Strategy for Tourism
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Unit 3
Culture and
Strategy
Reading
Book
Ch
Tribe, J, (2010) Strategy for Tourism, Goodfellow
Publishers, Oxford.
3
Capon, C. (2008) Understanding Strategic
Management, Prentice Hall: Hemel Hempstead.
5
Tribe, J. (2005) The Economics of Recreation, Leisure
and Tourism, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford.
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Johnson, G., Scholes, K., and Whittington, R. (2008)
Exploring Corporate Strategy, Prentice Hall: Hemel
Hempstead.
5
Objectives
 After studying this chapter and related materials
you should be able to understand:
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Culture, difference and reproduction
Organisational culture
Cultural web
The cultural environment
 and critically evaluate, explain and apply the above
concepts.
Case Study 3: The Walt
Disney Company
 Larry Lynch of the Disney Institute, Walt Disney
World, Florida, explains the role of the WDC
“university” in inducting new staff:
 “… it all begins the day new Cast Members arrive for
orientation at Disney University, the company's internal
training operation. The timing couldn't be better to show
them how our company thinks, to offer concrete examples
of how creativity and innovation have helped us grow, and
to emphasize how our ongoing traditions have been the
steady hand that guides us. Those traditions are pointed
out again when new Cast Members are introduced to their
assigned workplaces. As they learn the culture of the
company, they recognize the traditions in the standard
operating procedures and established norms of their work
areas…”
Culture
“a set of shared values, attitudes, goals, and
practices that characterise a group of
people.”
Organisational Culture
 Organisational culture refers to organisational
beliefs, values and attitudes (Schein, 1985; Martin
and Siehl, 1983).
 It describes out the way things are done in a
particular organisation and forms the basis for the
rules of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
Organisational culture is thus the arbiter of
organisational norms and it therefore acts as a
powerful force in encouraging or frustrating the
emergence of new missions and strategies. This is
particularly so where culture is deeply embedded.
 The term cultural web (Johnson and Scholes 1993)
is a useful device for highlighting the different
strands of an organisation's culture - symbols,
rituals, stories and power, which add up to a
paradigm - an agreed way of going about things.
Mission and Culture
 Cultural variance between countries in which tourism
organisations operate can be understood by reference to
differences in:
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attitudes to authority
attitudes to work and leisure
beliefs including religion and materialism
traditions
pursuit of individual or community goals
definitions of good and bad, worthy and unworthy (the moral and
ethical system)
 sources of status
 Cultural norms are transmitted by and changed by
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the family
education
mass media
the arts
government
Hofstede
 The relationship between national cultures and
organizational cultures has been analysed by
Hofstede & Hofstede (1991) and Hofstede (2001)
and these studies uncovered national and regional
cultural groupings that affect the behaviour of
societies and organizations that work within them.
 Hofstede found five dimensions of culture in his
study of national work related values:
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Low vs. high power distance (PDI)
Individualism vs. collectivism (IDV)
Masculinity vs. femininity (MAS)
Low vs. high uncertainty avoidance (UAI)
Long vs. short term orientation (LTO)
Country Scores for
Hofstede’s Cultural
Dimensions
Reproduction and Path
Dependency
 Cultural reproduction (Bourdieu, 1973) refers to the
way in which culture (including values, attitudes,
goals, and practices) is maintained over time and
transmitted from one generation to the next.
 Acculturation refers to the process by which new
members are inducted into the value systems of a
culture.
 Path dependency occurs when certain decisions and
events create paths or routes into the future and
exert long term effects on subsequent decisions and
events.
The Cultural Web
A cultural web (Johnson et al., 2008) is a useful
device for highlighting the different strands of
an organisation's culture. These include:
symbols
rituals and routines
stories
power structures and organisational
structures
control systems
Cultural Web
Etihad Airways: Different
Culture?
Cultural Types
Miles and Snow (1978) distinguish between defender
types, and prospector types of cultures in organisations.
 Defenders
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Conservative
seek security
Cautious
avoid change
Inflexible
set in their ways
reactive
 Prospectors
 outward-looking
 responsive to
environment
 daring
 opportunistic
 flexible
 adaptive
 proactive
The Cultural Environment
The broad political system within which
entities operate should also be considered as
an important aspect of the cultural
environment. Competing ideologies include:
 Communism
 Democratic Socialism
 Neoliberalism and
 Third Way politics
Review of Key Terms
 Culture: a set of shared values, attitudes, goals, and practices
that characterise a group of people.
 Hofstede: studied the relationship between national cultures
and organizational cultures.
 Ideology: a system of beliefs that directs the policies and
activities of its adherents.
 Cultural reproduction: the way in which culture is maintained
over time and transmitted from one generation to the next.
 Path dependency: when certain decisions and events create
paths or routes into the future and exert long term effects on
subsequent decisions and events.
 Organisational culture: organisational beliefs, values and
attitudes.
 Cultural web: the different strands of an organisation's culture
Discussion Questions
1. Analyse the cultural issues that relate to The Walt
Disney Company in relation to its strategy.
2. Construct a cultural web for a tourism entity of your
choice giving examples of the components.
3. Explain the uses of Hofstede’s dimensions of
culture for understanding the culture of a tourism
entity.
4. What causes reproduction and path dependency?
Explain why these are problems for tourism entities
that you are familiar with.
5. Explain the interrelationship between socialism,
modernization, and traditional culture in China and
its relevance for the study of the culture of tourism
entities.
Exercise: Cultural Difference
Prepare short notes giving:
Advice for tourists coming to country x from
country UK on cultural differences
 Advice for hotel in UK for understanding
cultural differences in visitors from country x
 Advice for UK employees who get a job in the
travel trade in country x
Case Study: New Zealand
Examine the New Zealand
Tourism Strategy for 2015
 Evaluate the appropriateness
of the mission and aims
 Identify the key stakeholders
who influence the mission
 Analyse the sources of
stakeholder power
 What is the relationship
between culture and mission?
NZ Tourism Strategy
Details of the Tourism Strategy for New
Zealand can be found at
http://www.nztourismstrategy.com/files/NZTS
2015%20final.pdf
For lecturer use only:
nz tourism strategy 2015.pdf
Strategy for Tourism
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Unit 3
Culture and
Strategy
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The End