Developing effective communication strategies for the ...

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Developing effective communication strategies for the Spanish and Haitian-Creole-speaking workforce in hotel companies

Effective communication strategies 335

Po-Ju Chen and Fevzi Okumus Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

Nan Hua C.N. Hilton College, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA, and

Khaldoon (Khal) Nusair Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA Abstract Purpose – The aim of this study is to explore effective communication strategies for Spanish-speaking and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in hotel companies. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was employed. Three employee, focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews with 12 managers were conducted in a resort hotel in Orlando to elicit critical factors related to effective communication strategies with Spanish-speaking and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees. Findings – It was found that the case study company mainly communicated with its employees through daily meetings, daily written information (e.g. hot sheets), wall postings, e-mails, and periodic monthly/quarterly meetings. It was found that bilingual employees often worked as unpaid translators and assisted their colleagues. Spanish and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees felt that not being proficient in English hindered their promotion opportunities. Differences were observed among English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in terms of style of communication. Some native-speaking employees seemed to refrain from communicating with non-English-speaking employees unless they communicated in English. Haitian-Creole-speaking employees spoke to other employees about only work-related issues. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies looking into communication strategies and challenges for Spanish and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in hotel companies. Keywords Communication, Cross-cultural, Hospitality, Spanish language, Haitian-Creole Paper type Research paper

Introduction The critical role of human resources management in hotel organizations is manifested by Enz and Siguaw (2009, p. 48), “No hotel can have excellent operations without excellent employees and that requires excellent human-resources practices.” Supporting this, Okumus (2008) further stated that employees are one of the most

Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes Vol. 3 No. 4, 2011 pp. 335-353 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1755-4217 DOI 10.1108/17554211111162453

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important sources of sustainable competitive advantage in hospitality companies, and these companies, therefore, need to develop and offer excellent human resources management strategies if they are to prosper. Closely related to this statement, effective communication with employees is a key requirement for developing and maintaining successful human resource management practices in hotel companies. Therefore, it is vital for a hotel to communicate effectively to its employees about its mission, vision, and objectives, rendering a better understanding of expectations regarding performance and productivity (Asree et al., 2010). Effective communication strategies involve aligning employees via formal organizational boundaries and diverse ways in which employees and managers can communicate and organize meaning with respect to their work. One of the major communication challenges in hotel companies is the need to be able to communicate with a diverse workforce from various cross-cultural backgrounds (Taylor and Finley, 2010). Effectively communicating with a diverse workforce requires an understanding of the individual as well as her/his respective culture. Such an understanding is crucial to effectively managing employees and meeting customer expectations (Hofstede, 1994). Given this, the challenge then is to identify those factors that can facilitate and inhibit communication among individuals from different cultural backgrounds (Alder, 1986). In order to meet this challenge, managers should be able to identify the unique patterns of inter-cultural communication within diverse groups of employees. Understanding the perceptions of effective communication strategies ensures the messaged conveyed with different languages (Welch and Welch, 2008) as well as the resulting behaviors, including commitment to the organization (Willamson et al., 2009). Therefore, deploying good communication practices in an organization with a culturally diverse workforce can positively impact the performance of employees and the organization. An in-depth literature review revealed that previous research on cross-cultural communication in hotel companies is limited. Given this, this study aims to investigate effective communication strategies for Spanish-speaking and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in hotel companies. Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the USA. According to the US Department of Labor (2010), one of every three new members of the workforce is either a Hispanic or a Spanish-speaking employee. Haitian immigrants are estimated to be over 500,000 in the USA (US Census Bureau, 2007). Also, in the state of Florida, Haitian-Creole-speaking hospitality employees are one of the important workforce sources in the hospitality industry. Although Spanish-speaking and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees comprise a large percentage of the hospitality industry workforce, a very high majority of them work in frontline positions, with very few occupying managerial positions. This study aims to investigate how hotel companies communicate with their Spanish-speaking and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees, the type of communication challenges that these employees face, and how hotel companies can improve their communication practices with Spanish and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees. The study first provides a brief literature review on communicating with employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. Next, the research methodology employed for this study is explained, and the research findings are presented. Finally, the paper discusses the research findings and offers some conclusions and recommendations.

Communication with employees from diverse cultures National culture and cross-cultural dimensions Hofstede (1984, p. 21) defined culture as the “collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another”. Hofstede (1991) further noted that the “values, beliefs, assumptions, expectations, attitudes and behaviors” of individuals are part of a collective national character resulting from a cultural mental programming. In support of this statement, Tayeb (1988) emphasized the role of culture in shaping behavior of employees in organizations including communication practices. According to Newman and Nollen (1996, p. 755), “national culture is the central organizing principle of employees’ understanding of work, their approach to it, and the way in which they expect to be treated”. Newman and Nollen (1996) further note that national culture implies that one way of acting or one set of outcomes is preferable to another. When management practices, including communication strategies, are inconsistent with these values, employees may be dissatisfied, distracted, and uncommitted. Subsequently, they may not be willing to perform their duties. Management practices that reinforce cross-cultural issues are more likely to yield predicable behavior (Wright and Mischel, 1987), self-efficacy (Earley, 1994), and high performance (Earley, 1994), because congruent management practices are consistent with existing behavioral expectations and routines that transcend the workplace. For example, in a study of airline employees by Kim and Lee (2009), it was found employees’ service behaviors differed depending upon passengers’ nationality (Kim and Lee, 2009). Hofstede (1983, 1991) developed five cultural dimensions: individualism versus collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus feminity, and long- versus short-term orientation. Each is briefly discussed below: (1) Individualism versus collectivism. The former emphasizes the individual’s goals, whereas collectivistic cultures stress the group’s goals and put more emphasis on common interests, traditions, and the avoidance of “loss of face”. Those from individualistic cultures (e.g. Americans) prefer direct communication they perceive is self-relevant, direct and to the point. Good communication is often measured in terms of “getting what you want”. Those from collectivistic cultures (e.g. Latin Americans) generally regard harmony and conflict avoidance as paramount. Dissent and disagreements must be expressed with subtleness and nuance to minimize confrontation and prevent embarrassment and humiliation so the group can continue to reach future organizational objectives. (2) Power distance. This implies the degree to which societies accept inequality as being natural and existential, which is the case in cultures with a larger power distance. High power-distance cultures (such as those based on caste systems or other forms of socio-economic standing) accept authoritarian superior/subordinate type relationships, while lower power-distance cultures (e.g. USA) expect relationships to be more personal and informal. (3) Uncertainty avoidance. Cultures with a larger extent of uncertainty avoidance may have many formal rules (behavioral codes) and stress the importance of cultural values. These societies with high uncertainty avoidance can be aggressive, emotional, and intolerant. Communications with employees from


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high uncertainty avoidance cultures (e.g. Latin Americans) will be more effective to provide rule, regulations, and specific guidelines. However, for the low uncertainty avoidance cultures (e.g. Americans), communications strategies are more effective to be flexible and allow employees to execute tasks their own way. (4) Masculine versus feminine. Cultures have a clear division of roles between the genders, while feminine cultures stress the equality of sex roles. In the former, men are expected to be assertive, ambitious, and competitive. Communication styles with employees from high-masculinity cultures (e.g. USA) will be more effective is it is direct and unemotional. However, communicating with employees from feminine cultures (e.g. Spanish-speaking employees) may prefer small talk while building comfortable relationships. This is a way of conveying management is interested in their lives, not just business. (5) Long- versus short-term orientation. Values associated with long-term orientation are thrift and perseverance; values associated with short-term orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and “saving face” (Hofstede, 2001). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are widely used to explain different phenomenon in a variety of hospitality and tourism research settings, including tourist motivation (You et al. 2001), travel decision making (Money and Crotts, 2003), evaluations of travel services (Crotts and Erdmann, 2000), guest-host interaction (Reisinger and Turner, 2002a, b), travel risk perceptions (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2006), hotel managers’ strategy (Ayoun and Moreo, 2008), hotel management (Jogaratnam and Tse, 2006), managerial job satisfaction (Lam et al. 2001), employees’ attitude in providing service (Tsang, 2011), employees’ perception of organization trust (Chathoth et al., 2011), airline employees’ service behavior (Kim and Lee, 2009), hospitality work and life balance (Hsieh and Lin, 2010), work value (White, 2006), employee empowerment (Fock et al. 2010), hotel employees’ job outcome (Øgaard, 2006), and complaining (Ekiz and Au, 2011). However, there seems to be limited empirical research on communication practices among, and with, employees from diverse cultural backgrounds in hospitality companies. High- and low-context cultures Culture has also been examined in terms of how individuals and society communicate based on message content. According to Hall (1976), context refers to the information and knowledge conveyed in the communication. Hall (1976) went on to classify countries as high- and low-context culture. In the high-context culture, communication requires more than simply a verbal or written message. The message also relies on various non-verbal and contextual cues that convey information the recipient uses to “read between the lines”, Hall (1998) stated that “high context communication is one in which most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message”. The focus is relationships and indirect communication. According to Morden (1999), Africans, Arabs, Central Europeans, Chinese, Indians, Italians, French, Japanese, Latin Americans, Spanish, and Southeast Asians are considered high-context cultures. On the contrary, in low-context cultures, “the mass of the information is vested in the explicit code” (Hall, 2000, p. 61). In other words, “the message itself means everything”

(p. 87) as meaning is expressed precisely by the words themselves (Gong, 2009, p. 87), leaving very little need to “read between the lines”. According to Morden (1999), Americans, Australians, British, Canadians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and most European countries engage in low-context communications. In this type of communication, listeners must hear the complete set of words that make up the message, including the background information before understanding the context of a conversation. For an organization to effectively communicate with employees from the low-context country, e.g. English-speaking American employees, management has to ensure all information is direct and specified in the message. In cross-cultural communication between these two types of cultures, without understanding the differences, misunderstanding and frustration may occur (Harris and Moran, 2000). Individuals from high-context cultures may perceive low-context culture counterparts as providing more information than necessary. Individuals from low-context cultures may sense the high-context culture individual to be impatient. This conflict arises because high-context cultures value patience and empathy, while low-context cultures value straight talk, assertiveness, and honesty (Stewart et al., 2001). In their study of culture on employee preferences, Newburry and Yakova (2006) found employees from high-context culture prefer standardization in an international public relation firm. For an organization to communicate effectively with employees from high-context culture (i.e. Spanish-speaking employees), the interpersonal relationships have to be established. The communication has to not only ensure key information is conveyed, but also ensure the positive relationships among employees as well as between employees and managers. High-context communication involves emotions and close relationships. Low-context interactions use the logical part of the brain and are less personal (Hall, 1998). Low-context cultures (e.g. USA) rely more on content rather than on context. They give value to the written word rather than oral statements. High-context cultures (e.g. Spanish-speaking employees) rely heavily on non-verbal signs and prefer indirectness, politeness, and close relationships. Cultural intelligence and communicating with employees from diverse backgrounds Cultural diversity affects individuals in the workplace and affects both internal and external environment faced by people at work. Therefore, cultural intelligence is essential in facilitating effective cross-cultural adjustment. Cultural intelligence is defined as a person’s capability for successful adaptation to new cultural settings that is for unfamiliar settings attributable to cultural context (Early et al., 2006). Earley et al. (2006) identified the three key elements: cultural strategic thinking (what an individual thinks and how she/he solves problems), motivation (whether or not this person is energized and persistent in her/his actions), and behavior (whether this person can act in certain way). These elements are required for individuals to interact efficiently in multiple cultures (Triandis, 2006). That is, the ability to interact outside one’s own culture requires competency to connect a set of behaviors that are more appropriate to foreign cultural values and attitudes (Peterson, 2004). Harris and Morgan (2000) indicated that cultural factors, including employees from diverse culture backgrounds, impact the communication process. Inter-cultural communication is the presence of at least two or more individuals who are culturally different from each other (Lusing and Loester, 1998). Critical factors include the value orientations, preferred communication codes, role expectations, and perceived role of


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social relationship. Policies and regulations related to ensuring the information is available for employees and management encourages a sense of belonging, including better understanding of organizational values. As discussed above, communicating with people from diverse cultures can be challenging. This is because national cultures frame how people think, view, hear, and interpret the world. One word, gesture or image may mean different things to employees from different cultures, even if they can communicate in one language (e.g. English). When different languages are spoken in a workplace, written, verbal, formal or informal communications have to be translated. However, in such cases, misunderstandings and communication problems may surface. Methodology An exploratory case study approach was employed for this study (Yin, 2003). The fieldwork was completed in four overlapping phases: (1) developing research questions based on a literature review; (2) collecting empirical data through focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews; (3) analyzing qualitative data; and (4) identifying themes and patterns. First, the authors conducted a literature review on cross-cultural communication strategies and challenges. However, literature in this area was found to be limited, especially in cross-cultural communication in hospitality organizations. Based on the literature review, the authors developed three main research questions for the focus group and semi-structured interviews. They were: RQ1. How do hotel companies communicate with employees from diverse backgrounds? RQ2. What are the challenges/problems related to communicating with employees from diverse backgrounds? RQ3. How can these communication challenges/problems be overcome? Next, the researchers approached several hotel companies in Orlando, Florida. One of the hotels agreed to participate in this study and gave the researchers full research access (Okumus et al., 2007) to their company for the research project. The participating company is a family-oriented resort hotel in Orlando, Florida. The major market segment targeted by this hotel is families, so the on-site workforce shrinks and expands with the school year. At the time of the fieldwork, the resort hotel employed 629 employees and aimed to employ 700 by the peak season. Of those employees, approximately 200 were Spanish speaking and 50 were Creole speaking. First, three focus group interviews were conducted with participants who were speaking Spanish, Haitian-Creole, and English. The objective was to generate a list of employee perceived effective communication strategy attributes as well as the challenges and problems related to communicating with employees from different cultures. Focus groups were deemed appropriate to elicit information pertaining to communication experiences with co-workers. The focus group interviews

were conducted at the training conference room in the human resources office of this hotel company. A focus group protocol was developed and followed to guide the discussions. Participants were asked to provide information about the best and least effective communication strategies employed in this resort hotel. They were asked to provide detailed information describing what strategies were used, those involved, and the results. The focus was to identify, from collective discussions with employees, the directional flow of communication, the relationships between senders and receivers, the information content exchanged, impact on employee performance, and unit productivity. Furthermore, the research team engaged participants to provide suggestions for improving communication effectiveness. The focus groups were conducted over the course of three days. Three focus groups were established, with each one focusing on a different language: Spanish, Creole, and English. The facilitator of each focus group interview was bilingual and also a native speaker in the respective language. Each of the focus group meetings lasted from one to two hours. The discussions were tape-recorded with field notes taken. Flip charts tracking the group discussions were used during the meetings to remind participants what had been discussed. After addressing the discussion questions, the research team placed each flip chart with summarized discussion information on the conference room bulletin board for participants to highlight what had been addressed. Focus group interview tapes were later transcribed verbatim into the respective language. Later, the focus group transcripts from Spanish and Haitian-Creole were translated into English by the focus group facilitator. After completing focus group interviews, the research team carried out a series of interviews with managers in the case study hotel. The objective of these semi-structured interviews was to gain an understanding of the effectiveness of the communication strategies and challenges for managers when communicating with Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees. In order to thoroughly explore the effectiveness of the communication strategies, the theory of elaboration qualitative approach was adopted. The theory of elaboration “resulted in extensions to theory in cases where preexisting conceptual ideas or a preliminary model drives the study’s design” (Lee et al., 1999, p. 164). This was used to guide the data collection and analysis for this study. The research team which conducted the one-on-one manager interviews at the resort hotel performed a total of 12 interviews with managers. An interview protocol with semi-structured questions was followed to probe information related to communication strategies implemented in the resort hotel for each of the 12 interview participants. Three sources of data were analyzed to reveal effective communication strategies with the Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees. They were field notes, company communications strategies, and tape-recorded data focus groups and manager interviews. Content analysis on these three sets of data revealed research findings under three closely interrelated areas: (1) how the case study hotel communicated with its employees from diverse backgrounds; (2) communication/cultural barriers and challenges faced; and (3) how the case study hotel could improve its communication practices.


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Findings Based on the analysis of data from focus group meetings and manager interviews, four areas were determined to be relevant to this case study hotel. They are: (1) communication practices; (2) challenges and barriers; (3) suggestions to improve communication practices; and (4) communication themes. Communication practices According to the research findings, the participant hotel company communicated with its employees through daily meetings (in-service meetings), hot sheets, company newsletter, e-mails, postings, formal departmental meetings, and corporate financial meetings. English- as well as Spanish/Creole-speaking employees viewed their daily (in-service or morning) meetings as highly useful. These meetings provided them with appropriate information to complete their daily tasks. This type of communication was very important for employees who did not use e-mail. The hotel company also produced a daily one-page newsletter called Hot Sheet which provided information about check-in and check-out numbers, VIP guests, daily events, weather forecast, pool hours, etc. According to the research findings, most employees found the hot sheet to be particularly useful. It was viewed as a quick and convenient way to get information. However, it was also noted that the daily hot sheet was produced only in English. The case study company also produced a company newsletter, the Splatter Chatter, periodically, and the Spanish-speaking focus group participants particularly noted that employees enjoy being recognized for special accomplishments such as service anniversaries with the company. The housekeeping department used an internal communication technology using Nextel push-to-talk devices. Employees from the housekeeping department noted that it was very effective in terms of communicating among housekeeping manager(s), supervisors, and employees. However, it was noted that only English was allowed when communicating via the Nextel devices, which seemed to create some challenges for non-English-speaking employees. The case study company used e-mail to communicate with employees. However, e-mail communications received mixed reviews. Many employees preferred e-mail because it is easy to receive and can be read when convenient. However, it was observed that frontline employees from older generations, who were not fluent in English and also those who were not technology savvy, did not find e-mail to be an effective mode of communication. Younger employees preferred e-mail for convenience and readiness. A high majority of Haitian employees participating in focus group interviews indicated they did not use e-mail. They claimed that e-mailing and other written communication took too long in urgent situations. Wall postings, job descriptions, and safety information in employee areas, which were mainly in English, were seen as common sense but a necessary reminder. Such information posted on the walls helped employees keep in touch with the rest of the hotel. One employee stated that “without such postings, it would be difficult for employees to know what was happening outside of their departments.” Spanish-speaking employees agreed that these posting catch their attention and

provide useful information about the weekly occurrences. When the research findings were shared with hotel managers, some of them were surprised to learn that employees do pay attention and read wall postings and task descriptions. Formal meetings were viewed as essential, especially when the situation needed to be dealt with quickly. Any major information that needed to be communicated was done through meetings at the beginning of shifts. The Spanish- and Creole-speaking employees mentioned that some of their co-workers would leave some meetings without a full understanding of the topic because it was only presented in English, and they felt uncomfortable asking for clarification. They would often ask co-workers for a translation afterwards. However, managers also expected or requested employees to “ask someone that speaks the other language, to explain in detail whatever it was that the person did not understand” (Spanish Focus Group). The Creole-speaking employees who could read in English preferred written messages, but those who could just speak English, and could not read preferred meetings. In addition, the handouts provided during these meetings were in English and even though some Hispanic employees could speak English, not all of them could read English. These documents were either taken to a fellow employee or taken home to family members for translation. Corporate financial meetings (411 meetings) were also mentioned in focus group interviews and in interviews with managers. While employees saw value in the 411 meetings (a quarterly meeting discussing the company’s performance and financial status) not all employees seemed motivated to attend. Some employees found the timing of these meetings to be inconvenient. For example, employees during the English focus group interview noted that they would have “other things that [they] could be doing besides sitting in a room.” It was suggested a summary of the meeting should be e-mailed to employees. To summarize, the study revealed employees from the three subject cultural groups perceived the communication practices of the case study hotel company differently. These differences are presented in Table I. For English-speaking employees, the communication mediums were, for the most part, as one might suspect, adequate. However, some English-speaking employees

Communication practice

English-speaking employees

Daily meetings Daily hot sheet

Effective Somewhat appreciated

Company newsletter (Splatter chatter) Push-to-talk devices (Nextel ) E-mail Wall postings Formal meetings Corporate financial meetings (411 meetings)


Spanish/Creole-speaking employees

Effective but need help with translation Useful, but difficult to understand due to language barriers Useful Well received by Spanish-speaking employees Effective Exclusionary due to English-only policy Popular among younger Not embraced due to language barriers generation Effective Effective Effective Useful but language barriers limited effectiveness Content valuable, format Content valuable but language limited inefficient effectiveness

Table I. Communication practices perceived by English-speaking employees and Spanish/Creole-speaking employees

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felt too much effort was spent trying to accommodate the non-English-speaking employees (i.e. they felt their co-workers should “learn English”). As for non-English-speaking employees (i.e. Spanish and Creole-speaking employees), English-based verbal and written communication mediums were not as effective. Owing to various degrees of English proficiency, inherent language barriers were identified. As a result, these employee groups often relied on co-workers to translate messages, to take on unofficial responsibility for answering phones, interacting with guests and management, etc. The inconsistency in the education level of Haitian employees was reflected in the preferences expressed for the various communication methods used at the hotel. Those able to read English prefer written messages while those who speak English preferred meetings. Several Creole-speaking employees agreed that being able to speak and read English made it easier to perform their job duties. Challenges and barriers Communication with co-workers. It was found that native English-speaking employees had fewer challenges in communicating with co-workers. However, it was claimed that some native English-speaking employees might refuse to communicate with non-native English-speaking employees unless they tried to communicate in English. For the most part, they preferred that employees who live in the USA should learn how to speak English. The findings further suggested that non-native speakers often seek help from other colleagues who can read, speak, and write in English. Some bilingual employees in each department worked as unpaid translators for their colleagues. Some native English-speaking employees were often asked to fill out forms or write reports for non-native-speaking employees. Some employees accepted this as part of their job, although it was neither written in their job descriptions nor were they compensated for providing the service. Creole-speaking employees felt conversations with non-Creole-speaking co-workers was often limited to topics related to the workplace. This finding indicated language barrier, combined with cultural differences curtailed bonding between these two groups of employees. In addition to less personal workplace relationships, Creole-speaking employees relied on a network of translators to spread information. They knew who could speak and understand English and who could not. So when the phone rang, it would be answered by a fellow Haitian who could speak and understand English. Those who could read English would pass along information to those who could not. The inconsistency in the education level of Haitian employees meant they preferred various methods of communication. Those who could read English preferred written messages, while those who could speak English preferred meetings. Several Creole-speaking Haitian employees agreed that English proficiency made it easier to perform the job. In fact, one employee stated that he would not accept a promotion because his communication skills might hinder his job performance, even though he had all the other skills to perform the job. It was interesting to note that Spanish-speaking employees preferred to be asked if they spoke Spanish before conversing in Spanish. One employee stated “it is OK to speak in Spanish, but please ask first because I feel it is because of my color.” Spanish-speaking employees helped each other understand English communications whether through meetings or written wall posts. Hispanic employees also

revealed that Spanish- and Creole-speaking employees often attempted to help each other understand both English and their respective languages. One employee stated: In my position there are many Haitians who work there and I communicate with them in the way they point out. [When] I speak to them, they speak to me in English and I understand many things in English. But many things that I do not understand they point them out to me [. . .] and so I communicate with them (Spanish Focus Group).

It was understood that hand signals and body language were often used to communicate with each other when they could not communicate in English. Despite this language barrier, the housekeeping department utilized a system called 10-4. All employees were required to greet each other and customers as a rule, even if they did not share a common language. During focus group interviews, this was stated as a good way of communicating with customers and other employees. Finally, several employees noted that limited English proficiency hindered promotion opportunities even though they might possess the other skills required to perform the job. Communicating with managers. The focus group interviews revealed English-speaking employees communicated with their managers in the same fashion they communicate with co-workers. English-speaking employees indicated “manager availability” was critical to their communication and performance at the case study hotel. For example, employees assigned to the pool area revealed they experienced trouble getting hold of a manager when needed, so they learned to deal with situations as necessary. A lifeguard stated “You really just have to use what you know.” Creole-speaking employees noted that one-on-one meetings with managers became useless when English proficiency was a barrier. In such cases, a translator was a must or the employee simply would not understand anything discussed. Although there was no formal translator in the company, someone always took the roll at meetings for the rest of the Creole-speaking employees. In addition, as there were no Creole-speaking managers, the Haitian employees felt unrepresented and misunderstood. During the Haitian-Creole focus group interview, a Haitian employee stated: We would like to have a Haitian leader in place to better understand our needs. Not saying that they need to be there to defend our employees on the front line, but sometimes there are conversations that occur at certain levels that can use the help of a Haitian manager.

Creole-speaking employees saw risk in treating managers like friends. One Haitian employee believed that making the wrong comment in front of a manager could result in job loss. The Spanish-speaking focus group agreed that it depends on who the manager is and what their relationship with them is like. Regarding meetings with managers, Spanish-speaking employees mentioned some co-workers would leave meetings without a full understanding of the topic because it was only presented in English and they felt uncomfortable publicly asking for clarification. They tended to ask co-workers for translation afterwards. Based on the focus group discussion, Spanish-speaking employees perceived their managers expect employees to “ask someone that speaks the other language, to explain in detail whatever it was that the person didn’t understand.” In addition, handouts provided during meetings were in English. Even though some


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Hispanic employees can speak English, not all can read it. As a result, meeting handouts were either taken to a fellow employee or home to family members for translation. Communicating with customers. If and when employees faced issues with customers, they tried to solve such issues by themselves, especially if a manager was unreachable. For example, one employee stated that in such cases “You really just have to use what you know.” Customers were dealt with on an individual basis, limiting the usefulness of scripts. If customers acted more relaxed, then employees followed suit and relaxed as well. Birthday stamps and similar items helped employees know how to greet children, which in turn made parents happy. If not approached by a customer, employees were encouraged to ask questions such as “Can I help you?” However, if an employee typically did not engage in customer contact, they refrained from interactions unless the customer looked confused or lost. Employees knew that customers “prefer that you go to the room so they can associate the face with a name”. It was understood that all employees regardless of their cultural background tried to make their interactions with customers more personable. On the other hand, some employees referred to dealing with aggressive customers. For example, one employee stated that he had been “pushed and knocked up against walls” while on lifeguard duty. Another employee mentioned having customers throw things at lifeguards after being reprimanded for not following pool rules. In relation to such cases, it was raised that when they called their supervisors and managers, some managers took the side of customers rather than following company’s safety rules. It was also mentioned that there would not be consistency among managers in terms of how they handle customer complaints. There were complaints that managers resolved customer complaints differently rather than following company rules. The research findings revealed that non-native English-speaking employees often knew some basic words and greetings in different languages. Employees also stated that they use body language and gestures to understand and help guests’ needs. If an employee could not communicate with a guest, she/he would find another employee who could help the guest. Suggestions to improve communication practices During the focus group interviews and also when interviewing managers, it was asked how communication practices with Spanish- and Creole-speaking employees could be improved in the case study company. Several recommendations emerged from the research findings, which are explained below: . Translators. Both managers and employees acknowledged the need for translators for written and verbal communication. It was further suggested that those employees act as translators should be formally acknowledged and rewarded for their efforts. . Postings/scripts. As postings and scripts were only available in English, they were not utilized by all employees. It was suggested these materials be translated into Spanish and Creole as well. . E-mail. This mode of communication received mixed reviews. However, it was observed that many employees used and preferred e-mails.

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English language classes. Both managers and employees suggested language classes paid for by the hotel would improve employees’ satisfaction and performance. However, there were mixed comments about when and how these classes should take place (before or after shift, days, online or face to face). Cross-cultural classes. Employees indicated that classes on cross-cultural issues would be helpful to enhance guest services and to improve interactions with co-workers from other cultural backgrounds. However, managers had mixed reviews on this due to their possible cost. Communication classes. Some employees recommended the company should organize written communication classes in all languages, not just English. Telecommunications (Nextel, phone, etc.). Managers and non-English-speaking employees pointed out the challenge of requiring English when using Nextel devices. It was recommended that Spanish and Creole be permitted when using Nextel devices, or that messages be translated/repeated in different languages. Frequently used phrases. Managers praised the use of a “cheat sheet” containing common phrases in all three languages. However, there were concerns that cheat sheets might be perceived negatively by guests. Consistency among managers. Employees and managers discussed a need for consistency among managers when resolving issues related to employees and guests. Employees were occasionally upset by the inconsistent ways managers handled similar issues. It was also noted that managers needed to back up employees conflicts between employees and guests arose, especially if the employee was following company policy. Cultural representation. It was suggested that promoting Spanish- and Creole-speaking managers would help the hotel company and employees by enhancing communication practices and resolving communication challenges. More communication and follow-up. Both employees and managers admitted, like any other company, the case study hotel faced communication problems/challenges. They acknowledged they needed to communicate more. Very much related to this issue, it was also emphasized that managers and employees need not only to communicate more, but also need to follow-up with issues related to previous requests and communications.

Communication themes Eight themes emerged from the employee-focus groups and manager interviews data: these themes are described in Table II. Discussion and conclusions The exploratory study intended to investigate effective communication strategies for Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in hotel companies. A case study approach was employed and data were collected from a resort hotel in Orlando, Florida through focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews. It was found that the case study company mainly communicated with its employees through daily meetings, daily written information (e.g. hot sheets), wall postings, e-mails, and periodic monthly/quarterly meetings. It was found that bilingual employees often worked as


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Definitions

Supervisory communication

Employee perception of communication with their supervisor and managers within the organization Various effective communication strategies and policies implemented in the organization with a focus on the quality of the media Information about the organization as a whole The degree to which individuals receive information about their immediate work environment The upward and downward communication with subordinates The role of English competency to the effective communication

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Table II. Communication themes

Organizational perspective Organizational integration Subordinate communication Language competency communication Customer service communication Cross-cultural communication

The customer services-related communication at workplace Communicating with employees and guests from diverse cultures

unpaid translators to assist colleagues. Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees felt limited English proficiency hindered promotion opportunities. Differences were observed among English-, Spanish-, and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in terms of communication style. Some native-speaking employees seemed to refrain from communicating with non-English-speaking employees unless they communicated in English. Haitian-Creole-speaking employees noted they would only speak to other employees about work-related issues. Several conclusions and recommendations can be drawn from the research findings. It was apparent the case study company used multiple strategies to communicate with employees. They included daily (morning or pre-shift) meetings, hot sheets, e-mail, company newsletter, postings, and department meetings. However, a closer analysis of the research findings suggests that the case study company did not undertake extra efforts to better understand and communicate with Spanish- and Haitian-Creolespeaking employees. Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees faced more communication challenges when interacting and communicating with colleagues, managers, and guests. English-speaking employees may also face some of the communication challenges and barriers found in this study. In other words, some of the challenges and barriers found in this study are not only related to cross-cultural communication, but may very well be related to overall communication issues in an organization. As noted above, in order to improve communication practices, more communication and follow-ups with employees were suggested. Furthermore, a need for translators was identified. Providing hotel-sponsored English and cross-cultural issues classes would also be helpful. Not only would this improve communications within the business organization but it would also enhance guest services and improve interactions with co-workers from other cultural backgrounds. It also appears that different communication strategies based on employee nationality, age, education, and department be utilized. It is also critical to enhance the cultural representation in management positions and/or increasing the number of Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking managers. This would not only serve to improve

communications between management and employees, but it would also reduce the sense of cultural separation. Based on the research findings, eight themes were identified. They are media quality, supervisory communication, organizational integration, subordinate communication, English competency communication, customer service communication, and cross-cultural communication. The first five themes are consistent with Downs and Hazen (1977) communication satisfaction questionnaire, while the last three themes are new items resulting from this study. Each of these themes is briefly described and discussed below. Media quality refers to various effective communication strategies implemented by the case study company with a focus on the quality of the media. Among the items noted were daily meetings, hot sheets, wall postings, meetings, e-mail, and the company newsletter. Supervisory communication refers to the employees’ perceptions of communication with their supervisor and managers within the organization. This theme correlates to the findings of Downs and Hazen (1997). For example, Spanish-speaking employees felt more comfortable interacting with supervisors and managers in an informal and friendly manner. Haitian-Creole-speaking employees, however, expressed concerns with mixing friendship and professional relationships. However, both groups of employees expressed a desire for more support from management, especially pertaining to conflict resolution with guests. Organizational perspective is related to information about the organization as a whole through formal department meetings, corporate financial meetings and postings. Organizational integration represents the degree to which individuals receive information about their immediate work environment which as identified by Downs and Hazen (1977). For example, the housekeeping department utilized a system called 10-4. This was viewed as an effective means of integrating organizational expectations to individual work assignments. All employees were required to greet each other and customers as a rule even if they did not share a common language. Subordinate communication theme refers to upward and downward communication with subordinates. Employees and managers recommended more communication be provided using different modes to improve efficacy. Language competency communication refers to English competency which emerged as a new theme from the research findings. Both managers and employees suggested language classes paid for by the hotel would improve employee satisfaction and performance. Managers acknowledged the need for translators for written and verbal communication. English scripts were not utilized by all employees due to efficiency and language barriers. Haitian-Creole-speaking employees noted that one-on-one meetings were not effective if the employee was not proficient in English. The customer service communication theme emphasizes customer services-related workplace communications. Managers praised the use of “frequently used phrases” cheat sheets containing common phrases in all three languages. Backing up employees was recommended when conflicts between employees and guests arose. The cross-cultural communication theme refers to communicating with employees and guests from diverse cultures. Employees indicated that cultural classes would be helpful to enhance guest services and to interact with co-workers from other cultural backgrounds. In addition, it was suggested all employees learn some basic words in different languages. One of the findings from the Creole-speaking employees focus


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group is related to the cross-cultural communication. Creole-speaking employees felt that conversation with co-workers from other cultures at work was often limited to topics related to the workplace. It implies that efforts can be placed to enhance employee relationship among fellow co-workers cross-culturally. Activities and social events for employees from diverse cultural backgrounds are to interact with each other. Further assessment on understanding Creole-speaking employees’ workplace behaviors to understand why they were not talking about non-work-related topics is warranted. This is one of the first studies looking into communication strategies and challenges for Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees in hotel companies. It is hoped that the research findings and discussions presented in this study stimulate further research interest into this area. We acknowledge that this study collected data via focus group and semi-structured interviews at a resort hotel in Orlando. Therefore, the study findings may not be generalized to the whole population. Future studies should collect data via other data collection methods. Based on this study, the authors are currently working on to develop a questionnaire to collect quantitative data from Spanish- and Haitian-Creole-speaking employees.

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Corresponding author Po-Ju Chen can be contacted at: [email protected]

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