Diversity Management Strategies and Challenges at Hyatt Hotels

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of diversity management at Hyatt Hotels. It begins by highlighting the challenges faced by the company in managing a diverse workforce, including linguistic barriers, cultural differences, and generation gaps, which impact communication, morale, and productivity. The report then explores the approaches adopted by Hyatt, such as the Hyattalks program, internal surveys, and a focus on inclusion and equity, to foster a welcoming environment for both employees and guests. It also examines the positive and negative impacts of diversity, emphasizing the need for effective management to leverage cultural sensitivity and respond to the changing needs of customers. Finally, the report offers recommendations for further improving diversity management practices, such as providing diversity training and promoting inclusive policies, to enhance the company's brand image and customer satisfaction.

Diversity Management
Hyatt Hotels
2019
Student’s Name
5/20/2019

Diversity Management 1
Introduction
Developments in the organizational globalisation have increased the participation of
diverse workforce which in turn creates the necessity of effective management of the
diversity. Diversity management has become the critical aspect for the hospitality and
tourism industry (Barak, 2016). In relation to the above aspect Hyatt Hotels is a leading
global hospitality company that has diversified portfolio consisting of 19 premier brands. The
company aims to retain the best employees, build relationship with the guest and create value
for the shareholders (Hyatt, 2019). The report will reflect upon the challenges faced by Hyatt
and impact of diversity at the business of the company. It will also cover the approaches
adopted by Hyatt Hotels to manage the diversity.
Challenges faced by Hyatt in managing diverse workforce and
customers
Management of the workforce diversity becomes a challenging job for the company
because the company experience difference in opinions of its employees and the resistance to
work as a team. It is analysed that the company faced the challenge of inclusion of diverse
workforce to form the teams because of the linguistic barriers and the cultural differences
among the workforce. The employees were not comfortable in working with each and other
and were not showing respect to each other’s culture. The linguistic and the cultural carriers
created lack of communication which in turn lower the morale of the employees and
decreased the productivity of the company. The difference in the generation gaps created
isolation for some employees and difficulty in accepting the perception of others (Groschl,
2011).

Diversity Management 2
The cultural awareness, sensitivity and intercultural communication were the major
challenges faced by Hyatt. The company was not able to satisfy the diversifying needs of the
customers and favouritism of specific culture was becoming a sensitive issue among the
culturally diverse customers. These cultural differences create the emerging need for the
company to understand and emphasize diverse cultures and the diversifying needs of the
guests and employees of the hotel. The company faced the challenge of negative attitude and
behaviour among the diverse workforce which in turn creates difficulty in creating
harmonious relation and enhance the productivity of the hotel (Michielsens, Bingham, &
Clarke, 2013).
Approach adopted to manage diversity
In response to the above diversity challenges the company focuses on creating
welcoming environment for both the colleagues and the guests. The company has launched a
programme named as Hyattalks under which the company the company forms the team with
the leadership to share the insights and the knowledge of the diverse workforce. It raises the
issues and the ideas for empowering the workforce. The company embraces equity and
fairness in its approach by listening to the ideas given by the employees and implementing
them at the workplace. Hyatt is considered as a great place to work because it provides the
opportunity to the employees to grow themselves and learn new skills. The company has
been ranked as 14th in managing the diversity at the workplace. It enjoys significant retention
of the employees because the company focuses on constantly engaging in internal surveying
and benchmarking to ensure that the programmes designed for the employees perfectly hit the
motive of making them happy (Mest, 2017).
The company focuses on inclusion and diversity and provides the business advantage
to the company. It focuses on making the mix work under which it recruits and retain the best

Diversity Management 3
employees by engaging the diverse background workforce. It educates, communicates and
fosters on inclusive and engaging culture at the workplace. The company develops valued
partnerships with its customers, investors and shareholders (McCracken, 2018).
The company builds the culture where everyone is valued and embraced. Hyatt
considers inclusion and diversity strategy as a global business strategy for attracting and
retaining the best colleagues for the company. It provides equal opportunities of employment
to the diversified workforce and proposes innovative solutions for the diversifying needs of
the customers. Diversity and inclusive culture focuses on recruiting the best employees and
provides authentic hospitality care to the customers and the employees of the company
(McCracken, 2018).
Negative impact of diversity challenges
The challenges of diversity creates the negative impact upon the performance of the
business as the morale of the employee decreases because they feel that their opinions are not
valued and creates misunderstandings among the workforce. The communication barriers
create difficulty in integrating the efforts of the workforce towards the common goal and in
turn increase the competition among the members. It breeds disrespect and disturbs the
working environment of the company (Schilpzand, De Pater & Erez, 2016).
Positive impact of diversity
The sensitivity over the cultural differences creates the emerging need to effectively
manage the diverse workforce and respond to the diversifying needs of the culturally diverse
customers. It helps in increasing the productivity by deriving creative solution through
understanding of the different cultures. It allows in providing the customer service around the
globe by developing the products and services in consideration to the cultural understanding

Diversity Management 4
of different nations. The diverse workforce provides the ideas of responding to the ever
changing demands of the customer and delivering value to the customers. Adoption of
multiculturism leaves the negative and the positive impact upon the company (Schilpzand,
De Pater & Erez, 2016).
Recommendations
From the above analysis it is evaluated that Hyatt is constantly focusing on
developing the inclusive environment where all the members are valued and embraced. Apart
from the continuous efforts it is recommended that the company must focus on providing
diversity training to its workforce and must encourage interactions among the employees to
develop the understanding of the diverse cultures.
Hyatt Hotels must focus on creating inclusive policies and practices that does not
create discrimination and provides equal opportunities to all the employees. The company
must develop the campaigns that focus on welcoming diversity to create positive brand image
in the minds of the customers and properly addressing the fluctuations in the needs of the
customers.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it is critical to note that inclusion of diversity is important
for delivering value to the customers and retaining the best employees in company. It is
analysed that Hyatt Hotels is constantly focusing on inclusive diversity by providing equal
opportunities to empower and provide constructive solutions to the company. It does not
consider caste, religion, nationality or any discrimination in providing the opportunities to
employees

Diversity Management 5
References
Barak, M. E. M. (2016). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace.
London: Sage Publications.
Groschl, S. (2011). Diversity management strategies of global hotel groups: a corporate web
site based exploration. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 23(2), 224-240.
Hyatt. (2019). Our people. Retrieved from: https://about.hyatt.com/en/hyatt-thrive/our-
people.html
McCracken, S. (2018) Strong culture can help overcome labor challenges. Retrieved from:
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/291726/Strong-culture-can-help-overcome-
labor-challenges
Mest, E. (2017). Hyatt embraces expansion, diversity to sidestep strong dollar woes.
Retrieved from: https://www.hotelmanagement.net/operate/hyatt-embraces-
expansion-diversity-to-sidestep-strong-dollar-woes
Michielsens, E., Bingham, C., & Clarke, L. (2013). Managing diversity through flexible work
arrangements: Management perspectives. Employee Relations, 36(1), 49-69.
Schilpzand, P., De Pater, I. E., & Erez, A. (2016). Workplace incivility: A review of the
literature and agenda for future research. Journal of Organizational behavior, 37,
S57-S88.