MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY IN HOSPITALITY WORKPLACE

• Diversity is the distribution of differences among the members of a unit with respect to a common attribute
• It is a group characteristic that reflects the degree of objective and/or subjective differences among group members
• Simply put, any difference between the members of a team
• Types of Diversity:

  • Surface-level diversity: noticeable characteristics like sex, race, age, weight
  • Deep-level diversity: attributes not immediately observable like attitude, values, personality
• Harrison and Klein (2007) proposed three types of diversity:

  • Diversity as separation: differences in attributes, beliefs, and values like cultural values, job attitudes, political beliefs
  • Diversity as variety: differences in knowledge, life experiences, and information like differing professional backgrounds, functional areas, and expertise
  • Diversity as disparity: differences in status or power, reflecting the concentration of resources among team members
• Faultlines:

  • Hypothetical dividing lines within a team based on alignment of team members' attributes
  • Example: A team with an equal number of male and female employees may have a faultline on gender
• Theories in Diversity:

  • Relational Demography Theory: people compare their demographic characteristics with teammates to determine similarities or differences
  • Social Categorization Theory: self-categorization and social identity, with in-group and out-group distinctions based on surface-level characteristics
  • Similarity-Attraction Hypothesis: predicts less productivity in diverse teams compared to homogenous teams
• • Value in Diversity Hypothesis: proposes ways diversity can create value for teams, including creativity, problem-solving, cost advantages, resource acquisition, marketing, system flexibility, and information processing
• Diversity Terminologies:

  • Biases: preconceived tendencies or feelings lacking reasoning
  • Stereotypes: generalizations or beliefs about a group that reflect over-generalizations and factual errors
  • Prejudices: unfair, negative attitudes toward a social group or its members
  • Discrimination: treating someone less favorably due to their group membership
• It has been called as the "optimistic view" of diversity


  Value in Diversity Hypothesis
• It has been called the optimistic view of diversity 


  Value in Diversity Hypothesis
• Diversity is the distribution of differences among the members of a unit with respect to a common attribute
• It is a group characteristic that reflects the degree of objective and/or subjective differences among group members
• Simply put, diversity refers to any difference between the members of a team
• Types of Diversity:

  • Surface-level diversity: noticeable characteristics like sex, race, age, and weight
  • Deep-level diversity: attributes not immediately observable such as attitude, values, and personality
• Harrison and Klein (2007) identified three types of diversity:

  • Diversity as separation: differences in attributes, beliefs, and values like cultural values, job attitudes, and political beliefs
  • Diversity as variety: differences in knowledge, life experiences, and information among team members like differing professional backgrounds and expertise
  • Diversity as disparity: differences in status or power, reflecting the concentration of resources among team members
• Faultlines are hypothetical dividing lines within a team based on the alignment of team members' attributes
• Theories in Diversity:

  • Relational Demography Theory: people compare their demographic characteristics with teammates to determine similarities or differences
  • Social Categorization Theory: self-categorization and social identity influence how people view in-group and out-group members based on surface-level characteristics
• Example: A team with an equal number of male and female employees may have a faultline based on gender
• Similarity-Attraction Hypothesis predicts that diverse teams may be less productive than homogenous teams due to shared attributes and attraction to working with similar individuals
• Value in Diversity Hypothesis:

  • Creativity argument: diversity of opinions can spur creativity in decision-making
  • Problem-solving Argument: diverse teams can produce better decisions through a wider range of perspectives
  • Cost argument: organizations integrating diversity smoothly can realize cost advantages
  • Resource-acquisition argument: inclusive companies can win the competition for best talent
  • Marketing Argument: diverse companies can better market products in foreign markets
• • System flexibility argument: multicultural approach allows companies to better respond to environmental changes
  • Information-processing perspective: diversity helps process a greater amount of information for better performance in tasks with uncertainty
• Diversity Terminologies:

  • Biases: preconceived tendencies or feelings lacking reasoning
  • Stereotypes: generalizations or beliefs about a group that are unjustified
  • Prejudices: unfair, negative attitudes toward a social group or its members
  • Discrimination: treating someone less favorably due to their group membership
• Women and minorities are more likely to be promoted to leadership positions


  In organizations having a crisis or struggling and at risk of failure
• Low-paying jobs are often not connected to any pipeline of advancement or job ladder in the organization
• People should express less surprise to see gender role incongruent behavior in the form of female primary wage earners and male secondary wage earners in the household
• Job incumbents who work in predominantly female jobs have lower rates of promotion than those who work predominantly male or mixed gender jobs
• Gender and race are often synonymous with one's place in the organizational hierarchy
• Barriers to women ascending to top layers of organizational management

  • Invisible but strong barrier
  • Phenomenon where women tend to get stuck at the bottom of the pay distribution
  • Phenomenon whereby men in traditionally female occupations tend to get promoted more quickly than equally qualified female peers
  • Survey data showing males overwhelmingly as primary wage earners in families
  • Extra work moms do after finishing a full day of work for their employer
  • Managers establishing themselves as role models and using trust and confidence to induce subordinates to follow
  • Society's beliefs about gender roles determining roles in home, business, and community
  • Dominant gender role patterns
  • Belief that some groups in society are better than others and that the social hierarchy of majority groups is appropriate
  • Women who have achieved success within social structure and endorse traditional sex roles
  • Commitment to fuse multiple identities and combat multiple oppressions
  • Educational systems using gender, race, or class to restrict opportunities for women, minorities, immigrants, and low-income people to obtain high-quality education
  • Wage differentials by gender and race channeling women and minorities into low-paying jobs
  • Social class associated with division of labor along sex and race lines
  • Overrepresentation of women and minorities in the lowest paying jobs
  • Gender and race synonymous with one's place in the organizational hierarchy
  • Social relationships at work limiting upward mobility
  • Low-paying jobs not connected to any pipeline of advancement or job ladder
  • Hiring practices placing women into jobs with limited growth opportunities
  • Job incumbents in predominantly female jobs having lower rates of promotion
  • Women being blocked from moving into jobs with more opportunities
• Social relationships at work between men and women and between racial minority and majority members can limit upward mobility
• Women who might move into predominantly male or mixed gender jobs with more opportunities may be blocked by eligibility requirements, seniority rules or
• Almost 70% of the full-time female labor force is employed in low-wage occupations
• There is a perception that agencies lack commitment to achieving equal opportunities for women
• Inflexible workplace policies create challenges for women in an organization
• Ways to address gender inequality

  1. Expanding union coverage

  2. Increasing access to higher education

  3. Expanding equal pay legislation

  4. Strengthening employment legislation

  5. Increasing monitoring and enforcement of employment discrimination laws

  6. Adopting a national skill-based industry certification standard

  7. Providing better paid leave for employees with family responsibilities

  8. Providing childcare programs

  9. Opposing arbitrary limits to the length of time low-income women can stay on national assistance programs

  10. Expanding national resources for education and training programs

  11. Having zero-tolerance for discrimination

  12. Considering women for all positions

  13. Avoiding biases and stereotyping in management

  14. Facilitating success for women through mentoring programs

  15. Encouraging women to follow their passions

  16. Providing reasonable maternity and paternity benefits
• Job incumbents in predominantly female jobs have lower rates of promotion compared to those in predominantly male or mixed gender jobs
• Job evaluation systems may lead to compensation policies that devalue the content of women's work
• Higher level management positions are harder for women to obtain
• Women and men do not earn the same average wage
• Women may face barriers moving into predominantly male or mixed gender jobs due to eligibility requirements, seniority rules, or lack of training and career development