The United Kingdom

Group 7 Carmen Maggie Vivian Kathy

The Introduction

• made up of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland

• one of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU)

Capital citi es• London – England • Edinburgh – Scotland • Cardiff – Wales • Belfast – Northern

Ireland

Geography of Britain

• Small • Island state• Area

Land and water: 152,033 square miles

• Populationapproximately 60.6 million England 50,714,000

Wales 2,977,000 Scotland 5,108,000 Northern Ireland 1,733,000

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Location of hotels population - relatively constant

trend to live in the south of England

large part of the hospitality industry is geographically concentrated in London, Southeast England

Languages

• two official languages - English - Welsh

• English -most widely spoken

• Scottish Gaelic -spoken in some parts of Scotland

Currency

• Pound sterling

• The sign for the Great British Pound (GBP) is £.

Differences among the four countries

• Each has its own flag, culture, writers, artists and sports team

• Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own regional political parties

• Scotland and Northern Ireland have legal and educational systems that are separated from those used in England and Wales

• Wales is officially bilingual

Mixed Race Society

• majority of population - English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish

• extremely diverse nation • invaded by Romans ,Saxons , Vikings and Normans

armies in early history• experienced a continuous immigration since the W WII• Race Relations Act (1976) principle of ‘equal rights and opportunities’ adapted to

migrants and its children

Racial diversity

• Centuries of immigration

• 8% of population belongs to ethnic minority, 4.6 million people

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Multi culturalism in UK’s hospitality industry• An important point of entry into the host

country ’s labour market for migrant workers

• In 2005,12.5 % of the UK’s workingage populati on was born abroad, up from around 8 % in 1995.

• Now - 4.3 mill ion adults of working age in the

UK who were born abroad.

Social class system

Upper Class

people with inherited wealth oldest families, titled aristocrats

Middle Class majority of the population

industrialists, professionals, business people and shop

owners

Lower or Working Classagricultural, mine and factory workers

Feudalism Rise of upper middle class

Influence on UK’s Hospitality CultureEmployee retention problem in hospitality

industry

• Rigid class system in past - serving --- low status job

• Do not like serving others - often foreign workers serve in hotels, restaurants, pubs

in major city centers

• Lowest paid sector industry - Poor pay, unsocial hours, poor career opportunities High turnover rate in industry

Low unionization

Constitutional monarch

• Queen Elizabeth II • Head of the state• Head of the Armed Forces • Head of the Church of

England

• run by the government and led by the prime minister.

Government type, party structure

• Parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy

• Multi-party system • Fusion of executive and

legislature

Governmental Influence

Working practice on labour market

• introduce national employment protection legislation and regulations – Sex discrimination– Equal pay– Maternity and parental leave

Governmental Influence

• UK Hotel Development Incentive scheme (1968- 1973)

- provided direct grants - helped in building of 1300 new hotels or extension - provided funds or free land in exchange

for equity participation E.g. contribute 5% of GDP

Government becomes part of the owner

Political system - Democracy

• “Government by the people”• All people have a say• Everyone have voting right

all citizens :• “equality and freedom” protected by a constitution• being equal before the law • having equal access to power

Architecture

Stuart architecture • Dome-shaped

Victorian architecture • early19th century • romantic medieval gothic

style • symmetry of Palladianism

ArchitectureTwentieth century architecture

new form of design:- Use of arts and crafts

informal- non symmetrical form

with mullioned or lattice windows

- multiple gables and tall chimneys

Religions

• Most people are Christian (71%)

• other religions: Buddhism, Judaism, Islam

and Sikhism • About 23% of Britain follow

no particular religion• Growing Muslim and Hindu

minorities• Trends: Growing diversity

Music London -- world's major centre for classical music

The 16th century:•Church & religious music affected by Reformation

•Early period: mainly church music, folk music, classical music

•Until the early 19 th century : classical music as an important element of British

Music • Pop music singers are more popular than classical composers and jazz musicians• E.g., The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin • Youths – punk, garage, rock, pop and R&B• Development of Rock and Roll, punk music and heavy metal

Influence on hospitality industry

• Restaurants Classical music, folk music --- more formal and popular

in older generation

• Bars Pop music, jazz and R&B

Literature - Shakespeare

• Shakespeare – English poet &

playwright• England's national

poet • the "Bard of Avon”• comedies, histories

and tragedies and tragicomedies

Shakespeare---opera• made a lasting impression on later theatre and

literature• More than 40 theatres in London • from Royal Opera House (world's leading opera

houses) to London Palladium

Sports• association football• rugby football • boxing • badminton • cricket • tennis• GolfFootball – most popular

Festivals and activities

Sports events• Horseracing festivals – Royal Ascot, The Grand

National and The Epsom Derby

• The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships • British Formula 1 Grand Prix• Boat race between Oxford and Cambridge

Festivals and activities

English cultural and entertainment events

• West End musicals• Opera and ballet• Concerts & festivals• Fashion shows • Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition• RHS flower shows at Chelsea

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

• Increase the number of tourists

• generated > £135m

• providing a unique and special occasion to entertain top clients

and to reward staff

Key dates in British history•1536-42 Union with Wales•1707 Union with Scotland•1801 Legislative union with

Ireland•1914-18 W W I•1918 Parliamentary Qualification

of Women Act --Women over age 30

can vote •1928 Equal Franchise Act

--All women can vote•1939-45 WWII

History – Industrial Revolution • “technological innovation”• major changes in agriculture,

manufacturing, mining, and transport • 1st started in Britain --spread throughout

the world 1800s, First Industrial Revolution began• Mechanization, use of steam power,

textiles , mining 1850s onwards, Second Industrial

Revolution• electricity, chemicals, petroleum, steel

industries, invention of telephone

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Establishment of trade unions• Industrial Revolution---cruel

exploitation of labour • world’s 1st trade union

movement to protect the right of labour

Influence on UK’s Hospitality CultureIncrease the scope of attractions and facilities to tourists

E.g. Wales,• Heavy industrial past – attractive to tourists • Industrial museums • Developed “Great Little Railways of Wales”

• Harbour such as Plas Menai transformed to offer wide range of water sports

• Gold mining area – Dolgellau : popular tourists attraction

All these helped to increase the profits of hotels in Wales

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Work ethic• Not ‘devotion to duty’ or ‘hard work’

• Many national projects in that period was ‘lubricated’ with alcohol

• British love drinking—has more bars (public house/pub) than any countries in the world

History – Labour shortage

Post - 1970s, Baby- bust problem• Demographic change – fall in birth rate• Entry-level workers difficult to find • Workers demanded more pay and improved

working condition

Changing structure of family

Nowadays• small families• delays having children • Changing attitudes towards marriage -

“partner”• Increase rates of divorce• Growing number of children born outside

marriage• No. of people living alone increase (longer life

expectancy)

Influence on UK’s Hospitality CultureWorking patterns and Contracts• part-time and casual staff

• More female works part-time than males

• only 5 % of hotel and accommodation managers and 10% of restaurant managers work part-time

• lower than average working hours in the UK

• Flexibility of hours - no specified hours, overtime

• may be employed on highly flexible hours contracts, including zero hours contracts

Colonization • Since 1815, Britain already started overseas

expansion over Africa and Asia

• “Expansion is everything”

Influence - Location/Distribution of hotels• strongly concentrated in Europe and some

presence in Africa and the Caribbean - former colonial relationship

Hospitality industry in the UK

• expanded in the past five years• current shortage of skilled staff• International (e.g. Hilton International,

Holiday Inns, Forte PLC)Hotel ownership• penetration of corporate activity • chain-type operations• independent operators

Size of UK’s hospitality sector

British Hospitality Association(2006) :

• Made up of about 127,000 businesses• approximately 22,000 hotels and guest houses,

16,000 bed and breakfasts• Workforce : 1.6 million people • Restaurants employ 1/3 of workforce• High proportions of female, young, part-time and

unskilled labour

Trends and development • Branding > services’ level e.g. -HI Express,

-Travelodge, -Holiday Inn

• brand's expansion e.g. Accor –

Southwark Rose in London

Liberalism

Liberty and freedom

Improvement or progress

Individual freedom

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Hotel classification • Totally voluntary procedure • opt to be classified by different organization e.g. National Trust Board • No direct national or local government

involvement • VS France - compulsory

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Employment practices• Informality of management practices • Limited training

ineffective personnel and human resource management

• Management : inexpert• Informal rewards• High rates of labour instability

Moderately high-context culture

Low context

High context Japanese

Arabian

Latin American

Spanish

ItalianEnglish (UK)

French

English (US)

Scandinavian

German

Swiss EXPLICIT

IMPLICIT

focus on tradition and class ,is more conservative in than France and Italy

more individualistic and less risk averse than the French and Italians

messages depends on contextual cues like gender, age, balance of power

not on physical written text

there are things that are not said but are understood

Individualism• emphasize “independence” and “self-reliance”

• promote exercise of one's goals and desires

• oppose external interference upon one's choices

• oppose to collectivism

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Discouragement of collective actions• Employers - discourage unionism

(membership marginal below 5%)

• Hospitality managers - believe in their own management style and power

• Collective representation – only when individual managers’ style fail

• Duty and responsibility – ‘look after’ their employees properly

Influence on UK’s Hospitality CultureOther ways• Employees - non-interventionist stance

• rapid career progression

• opportunities for ambitious graduates

• self-employment for experienced managers

Economic philosophy - Capitalism

• Free and competitive market • government intervention• Private production, distribution,

exchange• Mixed economy – ownership shared

between state and private sector

Influence on UK’s Hospitality CultureHigh profile ownership and management changes

• High level of expansion and takeover activities E.g. sale of Ritz by Trafalgar House to Barclay

brothers in 1995

• Selling hotel assets freely at a profit

• Refurbishment developments E.g. Charing Cross hotel – 83 luxury twins and double rooms were created

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Increased room occupancy and average room rates

• Business and conferences markets

• Low inflation

• Favourable low exchange rate - Cheaper holiday option for overseas

visitors

Influence on UK’s Hospitality CultureWorking Style in Hospitality• Emphasize on efficiency and productivity

Quality of service • European guests measure hotel

quality in terms of :

-availability of formal dining,beverage -general efficiency -round- the- clock room service

Fear of communism

• Communism promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property

• Contradicts to capitalism• Threat to western democracies • Especially during the Cold War period

Philosophy - Nationalism

• Common tradition and historical development • Duty , loyalty to nation - overemphasize• National superiority , glory • Justify colonization and expansion

Terrorism

• British Muslims ,2005 London bombing (home-grown)

• Attacks on British mainland (Corera 2006)• Al-Qaeda( Britain vs. Pakistan )

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Case study• Hilton Hotel Taba terror attack in Oct 2004• car bomb managed to drive straight into the

lobby and explode without interruptions. • Hilton Hotel lacked any security measures Crisis management

Safety measures

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Registration procedure in the front desk

• all guests >16 - register their full name and nationality

• Record is kept and opened to police inspection (12 months)

• neither British nor Commonwealth citizens - give passport details

Pub--- etiquette

18 years old• Family pubs welcome people with

children rough language

• Common to “buying a round of drinks”

• "have a drink on me” = pay for the drink that he chooses

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Operations/Rules of the Pub in hotels• Not common to receive a tip• offered a drink on the house - the pub pays

for it• pub is not allowed to serve drinks after closing

time• must stop drinking 20 minutes after closing time

Food in Britain

OR

Breakfast - between 7:00 and 9:00, Lunch - between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m.

Dinner (Supper) - The main meal. between 6:30 and 8:00 p.m. (Evening meal)

Breakfast - between 7:00 and 9:00, Dinner (The main meal) - between 12:00 and 1:30

p.m. Tea - anywhere from 5:30 at night to 6:30 p.m.

Meals• A Traditional English breakfast- full

English/fry up • Tea-break - 11:00a.m.• Brunch – breakfast lunch• Sunday roast -Lunch (main meal)• Afternoon tea (not common these

days) - most adults go out to work - tea rooms around England• High tea(early evening) - often replaced with a supper or

dinner

Supper/DinnerSupper --- family meal

Dinner party --- formal evening meal --guests have been invited • Special effort made both in the food preparation and in table

setting

meat and two veg ---• meat served together on the same plate with two types of

vegetable

common to eat a dessert

Manner• cannot eat certain type of food or have some special needs,

tell your host before• Arrive on time• Take a bottle of wine or some flowers or chocolates

Eating Manner

Drinking tea

• Do not pour the tea from a teapot as soon as it has been made; leave it for a minute or two.

• If the teapot contains loose tea, place the tea strainer onto the cup before pouring.

• Milk can be added to the cup either before or after pouring the tea.

• Once the teapot is half-empty, or if the tea is too strong for you, pour the hot water into the teapot.

Influence on UK’s hospitality industry

Type of food in hotel restaurant• not normal life • cooked breakfast every day if stay in a hotel or

bed and breakfast• Most British people only eat these foods

occasionally

Serious health problem – obesity

• 24%adult (2004), only 2nd to US

• not enough exercise• European diet - eat less fruit, vegetables,

fishes • tends to eat out and love

fast-food

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Menu of restaurants in hotelsFood at a low price, and sufficient speed

In 2009,introduce calorie information on their menus.

Includes :workplace caterers, quick-service restaurants, theme parks and leisure attractions, pub restaurants, cafes ,etc

Business manner

Handshake• a round of firm handshakeTypical greeting• ‘hello , nice to meet you’ or ‘how do you do’Punctuality• expect others to be punctual• considered rude to arrive late

Business manner

First name

• Take the lead from your host regarding the use of first name

• Age difference – determinant • Young people - more inclined to use first

name

Business manner

Being friendly and real friendship

• British - very reserved and private

• Privacy - extremely important

• use of first name - not necessarily equate with friendship

• never mix business and pleasure

Superstitions - Good Luck

• meet a black cat.

• touch wood

• find a clover plant with four leaves

• White heather

• Horseshoes over the door - sign of good luck.

Superstitions - Good Luck• On the first day of the month it is lucky to say "

white rabbits, white rabbits white rabbits," before uttering your first word of the day.

• Catch falling leaves in Autumn - Every leaf means a lucky month next year

• Cut hair when the moon is waxing

• Putting money in the pocket of new clothes

Superstitions - Bad Luck

• walk underneath a ladder

• Seven years bad luck to break a mirror.

• see one magpie, lucky to see two, etc..

• spill salt

Superstitions - Bad Luck• open an umbrella in doors

• 13

• Friday the Thirteenth

• put new shoes on the table

• pass someone on the stairs

13

Friday13

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

Name of the HotelThe Horseshoe Inn- Symbolize lucky

Influence on UK’s Hospitality Culture

The omission of 13th Floor

No. 13 = unlucky

building owners will sometimes purposely omit a floor so numbered

Hence, the 13th floor is given the No.14

Conclusion Internal Influence• History – laid down the foundation of development of hospitality• Lifestyle (manner, dining) – affect the practices in the departments of hotels • Philosophy – influence the personality, behavior and belief of British greatly affect the political development • Demographic – determine the target customers and type

of workers in UK’s hospitality formation of social norms and systems

All these helped to shape Britain’s image as strong

European power with unique culture for over 9 decades

Conclusion

External influence• Terrorism – unprecedented threat main concern in crisis and safety management• Communism – long-term fear of British

These are the underlying factors hindering the expansion of UK’s hospitality industry

References • Mccormick, J. (2007). Contemporary Britain 2nd

edition. China: Palgrave Macmillan.• Storry, M. & Childs, P. (2002). British Cultural

Identities second edition. London and New York: Routledge.

• Horrall, A. (2001). Popular Culture in London 1890-1918 The transformation of entertainment. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.

• Bdo Hospitality Consulting (1996). Trends in the UK industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 6-10.

References• Walker, J. R. (2009). Introduction to Hospitality,

(5th edition). : Pearson Prentice Hall.• Norbury, P. (2003). Culture Smart!Britain. :

Kuperard.• Brotherton, B. (2000). An introduction to the

UK hospitality industry : a comparative approach. : Oxford : Butterworth-Heinemann

• Gee.C.Y.(2000).International Hotel Management .The Educational Institute of the AH&MA, East Lansing, MI.

References• http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk• http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/UK.html• http://www.21stcenturynurse.com/UKSocialCulture.htm• http://www.justlanded.com/english/UK/Articles/Culture/British-Culture• http://www.justlanded.com/english/UK/Articles/Travel-Leisure/Hotels• glassowater.wordpress.com/• blogs.smarter.com/homegarden/2007/08/• www.answers.com/topic/hour-hand•

http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/74/30391/uk-brings-calories-menus.html#

• http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/01/uk-restaurants-to-display-calorie-counts.html

• http://www.europe-cities.com/en/630/uk_england/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_Kingdom#Naming_c

onvention

• http://www.ukmoz.com/society-and-culture• www.ukstudentlife.com• www.elam.com/articles/Iran-at-a-glance/• http://catholicwithattitude.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html• http://freefoto.com• http://epharmacies.com• http://blogs.propertyfinder.com• http://thevitaminm.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/beer-me/• www.abc.net.au/.../05/15/2245107.htm?site=news• http://www.toodoc.com/honda-europe-high-and-low-context-cultures-ebo

ok.html• www.intransol.com/multicultural.html• https:/.../web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=577• www.bw.edu/resources/dean/multicult/

References

Thank You !