Role of Workforce Diversity in Improving Organisational Capability in Hospitality Industry: A Study on Marriott

This research examines the role of workforce diversity in improving the organisational capabilities of Marriott in the hospitality industry in the UK. It discusses the concept of workforce diversity, its impact on organisational capabilities, challenges in implementation, and provides recommendations. The study aims to benefit Marriott and other companies in the hospitality industry.

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Module title
To evaluate the role of
workforce diversity in
improving the organisational
capability in the context of
hospitality industry in UK. A
study on Marriott.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Almighty God, as he
supported e during the whole course of the research when things were going good and even when

I faced any problems during the research. Secondly, I would extend my gratitude towards my
Respected Principal who gave me the very important opportunity to conduct a research on the
recent topic ‘Role of workforce diversity in increasing the capabilities of the organisation’. the
research enhanced my knowledge and provided me with various opportunities to study different
aspects of workforce diversity.
Furthermore, I would like to thank my supervisor who supported and guided me constantly
during the whole research whenever I faced any queries. I would also like to express my thanks
to my family members as they were there in all the ups and downs and were there as supporting
pillars which motivated me to do the research. I can’t forget to give my heartfelt thanks to my
friends and colleagues who do not demotivated mw instead encouraged me to do the research in
the better ways and which lead to the successful completion of the research. Without the all
above mentioned, I would not be able to complete the research.

ABSTRACT
The research was done on the very recent topic which can benefit most of the companies in the
hospitality industry specially the Marriott which was ‘The role of workforce diversity in
increasing the capabilities of the organisations in UK. The research gave many opportunities to
extend the knowledge of the researcher regarding the topic. The aim and objectives were
discussed along with the research questions. It also mentioned the reason as well as the people
and the organisations which can be benefitted by the research. Research methods were chosen
such that it became very easy and systematic to do the complete study. The interpretivism
philosophy and the inductive approach helped in gaining the experiences of the respondents
regarding the workforce diversity at the Marriott. Data collection methods were chosen as
primary (Questionnaires) and secondary (Literature Review) which helped in gaining deeper
insights about the topic which helped me in answering the research questions. The data was then
analysed using the thematic analysis which made the study more creative and understandable die
to the themes and the figures used to present the data collected. It was find out by doing the
primary research that the employees of Marriott that workforce diversity is increasing the
organisational capabilities as it is giving various opportunities to the employees for increasing
their talent which is improving their performance. Though many issues come but the company
strives hard to solve every issue by implementing various strategies like adapting the anti-
discrimination policies and many more. The employees are highly satisfied with the diverse
workforce which clearly indicates that making the workforce diversified is benefitting the
company as well as its employees. Significant conclusions were made and various
recommendations were given which can help in improving the workforce diversity at the
workplace of Marriott and other organisations in hospitality industry in UK.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title..................................................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................5
1.0 Background............................................................................................................................5
1.1 Rationale................................................................................................................................5
1.2 Aim & Objectives..................................................................................................................6
1.3 Research Questions................................................................................................................7
1.4 Significance...........................................................................................................................7
1.5 Research Structure.................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................9
2.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................9
2.1 Themes...................................................................................................................................9
2.2 Literature Summary.............................................................................................................14
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................15
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS...................................................................20
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................37
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................39
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................45

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background
Workplace diversity plays a major role in the organisations among the hiring managers,
employers and the recruitment professionals. Diversity in the workplace basically focusses on
hiring the wide range of diverse individuals. These can be on the basis of age, culture, race,
religion, background, ethnicity, sexuality, education, language etc. Along with hiring a
diversified workforce, it is equally important to manage them to ensure that all the employees
have equal participation in all the activities without being discriminated on any basis (Saxena,
2020). Though all the organisations in various industries face the pros and cons of workforce
diversity but the hospitality industry is the most affected one because the workforce there needs
to be diversified as they have to interact with the tourists and guests coming from different
countries. They are benefitted by workforce diversity in many ways but faces many challenges
also (Top challenges of Diversity in the Workplace, 2019). This research is based on the role of
the workforce diversity which helps in increasing the capabilities of organisations like Marriott
in hospitality industry. Marriott Hotels and Resorts is the brand of Marriott International which is
headquartered in Maryland, US but the research will focus on the Marriott which performs
operations in UK as it operates worldwide. The company recruits people of different cultures,
backgrounds, religions etc. to make its workforce diversified. It is benefitted by this strategy
since many years. So, this research aims at a very current situation in the hospitality industry
which is the need to maintain workforce diversity as in order to satisfy the guests, the employees
must be aware of their culture and background so that they can treat them accordingly.
1.1 Rationale
The main reason behind doing this research is that the competition in the hospitality
industry is increasing rapidly and in order to compete in this dynamic industry, the companies
have to make its workforce diversified so that they can satisfy maximum customers and increase
their customer base (Merchant, 2020). Marriot, UK which performs its operations in the
hospitality industry secured the second position in terms of diversity among the top 50
companies in the world (Industry Update, 2020). It makes large investments to learn various
hospitality skills especially for the women, veterans, disabled people, refugees and many more
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(Eikhof and Marsden, 2019). So, it is must to analyse the role which is played by diversified
workforce in Marriott so that its benefits and challenges can be identified. It is must for the
hospitality companies to implement the workforce practices as the aim of the hospitality industry
is to optimize the experience of different tourists in the cultural environments which is totally
different for their home regions or countries (Merchant, 2020). This made the workforce
diversity in the hospitality industry a major factor to facilitate the cultural exchange globally.
This was also enhanced by globalization because of its multicultural nature. As, Marriott
dals in providing various services such as accommodation, travel and entertainment to the
tourists and the guests from different countries, it realized the need to meet the demands of all
the tourists irrespective of their culture, religion, creed, background etc. The companies must be
able to make the use of golden opportunity to understand the different cultural experiences for
both the tourists as well as employees (Sah and Nadda, 2017). Marriott endeavours to train its
personnel so that they can appreciate and accommodate the clients from diverse background
across the world. This die snot only benefits the company by increasing its understanding of
various social, economic and cultural perspectives but also helps in enhancing the satisfactory
services’ delivery through observation and communication. So, the current topic is chosen to
analyse the impact of the diversified workforce on the capabilities of organisations in hospitality
and the main capability in these companies is the talent of the employees which must be
enhanced to gain a higher competitive advantage and also increases the profitability of the
companies which helps in leading the competitors like Hilton, IHG, Accor, Fairmont and many
others (Bhasin, 2018).
1.2 Aim & Objectives
Aim
To examine the role of workforce diversity in improving the organisational capabilities of
Marriott in UK.
Objectives
 To discuss the concept of workforce diversity in the hospitality industry of UK.
 To analyse the role of workforce diversity to increase the organisational capabilities of
Marriott in UK.
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 To ascertain the challenges that can be raised in implementing the workforce diversity
practices in the organisations.
 To recommend various strategies which can meet up the challenges raised above.
1.3 Research Questions
 What is the concept of workforce diversity in the hospitality industry of UK?
 How the workforce diversity plays its role in increasing the capabilities of Marriott in
UK?
 What challenges can be raised in implementing the workforce diversity practices in the
hospitality industry in UK?
 What strategies can be recommended to meet up the challenges faced while practicing
workforce diversity?
1.4 Significance
The research is going to benefit the company itself which is Marriott in UK in improving
its practices used to implement workforce diversity. The company has faced various benefits
form this since many years but can enhance them according to the fluctuating demands of the
tourists to be satisfied. This will also benefit the stakeholders as it creates a sense of trust among
them and motivates them to make large investments in the hospitality industry and helps in
bringing innovation. The research will prove to be significant for the other companies in the
hospitality industry who wish to develop and implement the practices of workforce diversity at
their workplace (Bagheri and et.al., 2020). It will also help the researchers who wish to study
related to this topic. The management of the Marriott will be benefitted the most by this research.
1.5 Research Structure
The structure of this report will be as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter includes the background, introduction of the research in which the topic is
discussed. It is followed by mentioning the aims and objectives of the research along with the
research questions which will be answered during the whole research. The reason to do the
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research is described along with the areas and individuals which are going to be benefitted by the
research.
Chapter 2: Literature review
This section will consist of various themes which are made by segregating the while
objective. The already published books, journals, articles, research papers, blogs are gone
through by the researcher to gain the different significant views of various authors related to the
topic which helps in answering the questions of research.
Chapter 3: Research methodology
It describes all the methods used in the research to gain deeper insights about the topic as
well as getting overall findings. The type, philosophy and approach are discussed along with the
data collection and analysis. It will also include the ethics, reliability, validity, generalizability
and limitations of the research.
Chapter 4: Data Analysis
The collected data from various sources is analysed in this section to make significant
interpretations and overall findings which helps in drawing significant conclusions.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Findings
This part is the concluding part in which conclusion of the overall research is described.
It also summarized the research in short which helps in making various recommendations to
improve the implementation of practices in the company.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
The literature review helps in surveying the books, journals, scholarly articles, research
papers and many other sources which are relevant to the particular topic, areas of research,
theory and this helps the researcher in providing the description, implication and the critical
evaluation of these works related to the research problem which is being investigated. This is the
secondary source of gathering the data as the information is not collected by the researcher in
first hand form but it is already published by the authors. Various themes are made in the
literature review which are made to segregate the overall objective into parts which helps to gain
deeper insights about every theme. The research papers are selected such that they help in doing
the critical evaluation of the views of the authors. This helped in obtaining significant results
related to the role of workforce diversity in increasing the capabilities of organisation. The
various themes which will help in answering the research questions are as described below:
2.1 Themes
2.1.1 Theme 1: Concept of Workforce Diversity in the hospitality industries of UK
According to Liu, Wang and Liu (2020), workforce diversity is basically bringing together
variety of people to a particular workplace for achieving the goals of the person as well as the
organisation. It is considered as completely different aspect which diverges from the other
professional and fundamental concerns. The author also explained that when a company decides
to expand its diversity, then it prefers the candidate with professional experience of more varied
level instead of a candidate which follows the ‘cookie cutter’ career path.
This was also supported by author Ali (2020), that the experience not only refers to the on-
the-job experience but the deeper background and the personal story of the employee including
the area where the person was raised, the school attended, other skill sets which does have direct
relation with the everyday duties of the organisation. Also, the author elaborated this by saying
that the characteristics of the candidate noticed here do not have direct relevance to the
professional knowledge, but they are the ones which helps in adding the varieties in different
aspects to the workplace such as ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, ability, age
and many more.
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Building blocks to the above points, Kalargyrou and Costen (2017), mentioned in their
research papers that workforce diversity can be considered as the heterogeneous composition of
the employees working in an organisation in various aspects like ethnic origin, marital status,
education, language etc. It possesses various significant implications for the management. The
major people responsible for the workforce diversity is the managers who needs to shift their
approach from treating every worker alike to recognize differences among them and by
following these policies, they encourage the creativity, reduces the labour turnover, improves the
productivity and helps in avoiding any sort of discrimination. Nice explanation
Partington (2016), also expressed their views in describing the concept of workforce
diversity in the organisations as it is both an opportunity and a challenge for the business. Many
of the organisations believes that implementing the workforce diversity can ensure the strategic
utilization of the human resources which helps in the attainment of the strategic goals. Also, the
author examined that earlier the employees coming from different background automatically
adjusted with the existing workforce but as of now the employees come with a set values, life
style and preferences when they decide to work.
The above points were supported by authors Sung and Choi (2019), as they mentioned in
their books that workforce diversity if implemented in the organisation can benefit the
companies as well as the employees, but it is possible only when it is managed efficiently. If the
diversity of workforce is not managed properly then it leads to the opposite results as compared
to the expected. So, the authors highlighted the importance of the management of workforce
diversity in the book.
In the research paper published by MAKUDZA, MUCHONGWE and DANGAISO
(2020), the concept of Workforce diversity was elaborated regarding the hospitality industry as
the companies in this sector face the need to diversify its workforce and also are benefitted by
implementing the strategies of workforce diversity. The scholar also identified that the
diversified workforce helps in creating the positive organisational culture in the companies and
also motivates the employees to appreciate and address the needs of the tourists coming from
different countries and backgrounds.
2.1.2 Theme 2: Role of Workforce Diversity in increasing the organisational capabilities
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As per the view of the authors Jones and Comfort (2018), the company deals in employing
the broad range of diversified individuals. It means recruiting and selecting the candidates with
different characteristics. The author also elucidate that till now, this was considered as one of the
recent and latest topic in the hospitality industry but now it has become one of the major goals of
the companies. This is now something for which many companies strive to achieve.
Furthermore, the authors Tay and Frimpong (2017), also described in their research paper
that this became the focus of the companies in the hospitality industry to create equitable
environments of workplace where the professionals from range of educational and cultural
backgrounds work together to form the diverse and welcoming teams. The scholar also identified
that the diversity not only deals with the cultural or religious backgrounds but also encompasses
with the unique perspective which is brought by the employees in the company.
The authors Otaye-Ebede (2019), supported the above points by mentioning in their books
that the workplace diversity helps the companies to bring in innovation as people from different
backgrounds bring their ideas and opinions which increases the communication as well as the
productivity. It also gives many opportunities to the companies for designing and providing the
services to the tourists and the guests which are reflective and inclusive of their unique demands
and wants. The author also identified that the hospitality organisations feel much pride in
developing the experiences for the guests individually.
The authors Manthorpe and et.al. (2018), also agreed to the above point as they highlighted
in their books that the employers also want that their employees can effectively communicate
with the guests belonging to different backgrounds having distinct expectations and beliefs. Also,
if the company implements the workplace diversity then it attracts the graduates as it can help
them to design the employee inclusion programs and the training methods of diversity.
Supporting the above points, the author Eikhof (2020), agreed that the employees get a
wide range of opportunities as they come to learn so many different things from the colleagues
from different countries which enhances their talents and skills. The author also elaborated that
companies which implement the diversity among the workforce becomes able to solve the
problems better. The culturally different employees bring many creative solutions to the table for
a particular problem than the cognitively similar employees.
Building blocks to the above points, the authors Baum and et.al. (2020), elucidated that
diversity in the workforce in the hospitality industry helps in engaging the employees as more
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they are included, more they are engaged. Also, as the companies with diverse workforce are
inclusive of various characteristics and perspectives of different individual.
On the contradiction, the authors Goh and Okumus (2020), argued the above points by
explaining in their research paper that workplace diversity creates many communication
problems people from different cultures may not be able to speak the same language as the
option of primary communication. The author elaborated that this can leads to confusion due to
differences in the meaning of the words. This can lead to many misunderstandings which further
leads to conflicts.
The contradiction is further elaborated by the authors Mooney and Baum (2019), as they
mentioned in their research papers that levels of complaint often rise with the initiative of
diversity. Bothersome results are obtained by different working styles and habits. The author
elaborated that without effective management of the workforce diversity, there can be increase in
the complaints and grievances which suggests that there is not much time to perform
investigations.
However, the authors Aydin and Özeren (2018), also supported the above contradiction by
highlighting that distinct perspectives develop unique opinions and approaches in the work life
which leads to several disagreements at the workplace. If some employees are expressing their
opinions considering that they are correct, but some other employees may show their
disagreement towards their opinions. The employees consider their disagreement as an attack
against their integrity, spirituality or even their creativity.
This is how the critical evaluation of the role of workforce diversity in increasing the
capabilities of organisation can be done.
2.1.3. Theme 3: Challenges raised in implementing the Workforce Diversity Practices
According to the views of the author Burgess (2017), there are various challenges which
companies can face when they implement the practices of workforce diversity. The women
working in the organizations may encounter many problems in the workplace as the difference
regarding the gender can be considered as a tool for exploiting them and also sometimes this
leads to the sexual harassment. Also, sometimes discriminatory treatment is done of the diverse
workforce by the top management which is very common but it acts as a challenge for the
hospitality companies.
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Furthermore, the author Varlani (2020), also stated some challenges which can be faced
by the companies in implementing the workforce diversity. They explained that in order to find
the solution of certain problems in the organisation, there comes many opinions and the ways to
approach a particular scenario which creates many issues in taking the decision. The author also
discussed that these excessive number of solutions or opinions can sometimes result in the failure
of reaching the consensus. This becomes a major challenge for the companies to manage those
opinions and take a suitable decision.
Also, the authors Manoharan and Singal (2017), supported the above points by stating
that sometimes the goal of the organisation becomes only to make the workforce diversified so
they do not focus more on recruiting the talented employees. Sometimes, the poor performers are
also selected just because they belong to different background and culture and helps in making
the workforce diversified. This reduces the productivity of the organisations. So, this becomes an
important challenge for the hospitality companies to manage the workforce by focusing on the
diversity as well as the skills and talents.
The above points were supported by the authors Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous
(2017), as they have stated in their books that the employees being the humans make the
decisions based on the biases and when the point comes to the employees from different culture
then this biasness becomes more strong. At this instance, distrust is created between the
employees of different backgrounds as they start doubting each other. This becomes a challenge
for the top management of the company and the HRM to manage the misunderstandings between
the employees so that they create a positive image for each other irrespective of the differences
among them on the basis of culture, background, race, ethnicity etc.
In support of the above points, the authors Filimonau and Mika (2019), raised the
challenge of managing the communication at the workplace as when the people from different
backgrounds come together, the communication problems are obvious. Language barriers are
developed due to the ineffective communication between the employees. This also can happen
between the males and females as both of them have different ways of communication which
sometimes become a reason for conflict. This is also challenging for the employees as they have
to manage their language as well as the effective communication with the employees.
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2.2 Literature Summary
The literature review concluded various things according to the themes which were made
according to the objectives of the research. The concept of the workforce diversity was described
which was more focussed on the hospitality industry. This helped in gaining the deeper insight
about the topic which will help in the making the conclusions. This theme was very important as
without knowing the concept of the workforce diversity, it is impossible to analyse the role
played by it in the organisations. Also, the main theme of the research was discussed which was
the role of workforce diversity in in increasing the organisational capabilities. The views of the
authors in this theme were critically evaluated as some believed that its impacts the organisation
positively while the others argued with this fact and expressed their views in against of the
others. Various challenges were discussed which will help the companies to be prepared for the
issues they can face and can help in making the suitable plans which can help in developing best
strategies to be benefitted by the workforce diversity at the workplace.
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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology describes the methods, procedures or the techniques which are
used in the research to achieve the objectives of the research. This part plays a major role in the
research as the overall results are depended on this section (Mohajan, 2018). It consists of the
type, philosophy and the approach of the research along with the method of data collection and
analysis. It also ensures the reliability, validity and generalizability of the research along with the
limitations (Lin and Ottenbacher, 2020). The researcher uses the following methods to gain
deeper insights about the role of workforce diversity in increasing the capabilities of the
organisation:
Research type: This describes the type of data which will be used to obtain the results and the
overall findings. This is basically of two types: Qualitative and Quantitative. Qualitative type
deals with the words and its meanings whereas the quantitative research deals with the statistics
and the numbers. The qualitative research is mostly expressed in words and is used in
understanding the concepts, experiences or thoughts (Streefkerk, 2020). This is mostly done by
interviews, literature review etc. on the other hand, the quantitative research is expressed in
numbers and graphs which are used to test the theories. These are done by experiments, surveys
etc. (Nguyen and et.al., 2018).
This research uses the qualitative type of data as the behaviour and the experiences of the people
will be analysed and this type will help in gaining the suitable findings regarding the research
objective. Explain why? Need more justification here
Research Philosophy: This is basically about the way in which data should be gathered,
analysed and used. It usually deals with the nature, source and the development of the
knowledge. There are mainly two types of research approaches: Interpretivism and Positivism.
Interpretivism deals in the qualitative research using certain methods including the unstructured
interviews or observation from the participants. It believes that for understanding the actions of
humans, it is must to achieve the empathetic understanding which can be achieved by seeing the
world through the eyes of the people who performs the task (Kollarova, 2018). Positivism deals
in the actions of the people which can be explained by the social norms and are exposed through
the socialization, gender, social class and the ethnic background. This research will be based on
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the interpretivism philosophy as the non-scientific methods will be used to see the scope of
research. Also, as the qualitative methods will be used for the close interaction with the
respondents therefore, this approach can help in getting the best outcomes. This does not include
any statistical data but it doesn’t affect the overall findings of the research as it needs to evaluate
the experiences of the employees regarding the workforce diversity instead of evaluating any
numerical data (Eissner and Gannon, 2018). This will help in gaining the in-depth insights about
the workforce diversity increasing the capabilities of the organisation. The topic also relies on
the employees’ experience and opinions which can only be analysed the interpretivism approach.
Research Approach: There are basically two types of approaches: Inductive and Deductive.
The main focus of the inductive approach is to develop a theory whereas the deductive approach
lays emphasis on testing an existing theory (Inductive and Deductive Reasoning, 2020). The
inductive approach deals in moving from specific observations to broad generalizations and the
deductive approach does the opposite of inductive (Pham, Tučková and Jabbour, 2019). When
there is no theory to test initially, Inductive approach is used whereas when the research is based
on the deductive approach, the beginning is done by testing the theory. As there is no theory to
be testes in this research relate to the role of workforce diversity, this is based on the inductive
approach which will help in doing various observations which will end up by concluding all the
findings and developing a theory (Dashper, 2020). The role of workforce diversity can easily be
evaluated by doing the research which follows the inductive approach. This approach is basically
associated with the qualitative research. At the initial stage, the researcher begins with
completely open mind when the scholar is without any preconceived ideas of what will be the
result where the main aim is to develop a theory based on the data which is collected. The
approach which is used in the research completely depended upon the purpose of the research
and the methods which bests suits the objectives of the research.
Strategy and Research Design
Research strategy can be an overall plan which is made to conduct the overall
study of the research. This helps the researcher to plan, execute and monitor the study. The data
can be collected from various sources in order to gain significant findings and results. this
research mainly uses the method of questionnaire to gain the views and opinions of the
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respondents whose responses can used in the research for making overall conclusions (Kim,
2020). The sample is chosen with the help of simple random sampling of probabilistic type in
which no major criteria is decided to choose the respondents and randomly 30 employees of
Marriott hotel are chosen and are considered as the participants in the questionnaire method. This
will be a part of qualitative results as the experience and the opinions of the employees will be
gained through this and no statistical data of the company will be used in this. The sample
number 30 defines that the overall results will not be biased and will help in getting optimal
results which represents the overall views and opinions of all the employees (Kim, Kim and
Park, 2017). All the 30 employees will be given the questionnaires which needs to be filled by
them which helps in gaining their experiences related to the workforce diversity in Marriott hotel
which is in UK. There will be no discrimination on the basis of any aspect like age, gender,
position etc. They will be asked about their experience and the thoughts at the workplace
regarding the diversity at the place. Their responses will decide the actual practices going on in
the hotel. The answers to which majority of the respondents agree will be considered as the
overall result which will help in interpreting many new things. In this way, overall results can be
produced regarding each question.
Research Design: This can be considered as a framework of research methods and the
techniques which are chosen by the researcher. These can be of many different types like
experimental, descriptive, correlational and many more. this research is based on the descriptive
design in which the interest of the research solely resides on describing the situation of the
research (Gebbels, Pantelidis and Goss-Turner, 2020). This is theory based and which is
developed by creating, analysing and presenting the data which is collected. The insights on the
why and how of the research can easily be evaluated through this design. It also helps in
understanding the needs of the research.
Data Collection and Analysis Methods
Data collection refers to the process of gathering the information from various relevant
sources in order to find the solution to the research problem which helps in evaluating the
problem’s outcome. The data can be collected in two major ways: Primary and Secondary.
Primary data is the firsthand data which is collected by the researcher in its original form. It is
17

the real time data which is always specific to the needs of the researcher (Filimonau and
Krivcova, 2017). This can be collected through observations, surveys, questionnaires, personal
interview etc. The secondary data is the secondhand data which is already collected by someone
else. It is considered as the past data which may or may not be much specific to the needs of the
researcher. This data can be taken from the government publications, websites, already published
books and journals etc. (Uher, 2016). This research will use both the data: primary data will be
collected through the questionnaire and the secondary data will be collected from the already
published books, journals etc. which have relevant information regarding the role of workforce
diversity in the hospitality industry in UK. How did you collect primary data? Explain here
Data analysis deals in analysing the data which is collected from various sources and making
relevant interpretations from them. Data can be analysed in two ways: Thematic or SPSS (Goh
and Jie, 2019). Thematic data analysis is used to analyse the qualitative data and is done by
making various themes according to the questions of the questionnaire and then the data which is
collected from the responses of the respondents is represented in the form of figures, charts,
pictorial and graphical representations which makes it easy for the researcher to make the
interpretations and also makes the information more creative and understandable for the one who
reads it.
Reflection
The researcher chose the inductive approach in order to analyse the role of workforce
diversity in increasing the organisational capabilities in Marriott hotel as this approach gives
better results when the research type is qualitative. As the researcher has not involved any
numerical or statistical data, this approach can prove to be the best to gain optimal results. This
approach helps me in beginning the study with the detailed observations of the world and which
further leads to abstract generalizations and ideas. The researcher also has no theory to test at the
initial level so I will perform the activities of the research to gain the significant findings. This
approach will help in in analysing the experiences of the employees in Marriott about their
diversified workforce and workplace. I chose the questionnaire method as the strategy as this
make easy to collect the responses of the respondents in an unbiased way and also becomes easy
to analyse the data collected with the help of thematic analysis (Ortiz-Haro and et.al., 2020).
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Due to some limitations of this approach, I can face some problems also but I chose the research
strategy such that there are very less chances of issues. Its limitation is that it is incomplete and
may also lead to false conclusions even with the observations being accurate. But I chose the
questionnaire method which can give accurate conclusions even after something goes wrong.
Using the questionnaire method, is one or the other observation comes true, it will not affect the
overall results as the result will be based on the majority of the respondents.
Ethics, Reliability, Validity, Generalizability and Limitations
Ethical considerations: The research follows all the possible ethics as consent forms will be
filled by the respondents and declaration forms will be filled by the researcher to ensure that the
information is true to the knowledge of the respondents and the researcher (Gebbels, Pantelidis
and Goss-Turner, 2020). None of the respondent is hurt. The data collected through the
questionnaire is kept confidential and there are no chances of data leaks and risks of leaking of
private information.
Ethics was also followed while taking the data from the secondary sources such as data is de-
identifies before releasing it to the researcher. The consent for the subjects to be studied can be
presumed reasonably. Also, the data which was used will not result in any distress or damage.
Reliability: The secondary sources chosen for the literature review were recent publications and
are copyright protected. Also the authors of all the books and journals are well-known. These can
be used in the repeated researches also and the similar results are expected every time (Walker
and et.al., 2017). The design of the questionnaire also ensures the standards of the results as it is
reliable which helps in achieving the expected results.
Validity: The methods and the tools used in the research helps the researcher to gauge the results
according to the objectives. Also, the design of the questionnaire makes the research valid. The
results which will be obtained in the research are valid as they are obtained by following all the
valid processes of research.
Generalizability: The outcome of this research will not only be applied to the Marriott Hotel but
to the whole hospitality industry. Each and every company in the industry can be facilitated by
19

the research by understanding and adapting the role of workforce diversity in the organisations
(Manoharan and Singal, 2017). So, the methods chosen for the Marriott company can be applied
to the whole industry and even the questionnaire can be used with any company who implements
or wish to implement the workforce diversity at the workplace.
Limitations: There is a lack of time to do the complete study of the research but the researcher
made the justified use of time which can help in obtaining the significant outcomes (Tay and
Frimpong, 2017). Also, there was lack of resources including the respondents but researcher tried
to obtain the overall findings which can help in making the unbiased results.
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
Data analysis is the method of analysing the data which is gathered from various sources
like primary and secondary. This is the most important part of the research as the outcomes
depend on this section. These is mainly of two types i.e., Thematic and SPSS. Thematic analysis
is used to analyse the qualitative data which does not contain numerical data. Various themes are
made according to the primary data and the data collected is presented in the form of graphs,
charts, pictorial representations etc. (Turkoglu and Brown, 2018). SPSS make use of the software
to analyse the numerical data. This research is based on the qualitative type of research so it will
analyse the data through thematic analysis. The data from the questionnaires i.e., responses from
the respondents of Marriott, UK and the data from the literature review i.e., from the already
published publications both will be analysed through the thematic analysis (Turkoglu, Brown
and Hudson, 2020). The researcher makes the best use of the thematic analysis by making the
themes according to the questions of the questionnaire so that each theme can be studied and
evaluated properly in order to gain in-depth insights regarding the research objectives and to gain
significant outcomes.
Theme 1: Marriott promotes workforce diversity at the workplace
Does the company Marriott promote workforce diversity at the
workplace?
Respondents
Yes 27
No 3
20

Total 30
Interpretation: It can be identified from the above graphical representation that 90% of the
respondents answered that the company Marriott promotes and commits the diversity among the
workforce and only 3 out of 30 respondents denied this fact. This may be possible as these 3
people do not engage in any activities and do not prefer communicating with the other
employees so they are unaware of the practices going in the organisation. The result is calculated
on the basis of the decision of the majority so this can be examined that the company promotes
workforce diversity. This can also be evaluated from the literature review by Partington (2016),
that big organisations in the hospitality industry like Hilton, Marriott etc. adapts the practices of
workforce diversity for many reasons. The small companies do not feel the need of workforce
diversity as they do not need to meet the luxurious needs and demands of the clients and guests
as they do not come from different countries and backgrounds. They just have to satisfy the
people who comes from nearby places who are adaptable to the culture of the hotel and do not
demand for the employees of other countries.
Theme 2: Marriott performs a lot of practices to adapt the workforce diversity.
What does Marriott do to adapt the practices of workforce diversity? Respondents
Recruit candidates of different cultures 5
Organizes programs related to diversity 3
21

Establishing sense of belonging 2
All the above. 20
Total 30
Interpretation: This can be easily interpreted from the above graph that more than half of the
respondents believes that the Marriott do so many things in order to make its workforce diverse.
These ways can be recruiting the candidates from different countries, organizing programs
related to diversity and also establishes a sense of belonging. Only some of the respondents were
agreed on the individual options. This do not affect the overall result as this part is negligible in
front of the one which agreed that instead of focusing on one method, the Marriott hotel uses
many methods which clearly highlights that the company makes use of the practices of
workforce diversity. This was also examined in the literature review by Sung and Choi (2019),
when the companies adapt the policies of workforce diversity, they do not present and use it in a
single practice instead the companies keep in mind the workforce diversity in its mind in all its
practices so that none of the employee gets hurt regarding the culture, background, religion, race
and many more. It is the responsibility of the company to manage the workforce diversity so it is
must for them to implement it in all the activities because all the employee regardless of their
culture takes part in the activities like programs, recruitment, decision making etc.
Theme 3: There are many reason for which Marriott promotes Workforce Diversity.
What is the reason behind promoting diversity in Marriott? Respondents
22

Fresh and different ideas and opinions 5
Innovative strategies 5
Increasing the talent pool 2
All the above 18
Total 30
Interpretation: This can be evaluated from the above pictorial representation that 60% of the
respondents that is the majority feels that there is not one reason for which Marriott implements
the practices of workforce diversity. Instead, there are many reasons for the same such as to gain
the opportunity to get the fresh ideas and opinions, to develop various innovative strategies and
also to increase the pool of talent in the organisations. Only few respondents realize that the
company do this for a single purpose or reason. This was also highlighted in the literature review
by the authors Makudza, Muchongwe and Dangaiso (2020), that most of the companies in the
hospitality industry feels various needs to implement the practices of workforce diversity. They
do not take this big step or strategy which changes all the operations and the processes of the
organisation for a single reason. This was further elaborated by Baum and et.al. (2020), as they
may feel the need to bring innovation in the strategies so that they can gain the competitive
advantage among the competitors, they may also feel the need to increase the talent in the
employees so they can perform the tasks which other employees of other employees cannot do,
23

they often feel that adapting the policies of the workforce diversity can help in gaining the fresh
ideas and opinions from the employees of different culture and backgrounds.
Theme 4: Marriott can attract large number of customers by making its workforce
diversified.
Dou you agree that workforce diversity is helping the Marriott to
attract large number of customers.
Respondents
Strongly agree 15
Agree 10
Neutral 3
Disagree 2
Strongly disagree 0
Total 30
Interpretation: A major proportion of the sample population shows a positive response towards
the valuable contribution of workforce diversity in attracting customers. Out of 30 participants
50% of the employees stated that they believe that diversity is helpful in attracting more
customers. The reason being that with different people it becomes more convenient to understand
all types of customers. Thus it creates a positive impression on guests and they enjoy more
satisfactory services. However, there were 2 participants who showed disagreement that
workforce diversity does not relate with gaining more customers. In their opinion only service
24

quality is matter of concern and customers are not influenced by workplace diversity. This was
also mentioned in the literature review by Ali (2020), that major established companies notice
that they are improving themselves by adapting the workforce diversity practices in order to
attract the customers. As the diverse employees are able to manage the tourists from different
countries, more customers are attracted towards the company. But on the other hand, Otaye-
Ebede (2019), believed that the workforce diversity only helps in increasing the productivity due
to broad range of talents in the company which means the operations of the company are
facilitated by the workforce diversity and it does not affect the customers of the company and
they are unaware about the diversified workforce.
Theme 5:
Does the company provide equal opportunities to the employees
from different background?
Respondents
Yes 25
No 5
Total 30
Interpretation: The above chart interprets that 25 out of 30 i.e., 83% of the respondents believes
that the Marriott company being one of the largest hospitality companies in the world gives equal
25

opportunities to all the employees whatever the culture or religion any be. This was also
mentioned in the literature review by the authors Kalargyrou and Costen (2017), that when the
company implements the practices which can make its workforce diversified, then they must
manage it by giving equal opportunities to all the employees and do not discriminate them in
terms of any differences between them and the other employees.
Theme 6: All the employees in Marriott are allowed to take part in decision-making.
Do you agree that all the employees irrespective of the culture are
allowed to take part in the decision-making?
Respondents
Strongly agree 15
Agree 8
Neutral 4
Disagree 3
Strongly disagree 0
Total 30
Interpretation: The above graphical representation analysed that majority of the respondents
i.e., half of the respondents were strongly agreed with the fact that Marriott gives equal and fair
chances to all the employees to take part in decision making and also 28% agreed with this while
only some of them denied this fact. This was also evaluated in the literature review by Goh and
26

Okumus (2020), that employees must be engaged in all the decision taken or would be taken as
they are the main players to contribute in implementing the decisions. So, it is must especially
for the companies with diversified workforce that they force the employees to take part in
decision making as if this does not happen then some of the employee can be hurt because they
can fell less valued or disrespected. So, this must be resolved by the company by engaging all the
employees in decision-making.
Theme 7: Marriott provides trainings for the workforce diversity management
Does Marriott provide trainings to manage the workforce diversity
at the workplace keeping in mind the cultural values of all the
employees?
Respondents
Yes 25
No 5
Total 30
Interpretation: More than 80% of the participants believed that for managing the different
values of staff members Marriott conduct effective training programs. These participants also
believe that the training structure and agenda is strongly based on the diversity of the team
members. However, there were 5 participants who believe that training initiatives of hotel are
based on the situational needs and organisational objectives. Hotel provide trainings which can
add value to customer satisfaction and competitive benefits and these programs have least or
negligible association with the diversity element. This was also observed in the literature review
27

by authors Manthorpe and et.al. (2018), that the employees resist the employees from different
backgrounds so they must be trained effectively so that they become aware of the need of the
workforce diversity and the benefits it can have on the employees and the organisation. training
programs must be based on the diversity so that all the employees can actively participate in
those trainings and make themselves comfortable in doing work with each other.
Theme 8: Impacts of workforce diversity on capabilities of Marriott
What impacts can be seen in Marriott after making its workforce
diverse?
Respondents
Increased opportunities of learning and growth 16
High level of productivity 2
Effective communication with customers 5
Diverse experience 7
Total 30
Interpretation: Inclusion of diverse workforce affect various dimension of organisational
workforce. Among 30 participants, majority of 16 participants stated that in their opinion
diversity in team is helpful in promoting growth and learning. Thus directly contributing better
understanding of market and customer needs. On the other hand, 7 participants also informed
28

that such type of work force only gives diverse and unique experience which helps in developing
better vision for the future. A total of 5 individuals also stated that working with diverse teams is
valuable in terms of improving communication with the customers which are very unpredictable.
However, there were only 2 participants who stated that diverse teams can affect in terms of
productivity and can give benefits in terms of improved quality or profitability. The same point
was shed light upon in the literature review by Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous (2017), that
the companies are befitted a lot by workforce diversity as they gain various opportunities for
gaining the talent from the other employees and also increase the productivity if the organisation.
It also becomes easy for the employees to communicate effectively with the others as some of
the employees are always aware of the culture of some tourists which makes a bond between
them and they also feel satisfied that they can easily contact with someone who can address their
needs.
Theme 9: Negative impacts of workforce diversity on Marriott
What negative impacts can be seen in Marriott after implementing
the practices of workforce diversity?
Respondents
Communication issues 18
Discrimination 3
High cost 5
Incorporation issues 4
Total 30
29

Interpretation: The above pictorial representation interprets that workforce diversity impacts
the companies negatively along with its positive impacts because 60% of the respondents
believes that workforce diversity can lead to many conflicts because of the differences in
language and the other parameters. Also some 3 employees feel that employees are discriminated
on the basis of culture, religion etc. and also 5 employees feel that the company has to make a
large investment in order to implement the practices of workforce diversity. There are 2
employees who believes that this also leads to some incorporation issues. This was clearly
identified in the literature review also by AYDIN and ÖZEREN (2018), that although there are
many benefits of the workforce diversity on the employees and the organisations, but there are
many bad impacts which the company faces due to the diversity in the workforce like the
communication issues as when the different views come together it becomes difficult to make a
consensus, which leads to the conflicts.
Theme 10: Steps to manage the diversity of workforce at Marriott
What steps are taken by the company to manage the workforce
diversity at the Marriott?
Respondents
Encourage interaction among employees 8
Provide trainings 5
Create inclusive policies 5
Give tasks which increases effective communication 12
30

Total 30
Interpretation: Marriott hotel is taking several measures to manage the organisational diversity.
5 out of 30 participants stated that organisation conduct trainings for working with diverse teams.
Same number of participants also believed that hotel has inclusive policies which are sufficient
enough to manage the diversity issues. Majority of employees of Marriot who participated in the
study informed that their work demand the tasks in which all individuals have to interact with
each other for coordination. This requirement itself play necessary role in diversity management.
This was further elaborated in the literature review by Varlani (2020), that the companies have to
take many steps in for effectively implementing the workforce diversity practices. They must
make various policies including the anti-discrimination policies. They must also organise some
programs where the employees can communicate with each other.
Theme 11: Marriott takes stricter actions against the unethical practices
Does the company take strict actions against the practices which
hurt or disrespect one’s culture or background?
Respondents
Yes 24
No 6
Total 30
31

Interpretation: Respecting each other’s value and diversity is one of the important practice at
Marriott hotel. This was also demonstrated by employee’s response. Out of 30, 24 employees
responded that as per the organisational policies strict actions are taken against those who
disrespect the diversity and does not fit in the culture of organisation. Contrary to this, 6
participants seem dissatisfied with the existing actions taken by organisation against unethical
practices of employee. In their opinion at present organisation does not take any satisfactory
actions against individuals who does not value or respect the differences in background or ideas.
Theme 12: Actions taken by the Marriott to make the employees feel valued
What does the company do to make the employees feel more valued
and respected regardless of their culture?
Respondents
Rewards them unbiasedly 15
Transparent communication with them 3
Asks for their views in decision-making 10
Balancing the work life balance of employees 2
Total 30
32

Interpretation: The above chart examines that 50% of the respondents which are half of the
total sample believed that the Marriott rewards the employees unbiasedly which can help in
making the employees feel valued and respected. 33% of the total respondents believe that the
employees are asked again and again for taking the opinions so that they feel that their opinions
play a major part in the success of the companies. Some 10% of the employees also feels that
there is transparent communication among the employees which means that they trust each other
so do not hide anything and expresses everything while communicating. Authors Burgess (2017),
also suggests that the company must take various steps when promoting workforce diversity so
that the employees do not feel discriminated or demotivated and must be able to rewards the
employees so they feel the sense of being included.
Theme 13: Rating of the workforce diversity at Marriott
Rate the implementation of workforce diversity practices are
Marriott.
Respondents
1 0
2 0
3 8
4 12
5 10
Total 30
33

Interpretation: Most of the respondents i.e., 40% and 33% of the total respondents rated the
workforce diversity at Marriott as 4 and 5 respectively which means that the employees are
happy with the practices of workforce diversity and only 8 out of 30 employees rated it as 3
which means that the workforce diversity practices are good but can be improved as to make the
employees satisfied. This was also elaborated by authors Liu, Wang and Liu (2020), in their
books that workforce diversity is not only for the sake of the progress of the organisation but also
it satisfied the employees after a certain level and helps them in their learning and growth. If the
employees are not satisfied with the diversity practices, then the company make such strategies
to develop a sense of trust and loyalty in the employees as they are the biggest asset fir the
organisation.
Theme 14: Workforce diversity is benefiting the company Marriott
Do you agree that Marriott is being benefitted by making its
workforce diverse?
Respondents
Strongly agree 17
Agree 8
Neutral 5
Disagree 0
Strongly disagree 0
34

Total 30
Interpretation: This can be interpreted from the above graphical representation that more than
half of the respondents strongly agreed with the fact that the Marriott is being benefitted from by
adapting the workforce diversity practices at its workplace. Also 27% were agreed with the
same. This can be possible as they have observed the benefits such as employee retention,
bringing in innovation or the increment in their salaries due to increase in overall profitability
and many more. This was also observed in the books by Filimonau and Mika (2019), that
workforce diversity brings lots of benefits to the companies and also make its employees more
satisfied as they get many opportunities to learn new things and communicate with different
people across the world.
Theme 15: Various changes are faced by Marriott regarding the workforce diversity.
What challenges are faced by the company for enhancing the
workforce diversity at Marriott?
Respondents
Integration across multicultural teams 4
Maintaining professional communication 8
Conflict Management 18
Managing the understanding of professional etiquettes 0
Total 30
35

Interpretation: The above figure interprets that 60% of the total respondents believe that
conflict management is the biggest challenge which is faced by the Marriott when implementing
the practices of workforce diversity. Some 8 respondents think that in the diversified workforce
maintaining the professional communication is a challenge while the others think that integration
among the multicultural teams is the challenge which Marriott has to face. This was observed in
the literature review by Manoharan and Singal (2017), that when the people from the different
countries and backgrounds come to a place to work and reach the similar goals, then conflicts are
obvious but it is must to manage the conflicts without being biased and without hurting the views
and values of any of the employees.
36

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
You need to improve this chapter
Conclusion
The research was based on the role of workforce diversity in increasing the capabilities of
the organisation in hospitality industry specially the Hotel Marriott. It was initiated with
introducing the topic and the need for the research on this topic. It was followed by mentioning
the aim and objectives of research and certain research questions which are answered during the
whole study. The structure of the research was highlighted chapter-wise and was followed by
elaborating all the chapters. In the research methodology, interpretivism philosophy and
inductive approach were described and the main reason why were they used. Data collection
methods were described like primary and secondary. Questionnaires were chosen as the method
of primary collection of data and the literature review as the second. Research strategy and
design were highlighted which were used in the research. 30 respondents were chosen by using
the simple random sampling of the probabilistic type who were supposed to fill the
questionnaires given considering all the ethics. The various considerations were mentioned such
as ethics, reliability, validity, generalizability along with mentioning the limitations of the
research. Reflection was done on the basis of the reason of choosing such methods and processes
and the limitations of the chosen method. then, the data analysis was done by using the thematic
analysis in which various themes are made according to the questionnaire then the data taken
from the respondents was represented in the form of various figures, pictorial and graphical
representations which made the study clearer and attractive. The data was then analysed and
significant interpretations were made by creating link between the data from questionnaire and
various publications. The overall study helped in gaining the optimal findings and drawing the
significant conclusions. The main aim of discussing the concept of workforce diversity in the
literature review and also in the questionnaire was highlighted which helped in achieving that
objective. It was analysed that the employees of Marriott are highly satisfied with the workforce
diversity and also is increasing the capabilities of the organisation which was identified as the
employees are gaining various opportunities for enhancing their talent by working with people of
different background. Various challenges were identified which the company and the employees
faces but the company tries to resolve them by implementing anti-discrimination policies and
37

many more steps. This is how the researcher has achieved all the objectives iof research and
answered the research questions.
Recommendations
For sustaining long term growth, it can be recommended that Marriott must adopt a proper
strategical framework for managing diversity. It will help to understand the various challenges in
working with diverse workforce. For instance, hotel must have cross cultural training programs
which will allow staff members to understand the perspective and values of different customer
groups (Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous, 2017). It is also important for the enhanced
productivity of the workforce that teams are developed with diversity instead of forming teams
with same aspect. It will help organisation to learn the diversity management at team building
level. Thus overall delivery of services will be improved when different needs of customers will
be effectively managed by the staff members.
It is also suggested that for improving performance Marriott must also try to integrate diversity
in its services (Eikhof, 2020). Like, in its menu or interior of hotel it can include services or
products which are associated with specific culture. It will create a unique experience to guests
when they will visit Marriott in different countries. However, this can be challenging for the
organisation to keep a balance between its quality standards and diversity needs. For resolving
conflicts and challenges among diverse team member’s hotel must also improve and adopt
inclusive policies and diversity initiative programs which gives chance to staff members to
interact and understand each other’s perspective. The informal gatherings among team members
and celebration of different cultural events can be considered as great initiatives in this direction
which Marriott can adopt for building a healthy diverse culture.
38

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APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Does the company Marriott promotes workforce diversity at the workplace?
a. Yes
b. No
2. What does Marriott do to adapt the practices of workforce diversity?
a. Recruit candidates of different cultures
b. Organizes programs related to diversity
c. Establishing sense of belonging
d. All the above.
3. What is the reason behind promoting diversity in Marriott?
a. Fresh and different ideas and opinions
b. Innovative strategies
c. Increasing the talent pool
d. All the above
4. Do you agree that workforce diversity is helping the Marriott to attract large number of
customers.
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. Neutral
d. Disagree
e. Strongly disagree
5. Does the company provides equal opportunities to the employees from different background?
a. Yes
b. No
6. Do you agree that all the employees irrespective of the culture are allowed to take part in the
decision-making?
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. Neutral
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d. Disagree
e. Strongly disagree
7. Does Marriott provides trainings to manage the workforce diversity at the workplace keeping
in mind the cultural values of all the employees?
a. Yes
b. No
8. What impacts can be seen in Marriott after making its workforce diverse?
a. Increased opportunities of learning and growth
b. High level of productivity
c. Effective communication with customers
d. Diverse experience
9. What negative impacts can be seen in Marriott after implementing the practices of workforce
diversity?
a. Communication issues
b. Discrimination
c. High cost
d. Incorporation issues
10. What steps are taken by the company to manage the workforce diversity at the Marriott?
a. Encourage interaction among employees
b. Provide trainings
c. Create inclusive policies
d. Give tasks which increases effective communication
11. Does the company take strict actions against the practices which hurt or disrespect one’s
culture or background?
a. Yes
b. No
12. What does the company do to make the employees feel more valued and respected regardless
of their culture?
a. Rewards them unbiasedly
b. Transparent communication with them
c. Asks for their views in decision-making
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d. Balancing the work life balance of employees
13. Rate the implementation of workforce diversity practices are Marriott.
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. 4
e. 5
14. Do you agree that Marriott is being benefitted by making its workforce diverse?
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. Neutral
d. Disagree
e. Strongly disagree
15. What challenges are faced by the company for enhancing the workforce diversity at
Marriott?
a. Integration across multicultural teams
b. Maintaining professional communication
c. Conflict Management
d. Managing the understanding of professional etiquettes
16. What strategies can be recommended to the hotel Marriott to improve itself in making its
workforce diversified?
______________________________________________________________________________
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