Diversity in Thai Airways: Impact on Employee Performance Analysis

This dissertation investigates the impact of workplace diversity on employee performance at Thai Airways, a multinational air transport carrier. Through a survey of 50 employees, the study explores diversity inclusion practices and their effects on job satisfaction. The findings reveal dissatisfaction with current diversity practices and perceived unfair treatment, which negatively impacts employee performance. The research provides recommendations for Thai Airways to address these issues, enhance job satisfaction, and improve employee productivity by fostering a more inclusive work environment. The study covers various aspects, including the factors leading to workplace diversity, its benefits and disadvantages, and the challenges of managing it effectively.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Impact of Workplace Diversity on the Performance of Employees: A Case Study of Thai
Airways
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Acknowledgement
I want to thank all the people who helped me in every possible way to conduct the research
study. They not only helped me to realize my potential and strength, but also to implement it in
the best way to conduct the research. I also want to express my gratitude towards my mentor for
his incessant supervising and wonderful guidance, as it helped me to finish the study in time. The
total support and guidance provided by my mentor has not only assisted me with my research but
that would also help me in throughout my life to develop my personality. I would also like to
express my gratification for all the survey respondents who spent their priceless time to fill up
the survey form on the research topic. Lastly, I want to thank my family and friends, who
provided me with continuous encouragement to carry out my study.

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Abstract
Workplace diversity is a major issue in the modern world. With globalization in effect, many
companies are now operating as multinationals and have employees coming from different
nations. Thai Airways is one such multinational air transport carrier, which has its headquarters
in Thailand. However, many employees of Thai Airways belong to different countries, such as,
China, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea etc. Thus, workplace diversity is a major issue in this
company. This research study explored the diversity inclusion practices of Thai Airways to
evaluate the situation and its impact on the employees. 50 employees were chosen through
simple random sampling and a survey was conducted to get an insight about the diversity
inclusion practices of the company and its impact on the employees. It has been found from the
survey that majority of the employees are not satisfied with the diversity practices of the
company and there are differences and unfair treatment in Thai Airways. It has been found
through a quantitative analysis that unfair treatment has negative impact on the employee
performance. Thus, recommendations have been put forward to address these issues in Thai
Airways and improve the job satisfaction of the employees and their performances.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................6
1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................6
1.2 Background of the Study.......................................................................................................6
1.3 Background of the Company.................................................................................................7
1.4 Rationale of the Study...........................................................................................................8
1.5 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................8
1.6 Research Aim.........................................................................................................................9
1.7 Research Objectives:.............................................................................................................9
1.8 Research Questions................................................................................................................9
1.9 Research Hypotheses...........................................................................................................10
1.10 Significance of the Study...................................................................................................10
1.11 Structure of the Research Study........................................................................................11
Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................................................................................12
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................12
2.2 Conceptual Framework........................................................................................................13
2.3 Concept of Diversity and Diversity Management...............................................................13
2.4 Approaches Adopted in Diversity Management..................................................................15
2.5 Theories of Diversity...........................................................................................................16
2.6 Dimensions of Workforce Diversity....................................................................................18

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2.7 Factors Leading to Workplace Diversity.............................................................................20
2.8 Benefits and Disadvantages of Managing Workplace Diversity:........................................21
2.8.1 Benefits.........................................................................................................................21
2.8.2 Disadvantages...............................................................................................................22
2.9 Challenges of Managing Workplace Diversity....................................................................23
2.10 Summary............................................................................................................................24
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................25
3.1 Research philosophy............................................................................................................25
3.2 Research purpose.................................................................................................................26
3.3 Research approach...............................................................................................................27
3.4 Research design...................................................................................................................27
3.5 Research strategy.................................................................................................................28
3.6 Data collection process........................................................................................................29
3.7 Sampling method.................................................................................................................29
3.8 Data analysis technique.......................................................................................................30
3.9 Research limitation..............................................................................................................30
3.10 Ethical Consideration.........................................................................................................30
Chapter 4: Data analysis and findings...........................................................................................32
4.1 Discussion............................................................................................................................32
4.1.1 Demographic data.........................................................................................................32

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4.1.2 Non-demographic data......................................................................................................35
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................45
5.1 Linking to the objectives.....................................................................................................45
5.1.1 Linking to the first objective.........................................................................................45
5.1.2 Linking to the second objective....................................................................................46
5.1.3 Linking to the third objective.......................................................................................47
5.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................47
5.3 Limitation and future scope of the study.............................................................................49
References......................................................................................................................................51
Appendix........................................................................................................................................55

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Diversity in workplace is a key factor for determining the success of any organization as
it ensures manifestation of itself in determining a great reputation for any organization thereby
resulting in the enhanced opportunities and profitability for the workers. As put forward by Hunt,
Layton & Prince (2015), diversity within a workplace encompasses race, age, gender, religion,
ethnicity, citizenship status, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, education,
socioeconomic background and the mental or physical disabilities of the people. Diversity in
workplace is more prominent in the multinational companies. This particular research study will
help in exploring the aspect of workplace diversity and its impact on the employee performance.
The study will however be conducted in context of Thai Airways, one of the flag carriers of
Thailand. It is a multinational organization that comprises of employees belonging to the
different cultures and the countries that brings in diversity at the workplace. Since the first day of
joining the company it emphasizes on the development of the workforce capacity through
recruiting diverse employees for enhancing work and expertise. Hence, Thai Airways acts as
suitable choice for conduction of study based on impact of the workplace diversity on the
employee performance.
1.2 Background of the Study
Companies are becoming increasingly employee centric and so diversity has become one
of the key aspects within the organization. Employees acts as the ultimate asset within any

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organization with proven facts that the companies’ practices effective diversity management that
gave rise to the positive results both in terms of the employee performance and the
organizational profits. Most companies have experienced a changing trend in the form of diverse
employee pool that that works together with every passing day. Thus, workforce diversity has
become the buzzword in the present times with increasing number of organizations keen on
recruiting and having diverse workforce on board. Dora and Kieth (1998) mentioned that the
organizations have led to the discovery that diversity does not act as absolute phenomenon but a
constant process. On the other hand, Saxena (2014) puts forward a discussion that the workforce
diversity acts as one of the crucial necessities in the current changing environment of today while
managing it acts as challenge. Therefore, having invested on the workforce diversity
organizations often tries and finds out the influence of the workplace diversity on the
performance of the employees. Having diverse workforce however has its own challenges and
benefits have. It has therefore been found from the various researches that when a diverse
workforce is recruited as well as managed in the most effective and efficient manner and the
issues arising from them handled smoothly then it results in a positive impact on the performance
of the employees.
1.3 Background of the Company
The Thai Airways referred to state owned enterprise under administration of Ministry of
Transport and is one of the flagship carriers of Thailand that operated commercial flights not
only internationally but also domestically along with providing air related transport service. The
operation of the company comprises of the business unit related to core airline and the business
units supporting the airline business. The key business of the Thai Airways is air transport that

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included the transport of the cargo, passengers on the chartered and the scheduled flights for the
domestic and the international destinations. The business units of the company remain at the crux
of ensuring smoother operations of the business related to air transport that works in sync for
delivering highest level of comfort, safe and punctual operations that result in enhancing the
overall confidence of the customers.
1.4 Rationale of the Study
This particular study holds significance in two different ways. Firstly, the research paper
exploring effectiveness of the workplace will try in finding the factors that will influence the
employee performance of the organizations and how the diversity can lead to the establishment
of a supportive and positive work ambience that will enable employees in improving
productivity. Practice that leads to the promotion of diversity within workplace might also have
influence on work culture of the organization that contributes to the academic world through
addressing the factors that would influence the employee productivity through imposition of a
biased behavior. Secondly, the study holds practical implications for the Thai Airways. The
organization have also faced various controversies regarding the work culture and this particular
study will put across useful insights into work place diversity and its impact on production,
motivation and job satisfaction.
1.5 Problem Statement
The problem with workplace diversity has been mutual respect among the team members
and the conflict amongst the employees. Presence of racism, prejudice, discrimination and the

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lack of respect within the work environment results in conflict amongst the employees instead of
making them productive. This kind of animosity can give rise to a conflicting environment.
1.6 Research Aim
The aim of the research study lies in exploring the diversity factors within the workplace
of the Thai Airways. This involves the evaluation of the factors based on the productivity and
efficiency of employees. The research also involves putting across recommendation for
mitigating negative influence of the diversity practice within the organization.
1.7 Research Objectives:
The objectives of study include:
 Exploration of the factors that leads to the workplace diversity in Thai Airways
 Evaluation of the impact of the workplace diversity on the job satisfaction of the
employees in the Thai Airways
 Accessing the diversity practice of the Thai Airways and their influence on the work
environment and employees
 Recommending ways for improving the workplace diversity within organization for
better work ambience.
1.8 Research Questions
1. What are the factors of the workplace diversity that might impact the employee
performance in Thai Airways?
2. What are the issues with each of the factors in workplace diversity in Thai Airways?

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3. What practices are adopted by the Thai Airways for mitigating the issues of workplace
diversity?
4. What measures can be adopted by the Thai Airways in reducing the diversity incidences
and in improving the employee productivity?
1.9 Research Hypotheses
H0: Workplace diversity policies do not have any impact on employee job satisfaction in Thai
Airways
H1: Workplace diversity policies have a significant impact on the job satisfaction of employees
of Thai Airways
1.10 Significance of the Study
This study will enable the company as well the employees in understanding importance
of the workplace diversity and its impact on employee motivation and performance. The study
portrays how the company can implement a diverse workforce in creating a positive influence
resulting in productivity. There has been a number of research studies conducted on the impact
of the factors of the workforce diversity like the gender, age, caste, race, color, religion,
disability, culture and personality traits on the employee performance. This research would
further put forward a pathway for the organizations in considering the future research related to
workplace diversity.

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Introduction
Chapter 2
Chapter 5
Chapter 4
Conclusion & Recommendations
1.11 Structure of the Research Study
Figure 1: Dissertation Structure
Chapter 1
Literature Review
Chapter 3 Research Methodology
Presentation of Data
Analysis and Interpretation