How to benefit from a multicultural work environment to provide better employee experience

Abstract

This research based thesis is commissioned by a hospitality company situated in the heart of Helsinki. Throughout this thesis, the author will be referring to its commissioner as Hotel X to maintain anonymity of the company. The main objective of this thesis is to help the commissioning company to understand their employees better and be able to evaluate their current strategies and possibly consider changes that could benefit the organization. The author has identified research questions that this thesis aims to answer how multicultural working environment works in a hotel. As well as what works in a multicultural working environment and what does diverse workforce bring into the company. The author decided to limit the research from the perspective of employees of the said company. By doing this, it can have more focus and understand the situation further. The thesis process started in September 2022 and lasted until December 2022. In the theoretical framework, key concepts, chosen theories and background information were tackled study the phenomenon. Firstly, defining what culture really means. Culture as a topic is very wide and has a lot of definition from different context. Also, defining the meaning of diversity and inclusion. How does feeling of belongingness to the team motivates an individual. The author also did research in how motivation of thinking affects how a person presents his or herself. Lastly, the author investigated the benefits and challenges of multicultural workforce. To be able to study the phenomenon, the author chose the approach of qualitative method. She opted for a semi-structured interview to gain better dialougue with the interviewees. The author has chosen two interviewees from each department which are kitchen, restautant – front of the house, and reception, with six interviewees in total. Factors that were considred in choosing the interviewees were their nationality, background, how long they have been working for the company and in which depatment they work at. Interview rounds took four days in total. The results of the interviews revealed that indeed multicultural working environment works well in Hotels. It has been beneficial not only for the commissioning company but as well as for individual growth, learning from each other. During the interviews, there were suggestions for well-functioning working environment such as engaging with employees through conversations, creating a safe space and trust resulting to a better work relation. In this fast-growing world we live in where diverse workforce is becoming the new norm, it is crucial to pay more attention to multicultural management. Taking into consideration everyone’s differences, learning employees’ strengths, and building the work from that. Also, by looking into this, we grow as an individual and we learn to deal with situations in an effective way, without compromising relationship between co-workers. By writing this thesis, the author aspires to raise readers’ interest in the topic of multiculturalism and how to perceive it as something beneficial and enriching to any workplace.