The Rise of Globalization Managing Diversity in The Workplace

With increase in globalization, managing diversity in workplace has emerged as an important concern for management. The critical essay aim to explore managing diverse workforce in hotel industry and how management theorists look the wider aspects of diversity. An understanding of these elements is necessary for the analysis of workforce diversity actions, as they point to effective framework and basis for any diversity management program. The essay emphasized on diversity based on gender and wage in major internationally operating hotel groups especially in developing countries.

The findings indicated that management must take necessary steps to promote women employment in the hotel sector and women must be paid in comparison to their male counter parts.

Key Word: Diverse Management, Hotel Industry

Diversity Management(DM) is a process of creating and maintaining an environment which naturally enables all participants to contribute to their full potential in the pursuit of organizations objectives. The term diversity can be treated as a training program adopted by human resource and its main purpose is to allow people working in an organization to contribute fully to achieve goals and objectives of an organization.

Work force diversity has been an important concern in hospitality industry where there is a multi-cultural managing of work force is required . A lot of research was made, but limited attention has been paid to the cultural diversity in the hotel industry. Managing diversity successfully requires a proper diversity climate for employees in all levels of organization especially in hospitality sector.. The positive outlook of management helps to avoid conflicts and negative attitudes in an organization.

Get quality help now

Bella Hamilton

Verified

Proficient in: Hotel

5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

This essay critically explores two aspects. Firstly, Management aspects on diversity workforce especially based on gender in a hospitality industry and secondly regarding the earning potential between men and women within the hospitality industry.

METHODOLOGY

Diversity based on gender

The diversity is characterized by physical, external and cultural factors. The diversity in age, race, work area, locations are all taken into consideration. The cultural factors which influence diversity are age, race and gender. The external factors include career, family status, educational standards and routine. The hotel sector composed of multicultural and diversified workforce. The main characteristics of hospitality sector include low payment, less job security, high turnover rate and gender discrimination. Due to internationalization, hotel organizations are confronted with issues of managing increasingly culturally diverse workforces. Figure 1 illustrates the various factors of diversity consideration in an organization

 Aspects of Diversity

In a study conducted on diversity management in two five-star luxury hotels in different locations in Egypt, it is found that diversity management must be addressed and understood in a global context. The locations selected was Cairo and Luxor. The main objective was to study about diversity and to what extend it influences hospitality sector. The study emphasized on following diversity attributes which include hotel employee’s gender, work type and work experience. The data was collected in the form of questionnaire. The study revealed that management in Luxor hotel were keener in spreading and supporting diversity culture within the workplace than Cairo. The results showed 71.3% of employee’s constitute male and 28.2% constitute female. 45.5% of workforce belong to people having 1-5 years of experience whereas employees over 15 years of experience were as less as 10%. It also resulted in a conclusion that the industry directing towards a male dominated one. An investigation of gender diversity in Turkish hospitality industry which focused on exploring the potential relationship between gender and several demographic factors showed that the hotel industry is relatively male oriented .

In critically reviewing this, an initial remedy is to offer more employment opportunities to women. This could really attract more female employees and it could positively influence the hospitality sector. Several studies illustrate that in most of the developing countries, when it comes to job sector, females are powerless compared to their male counterparts. This may be due to various challenges. emphasized the impact of prejudicated mindset of management which prevent higher involvement of women in hospitality industry. A hospitality sector is an environment which require long working hours, serving alcohols and movement(transportation). People must work during day and night and the society in these countries stand against women who work in these conditions. As a result, they are denied opportunities and more male professionals come to place. suggested that the industry require dedicated team players who are committed and willing to take risk.

Gender Effect on Earning Potential

Despite so many efforts during the last few decades wage discrepancies still exist in the United States. A study conducted by pointed out that wage discriminations based on gender exists through out the job sector especially in hospitality industry. conducted a study on diversity in tourism and hospitality industry revealed that men are paid more than women in countries such as Czech Republic and Norway. This may be due to several accountable reasons such as housekeeping, which women will be asked to do and paid less. It is this level women get an entry and it will be difficult for them to catchup with men’s earning potential. Moreover, there can be a perception that especially in the hotel industry, as the pay rate for women are less, they may not pursue a career in the field. Many theorists feel like the society also plays a vital role here.

Several researchers argue that women are paid less as they end up finding jobs in low paid, less skilled positions such as house keeping. Studies also directed towards a conclusion that in most of the developing countries there exist a work-family conflict which can also be a reason for women work force who are less in job sector. An exploratory study conducted on hotel management students from a London University, who returned from one-year industrial training program working in hotel as a part of their academic curriculum revealed that how female workers differentiate themselves from men at work regarding wages. The study was mainly done to examine the management diversity on gender, race and ethnicity in hotel industry in London. Most of the female workers were asked to do chamber maid jobs with a low paying status .

Managerial Implications

Till date, little research has been done on the area of diversity management in hospitality sector especially in hotel industry. Several studies focused on either specific regions, or the process of training and development of diversity in hotel sectors.In the case of hotel industries, the management must clearly communicate their DM activities and policies through their corporate websites. These communication are effective as it will help women employee’s recruitment, attract talents with different educational and cultural backgrounds. Management must develop a strategic approach to manage diversity in the tourism area. The management understand that efforts must be taken to expand the presence of women in to departments that traditionally have been male dominated, and should promote educational opportunities for women to expand and enhance their proficiencies for working in a variety of responsible positions in the hospitality industry.

CONCLUSION

This paper critically examined the concept of diversity in managing a workforce in hospitality industry. The factors examined here are based on gender and earning potential of women employees with their counter parts. Studies implied that about two-thirds of hotel employees are men and one-third of women who are paid less. There may be other demographical characters that can be used to explore the gender diversity in hotel industry especially in Turkey and Egypt.

REFERENCES

1. Adib, A., & Guerrier, Y. (2003). The interlocking of Gender with Nationality, Race, Ethnicity& Class: the narratives of women in hotel work. London: Blackwed Publishing Limited.
2. Aykac, A. (2006). Linking Scale of Operation & Loabor transformation on Tourism; Comparative analysis on three Turkish cases,Anatilia. An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 257-278.
3. Badran, N., & Kalifa, G. (2013). Diversity management:Is it an important issue in Hotel Industry. Journal of Faculty of Toursim and Hotel.
4. Barry, B., & Bateman, T. (1996). A Social trap Analysis of the Management of Diversity. Academy of Management Review, 757-790.
5. Beaum, T., Devine, F., & Hern, N. (2007). The implications of Contemporary Cultural Diversity for the hospitality curriculum. Journal of Education and Training, 350-363.
6. Cave, P., & Kilic, S. (2010). The role of Women in Tourism Employment with special reference to Antalya, Turkey. Journal of Hospitality Mnaagment and Marketing 19(3), 280-292.
7. Cox, T. (1991). The Multi Cultural Organization. Academy of Management Executive, 34-47.
8. Deery, M., & Shaw, R. (1999). 1999. An Investigation of Relationship between employee turnover and Organizational Culture, 387-400.
9. Gibelman, M. (2002). Progress or Complacency? Pay equity for women circa 2001. Affilia, 279-298.
10. Groschl, S. (2011). Diversity Management Strategies of global hotel groups: A corporate web based evaluation. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality management, 224-240.
11. Hakan Sezerel & Zumurut Tonus, H. (2014). The Soft element of Strategic Human Resource Management: The Employee’s Perception of Diversity Climate. 10th International Strategic Management Conference (pp. 354-359). Turkey: Social and Behavioural Sciences.
12. Herdmen, A., & McMillan-Copperhart, A. (2010). Establishing a Diversity Program is not Enough:Exploring the determinants of Diversity Climate. Journal of Business and Psychology, 39-53.
13. Jurajda, S. (2003). Gender Wage gap& segregation in enterprises and the public sector in late transition countries. Journal of Comparative Economics 31, 199-222.
14. Pinar, M., Mccudy, M. K., Birkan, I., & Kozak, M. (2011). Gender Diversity in the hospitality industry:An Empirical study in turkey. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 73-81.
15. Thomas, R. (1993). Utilizing the Talents in New Work forces. NewYork: American Management Association.
16. Weaver, P., Wilborn, L., McClearly, K., & lekagul, A. (2003). Diversity Training Management Initiatives in the Lodging Industry:An exploratory analysis of underlying dimensions. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism research, 237-253.