still needed in many points of service. The
hospitality in tourism is delivers by tourism professionals who work
in the various sectors of tourism.
FEATURES OF CULTURE
• A tourism professional should be aware and liberal in
considering the uniqueness and similarities of their
colleagues and customers in the workplace.
• Professionals must be very understanding, openminded, and does not insist their own culture beliefs
and practices on other people.
DIMENSION OF CULTURE
• Various anthropologists, sociologists, and management professionals have
presented their perspective on culture in the form of the models mentioned
below
•
•
•
•
•
Edward Hall and Mildred Hall Model
Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck Model
Geert Hofstede Model
Fons Trompenaars Model
GLOBE (Globe Leader and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) Project
DIMENSION OF CULTURE
• Edward Hall and Mildred Hall Model
Based on their business experience and numerous qualitative research,
anthropologists Edward Hall and his wife Mildred Hall have defined the six aspects
of culture as follows:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
Time Language
Space Language
Language of Objects
Language of friendship
Agreement Language
Cultures of High and Low Context
DIMENSION OF CULTURE
• Florence Klunckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck Model
• Klunckhohn and Strodbeck put forward six dimensions of culture based on
problems that all societies face.
• Geert Hofstede Model
• It was the first major study in the field of cross-cultural comparative research. The
six well known dimension are:
• Power Distance Index (PDI) main issue is how society deal with inequalities between
individuals.
• Individualism VS. Collectivism (IDV): Individualism refers to loosely connected social
network, Collectivism indicates closely knit social framework.
• Masculinity VS Femininity (MAS):
• Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)
• Long-term Normative Orientation (LTO) VS. Short-term Normative Orientation (STO)
• Indulgence VS. Restraint (IND)
DIMENSION OF CULTURE
• Trompenaars and Hampden Model:
• They categorized culture into seven (7) categories:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Universalism Vs. Particularism
Individualism Vs. Collectivism
Neutral Vs. Emotional
Specific Vs. Diffuse
Achievement Vs. Ascription
Sequential Vs. Synchronous
Inner-directed Vs. Outer Directed
DIMENSION OF CULTURE
• GLOBE (Global Leader and Organizational Behavior
Effectiveness) Project
• International project conducted by R.J. House in 1991 with the help of 170
researchers from 62 countries. It measured 9 dimension of culture:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Performance Orientation
Uncertainty Avoidance
Humane Orientation
Institutional Collectivism
In-group Collectivism
Gender Egalitarianism
Future Orientation
Power Distance
Assertiveness