Diversity in the German Hospitality Industry and how it affects Human Resources Management concerning women friendly working policies

Abstract

Due to changes in the society and globalisation, the workforce got more diverse. Especially the female labour market participation increased, due to lower fertility rates, better education and new expectations and possibilities for women. Particularly the hospitality industry is a very multicultural and female dominated industry. Hence managing diversity should be a current topic for hotel companies to use the full potential of their human resources.

The aim of this dissertation is to identify how the German hospitality industry deals with the topic diversity, considering women friendly working policies and how it affects the human resource management.

The meaning, importance and benefits of diversity and women friendly working policies are evaluated and the link of the topic to human resources management is shown.

Research, based on interviews with Human Resources Managers of chain hotels in Frankfurt, Germany, show their opinions and perceptions about the topic managing diversity and women friendly policies. It was revealed that diversity procedures and policies hardly exist or are at a developing stage. More over they are often not considered as being crucial to think about since lack of demand is suppose to exist. Recommendations for future improvements are made.

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Table of Contents

  Page  

  Abstract  i

Table of  Contents  ii

  List of Tables  v

  List of Figures  vi

  List of Appendices  vii

  Abbreviations  viii

1.0  Introduction  1

1.1  Rationale  1

1.2  The Aims and Objectives of the Dissertation  2

1.2.1  The Aim  2

1.2.2  The Objectives  2

1.3  Research Methods  3

1.4  Summary of Chapters  4

2.0  Literature Review  6

2.1  Introduction  6

2.2  Diversity  8

2.2.1  General Information  8

2.2.2  Importance of Managing diversity  8

2.2.3  Benefits of Managing Diversity  10

2.2.4  Origin Legal and Historical Aspects of Diversity  10

2.2.5  Conclusion  12

2.3  Gender and the aspect of Women Friendly Working Policies  12

2.3.1  Introduction  12

2.3.2  Definition of Women Friendly Working Policies  14

2.3.3  Facts about women in the labour market  14

2.3.4  Problems which women face  16

2.3.6  Legal Aspects  17

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2.3.7  Benefits of women friendly working policies  17

2.3.8  Conclusion  18

2.4  Human Resources Management in the Hospitality Industry  19

2.4.1  Introduction  19

2.4.2  From Personnel Management to Human Resource Management  20

2.4.3  Human Resource Management  21

2.4.4  Human Resource Management and the Aspect of Diversity  22

2.4.5  Conclusion  23

2.5  Conclusion  23

3.0  Methodology  25

3.1  Introduction  25

3.2  Secondary Research  25

3.2.1  General Information  25

3.2.2  Analysis of Secondary Data  26

3.2.3  Limitations of Secondary Research  27

3.3  Primary Research  27

3.3.1  General Information  27

3.3.2  Qualitative and Quantitative Research  28

3.3.3  Analysis of Primary Research  28

3.4  The Interview  30

3.4.1  The Research Project  30

3.4.2  Limitations and Bias of the Interview  34

3.4.3  Evaluation of Research Method  35

4.0  Findings and Analysis  36

4.1  Introduction  36

4.2  Overview of interviewed hotels  36

4.2.1  Marriott International Inc  36

4.2.2  InterContinental Hotels Group PLC  36

4.2.3  Hilton International  37

4.2.4  Arabella Sheraton Hotelmanagement GmbH  37

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4.3  Diversity Practices in the Hotel Industry in General (Objective 1)  37

4.3.1  Internet based findings  38

4.3.2  Primary research findings  39

4.3.3  Analysis  41

4.4  Change of the German labour market with respect to women participation  

  (Objective 2)  43

4.4.1  Findings  43

4.4.2  Analysis  44

4.5  Implementation of Women Friendly Working Policies in General (Objective 3)  

   44

4.5.1  Findings  44

4.5.2  Analysis  46

4.6  Women Friendly Working Policies in the Frankfurt Hotels (Objective 4)  47

4.6.1  Findings  47

4.6.2  Analysis  49

4.7  Future Procedures and Conclusion (Objective 5)  50

4.7.1  Findings  50

4.7.2  Analysis  51

5.0  Conclusion and Recommendations  52

5.1  Conclusion  52

5.2  Recommendations  55

  Bibliography  57

Appendix 1:  Dissertation Proposal  62

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List of Tables

  Page  

Table 1 1  Identifies the research methods used to investigate each objective  3

Table 3 1  Distinctions between quantitative and qualitative data  28

Table 3 2  List of interviewed Human Resource Managers  31

Table 3 3  Questions asked in the qualitative research and their link to the dissertation  

  objectives  32

v

List of Figures

  Page  

  Figure 3 1 Types of Secondary Data  26

vi

List of Appendices

  Page  

Appendix 1  Dissertation Proposal  63

Appendix 2  The transcribed interview  67

vii

Abbreviations

AA Affirmative Action

Abs. Absatz

Art. Artikel Article

Destatis Deutsches Satitisches Bundesamt German Federal Agency

for Statistics

DM Diversity Management

EO

GG Grundgesetz

HRM

IHG

IPD

MuSchG Mutterschutzgesetz

S. Satz Sentence

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 Rationale

Over the last years globalisation and demographic changes lead to changes in the population as well as changes in the workforce. Different nationalities come together to work together. More women than ever before enter or re-enter the labour market. This labour market situation can be of advantage for companies if they manage their diverse workforce effectively by implementing diversity policies.

The idea for the topic of this dissertation developed after fulfilling an internship in the Human Resource Department of the Hilton Frankfurt, Germany. The author worked on a project researching diversity and its implementation in German companies outside and inside the hospitality industry. It showed that the German hospitality industry is behind on implementing diversity practices even though it is one of the most multicultural industries and therewith a sector where managing diversity seems very important.

Particularly the diversity aspect of working women was of great interest since more and more companies specifically offer certain women friendly policies to let women combine family and working life. Again almost no information or actions are found in the German hospitality industry.

Even though the German labour law and constitution implements certain codes on equal opportunities and equal pay, there are still signs of discrimination present in workplaces. There are current debates on how to improve this situation and help women or minorities groups. A new antidiscrimination law, based on EU regulations, is in progress.

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How does the topic of diversity and women friendly working policies affect the German hospitality industry? Is it really a current topic and how does Human Resources Management deal with it? What is done for women and what further improvements can be made?

This it what the author wanted to find out and hence fill the gaps of research.

1.2 The Aims and Objectives of the Dissertation

Refer to appendix 1 for the original dissertation proposal.

1.2.1 The Aim

The overall aim of the dissertation is to identify how the German hospitality industry deals with the topic of diversity with respect to women friendly working policies.

1.2.2 The Objectives

The objectives of this dissertation are:

1. To analyze existing literature on diversity and human resource management

in the hospitality industry in general.

2. To assess how the labour market has changed with respect to women in the

workforce in Germany.

3. To identify how chain hotels in general implement or not women friendly

working policies.

4. To evaluate whether these chain hotels have or do not have women friendly

working policies in their hotels in Frankfurt.

5. To conclude what modifications can be made in order to better deal with

women in the hospitality workforce and why it can be of benefit for the hotels.

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1.3 Research Methods

In order to complete the aim and objectives of this dissertation a combination of both primary and secondary data were researched.

The following table will show which research methods were chosen to achieve each objective:

Table 1.1: Identifies the research methods used to investigate each objective

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The secondary data were mainly accessed through the library and consisted of books, articles from journals and electronic journals, newspapers and articles from the internet.

The primary research was based on face to face interviews with four Human Resource Managers of chain hotels in Frankfurt.

1.4 Summary of Chapters

Chapter 2

This chapter reviews all the available literature on the subject. It analyses the topic diversity in general and shows the importance and advantages for companies. Furthermore the diversity aspect of women concerning women friendly working policies is emphasized and evaluated. Moreover the influence of diversity and women working policies on Human Resource Management is shown.

Chapter 3

This chapter discusses the different research methods available and those used in order to fulfil the aims and objectives of the dissertation. It highlights the advantages and limitation encountered from the chosen methods. Moreover it reflects on the chosen method.

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Chapter 4 This chapter presents the findings of the primary research and analyses the results. It compares the primary research findings with the secondary research findings.

Chapter 5

This chapter summarizes the main conclusions of the dissertation based on the previous chapters. It recommends action to be taken by Human Resource Management to improve diversity policies in general and for women.

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2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

Globalization and changes in the population happen worldwide. Faster and more sophisticated communication as well as other new technologies improve mobility among customers and employees. For this reason hotel organizations must make sure that their employees get aware of cultural differences and get trained in how to deal with them (Doherty and Groeschl, 1999).

Additionally demographic changes and a lower fertility rate have lead to a labour force that has a higher female share than ever before. According to Mok (2002) the workforce has changed considerably in terms of age, gender, culture, education, disabilities and values.

Already recognized by Goldsmith et al. (1997), the hospitality industry is probably the most international business of all. Furthermore it is an industry with a high female attendance. To deal with an increasing diverse workforce, companies realized that to be effective and get the most out of their human resources new policies had to be applied. “As a result, interest and concern in managing diversity has grown steadily over the past decade” (Mok, 2002: 213). Managing diversity is an effective human resource strategy (Doherty and Groeschl, 1992), and is considered as very important for ensuring a company’s future success and competitiveness (Thornburg, 1995).

One has to realize the connection between human resource management and diversity. The human resource management of a company should guarantee keeping and recruiting the best workforce to achieve the best results for the business. The workforce of today does not hold the same values, nor does it pursue the same needs

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