Erfolgsfaktor Diversity Management?: Konzeptionelle Zugänge und empirische Befunde im Kontext der Aviation-Branche

In view of certain socio-cultural and economic meta-processes – notably demographic change, globalisation, individualisation, and the pluralisation of lifestyles – diversity and accordingly diversity management are emerging as increasingly important strategic success factors for businesses. Nonetheless, scholarly engagement with the topic as it relates to the tourism and hospitality sector is still in its initial stages. Within the scope of a qualitative case study based on one of the world’s leading aviation corporations – the Lufthansa Group – this article explores the concepts of diversity and diversity management in connection with tourism science and diversity studies. In this context, the explorative study is guided primarily by the research question that asks how a key stakeholder group – members of the cabin crew – perceives the aviation group’s diversity strategy, which is based on the principle of ‘value creation through appreciation’. Against the backdrop of divergent conceptual approaches to diversity management, the empirical results generated in problem-centred interviews reveal on the one hand the potential of this management concept, which has long been underestimated, and on the other hand, the results raise our awareness of potential challenges and conflicts that may arise from employee heterogeneity.