Abstract
Cultural diversity management is a term that has become of great importance in the South African labour force since policies such as Black Economic Empowerment were implemented. These policies have brought about forced cultural integration in the workplace that has resulted in conflict due to the lack of skilled leadership within companies in the discipline of diversity management. With South Africa having 11 official languages and various ethnic groups, cultural interactions have become an obstacle for both managers and employees with regards to efficient communication, subtle forms of discrimination and stereotyping experienced due to the lack of cultural intelligence and sensitivity. An organization’s ability to overcome cultural diversity-related issues depends on how they embrace diversity as well as the policies and initiatives enforced. The main objective of the study was to determine the need for effective cultural diversity training programmes within South African hotels. A quantitative research approach was employed with a self-administered questionnaire distributed to both hotel management staff and the entry-level employees. Qualitative data collection method was also utilized in the form of open ended questions which gave further clarity into the responses of the participants regarding the barriers associated with cultural diversity. Results of the study showed that South African hotels have a culturally diverse workforce, with numerous cultures present in the working environment. When investigating the barriers to diversity, it was noted that communication was not a factor but that racial and ethnic discrimination existed within the sampled hotels. The organizational stance of the hotels was that hotels generally endorsed a culturally diverse workforce, albeit not having adequate training in place to deal with cultural diversity-related challenges. The findings of the research highlight the need for topic-specific training programmes that are tailored to address the cultural diversity-related issues identified in the study. The efficiency of mandatory diversity-related policies is brought into question, where re-evaluation of the effectiveness of the policies in rectifying diversity-related challenges is needed.
M.A.