West Indies Yacht Club Resort: When Cultures Collide

Submitted by: Punit Kumar Kirti Harsh Lakra Sakshi Jain

Introduction

The case is all about the consequences which organizations face due to, human resource (cultural issues) with conflicts arising from the mismatched cultures. The case, in detail has an example from British Virgin Islands (BVI) located in Caribbean sea. The BVI had a strong niche tourism market in spite of restricted growth. Sakshi 22 Introduction of bare boat for

West Indies Yacht Club Resort

This case is a good example of mistrust, the reason why one group of people has come to not trust another group of people. While being a native of Virgin Gorda Island and working for the West Indies Yacht Club Resort, many natives see expatriate workers come and go. Some of the workers are managers, yet most of them are just temporary workers during the high peak seasons. This case is a good example of mistrust, the reason why one group of people has come to not trust another group of people. While being a native of Virgin Gorda Island and working for the West Indies Yacht Club Resort, many natives see expatriate workers come and go. Some of the workers are managers, yet most of them are just temporary workers during the high peak seasons.
Sakshi 33

WIYCR Complications
Lack professionalism in operations team due to lack of trust on expatriates. Gap in coordination in management and associate team due to expatriate turnover. Three-fold increase in guest complaints.

Sakshi

44

Reason for these complications

The WIYCR division into two teams: Head office in Chicago and Resort Management in BVI. e.g. Over booking by Chicago team over- burdened the resort team because the customers was not Informed about it. Expatriates were not able to adopt the local culture. Less number of staff for handling the Punit 55 customer.

Reason for these complications: Cont

Low levels of direct management because of which the customers faced many problems due to low motivated employees. The over-burden increased the stress and tensions. Problems between Local staff and Expatriates due to communication problem and also the clashing work styles.

Punit

66

Problems from the Labor Laws

Limited number of work permits were allowed. (less skilled local employees could not handle the rush effectively) The organizations were not allowed to lay-off staff during off-seasons. (extra costs during off seasons) The restricting law to fire a staff. (a local staff member carrying out pilferage could not be easily fired) Punit 77 Pressure to hire the locals at

Reasons for customer complaints

The guest who was a frequent visitor to WIYCR was given a proper hospitality, moreover the regular guest did not realize the low work standards. A new guest was not given the same treatment as given to the regular customer, which lead to increased customer complaints.
Punit 88

Reasons for customer complaints: Cont

Lack of communication, which lead to conflicts between the management and operations team which strike the customer at the other end. Lack of motivation, which was due to the lazy management which was as lazy as local staff working with WIYCR. Lack of training, to the local Kirti 99 employees working in the resort

Recommendations
Hire new managers, train them with a program ,so that they learn the skills to operate their division correctly. There should be meetings within divisions and organization. The mangers can help the employees on how to deal with different situations. The Expatriate must be positively motivated. Proper language and communication training must be provided. The localities and society in BVI must be positively motivated about the benefits from the business.

Kirti

1010

Recommendations: Cont
There can be a training school for the local people to make them able to work in hotels. The expatriate must be asked to sign a contract for at least 2 years. The expatriate must be asked to leave someone trained, who can take the position being vacated. The staff must be given appraisals and incentives for a good job done. There must be proper feedback system from employee. Managers should be evaluated (this would help in turnover rate).
Kirti 1111

k n a ! h !! T u o Y