Application of Human diversity policies and their impact on the competitive advantage in Egyptian hotels

Abstract

The concept of diversity management focuses on different attributes among employees within the organization. The attributes include: sex, color, cultural and educational level, religion, language, nationality, beliefs and ideas, capabilities and expertise. Nowadays, many organizations tend to adopt the concept of human diversity management to achieve a competitive advantage and benefit their operations.The study aims to shed light on the actual practices in relation to human diversity management as well as the obstacles and the motives of applying diversity management policies and programs in Egyptian hotels.The researchers adopted two basic methods for data collection personal interview and questionnaire survey. Fifteen interviews were conducted with the executives of human resourcein five star hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada. Also, 600 questionnaire forms were distributedon the employees in front office, food and beverage departments. Among them 392 formswere suitable for the analysis of the research.The results of the study indicated that many hotels did not have clear description/procedures of human diversity management as well as specialized employees to follow-up the application of human diversity programs. There were also variations among hotels in relation to holding regular workshops to explain the concept of diversity management programs. Most workers believed that hotel management did not consider human diversity as a significant way to benefit the working environment and achieve competitive advantage of the hotel. The study concludes that there should be a specialized department in hotel organizations to implement human diversity management programs.