Introduction
In the business environment, one of the critical aspects to consider is staffing, as this seeks to determine the overall levels of performance depending on set out goals and objectives. Majority of companies and organizations have embraced the idea of employing staff from different cultural backgrounds (Prasad, 2012). The idea of employing a multicultural staff not only reflects on the idea of race or ethnicity but also seeks to evaluate how employees from different cultures perceive, as well as, interact with others. In the long-term, this would determine whether the decision to employ a multicultural staff would pave the way for a company or organization to achieve its intended goals or objectives (Ali, Metz, & Kulik, 2015). In that view, this report will embark on a literature review as part of understanding how companies may benefit from the idea of employing a multicultural staff.
Value of Employment about Multicultural Staff within the Aviation Industry
The aviation industry is one of the notable industries that have embraced the idea of employing a multicultural staff with a limited understanding of the benefits that this may have on the industry as a whole. Most of the companies operating in this industry operate in more than one market, which creates a significant variation in cultural norms and ideals that define market performance. Additionally, operating in different markets also creates a significant variation in customer needs considering that customers from different cultural backgrounds tend to have different needs in different companies. That creates the need for these companies to embark on processes that would ensure that their staff members are from different cultures as part of promoting the idea of a multicultural staff. Although this tends to have a wide array of disadvantages and challenges, the benefits tend to outweigh such challenges. Researchers have highlighted different benefits associated with adoption of a multicultural staff as part of promoting performance outcomes.
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Increased Adaptability
The first benefit that companies were operating in this industry experience by employing staff from different cultural backgrounds is increased adaptability among their staff when working in different environments. Companies, in the aviation industry, operate in diverse workplace environments that may require their staff to adapt to the varied market changes and challenges in a bid to providing viable solutions (Ayub, Aslam, & Razzaq, 2013). For example, an aviation company operating in the United States may find itself employing staff that would work in the European market, thus, requiring them to adapt to the metrics associated with the new market.
In most cases, this may only come about if the companies involved understand the value that would arise from employing staff from diverse cultural backgrounds. Prasad (2012) supports the idea that a multicultural staff may help promote adaptability arguing that having a multicultural staff creates an avenue for the presentation of a flexible idea that would help meet the fluctuations in markets and customer demands. The difference in cultural backgrounds means that employees will have differences in their way of thinking or handling issues or problems in the industry. In the long-term, this is viewed as one of the critical aspects that promote value for the companies allowing them to achieve the levels of success that they achieve within different consumer markets (Ali, Metz, & Kulik, 2015). On the other hand, this also elevates the idea that a company operating in the aviation industry would always find itself operating within the set-out market standards.
Variety of Viewpoints
The second benefit that a multicultural staff may have on a company in the aviation industry is that it creates that primary platform for increasing the variety of viewpoints presented when dealing with diverse issues or problems. What one of the key areas that companies are engaging or employing a multicultural workforce must improve is on communication, as this would determine whether individual staff members are in a position to share their ideas. By building on communication, companies can create a leeway from which to increase the variety of idea presented by their staff (Brito Neto, Smith, & Pedersen, 2014). The variation results from a larger pool of ideas and experience considering that the employees are from different cultures that present different expectations and experiences.
When dealing with an issue, the leadership within a company embarks on a collection of relevant ideas that would help deal with the issue amicably while placing strategic value for the company. However, the company may experience a limitation in ideas when dealing with employees with single cultural background, as these employees tend to have the same perception or perspectives on the issue (Ljubica, Dulčić, & Aust, 2016). Thus, this projects the need for adopting the idea of a multicultural staff, as it increases the variety of perspectives presented when dealing with a particular issue. For the companies, this is an aspect that would help in defining possible solutions and ideas that seek to meet the business model adopted based on the market variations. On the other hand, the companies would find themselves experiencing better value in their capacity to deliver on their customers’ needs.
Better Productivity
The third benefit of employing a multicultural staff relates to the idea of improving productivity among individual staff members, which would, in the long-term, benefit the company in terms of performance outcomes. Brito Neto, Smith, & Pedersen (2014) argue that the idea of engaging or working with employees from different cultural backgrounds creates a situation where employees are able to operate depending on the strengths and weaknesses of their colleagues. Employees from varied cultural backgrounds tend to have varied strengths and weaknesses, which are important aspects to consider in defining overall performance. Having a multicultural staff means that the staff from one culture must understand the weakness from the staff from another cultural background and vice versa (Ayub, Aslam, & Razzaq, 2013). The long-term effect is that the productivity associated with the company would increase significantly, thus, suggesting an increase in profit margins.
Wide Array of Service Abilities
The aviation industry is a service-oriented industry meaning that companies operating in this industry must position themselves effectively to ensure that the quality of services that they offer matches both marker standards and customer needs. However, this would only be possible by understanding the needs presented within different markets before development of strategies aligned to meet these needs. In that view, this creates the need for a multicultural staff that would have diverse levels of understanding within different markets and expected performance metrics. For example, multicultural employees would present varied levels of understanding on cultural norms that seek to define the ability for a company or organization to operate and achieve success within a given market structure (Ljubica, Dulčić, & Aust, 2016). In most cases, this would create the need for a company leadership to group employees based on their cultural backgrounds as part of improving overall capacities for enhanced team performance.
Alignment with an Increasingly Global Workforce
Having a multicultural staff is important for companies operating in the aviation industry as they seek to align with an increasingly global workforce, which has become one of the key aspects driving the job market. The adoption of technology has led to a situation where the world is considered as a global village, thus, meaning that employees can work within a wide variety of workplace environments. The main idea is trying to create a global workforce that would have the capacity of delivering positive results within any given market regardless of the varied challenges arising within diverse markets (Lozano & Escrich, 2017). In the aviation industry, companies must be ready to conform to the market requirements that would help build what would be described as a global workforce. In that view, these companies tend to find themselves experiencing the need to employ a multicultural staff with the capacity to deliver positive results within different market structures.
Conclusion
In summary, employing a multicultural staff has become one of the fundamental aspects that define the overall performance of a company or organization, as defines the ability for a company to deliver based on set market standards. The aviation industry is one of the notable industries that have experienced the need for companies to employ a multicultural approach in their employment. Although this approach has had a wide array of disadvantages and challenges, the benefits go beyond the challenges considering that they highlight the performance capabilities of these companies to deliver within varied consumer markets. Some of the key benefits identified within this report include increased adaptability, variety of viewpoints, better productivity, wide array of service abilities, and alignment with an increasingly global workforce.
References
Ali, M., Metz, I., & Kulik, C. T. (2015). Retaining a diverse workforce: the impact of gender ‐ focused human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal , 25 (4), 580-599.
Ayub, A., Aslam, M. S., & Razzaq, A. (2013). Examining Factors Affecting Diversity in the Workplace. CLEAR International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management , 4 (5), 136-138.
Brito Neto, J. F., Smith, M., & Pedersen, D. (2014). E ‐ learning in multicultural environments: An analysis of online flight attendant training. British Journal of Educational Technology , 45 (6), 1060-1068.
Ljubica, J., Dulčić, Ž., & Aust, I. (2016). Linking individual and organizational cultural competences: One step closer to multicultural organization. Management: journal of contemporary management issues , 21 (Special issue), 51-82.
Lozano, J. F., & Escrich, T. (2017). Cultural diversity in business: A critical reflection on the ideology of tolerance. Journal of Business Ethics , 142 (4), 679-696.
Prasad, J. S. D. (2012). Workforce diversity and its impact on work culture of Indian organizations. Journal of Commerce (22206043) , 4 (1), 57-61.
