Fostering An Ethical and Inclusive Work Environment in Hospitality and Tourism Organizations

Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference on Tourism Management and Hospitality

Year: 2023

DOI:

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Fostering An Ethical and Inclusive Work Environment in Hospitality and Tourism Organizations

Christina Klearchou Dimitriou

ABSTRACT: 

Despite the emphasis that has been placed on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), there has been a lot of injustice and discrimination in the hospitality and tourism industry through the years. The countless ethical scandals stemming from various segments of this industry that keep increasing at a fast pace along with the expensive lawsuits that follow, such as the ones reported at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) clearly show how serious and important this issue really is. The purpose of this paper is to help the industry understand the importance of valuing, appreciating, and making a conscious decision to commit to DEI and place emphasis on setting specific DEI policies and implementing practices that truly and genuinely support them. It provides important facts and statistics that the hospitality and tourism industry is currently facing which raise concerns about how little we may still know about how to properly manage diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and how urgent it has become to address this issue and take immediate action to prevent these unpleasant situations from happening in the future. Possible reasons that have contributed to the current situation along with the most common mistakes that hospitality and tourism leaders and managers make are also identified. The benefits deriving from the proper implementation of DEI are analyzed. The paper also offers effective strategies and tips that could help hospitality and tourism leaders and managers better handle diversity and foster healthy, ethical and inclusive work environments in their companies.

keywords: diversity, equity, inclusion, business ethics, ethical leadership