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DISCUSSION
The aim of the practical was to examine the differences in the leadership commitment towards inclusion as well as abled-bodied work colleagues’ attitudes towards PwDs in companies with high vs low representations of PwDs. Four prominent and well-known organisations in India namely Nestle, Airtel, Microsoft, and Lemon Tree were selected. The data was collected through an online survey consisting of 3 sections- demographic profile, attitudes of non-disabled work colleagues toward PwD, and leadership commitment toward the inclusion of PwD. The total number of participants included in the study was 57 out of which 30 are Male and 27 are Female. Based on the review of previous literature, 5 hypotheses were formulated which were systematically studied by descriptive and inferential statistical analysis.
Section 1- Quantitative discussion
Table 1 presents the results of normality tests and descriptive analyses conducted for the sample of the study, which aimed to assess work colleague attitudes towards PwD and leadership commitment towards inclusion in companies with high and low representation of PwD. The obtained values of skewness, kurtosis, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of normality in the present study were within the specified range, indicating a normal distribution. The findings revealed that Airtel had the highest average score on work colleagues' attitudes towards PwD, while Lemon Tree employee perception of leadership commitment towards inclusion contributed to the highest mean score among all four companies. The study also compared its results with previous studies done on Italian and American samples and found higher work colleagues' attitudes towards PwD and similar averages on leadership commitment towards inclusion in an Indian context. The findings might be explained by the cultural values of collectivist cultures that tend to emphasize the importance of compassion, generosity, and social responsibility. Table 2 showed that there were no significant differences in attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disabilities and sensory disabilities. However, there were slight variations in social acceptability and work performance attitudes towards these two groups. The study
suggests that work colleagues exhibit more diverse attitudes towards the work performance of individuals with sensory disabilities, while attitudes towards both social acceptability and work performance tend to be relatively uniform towards individuals with intellectual disabilities. Finally, the study found that companies with a higher percentage of disabled employees were more likely to have senior leaders who were committed to promoting disability inclusion and acknowledged the advantages of having a diverse and inclusive workforce. Furthermore, the standard deviation for work performance attitudes is lower for those with intellectual disabilities, indicating that their scores are less diverse compared to those with sensory disabilities. Contrastingly, the standard deviation for social acceptability attitudes is lower for those with sensory disabilities, indicating less diversity in scores. Overall, the study suggests that work colleagues exhibit more diverse attitudes towards the work performance of individuals with sensory disabilities, while attitudes towards both social acceptability and work performance tend to be relatively uniform towards individuals with intellectual disabilities. The descriptive analysis revealed that Work colleagues’ attitudes towards PwD had higher average scores in the present study, i.e., on an Indian sample than the range of attitude scores obtained by Santilli et al. (2023). The higher work-colleague attitude in the Indian sample than in the Italian sample suggested that Indian colleagues were more accepting of individuals with disabilities and their work performance. One possible explanation for this is that Individualism, which is characterised by a more distant social orientation, is more likely to be associated with holding stigmatising beliefs toward individuals with disabilities. According to Oliver (1984), the marginalisation of individuals with disabilities is a product of the emergence of capitalism, which values individualism, achievement, and self-sufficiency. Furthermore, the higher work colleague attitude in the Indian sample than in the Italian sample suggested that Indian colleagues were more accepting of individuals with disabilities and their work performance. Hypothesis 1 stated that the Leadership Commitment towards Inclusion would be higher in companies with high Representation of PwD than in companies with low Representation of PwD. These findings align with a previous study by Kruse et al., 2010 study on disability management within Fortune 1000 corporations, which found that companies that had a more significant percentage of disabled employees were more likely to have senior leaders who
that the need for organizational legitimacy drives the interest in strategic communication in modern society. Hypothesis 2 (b) in the study stated that companies with high representation of people with disabilities would use more communion words than agentic words in their chairman's letter to shareholders. The chi-square analysis revealed a significant difference in the number of agentic and communion words used by these companies, with a higher tendency to use communion words. Therefore, the study accepted Hypothesis 4 (b). In line with these findings, Hoyt and Blascovich's (2016) research demonstrated that using communal language in job advertisements can attract a more diverse pool of candidates and increase the chances of hiring underrepresented groups. On the other hand, agentic language that emphasizes task performance and goal achievement may be less effective in attracting a diverse pool of candidates. The use of specific words such as "community," "equitable," "helping," "together," and "share" in shareholder speeches can suggest a company's emphasis on relationship maintenance and social functioning, whereas words associated with agentic language such as "achieve," "capability," "goals," and "opportunity" indicate a focus on individual performance and competition. For example, the use of the verb "assist" in the phrase "to assist individuals and businesses" by Microsoft suggests a willingness to collaborate with others rather than solely provide a service or compete with them. Similarly, Lemon Tree's vision statement that emphasizes "ensuring the well-being and self-worth of our colleagues" indicates the company's commitment to meeting its employees' needs and creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Secondly, a vast body of research shows that agentic and communal goals, that is the desire to connect with, achieve, and share with others—are the two fundamental human motivations, with men frequently identifying with agentic goals and women with communal ones (Bakan, 1966; Judd et al., 2005; Abele and Wojciszke, 2007). In accordance, empirical data shows that groups led by communal leaders experience greater levels of communion than groups led by agentic leaders. It has been found that regardless of the manager's sex, male leaders with communal, feminine traits inspire more cooperation than those with agentic, masculine traits. The gendered nature of leadership and the benefits of embracing communal traits are not unfounded, despite the fact that the majority of organisational leaders are men (Gartzia & Knippenberg, 2016). This increases the managers' motivation to speak in Communion terms.
The third hypothesis of the study posited that colleagues' attitudes towards people with disabilities (PwD) would be more favorable in companies with high representation of PwD compared to companies with low representation. However, the results did not show any statistically significant difference in attitudes between high and low PwD representation companies, leading to the rejection of the hypothesis. Meyer's (2010) study compared how disability is perceived and framed in individualist and collectivist societies and found that individualist societies emphasize personal responsibility and self-reliance, while collectivist societies prioritize community and social support. This difference could affect how disability is understood and addressed in India. Similarly, Shavitt et al. (2010) discovered that collectivistic individuals may engage in impression management strategies emphasizing sociability, benevolence, and normative appropriateness towards PwD. Moreover, Kalargyrou et al. (2021) reported that people have a more positive attitude towards PwD in the context of the workplace compared to more intimate settings such as marriage and dating, especially with physical disabilities. Finally, Hsu et al. (2015) found that employees who had prior contact with workers with disabilities had more favorable attitudes towards them. Hypothesis 4, which suggested that women's colleagues have more positive attitudes towards PwD compared to men, was supported by the research findings. Previous studies (Vornholt et al., 2013; Santilli et al., 2023) have also shown that women typically have less social distance from PwD. Studies conducted by Carter (2014) and Lester (2008) suggest that women's gender socialisation and identity development may contribute to their more positive attitudes towards PwD. Women are often taught nurturing and empathetic qualities, which may help them better understand and accept individuals with disabilities. Differences in organisational culture, gender socialisation, and gender identity development can significantly influence the attitudes of different genders towards individuals with disabilities. This highlights the importance of organisations promoting inclusive cultures that embrace diverse identities and recognising the role of gender in shaping attitudes towards disability. According to the minority model proposed by Cuddy et al. (2009), members of minority groups, including women and racial minorities, are likely to demonstrate more warmth and empathy towards other minority groups such as PwD. In some workplaces or industries, women may be considered a minority group due to underrepresentation or discrimination, making them more
reflecting a holistic orientation. Microsoft is even more comprehensive in its approach in that instead of using the word stakeholder, it uses ‘every person’, ‘every organization’, and ‘individuals and businesses throughout the globe’. Nestle is the only company which aspires to improve ‘shareholder value’, while both Nestle and Lemon Tree emphasize the importance of employees and contributing to the community. The emphasis on customers can be seen in Airtel, Nestle, and Lemon Tree. Airtel, a company with low representation of disability focuses only on the customers. Their mission, “to win customers for life” reflects a masculine orientation of competitiveness. Nestle’s vision is that of becoming a leader in all areas of its operations, including in how it relates to other stakeholders. They want to focus on improving shareholder value by being a "preferred corporate citizen, preferred employer, preferred supplier selling preferred products." This shows their emphasis on being better than their competitors. Frequent use of the word “preferred” indicates their desire to be perceived as a valuable company. Nestle's emphasis on product orientation and Airtel’s customer satisfaction makes a stark acknowledgement of their strive to prioritize customer needs and aim to provide high-quality products and services that meet those needs. It seems to present the current capitalist system as the only mode of corporate organization. A company with high representation of disability, Lemon Tree, has used more tempered and moderate language in its vision and mission statement. The usage of the phrases ‘customers have every right to expect’ and ‘delighting our guests...is our main reason for being’ indicates a value orientation where customers are given utmost importance. This shows that the well- being of all stakeholders such as guests, customers, ‘colleagues’ is of importance to them. They also want to contribute to the larger community and ‘India in general’. Further, out of these four companies this is the only company which talks about its business operations specifically in India. Microsoft’s vision and mission take into consideration an even broader perspective. Words like ‘assist individuals throughout the globe’ and ‘empower every person’ emphasize the larger collective. The language and rhetoric used in the statements of the two sets of companies (high PwD representation and low PwD representation) can also be analyzed using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach (1992), which involves examining the use of linguistic elements in context and in relation to social structures and power relations. These elements
include pronouns, modality, agency, nominalizations, and other grammatical features. The different approaches to discourse analysis explore how organizations, industries, and their environments are formed and sustained through discourse (Phillips et al., 2008). Several previous researches have applied discourse analysis in an organizational context. For instance, Munir and Phillips (2005) investigated how meanings and uses of new technologies were constructed through discourse. CDA was used to examine gender inequalities in corporate hierarchies (Tienari et al., 2005), to investigate the political and ideological content underlying corporate discourse by examining mission statements of Brazilian companies (Irigaray et al., 2016), and to analyze chairman’s statement of a UK defense firm to examine organizational activities and outcomes (Merkl-Davies & Koller, 2012), and to investigate how linguistic choices in CSR reports of Nigerian oil companies are used to project an image of ‘responsible organization’ (Nwagbara & Belal, 2019). In the given mission and vision statements, many of these linguistic features can be identified using this framework. In the case of Airtel's vision statement, the use of certain modal words and phrases serves to highlight the company's subject position of power in relation to its customers, who appear to be their only stakeholders. The phrase "Our obsession is to win customers for life" positions Airtel as the active agent in the interaction, with the power to pursue and achieve its goals. This is further emphasized by the use of the word "obsession," which implies a strong and persistent desire to achieve the company's objectives. The phrase "through an exceptional experience" reinforces this positioning, as it suggests that the exceptional experience is something that Airtel is able to deliver to its customers. The use of such words expresses the certainty, willingness, and ability of Airtel to ‘deliver’ to its customers. Taken together, these linguistic choices serve to emphasize Airtel's power and control in the relationship with its customers and other stakeholders. Similarly, Nestle's vision statement highlights their belief and vision of being the best in their field in comparison to competitors, as can be highlighted in their repeated use of the term ‘preferred’. The phrase "being a preferred employer, corporate citizen, and supplier" suggests that Nestle aims to be the top choice for various stakeholders, including employees, the community, and customers. On the other hand, companies with a high representation of PwD frequently use language that highlights a collaborative approach toward growth and a relationship of equals between the
structured procedure to integrate people with disabilities into all their hotels in India, with a specific training model and trial hiring periods for people with different disabilities. Lemon Tree upholds international human rights standards and provides comprehensive health insurance to all employees under the Employee State Insurance System Act. The company has a legal and compliance team to ensure adherence to legal and regulatory requirements and conducts regular training programs for employees. A risk monitoring and management system is also in place to take corrective action where necessary. Hiring and recruitment plans for employees with disabilities foster a culture of inclusion through a diverse workforce, specific plans for recruitment, and descriptions of workforce training programs. (Robert et al, 2020). Chan et al. (2021) emphasized the importance of inclusive hiring practices, reasonable accommodations, and workplace diversity initiatives for increasing the employment of people with disabilities and reported that companies with a positive attitude towards disability inclusion reflected in their policy framework were more likely to employ people with disabilities. A similar trend can be observed in terms of the companies' CSR activities. Kulkarni (2013) reported that private sector organizations engaged in CSR activities instead of implementing policies for employees with disabilities. This appears true to a certain extent since each organization had disability-specific CSR initiatives but the high-representation organizations (Microsoft and Lemon Tree) demonstrated greater involvement in PwD-related CSR like collaboration with NGOs, vocational training programs, etc. Further, high PwD representative companies such as Microsoft and Lemon Tree are involved in more disability inclusion networks to foster disability inclusion and accommodation in the workplace as compared to low PwD representative companies. The penultimate point was that of awards and recognition which serve as markers of disability inclusivity, as they often acknowledge organizations or individuals that have demonstrated a commitment to creating accessible and inclusive environments for people with disabilities. Manoharan and colleagues (2021) found that companies with clear links between their diversity statements and management practices were more likely to receive external recognition and rank higher on the Fortune 1000 list. The findings of our study suggest that high PwD representative companies such as Microsoft and Lemon Tree Hotels have been honored with disability-inclusive esteemed awards. While one low PwD representative company Nestle was awarded the 2022 Disability Equality Index of
the Best Places to Work, Bharti Airtel has not been recognized for its disability-inclusivity policies. Nestle seems to have only recently caught up with disability inclusion practices from the year 2022 which is evident through their efforts to ensure proper infrastructure and reasonable accommodation and ensuring continuous improvements to existing workplace facilities by conducting accessibility audits. These initiatives have come to fruition in the form of their recognition by the 2022 Disability Equality Index. CONCLUSION The objective of this study was to investigate the disparities between companies with high and low proportions of individuals with disabilities (PwD) in terms of (a) leadership's dedication to inclusion and (b) able-bodied colleagues' attitudes towards PwD. To achieve this goal, a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Participants included 57 able-bodied workers (30 males and 27 females) from four well-known companies in India: Nestle, Airtel, Microsoft, and Lemon Tree. Microsoft and Lemon Tree had a high representation of PwD, while Airtel and Nestle had a low representation of PwD among their overall workforce. The study put forth five hypotheses, with two of them split into sub-hypotheses. The leadership's commitment to inclusion was measured by their stated objectives, diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives, and leadership style. The statistical analysis found that hypotheses H1 and H4 were supported, while hypotheses H3, H5a, and H5b were refuted. This indicates that companies with a high proportion of PwD have a stronger commitment to inclusion from leadership, but there is no significant difference in the attitudes of able-bodied colleagues towards PwD between companies with high and low representation of PwD. Additionally, female colleagues were discovered to have more positive attitudes towards PwD than their male colleagues. Furthermore, there was no significant association found between leadership's commitment to inclusion and colleagues' attitudes towards PwD, and likewise, leadership's commitment to inclusion was not found to have a significant impact on colleagues' attitudes towards PwD.
- The attitudes of able-bodied colleagues measured in this study were towards hypothetical PwD work colleagues, and not actual ones. Thus, it cannot be said for sure that the attitudes found are accurate measures of the actual attitudes.
- The study relied solely on shareholder letters to understand company policies and initiatives related to disability inclusion. To gain a more comprehensive understanding, it would have been beneficial to conduct interviews with company representatives and employees to gain their perspectives and experiences.
- While the study aimed to examine disability inclusion in Indian companies, some companies, such as Microsoft, only provided data from their US website. This may have limited the ability to accurately understand the disability inclusion policies and initiatives of these companies within the Indian context. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH Based on the limitations of the current research, the following are the suggestions that can help future research to gain a deeper understanding of disability inclusion within organizations and to identify ways to improve inclusion practices.
- To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the inclusion of people with disabilities (PwD), future studies can adopt a more robust design that also takes into account the different types and severity of the disability.
- To gain a more accurate understanding of the true level of inclusion within companies, future research should collect data directly from PwD employees.
- A sector-wise analysis may be undertaken by studying companies belonging to the same sectors.
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