Relationship between Diversity and Workplace Conflict: A Case Study on Kent Hotel's Kitchen Department

Running head: Assessment 3: Final Report
Topic: "A relationship between Diversity and Workplace Conflict, and its Impact on
Organisation: A case study on Kent Hotel’s kitchen department"
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

Assessment 3: Final Report 1
Executive summary:
The Kent Hotel located at the Rathdowne St, Carlton North, Victoria, Australia was
established as a pub and was later renovated to a fine dining place. The Hotel also offers
rooms for hire and private rooms for different occasions. It has been observed that there is a
continuous conflict among the chefs and other employees in the Hotel due to the difference in
the diversity of the origin of the people. As a result of this there have been issues in the
kitchen department of the Hotel and as a result of this the whole organisation has to suffer in
terms of meeting the expectation of the customers or creating a good environment at the work
place. The aim of this report will focus to analyse the situation with the help of both primary
and secondary research and come up with the best possible ways to overcome the issues of
diversity conflict at the Kent Hotel.
The entire report has been segregated into 6 chapters. Workplace diversity takes place when
there is a disagreement that results in conflict among the employees of the organisation.
Diversity conflict can occur due to oppression of the employees at a workplace. People from
various backgrounds and cultures have been found to be a part of the organisation. It is clear
that there is indeed high level of dissatisfaction among the employees as there is high level of
diversity right from the language barrier to the non-recognition of their skills and knowledge.
Thus, it can be said that Kent Hotel is indeed striving to maintain the level of connection
among the employees that can actually help them to utilise the diversity of the employees and
can improve the performance of the organisation. After the analysis of the conflict mode
instrument, it can be said that in order to bring harmony in the organisation and to avoid any
further chaotic situation, it is important for the management and the employees to actually
collaborate and compromise on the situation. In order to make sure that all the employees are
treated equally, there should be cultural biasness and nay person going against this can attract
great punishments.

Assessment 3: Final Report 2
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................4
1.1 Overview of the topic:......................................................................................................4
1.2 Industry partner:...............................................................................................................4
1.3 Research problem:............................................................................................................4
1.4 Rationale of the research:.................................................................................................5
1.5 Research aim and objectives:...........................................................................................6
1.6 Structure of the report:.....................................................................................................6
Chapter 2: Literature review......................................................................................................8
2.1 Importance of understanding diversity at workplace:......................................................8
2.2 Various factors leading to workplace conflict due to diversity:......................................8
2.2 Existing theories on diversity and conflict in a workplace:...........................................12
2.3. Conflict management process:......................................................................................13
2.4 Conceptual framework:..................................................................................................15
Chapter 3: Methodology:.........................................................................................................16
3.1 Overview of the research design:...................................................................................16
3.2 Research approach:........................................................................................................16
3.3 Sample, sample size and sampling method:...................................................................17
3.4 Data collection process:.................................................................................................17
3.5 Data analysis process:....................................................................................................18
3.6 Ethical consideration of the research:............................................................................18

Assessment 3: Final Report 3
3.7 Limitation of the research:.............................................................................................18
Chapter 4: Findings and analysis:............................................................................................19
Chapter 5: Recommendations..................................................................................................41
5.1 Linking with the objectives:...........................................................................................41
5.2 Recommendations based on findings:............................................................................41
5.3 Suggestions to the Kent Hotel:.......................................................................................42
Chapter 6: Limitation and conclusions....................................................................................43
5.1 Conclusion to the study and expected outcome:............................................................43
5.2 Linking with the objectives:...........................................................................................43
5.3 Limitation to the proposed recommendations:...............................................................43
Reference list:...........................................................................................................................44
Appendix:.................................................................................................................................47

Assessment 3: Final Report 4
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Overview of the topic:
As stated by Webb (2018) diversity conflict in a workplace involves individuals from
different social groups as they are identified based on difference in the race, gender, age,
class, religion belief or any other human difference. In the opinion of Thomas (1992) ,
conflict is bound to take place in an environment if it is a diverse workplace. This might
happen between the employees at same or different levels or between the employee and
supervisors depending on different circumstances. An organisation is bound to suffer as a
result of the workplace conflict in terms of its work pl,
1.2 Industry partner:
The Kent Hotel located at the Rathdowne St, Carlton North, Victoria, Australia was
established as a pub and was later renovated to a fine dining place. This corner pub has been
renovated with a surfeit of style and the overlooking beautiful Curtain Square in the heart of
the Rathdowne Village. The Hotel offers different menu of modern Australians and
Mediterranean dishes to a variety of various cuisines right from the award winning French-
Algerian chef Pierre Khodja. The Hotel also offers rooms for hire and private rooms for
different occasions (Kenthotel.com.au 2018). This industry partner has been selected as I
have worked with this Hotel as a chef and I am well aware of the diversity issues that this
organisation has been facing in the recent time.
1.3 Research problem:
It has been observed that there is a continuous conflict among the chefs and other
employees in the Hotel due to the difference in the diversity of the origin of the people. As a
result of this there have been issues in the kitchen department of the Hotel and as a result of

Assessment 3: Final Report 5
this the whole organisation has to suffer in terms of meeting the expectation of the customers
or creating a good environment at the work place. Thus, the issue of the diversity and to work
in co-ordination has been creating a major problem and this has been taken into consideration
for the research (Kenthotel.com.au 2018).
1.4 Rationale of the research:
Diversity in work place promotes an environment of acceptance, respect and to work
as a team even when there is a difference in the race, religion or the sexual orientation among
the employees. As pointed out by, when there is a diverse working environment, it promotes
a situation where different minds can come together and help to achieve a common goal. In
case of a workplace, this holds more prominence as it helps in treating clients or customers
from diverse backgrounds easily (Ågotnes et al. 2018). If the situation of a Hotel is taken into
consideration, it is similar as the customer can be anyone from any particular background.
However, opposed to this, if there arise a chaotic condition due to the diversity of the
employees in the workplace, it might create a big challenge and the overall business might
also suffer.
The issue related to the diversity of the employees has been creating a great issue for
the management of the Hotel and this need to be checked at early as possible in order to
overcome any severe issue related that might hamper the overall functionality of the
organisation. The aim of this report will focus to analyse the situation with the help of both
primary and secondary research and come up with the best possible ways to overcome the
issues of diversity conflict at the Kent Hotel.

Assessment 3: Final Report 6
1.5 Research aim and objectives:
The aim of the report is to find out the different factors that are actually contributing
to the conflict among the employees in the organisation and to propose the possible ways that
the Hotel can undertake in order to overcome the issues.
The objectives are:
1. To find out the various factors that are contributing to the staff conflict at the
workplace
2. To recommend certain ways by which the Hotel can overcome the issues that results
in the conflict at the workplace.
The research questions are:
1. How are the diversity factors contributing to the staff conflict at workplace?
2. How can Kent Hotel resolve this issue?
1.6 Structure of the report:
The entire report has been segregated into 6 chapters. The first chapter is the
Introduction that gives an overview of the topic and the research aim and objectives along
with a brief overview of the industry partner. The second chapter is the literature review
where a detailed discussion on the various factors that contribute to the workplace diversity
will be discussed. The point of view of the various authors along with some theories will be
discussed. The third chapter is the methodology that will highlight the methods used for this
research. The fourth chapter is the findings and analysis, where the primary data will be
analysed and discussed. This chapter will also contain the discussion section. The fifth
chapter is the conclusion where the objectives will be linked with the findings and the final or

Assessment 3: Final Report 7
sixth chapter is recommendation where certain recommendations to overcome the issues will
be suggested.