ition to the obvious problems associated with family separations, work permits, and so forth, hotel organizations, in many instances, also must be prepared to deal with problems related to language and cultural differences.
A major human resources problem associated with hotel employees recruited from many countries other than the industrial economies of Western Europe is associated with language. In this context, a major difficulty involves communication between the foreign workers and the domestic management and workers. When this issue is not properly addressed, absenteeism and other work related problems arise among the foreign employees.
A second major human resources management problem associated with the recruiting of foreign workers by Western European hotel organizations involves differences between business practices in the industrial economies of Western Europe and the relevant foreign countries. One problem in this context, is a fear by the foreign workers that, by adopting Western European practices, they may lose their own cultural identity. In a similar context, conflicts often develop between Western European hotel managers and workers from countries other than the industrial economies of Western Europe over the concept that "time is money." In many
instances, the workers from these foreign countries do not recognize the concept that efficiency is as important, or more important, than is quality. When these issues are not properly addressed, absenteeism and other work related problems arise among the foreign employees.
Following this introductory chapter, the findings of this study are presented in three additional chapters. Chapter 2 describes the absenteeism problem in the hotel industry in Italy and Switzerland as the problem existed at the time this study was conducted. The development of target standards involving absenteeism of the hotel industry in Italy and Switzerland is presented in Chapt...