While the blog has examined the importance of customer service attitude for accessible tourism (click here to see previous post), what has not been examined is people with disability
as employees in the tourism and hospitality sector. Foundation work by Goffman (1963) on stigma, institutions
and disability examines the marginalising nature of social attitudes. Whether
it is fear or aversion there is no doubt that people with disability are placed
in marginalised positions because of the social attitudes people have to
"the other" (Darcy &
Buhalis, 2011; Wearing &
Darcy, 2011). The literature has shown
that the tourism and hospitality sector values the aesthetic of the image of its
employees sometimes as much as performance whereby certain people get to work
"front of office" while others will never get promoted from “back of
office" duties (G. F. Ross, 2004). While Photo 1 shows an
exception to the rule where Hotel Panda in Budapest is run by staff with
disabilities, too often people with disabilities may not even make an interview
due to discriminatory selection practices (Darcy, Green,
& Taylor, 2011). Other research has also
shown that those in management in tourism have become very good at
"camouflaging" their attitudes to appear "politically
correct" while still acting in a discriminating manner (G. A. Ross, 1994). A number of articles
have focused on the importance of disability awareness training as a way of
improving attitudes to disability (Bizjak, Knezevic,
& Cvetreznik, 2011; Daruwalla & Darcy, 2005; Navarro García-Caro, de Waal, & Buhalis, 2012) as well
as ethical frameworks for understanding discriminatory attitudes towards people
with disabilities as employees (G. F. Ross, 2004). Yet, little work has
actually been undertaken on people with disability who are employees in the
tourism and hospitality sector.
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| Photo 1: Hotel in Budapest run by staff with disabilities (source: http://disabilityhorizons.com/welcome-to-budapests-hotel-panda-%E2%80%93-a-hotel-run-by-disabled-staff) |
A new article by Gröschl (2012) undertakes a study of employees
with disability in the German Embrace hotel association by interviewing
managers, employees and guests with and without disabilities together with
observations. The study refutes a lot of the stereotypes that suggests that
people with disabilities don't have the capabilities to meet industry specific
work requirements and that they are too costly to employ. The study found that
"employees with disabilities are loyal, are reliable, and on balance,
require moderate accommodations" to the workplace. The study concludes by
suggesting that a change in organisational culture from one of exclusivity and
intolerance may provide opportunities for employees with disabilities to be
integrated within the workplace in an effective and efficient manner. Given
that the hospitality industry worldwide suffers from high turnover, high
casualisation and labour shortage, there may be lessons to be learnt and
collaborations to be made with the disability advocacy sector to create a
win-win environment for both people with disability and the tourism and
hospitality sector. Gröschl (Gröschl, 2005, 2007) has also made to other
contributions to the study of disability within employment in the tourism and
hospitality sector.
A link to the abstract
and the article is provided below
Gröschl,
S. (2012). Presumed Incapable: Exploring the Validity of Negative Judgments
about Persons with Disabilities and Their Employability in Hotel Operations. Cornell
Hospitality Quarterly. doi: 10.1177/1938965512453082
Abstract
Research has shown that
managers in the hotel industry perceive persons with disabilities as people who
lack the required innate capacities and attributes, are unable to meet
industry-specific work requirements, and are too costly to employ. A case study
of hotels within the German Embrace hotel association finds little support for
those negative judgments. Based on interviews with forty-nine managers,
employees, and guests with and without disabilities as well as nine days of
observations, the study found that employees with disabilities are loyal, are
reliable, and, on balance, require moderate accommodations. On average, more
than 60 percent of Embrace hotel employees are persons with disabilities.
Embrace’s employment concept
is based on the integrative model, which aims to create employment
opportunities for persons with disabilities who do not find employment in the
regular labor market. Many disabilities had no effect on the mobility or shift
work of employees. The processes of accommodating and training persons with
disabilities were frequently associated with minimal costs, and expenses
incurred for some accommodations were offset by German government grants.
Moreover, the physical attributes of persons with disabilities did not
negatively influence the experiences of guests. The findings indicate that
developing an organizational climate of openness and tolerance, placing employees
with disabilities at the center of managerial planning and operational
processes, and investing in good human resources management practices are
essential elements for the integration of persons with disabilities in the
workplace.
References
