A pilot study of 16 food-service companies found mostly ill-defined goals for diversity-management programs, if such programs existed at all. Seven of the ten chains that have or will start a diversity program aim simply to improve employees' awareness of diversity issues. Only two mentioned organizational change as a goal. Similarly, time deadlines and reward systems are vague or nonexistent for most of the companies' diversity efforts. While the results of the study cannot be generalized, they raise the concern that most of these firms are not aware of the importance of fostering diversity in the workplace as a means of offsetting potential shortages in labor markets and encouraging a diverse customer pool. Most existing strategies for managing diversity are hobbled by inherent weaknesses, but a diversity program that adopts the best features of each strategy will create a workplace where all employees feel welcome.

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A study of general managers of 389 United States hotels found that 87 percent of the respondents conducted regular performance appraisals for all of their employees. This percentage is similar to that found in other industries. The most frequent interval for performance appraisals by lodging managers is once per year, also echoing the findings for other industries. Most managers used more than one type of appraisal and used their appraisals for more than one purpose. Nearly half used a management-by-objectives approach for their appraisals (49 percent), followed by behaviorally anchored rating scales (41 percent), narrative essays (37 percent), and graphic rating scales (28 percent). One negative note is that nearly 15 percent of the managers do not follow their appraisals with feedback sessions to review those appraisals. The most frequent application of performance appraisals was for compensation decisions (86 percent), followed by assessing whether objectives had been met (78 percent), establishing training needs (73 percent), and determining promotions (65 percent). Three-fifths of the sample reported that performance appraisals were important to the success of their operation.

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