STEIGENBERGER HOTELS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
STEIGENBERGER
H O T E L G R O U P
REPORT ABOUT INTERCULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Aniko Sánta Hungary
Clemens Hoogeveen The Netherlands
Mirea Raap Germany
Stein Seminck Belgium
Teemu Pitkänen Finland
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1 Introduction 3
2 Steigenberger Hotel Group
2.1 Brief History 4
2.2 The Board, Supervisory Board 5
2.3 Company Facts 5/6
3 Hofstede’s culturAl Dimensions
3.1 Introduction Hofstede’s model 6
3.2 Power distance 6
3.3 Uncertainty avoidance 7
3.4 Individualism or group 7
3.5 Femininity vs. Masculinity 8
3.6 High or low context 8
3.7 Time 9
4 ConcLUSION 9
appendix
questions 10/11
Group evaluation separately
1. Introduction
On the 16th of November our ICM group went to Frankfurt am Main to visit the Steigenberger Hotel group, which is a well-known brand for luxury hotels and spas in Germany. We had been invited to the headquarter of Steigenberger Hotel group for an interview on Intercultural Management. Mrs. Angelika Heyer the head of public relations at Steigenberger and her college Mrs. Antje Skirde a manager of human resources welcomed us. Mrs. Heyer has been working in the company for only six months, but had been working in the Hotel industry for 15 years as a journalist. Mrs. Skirde has been in the company for four years and was therefore able to tell us everything about the human resources management in the Steigenberger Hotel group. Because of that good mixture of employees we were able to here information about every needed area of intercultural management in this company, internal company management and handling the global management.
Mrs. Heyer and Mrs. Skirde made us feel very welcome and showed a big interest on our project. We were offered drinks and cookies and got some prepared handouts about the company. It all seemed very professionally prepared with a PowerPoint presentation to present the background knowledge about the company and a lot of time to answer all our questions. In between Mrs. Heyer always showed her interested in our task by asking a lot of questions. She asked about our countries, the unemployment rate and the universities we are at. Also she was interested in our personal plans and aims. At the end of the interview they made a picture of us, which was said to be published in their magazine as their first international students guests. We all agreed that it has been a really nice experience.
The subject and company are suitable for each other, as intercultural management is very important in this industry. We tried to form an image in this work about hotel industry as a business area. We will present different challenges that foreign customers and employees may experience by working in this industry.
2. Steigenberger Hotel Group
2.1 Brief History
The Steigenberger family business was founded in 1930 by Albert Steinberger when he took over the hotel which is today know as the Steigenberger Europäischer (European) Frankfurter Hof in Baden-Baden.
Today his daughter in law Anne-Marie Steigenberger and his three granddaughters Bettina, Christine and Claudia Steigenberger are still the major shareholders of the company. They own 99,7% of the shares. The other 0,3% have been given to loyal employees, which have worked for the family for over 40 years and close friends. By its membership of the supervisory board as well as its financial and non-material involvement, the Steigenberger family firmly supports the organisation’s management and staff.
Over the course of years, the company has grown to become one of the leading European hotel groups. The top hotels like the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof or the five-star properties in Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart as well as the luxurious resort hotels in Germany, the Netherlands, Egypt, Austria and Switzerland are synonymous with first class service, excellent leisure amenities, modern fitness holidays and refined ambiance.
Through the services of its numerous subsidiaries, which run as profit centres, such as Steigenberger Hotel-Academy (training institute governmental recognised), Steigenberger Consulting or HEAD, the purchasing organization, Steigenberger places its know-how and services are the disposal of the market both in Germany and abroad.
In the year 2005, Steigenberger Hotels plc will celebrate its 75th anniversary. At an age when people usually go into retirement, the Steigenberger organization plans taking on a new lease of life for ventures. By consistently and resolutely implementing a market-oriented corporate policy, the company has laid the necessary foundation to ensure its continued success at home and abroad.
2.2 The Board, Supervisory Board
Karl Anton Schattmaier
He is the co-ordinator and speaker for the Board of Directors, managing director representing the employees, operations for all hotels and restaurant/catering enterprises, personnel, corporate planning, press/PR, sales/distribution, marketing and SRS-WORLDHOTELS, which are also part of the Steigenberger Hotel group.
Hanns- Georg Scheibe
He is responsible for the following areas: accountancy, controlling, data protection, finances, organisation, data processing, information technology, revision, law, insurance, equity holdings, purchases/acquisition, construction, furnishings, technology, quality management, environmental protection.
These two men are responsible for the whole company including the management in all countries.
2.3 Company Facts
The Steigenberger Hotel Group has 77 hotels which are located as followed:
- 68 in Germany
- 4 in Austria
- 3 in Switzerland
- 1 in the Netherlands
- 1 in Egypt
The total number of rooms is 13,308. The total number of employees world wide are 5,446. This makes Steigenberger Hotel group one of the major players in the upper class Hotel industry, although they are not located in the major capitols world wide.
Future projects:
- 2005 Steigenberger Strand Hotel Zingst
- 2006 Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe Dresden
- 2006 Steigenberger Hotel Norderney Norderney
In 2003 the Steinberger Hotel group (incl. Management operations and InterCityHotels) had a turnover of 441,3 million euros and a corporation turnover of 275,6 million euros.
There was an average room occupancy of 60.2% and there were 2,710,550 sold rooms.
Because of 9/11, SARS and the war in Iraq the worldwide hotel business knew big problems. Today business has picked up again, although it is still lower than in other Europen quantries.
3. hofstede’s cultural dimensions
3.1 Introduction Hofstede’s model
There are a lot of differences between countries because people from other cultures usually have different requirements for service. Service is the most important issue in hotel business. Hotels including its staff have to adjust to the different needs of every customer. To provide Intercultural management can sometimes be quite challenging, because of the wide range of customers and the staff from foreign cultures.
Hofstede’s model is very helpful tool to analyse businesses and companies.
3.2 Power distance
The dimension power distance is all about the hierarchy structure and the rights given to the employees in a company as well as it describes the special treatment and extras some receive e.g. Company cars.
For example managers need good employees for getting best possible results and profits from the company, therefore a good power distance is necessary. The hotel group has managers for every hotel, every business branch etc. So they have a lot of hierarchy in their company, but the Steigenberger has at the same time a good control over their employee and staff structure.
They have dress codes which helps the customers to identify the employees, e.g. receptionist and a human resource managers have different kind of clothes although they vary from hotel to hotel. Steigenberger has dresses and symbols that show status of each employee and their position. To show your position by symbols or clothes is especially important in industries where you have contact with customers.
3. 3 Uncertainty avoidance
The Steigenberger Hotel group has a system of reporting monthly to each other, the kitchen manager reports to the hotel managers, the hotel manager reports to the director so he or she can make decisions on the basis of this. The company also uses specialists for decision making. The experts research the hotel operation branch and the possible new locations for hotels. The managers can not make decisions without knowing what is happening in the operation area and in their own hotel.
The research is made because the competition has become harder and new locations have to be looked at very carefully before opening a new hotel. Because wrong decisions may cause the company to loose money and its competition position. Steigenberger has weekly reports of researchers always looking for new possibilities.
3.4 Individualism or group
The case company has a lot of managers who make decisions together. Consensus should be reached in meetings but this is not always possible. Employees work normally alone but decisions are made in groups.
Steigenberger has special training programs to motivate the employees and managers, so everyone can develop their full potential. Good motivation is good for the process and effectiveness inside the company.
3.5 Femininity vs. masculinity
The owners of Steigenberger Hotel Group are four women. It is a family company and is now owned by the daughter in law of the founder, Anne-Marie Steigenberger and her three daughters Bettina, Christine and Claudia Steigenberger. They own 99,7% of the shares and still make the final decisions of the company. Even over fifty percent of the employees working in the headquarters in Frankfurt are women. Except in Egypt women are not allowed to work together with men, the reason for that is the Moslem religion.
The reward system of the Steigenberger Hotel Group is equal for men and women. It contains a lot of benefits for the employees:
· The company has its own magazine.
· Employees get a retirement pay of the company, a special pension.
· There is a Christmas bonus for every employee, which is one month pay.
· Steigenberger has its individual overtime system, overtime hours are collected and at the end of a month everyone can alter it in to time off.
· After 5,10,15,…years the employees get an amount of money for their loyalty to the company.
· When the employees want to spend a night in one of the Steigenberger resorts they only have to pay 20 euros in Germany and 45 euros in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Egypt.
The hotel group arranges sometimes events if the hotel manager wants that. Common rewarding systems and events are good for employees motivation.
3.6 High or low context
This is all about the communication in the company. It is important that all employees can communicate with every customer and also with their colleagues to avoid any problems.
The Steigenberger Hotel Group uses the general code language of the hotel industry.
Also the company requires to their employees to speak next to German at least English. The reason behind this is that the employees have to communicate with the international guests.
3.7 Time
The company used to be very past orientated, mainly focused on the long history of Steigenberger Hotel group. This attitude is not modern enough for today, as it is not focused on the younger target market.
Mrs. Heyer has told us about the plans the company has developed to focus more on the image of a modern Hotel group. They want to reach the younger target market as well as the existing. She showed us the current advertisement pictures of the Steigenberger Hotel group and explain the disagreement she has with it, because it is not modern enough.
So to conclude this, the company is aware of the necessity to have a modern image, but has not yet been able to implement it fully.
4. CONCLUSION
Intercultural management is quite well handled in the Steigenberger Hotel group. They have people from many cultures working there and customers come from many different countries. The company owners are all women and as well the persons we interviewed. It was interesting to do this report about a big family company, which is owned by women. The company has lately gone through some business re-organisations and marketing has not received very much of the company’s attention.
Appendix
Questions
Personal questions
· How long have you been working here
· Do you like the companies atmosphere and is it nice to work here
· How long have you been a manager
· Is your work appreciated and how do you feel about it
· Can you show emotions in your workplace as a manager
Power distance
· Do you have many females in high positions
· Do you have directors for every operation branch
· Is being a strong person a compulsory to a manager
· Do the employees have a lot of responsibilities and what kind of responsibilities
· How do you operate when making important decisions
· Do you always need to reach consensus
· Do you consider showing status as an important issue
· Are there difference between wages when comparing men and females
Uncertainly avoidance
· Do you have a dress code
· Do you have strict rules for working
· Can an employee have there own ideas
· How do you avoid conflict among employees and how do you solve them
· Do the managers want reports from every operational level (for decision making)
· Do you always think carefully about every step you do or are you taking risks
· How about the future, do you have e.g. experts for predicting possible future scenarios?
Individualism and collectivism
· Are the decisions made in a group or individually
· Is there a lot competition in the hotel industry
· How do you motivate your employees, do you common parties or events
Masculine vs. feminine
· Do you have employees from other countries than Germany
· How about the balance between men and women
· Do you care about being equal
· Do you care about employees well-being
Context
· Do you use code language in the company and also with other company employees
· How many languages do you use in every day business
· What are the requirements for new employees
· Can you express your opinions freely
Time
· Is the company oriented towards past or present or future
· Do you have strict working hours
· Can the employee affect on the working hours
· Do you demand punctuality
· Do you know if there are differences between countries and hotels
Group evaluation separately
11
ICM PROGRAM 2004