Leadership strategies for a multicultural work environment in hotels in Helsinki

Abstract

This research focuses on determining what kind of leadership strategies are used in hotels in Helsinki for managing a multicultural work environment. Do the hotels have multicultural leadership strategies on the management level or can some kind of overall strategy be found only at the corporate level? Also, this thesis examines how the strategies are implemented in the everyday work. Furthermore, do the managers think there is need for a more precise multicultural management strategy in order to create a well functioning work environment?

In this thesis, strategy is perceived both as the corporate strategy of an organization and as the operational strategy; tools and methods used in the everyday management. The study was conducted by in-depth interviewing six hotel/general managers in Helsinki. Besides the interviews the results were gathered with a Likert scale questionnaire that tested the multicultural management strategy level in hotels in Helsinki.

Interestingly, the research revealed that most of the hotels did not have a multicultural management strategy and the managers did not see a need for having one. Moreover, the managers saw plenty of positive sides in having a multicultural team and most of the respondents did not experience managing a multicultural work environment challenging. Finally, the results revealed that the level of multicultural management in hotels in Helsinki is high.