Spirituality and Cultural Diversity: Serving the Hospitality Industry Workplace

Abstract

In the fast paced world of the 21st century the hospitality industry, and more particularly hotels, find themselves in environments that are challenging due to increasing levels of competition amongst diverse brands with all that they have to offer. The catchword for any business is sustainability and this invariably depends on the level of productivity of the workforce. How hotel employees impact on the sustainability of their workplace is determined by, a large extent, the extent to which spirituality exists and the way in which it promotes productivity and innovation. Harrington, Preziosi and Gooden, (2001), state that since the year 2000, employees have been experiencing a fundamental change of work values. This theory shift has been to all intents and purposes as philosophical as the information age and within this transformation, has been the further exploration of spirituality and spiritual feelings emanating from the workplace. These aspects are collectively referred to as “workplace spirituality”. This research falls into the interpretivist paradigm and uses qualitative research methods. The philosophical assumptions are axiological as well as ontological.