Cruise Line challenges of strategic growth and effectiveness

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Allure Cruise Line is expanding operations, with the addition of new cruise ships. The
challenges the organization faces, involves the determination of which managers to bring to the
new ships and how to manage recruitment and retention. The selection process is difficult, as
Allure has many competent managers. However, there is a need to develop some criteria, for the
selection process. There are both physical and social criteria that will help some managers' work
in a different cultural environment. Jordan and Cartwright (1998) offer a "set of construct
predictors of success in an attempt to form the basis of a psychological profile that may be useful
in selecting expatriate managers." Social aspects or criteria include openness to new experiences
and cultures, lack of anxiety or ease of working in a new environment and an outgoing
personality. Physical aspects include well developed communication skills, cultural competence
and linguistic skills. Managers may not speak the language of the host county; but should be
able to learn within a short time frame.

Though expatriate managers will be selected using special criteria, they will also be
selected by their general management capabilities, such as leadership, sense of fairness and
ability to motivate. The selection process involves more than a simple checklist. A rating system
or rating scale is needed, to determine the level of skills competency, in each area. While
managers are selected for their capabilities; it helps to have some expertise, from the host
country. Therefore, Allure Cruise Line will hire a few host country nationals, to help the
selected managers improve their skills in cultural competency and language.

To prepare managers for working in Europe, Allure must develop a training program,
which includes a focus on the differences in culture. The training program can be incorporated
into the selection process, for determining which managers are selected to work in Europe.

Those who possess adequate management skills and express the desire for the new positions,
can enter training. From the pool of trainees, the managers are then selected on their abilities
to master cultural competency and language skills. Those who have mastered cultural
competency and language skills, will then attend training with a country expert. The expert may
be a manager from one of the other countries, who is already employed with Allure.

Cultural competency can help prepare managers to negotiate deals for expansion.
However, they must gain a thorough understanding of each country's business culture. After
Studying a guide on business cultures of each European country, managers can participate in
mock negotiations, which will include some issues focused on differences in business cultures.
Mock training sessions provide managers with hands on experience, to give them confidence
in new or unique situations.

In addition to mock training sessions among each other, the sessions can also occur
via teleconferencing. Corporate leaders like IBM and Hewlett Packard "have proven that
technology is an effective means to train employees quickly" ...