Cultural Due Diligence in Hospitality Ventures: A Methodological Approach for Joint Ventures of Local Communities and Companies

360 Pages·2017·5.625 MB·English

by  Nicole Häusler (auth.)

Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management
Nicole Häusler
Cultural Due
Diligence in
Hospitality Ventures
A Methodological Approach for
Joint Ventures of Local Communities
and Companies
Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management
This book series covers all topics relevant in the tourism, hospitality and event
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embracesbooksbothforprofessionalsandscholars,andexplicitlyincludesunder-
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Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/15444
Nicole Ha¨usler
Cultural Due Diligence
in Hospitality Ventures
A Methodological Approach for Joint
Ventures of Local Communities and
Companies
NicoleHa¨usler
HochschulefürnachhaltigeEntwicklung
Eberswalde,Germany
MyanmarResponsibleTourismInstitute
Yangon,Myanmar
ISSN2510-4993 ISSN2510-5000 (electronic)
Tourism,Hospitality&EventManagement
ISBN978-3-319-51336-2 ISBN978-3-319-51337-9 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-51337-9
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Preface
Idecidedtowritethisbook,whichisbasedonaPh.D.thesis,afterIhadworkedasa
consultantonsustainabletourisminAsiaandLatinAmericaformorethan15years.
Itspurposeis tocombinethetheoretical discussion oftourism andpoverty reduc-
tionwithadetailedunderstandingoftheorganisationalcultureofabusiness(inthis
case, a tourism business) and the culture of a local community by applying an
anthropologicalapproachthatinvolvedshort-termfieldresearch.Forthispurpose,
it was necessary to think outside the box, to question old thought patterns and to
discussnewapproaches.
Previousapproachestopovertyalleviationhaverecommended,amongcountless
conceptsandapproaches,thattwoparties,usuallyaprivate-sectorenterpriseanda
local community, ‘do business with each other’, but these approaches ignored the
fact that inmostcases the two parties have different ethnic backgrounds and thus
arelikelytoalsohaveadifferentculturalunderstandingofhowabusinessshould
berun.
Thisresearchcontributestotheknowledgeaboutthisrelationshipbydesigninga
novel, methodological approach to the study of cultural due diligence called
Reflexive Organisational Culture Appraisal (ROCA). The aim of ROCA is to
identify potential areas of cultural conflict and thus to enable parties to achieve a
better cultural fit. This thesis is concerned with the economic effects of tourism.
Joint ventures that address poverty reduction usually involve hospitality ventures
andalocalcommunity.Thesetwopartiesthenstartbusinesstogether—forexam-
ple,byco-managingalodgeorbyofferingculturaltripstothecommunityinorder
toachievefinancialbenefitsandthusawin-winsituationforbothparties.
ROCAisbasedonareviewofanextensivebodyofliteraturecoveringavariety
oftechniquesandapproachestoqualitativeresearch.Withinthecasestudyforthis
thesis, a review was conducted to provide a cursory analysis of different ways of
assessing organisational and community cultures, in particular for research based
onshort-termcontracts(32–53workdays,includingpreparation,abreakduringthe
fieldwork and subsequent reporting). A preliminary framework was developed,
which was then tested in a village in Northern Thailand that was populated by
v
vi Preface
twoethnicgroups (Lisu andAkha) andthathadbeen hostingalodgeownedbya
Thaicompanyforover15years.
ThecasestudyshowedthatROCAcanbeusedtoanalyseallbutafewaspectsof
organisational and community cultures. Dimensions identified as particularly
important prior to the research were relationship building, hierarchy, conflict
behaviourandtaskperformance.Onetechnicaldimensionthathadtobeaddedto
theframeworkafterthecasestudywasanunderstandingofauthenticityandculture
changeamongthelocalvillagersandattheparentcompany.Thisdimensioncanbe
included when studying tourism businesses but not necessarily when examining
otherpracticessuchasagriculture.Theresultsoftheresearchbecameincreasingly
reflexive when faced with the challenge of interpreting ‘multiple realities’ during
andafterthecasestudy.Consequently,aprocessofself-reflectivityinvolvingthree
phases of disentanglement, and including aspects of ‘intuition’, became a major
partoftheROCAframework.ROCAgoesbeyondconventionaltoolkittechniques
by acknowledging that researchers in the field must be self-reflexive; it integrates
criticalreflectiveandsubjective aspectsofqualitativeresearchintoitsframework
and can be applied not only during short-term tourism research but also by those
workinginothereconomicsectorsordevelopmentcooperationthatsupportpoverty
reduction.
Iwouldliketothankeveryonewhoaccompaniedandsupportedmeduringthis
process of research and writing. I’m particularly grateful to my PhD supervisors,
ProfessorXavierFontandProfessorHaroldGoodwin,fortheirvaluablecomments
throughoutthisjourneyand,ofcourse,tothevillagersandtheparentcompanywho
made my case study in Thailand possible in the first place. A very big thank you
goes tomyhusband Martin,who, with his special senseofhumour,has given me
endlessmoralsupportalltheseyears.
This book is dedicated to all my friends and family, with whom I should have
metmuchmoreofteninthepastyears—but,well,sorry,Iwon’tpromisethatwe’ll
see eachothermoreofteninthefuture either,becausethereis stillsomuchmore
thatIhavetolearnanddiscover.
Berlin/Yangon NicoleHa¨usler
March2017
Contents
1 AnalysingCulturalDiversityinApproachesTowardsPoverty
Alleviation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 SustainableDevelopmentandCorporateSustainability. . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 ManagingCulturalDiversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 TheNeedtoThinkoutsidetheBox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.1 TargetGroupandWritingStyle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5 ResearchAimandScopeofStudy. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 11
1.6 OrganisationoftheStudy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 TheUnpackingofCultureWithintheFrameworkofCulturalDue
Diligence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 CharacteristicsandFunctionsofCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1 The‘Difference-orientedCulturalModel’byHansen. . . . 18
2.2.2 FunctionsofCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 SameButDifferent:Ethnic,Indigenous,NationalandCommunity
Cultures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4 CharacteristicsandFunctionsofOrganisationalCulture. . . . . . . . 26
2.4.1 HowisthePrecedingDiscussionRelatedtothe
DevelopmentofCOCA?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.5 ManagingCulturalDiversityinOrganisations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.6 IdentificationofDimensionsandVariablesforAnalysing
OrganisationalandCommunityCultures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.6.1 ComparisonofCommunityandOrganisationalCultures. . . 38
2.7 Conclusion. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . 43
vii
viii Contents
3 OrganisationalCultureandCommunityCultureintheHospitality
Sector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2 OrganisationalCultureintheHospitalitySector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.2.1 TheMeaningof‘Hospitality’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.2.2 OrganisationalCultureandHospitality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.2.3 ManagingCulturalDiversityintheHospitalitySector. . . . 49
3.3 TheInvolvementofLocalCommunitiesintheHospitalitySector
inDevelopingCountries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.4 TheRoleofCommunityCultureinTourismInitiatives. . . . . . . . 55
3.4.1 Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.4.2 SocialCapital. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.4.3 ParticipationSkills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.5 TheRoleofOrganisationalandCommunityCulturesin
HospitalityVenturesofPrivateSectorandLocalCommunities. . . 63
3.6 Conclusion. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . 66
4 Methodology:IdentifyingtheTheoreticalFramework
ofCOCA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 67
4.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2 TheCaseforQualitativeCaseStudyResearch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.3 QualitativeResearchonCulture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.4 QualitativeResearchinTourism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.5 QualitativeResearchonRuralCommunityCulture,with
aFocusonRapidAppraisal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.5.1 RapidAppraisal:OriginandPrinciples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.5.2 FromRapidRuralAppraisaltoParticipatory
Rural/RelaxedAppraisal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.5.3 CorePrinciplesofRA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.5.4 TypologyofParticipationWithinRAandCOCA. . . . . . . 85
4.5.5 QualitativeCaseStudyAnalysisofOrganisational
Culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.6 AnalysisofOrganisationalCultureinHospitalityContext. . . . . . 90
4.7 CombiningOrganisationalandCommunityCultureResearchin
DevelopingCountries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.8 Conclusion. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . 92
5 Methodology:DesigningtheFrameworkforCreativeOrganisational
CultureAppraisal(COCA):ATentativeApproach. . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.2 ThePrincipalActorsofCOCA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.2.1 CommunityandPrivateHospitalityCompany. . . . . . . . . . 99
5.2.2 ResearchTeam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.2.3 RecommendedStructureforTeamsConductingCOCA. . . 101
5.2.4 WillingnesstoWorkandStayinRemoteAreas. . . . . . . . 101
5.2.5 WorkinginaSmallTeam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Contents ix
5.3 TechnicalAspectsofCOCA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.3.1 LengthofResearchintheField. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.3.2 StructuringtheResearchPhases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.3.3 InterviewTopicsfortheParentCompany,Hospitality
VentureandtheCommunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.3.4 ‘OptimalIgnorance’inDataGathering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.3.5 SelectionofTools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.3.6 PurposiveSamplingandSelectionofInterviewees. . . . . . 111
5.3.7 DataExtractionandOn-the-SpotAnalysis. . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.3.8 FeedbackLoop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.4 CorePrinciplesofCOCA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.4.1 CriticalSelf-awarenessoftheTeamMembers. . . . . . . . . . 118
5.4.2 CreativityandFlexibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.4.3 SubjectiveInterpretation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.4.4 Participation,LocalKnowledgeandPower. . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.5 Conclusion. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . 126
6 CulturalContextAnalysisofCaseStudyResearch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.2 SelectionoftheCaseStudy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.3 EthnicCulturesinThailand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3.1 ABriefOverviewofThailand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3.2 TheEthnicGroupsinNorthernThailand. . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3.3 ‘Development’ofEthnicGroupsintheHighlandsin
Thailand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.4 CharacteristicsoftheThai,Lisu,andAkhaCultures. . . . . . . . . . 138
6.4.1 TheThaiCulture:Situating‘Thai-ness’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.4.2 TheLisuCulture:Situating‘Lisu-ness’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.4.3 TheAkhaCulture:Situating‘Akha-ness’. . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.4.4 IdentifyingPotentialAreasofCulturalConflicts. . . . . . . . 157
6.5 EthnicTourisminNorthernThailand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
6.6 TheContextoftheCaseStudyLodgeandtheNeighbouring
Village. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.6.1 TheContextoftheNeighbouringVillage. . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
6.6.2 TheLodge:‘TheGood-FeelingLodge’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.7 Conclusion. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . 169
7 Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.2 TheRelationshipBetweenResearcherandtheResearched. . . . . . 172
7.3 TechnicalAspects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.4 Step12(Reporting):OutputoftheResearch—The‘Non-good
Feeling’Lodge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7.4.1 OrganisationalCultureoftheParentCompany. . . . . . . . . 188
7.4.2 Socio-CulturalContextoftheVillage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
7.4.3 ContextandOrganisationalCultureoftheLodge. . . . . . . 193