High expatriate turnover: food and beverge director (Steve Lucas) (not enough international experience, communication, training)

-low motivation to work (waterfront director) (two had became alcoholics, one had packed his belongings and left)
-selection process
-cultural differences
-incentives and rewards
Increasing number of guest complaints
Tension between expatriate managers and local staff members
Low employee motivation

Power distance index (PDI): "Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of
organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally."
Cultures that endorse low power distance expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or
democratic.

Individualism (IDV) vs. collectivism: "The degree to which individuals are integrated into groups". In
individualistic societies, the stress is put on personal achievements and individual rights. People are
expected to stand up for themselves and their immediate family, and to choose their own affiliations. In
contrast, in collectivist societies, individuals act predominantly as members of a lifelong and cohesive group
or organization (note: "The word collectivism in this sense has no political meaning: it refers to the group, not
to the state"). People have large extended families, which are used as a protection in exchange for
unquestioning loyalty.

Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI): "a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity". It reflects the
extent to which members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. People in
cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to be more emotional. They try to minimize the occurrence of
unknown and unusual circumstances and to proceed with careful changes step by step planning and by
implementing rules, laws and regulations. In contrast, low uncertainty avoidance cultures accept and feel
comfortable in unstructured situations or changeable environments and try to have as few rules as possible.
People in these cultures tend to be more pragmatic, they are more tolerant of change.

Masculinity (MAS), vs. femininity: "The distribution of emotional roles between the genders". Masculine
cultures' values are competitiveness, assertiveness, materialism, ambition and power, whereas feminine
cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life. In masculine cultures, the differences between
gender roles are more dramatic and less fluid than in feminine cultures where men and women have the
same values emphasizing modesty and caring. As a result of the taboo on sexuality in many cultures,
particularly masculine ones, and because of the obvious gender generalizations implied by Hofstede's
terminology, this dimension is often renamed by users of Hofstede's work, e.g. to Quantity of Life vs. Quality
of Life.

Long term orientation (LTO), vs. short term orientation: First called "Confucian dynamism", it describes
societies' time horizon. Long term oriented societies attach more importance to the future. They foster
pragmatic values oriented towards rewards, including persistence, saving and capacity for adaptation. In

short term oriented societies, values promoted are related to the past and the present, including steadiness,
respect for tradition, preservation of one's face, reciprocation and fulfilling social obligations.

Indulgence versus restraint (IVR): The extent to which member in society try to control their desires and
impulses. Whereas indulgent societies have a tendency to allow relatively free gratification of basic and
natural human desires related to enjoying life and having fun, restrained societies have a conviction that
such gratification needs to be curbed and regulated by strict norms.

The vacation industry in British Virgin Island (BVI) is developed into a profitable, but highly competitive market. One of the major players is the West
Indies Yacht Club Resort (WIYCR), operates successfully since its inception in late 1980s. However, recently some problems became alarming, seriously
affect the operating performance of the resort. Investigation is needed. I, Patrick Dowd, am honor to be the investigator. The purpose of this report is to
discuss the problems in the resort, why they exist and the corresponding solutions.
Problems in the resort
WIYCR is troubled with internal problems that started to affect its normal operation. Expatriate turnover rate is nearly high enough to be problematic;
there is a three-fold increase in guest complaints recently; relationship between expatriate and local staff is poor; and there appear to be low employee
motivation.
Analysis of the problems

Management
In WIYCR, management team is divided into two parts: head office in Chicago and resort management in BVI. Due to the lack of sensitivity of
BVI vacation market, the Chicago office had over-booked the resort by 20 percent without telling the guests. Therefore, during the peak
season the number of guests is much greater than the carrying capacity of the resort. There was no enough staff to serve the guest, even
there were no enough rooms available for guests, so they had to stay on boats for few nights until rooms become available. Complaints from
guests are inevitable. Moreover, since Chicago office continues its over-booking practice over the past 3 years, ignoring the opposition from
the Rooms Division Manager and staff under the department. This partly contributes the current low staff morale.
Culture

The structure of the resort is as follows: managers are mostly expatriates; while local staff works at lower-level positions. Their cultures are
very different. Therefore, lack of cross-culture sensitivity is
After reading and analyzing the case, we understand that West Indies Yacht Club Resort (WIYCR) is facing an apparent tailspin arising from
several areas of concern.
The first thing that we noticed is that, since few years, WIYCR is suffering from a high expatriate turnover resulting from different elements.
Their high expatriates turnover is reflected by the fact that they failed to retain three expatriate waterfront directors and three expatriate food
and beverage directors the past two years. The expatriates usually do not stay long enough on the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) which creates
some issues [???]. Part of the reason why managers do not want to stay longer is that there is a constant increase in their frustration, due to a
lack of communication with headquarter based in Chicago (Singiser is suffering of this lack of understanding of the reality and the problem of
communication of headquarter). The last relevant fact concerning this high turnover in WIYCRs expatriates is highlighted by Lucas, the new
food and beverage director, in the following sentencethere is no planning, no commitment, no enthusiasm in the expatriates working in the
resort. This lack of commitment and of enthusiasm may come from the fact that this experience is a challenging one, and expatriates must be
motivated to achieve their goals.
The second main symptom WIYCR is facing is the constant increase of guests complaints, which became 3 times higher than two years ago
(30 complaints per week). The guests usually criticize the deteriorating level of service, that makes them dissatisfied about the resort. One
guest said that: the staff just does not seem as motivated as it used to be. This quote really emphasis on the declining level of service. This
area of concern is redundant in the case. For example, Dowd was not greeted by any employee on his arrival, and other guests...