"Since the beginning of Homo sapiens some 500,000 years ago (the estimates keep changing), the world population has diversified in three ways: in genes, in languages, and in cultures." (Hofstede p3). "It makes you question why we do things which we wouldn't" question before, suddenly in such a different setting our accepted ways of doing things don't make nearly as much sense." (Russia Article p270).
Cultural diversity, now more than ever is a topic of great interest. With the integration of international economic activity the requirements for goods and services are increasing and alongside those, the requirements for people. With increasing numbers of hotel mergers and management lease by large corporations, in conjunction with an already well-developed western corporate culture, it seems like globalization hit the hospitality industry with all its might. .
Hotels, much like any business, are intended to generate either a return on investment or a return on asset. In order for a hotel to be profitable proper management must take place, in some places however, cultural difficulties arise due to ethnocentrism ("exaggerated tendency to think the characteristics of one's own group or race superior to those of other groups or races" Hofstede p17). Ethnocentrism could appear both on the managerial aspect of running hotels or on the operational aspect (non-managerial staff). In order to solve issues such as the latter, corporations had to enlist the services of transitional managers, those who have the capability to be leaders within the limitations of the culture the work in. Transitional managers, however, encounter more difficulties on individual levels, and must be able to think on their feet. .
Staff behavior changes according to their individual cultures and according to the culture of the country they work in. for example, an American working in Russia cannot expect to be given the same amount of information as he would be given in the US, so he must become more interrogative and less diplomatic in his relations with the other employees.
