Cultural integration: TUI-Spain case study: managing peolple in an international company

Abstract

TUI-Spain is the first Incoming Agency from the TUI group, and its main objective is offering services for tour operators which operate in Spain, providing a wide portfolio of excursions for clients, hotel reservations, rent a car, group events, round trips, cruise handling, sport and special events, meetings, incentives and much more. Their missions is a diverse as its multicultural identity. Thanks to the extensive network of more tan 1500 dedicated employees from different nationalities, TUI-Spain guarantees excellent service and top quality. The following is a case study of TUI-Spain, unique in its management of change through human resource management policies and its multicultural workforce. This case will focus upon TUI-Spain’s human resource management, as well as their first decisions to implement new initiatives which aim to reflect the company’s vision and values, in order to keep pace with the constant change they face – both internally and externally in the sector it-self. The authors will present the progressive integration of multicultural tour operators, and the intercultural challenges this represents at all levels. This case will detail the origins of the World of TUI and TUI-Spain and the evolution of the various cultures, the different initiatives adopted in order to maintain service quality objectives to clients. Information is based on quantitative data, as well as interviews with TUI-Spain. The authors elaborated this case in close collaboration with TUI-Spain’s headquarters in Palma de Mallorca, following the case method outline. In the field of tourism, the influence of cultural and communication-related factors is particularly important in the decisión-making process. This case will explain the principles of change management as it is reflected in TUI-Spain’s human resource policies as pro-active, effectively adapting to the multicultural component in its employees and employers. The result is a real case in managing change.