Executive SummaryThe restaurant chain now known as Denny’s began in Lakewood, California, in 1953 with a dream and a donut stand called Danny’s Donuts. The owner, Harold Butler, started his business with a solid commitment: “We’re going to serve the best cup of coffee; make the best doughnuts; give the best service; keep everything spotless; offer the best value; and stay open 24 hours a day.” The year of 1994 May 24 face class action lawsuit due to discrimination. One night some young African-American went to Denny’s restaurants at night. The waiters asked them to pay first before they could serve the meal to them. Only because of they were African-American. December 1995, Denny’s pays out $54M to 294,000 customers and their lawyers. They have also problem regarding their supplier. They have no minority’s supplier, even not black people. The lost their reputation. Denny’s took major decision to regain their fame. They were moving forward to diversifications their work force. Denny’s hired Ron Petty, former head of Burger King USA, as CEO of Denny’s to making safe place for minorities and women. They also hired Ray Hood-Phillips to help develop a diversity program. They gave diversity training throughout the company. They have started to collect new minority supplier contracts. Now they have 37% African-American, 31% women, 21% Hispanic, 7% Asia Pacific, 1% Asian Indian, 3% Native Americans supplier worldwide. The present workforce of Denny’s is fully diversified 53% women, 62% minorities, 42% minorities in management level, and 43% women in management level. Now Denny’s restaurant chain made a miraculous turnaround. They have 4% market share in US market. They need more diversification training and keep the diversity in certain boundary. They need to practice perfect human resource management not personnel management. Denny’s is the most beloved name in the family dining category, providing classic American fare and warm, embracing service at a reasonable price for over 50 years. With more than 1,700 restaurants and sales of over $2.5 billion, Denny’s is one of America’s largest full-service family restaurant chains.

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Background of Restaurant Industry

By the end of the 19th Century, fine dining restaurants had become part of the landscape for the wealthy aristocratic Europeans and upper class Americans. These groups transformed eating out into an art form. Through the 20th century, restaurants continued to evolve through two world wars and the Great Depression. The 1950s saw the rapid growth of fast food, while the 1960s marked the beginning of casual family dining and chain restaurants. By 2000, more and more families were dining out on a weekly basis.

History of Denny's

The restaurant chain now known as Denny’s began in Lakewood, California, in 1953 with a dream and a donut stand called Danny’s Donuts. The owner, Harold Butler, started his business with a solid commitment: “We’re going to serve the best cup of coffee; make the best doughnuts; give the best service; keep everything spotless; offer the best value; and stay open 24 hours a day.”In 1959, Butler had grown his restaurant business to 20 locations when the chain was renamed Denny’s Restaurants to avoid confusion with another chain, Doughnut Dan’s. By 1963, the company’s expansion success was attributed to a franchising program that pushed the chain to 78 restaurants across seven western states. Franchising continues to play an important part in Denny’s growth strategy today, as 86 percent of its restaurants are franchisee-owned. During this growth spurt, Denny’s realised that, to separate itself from other expanding family dining chains, it needed to focus on personalised guest service. Denny’s servers welcomed guests personally and focused on theirindividual needs. Recognising these needs, Denny’s was the first major chain to offer non- smoking sections in every restaurant. Denny’s also introduced special menus specifically for

children and seniors. In 1977, Denny has introduced the Original Grand Slam Breakfast, which remains a best- selling menu item today. Denny’s continually looks to evolve with consumers’ appetites and is constantly working toward new ways of surprising and delighting its guests. All of this special attention to consumers has paid off. In 1981 Denny’s opened its 1,000th restaurant, and in 2011 Denny’s is one of the largest full-service family restaurant chains, with over 1,600 restaurants in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Guam, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Curacao. Its over 11,000 employees, franchisees, servers, and suppliers continue to serve guests with the same emphasis as they did almost 60 years ago — quality food, good

value, and friendly service in a warm, comfortable, welcoming atmosphere.

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Present Position of Denny's

Denny’s is one of America’s largest franchised full-service restaurant chains. On December 25, 2013, the Denny’s brand consisted of 1,700 franchised, licensed and company operated restaurants around the world with combined sales of $2.5 billion, including 1,599 restaurants in the United States and 101 international locations.

Numbers of Employee

At December 25, 2013, they had approximately 8,250 employees, of whom 7,900 were restaurant employees, 100 were field support employees and 250 were corporate personnel.

Competitors of Denny's

The restaurant industry is highly competitive. Restaurants compete on the basis of name recognition and advertising; the price, quality, variety and perceived value of their food offerings; the quality and speed of their guest service; and the convenience and attractiveness of their facilities. Competitors of Denny's are:

Einstein Noah RestaurantBJ's RestaurantsBob Evans FarmsBuffalo Wild WingsThe Cheesecake FactoryCracker Barrel Old Country StoreChipotle Mexican GrillDine EquityDunkin's DonutDomino’s PizzaBrinker InternationalJack In the BoxKrispy Kreme DoughnutsPanera Bread Compan

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Products and Services of Denny’s

Given its historic founding as a donut shop, Denny’s has long been associated with its popular breakfast offerings like Moons Over My Hammy, Ultimate Skillet, and the world-famous Build Your Own Grand Slam, with over 35 million sold in 2010. However, as a true diner, Denny’s provides much more than breakfast. Its expansive menu features delicious, innovative options for appetizers lunch, dinner, and dessert. Not only do the choices cover the whole day, but also they cover the whole health spectrum from indulgent to diet friendly. For every delightfully sinful Double Cheeseburger, Lumberjack Slam, and Country Fried Steak, Denny’s offers healthy Fit Fare alternatives like Amy’s Veggie Burger, Fit Slam, and Tilapia Ranchero for guests seeking lighter meals. Along

with the 16-item $2 $4 $6 $8 Value Menu TM and special Limited Time Only menus, offering variety is just part of how Denny’s constantly evolves product line-ups to fit within its guests’ lifestyles.

Market Share

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1. The key points to Denny’s turnaround with regard to diversity2. Lesson learned from Denny’s Experience3. Impact of diversity on the company’s performance

Q1) what are the key points to Denny’s turnaround with regard to diversity?Denny has always maintained a holistic and a high-performance organization. They believe that diversity and differences can be the source of the richness, creativity and innovation that they strive to attain. The company to achieve this goal has a four-fold approach: educate and train the workforce, at all levels, to value and manage diversity; systematically eliminate all “structures”

(i.e., systems, practices, policies and processes) that obstruct inclusion and create a business entity that nurture diversity in its true sense. The system has been put into action to monitor measure and report results to the highest level of the organization from time to time; and taken steps to acknowledge, reward,

and recognize steps that motivate diversity progress.

Over the years, they have developed and acquired more than enough research that demonstrates that

diverse groups outperform non-diverse groups in both qualitatively and quantitatively. Diverse groups are stronger, and more relevant to the customers. Denny’s is located in many communities across the country, and someone who comes from a particular community can always relate better to customers in that community. In terms of employees, they found that diverse teams are stronger and produce higher and deeper levels of thinking. They are more relevant to the customers.

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Ms. Hood-Phillips stated that the Denny’s, before 1995, never considered in their strategic marketing policy about diversity. There were no targeted efforts to approach the diverse communities of the country. When a research showed that, the company was missing some $100 million dollars per year by not taking into account the African-Americans consumers. That was a real ‘wake up call’ to senior management. 18% of the marketing budget is targeted toward African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and some funding is targeted toward Asian-American.

In working to achieve its diversity goals and objectives, Denny’s has isolated 10 “Keys to Diversity Change”:

I. A Committed Leader : The CEO of an organization must set the tone, values, expectations, and operating philosophy for the company. He or she should be one of the company’s greatest champions of diversity.

II. Diverse Board of Directors : A diverse board - as opposed to one lacking racial and gender diversity - is more likely to examine the larger issues confronting the company, both short and long term, with diversity issues in mind.

III. Accountability for Change : Someone of title and rank must be accountable and responsible for driving change throughout the organization.

IV. Company-wide Ownership : Every worker must “own” his or her portion of the goal. Company-wide ownership forces diversity considerations into all aspects of business operations.

V. Education & Training : There is no way to inculcate a vision and an understanding of a new corporate culture among many employees without education. The training should begin at the very top of the organization, and cascade through the rest of the organization, tailored to address the issues facing each key level of the organization — and it should be on-going.

VI. Clear, Enforceable Non-Discrimination Policies : The absence of clear rules of conduct that outline what is acceptable and unacceptable in terms of how people will treat one another and the customer, regardless of who they are, will result in people making up their own rules as they go along.

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VII. Eliminate All Structures Impeding Inclusion : The company must take care to eliminate all management and human resources structures (i.e., how it hires, fires, develops and promotes people) that impede inclusion, and build back structures that foster diversity.

VIII. Monitor, Measure and Report Results : “What gets measured is what gets done.”

IX. Tie Diversity Progress to Rewards and Recognition Systems : Make diversity a pocketbook issue for your workers by including the valuing and managing of diversity as an annual review salary issue.

X. Celebrate Your Success : Salute and honor the company’s top diversity champions. This sends a powerful message to the entire organization that embracing diversity is an important priority, and that everyone is expected to play a part in specific diversity activities.

Q-2: What lessons can other companies learn from Denny’s experience?Businesses that fail to successfully manage diversity will suffer economic and social consequences. A workplace culture that allows low morale, employee turnover, harassment, discrimination, absenteeism, and disruption to work teams results in a loss of productivity. When individuals are marginalized or isolated by their co-workers and/or managers because of cultural differences, the outcome is a loss of productivity, business opportunities, and the potential for charges of harassment and discrimination. Other companies may follow some strategies, which were the responsible for the Denny’s success!

1. Recognizing the economic consequences to the business : Businesses that do not have an effective strategy for managing diversity will likely experience all or some of the following consequences: loss of productivity, employee turnover, lost opportunities, and potential employment law mistakes.

To avoid these consequences, decision makers need

to recognize this deficiency as a business problem

and acknowledge the need to develop an effective

strategy for Managing Diversity for Success.

2. Developing an effective strategy for Managing Diversity for Success :

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I. Communicating with employees Communicating with employees begins when management commits to the four-step process for Managing Diversity for Success. The method used to communicate will vary depending on the number of employees and locations. Informing employees of the diversity efforts the business will undertake will position the MDS process as an opportunity to enhance productivity and growth. As well, communicating with employees at this step of the process will prevent or lessen opportunities for the circulation of misinformation and rumors that could undermine the MDS process.

II. Assigning responsibility It is the responsibility of management to develop, implement, monitor, and review the organization's diversity efforts. Significant consideration is required in the selection of the individual who will lead the strategy for Managing Diversity for Success. When selecting the individual to lead this process, be sure that the person is a respected employee who consistently demonstrates a commitment to the principles of inclusion, and that the person is a decision maker with the authority to lead and act on recommendations.

III. Allocating financial resources There are costs to implementing the four-step process for Managing Diversity for Success. Demonstrating a commitment to this process requires management to allocate a budget in order to ensure that the diversity action plans are not subject to shifting priorities and efforts. Allocating a diversity budget sends a clear message to employees, suppliers, and customers that management is serious about bringing about changes to enhance productivity and opportunities for growth. Costs can include the diversity council, communication, diversity assessment, and employee training.

IV. Establishing a diversity council/task force The organization requires a diversity council or task force. Generally, a task force is time and task specific, ending with a report of the findings prepared for management. The diversity council is an integral business partner in the development, implementation, monitoring, and review of the action plan. Establishing a diversity council is an opportunity to directly involve employees who often are the company's "diversity champions." Many factors need to be considered when selecting committee members and determining the committee's goals.

V. Building accountability

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Building accountability into the organization's diversity efforts begins with a clear statement from the CEO stating his/her expectations and outcomes for the diversity strategy. A business leader that sets standards and leads by example in organizational and personal actions demonstrates commitment to employees, suppliers, and customers about the importance of diverse ideas, opinions, knowledge, and skills. Although achieving diversity business success is the responsibility of all employees, long-term sustainability is achieved by holding management accountable for integrating diversity within all business functions, and by evaluating managers based on their ability to achieve diversity goals

3. Implementing an action plan for organizational change :

I. Communicating the action plan The components of an organization's diversity action plan will vary depending on corporate strategic goals, size of the organization, time for committee work, and human and financial resources. One of the key components for success is communicating with employees throughout the Managing Diversity for Success process to deliver a clear message: MDS is an ongoing process, not a quick fix program. The goal is to bring about real organizational change to benefit the business, employees, suppliers, and customers. As the business moves to the implementation of the diversity action plan, responsibility for MDS is shifting from a top-down to circular approach that involves all business functions and organizational levels. The process utilizes the diverse knowledge, thinking, and talent of employees and community alliances to meet business diversity goals. Be aware that the organization is now potentially exposed for its shortcomings; it is time to walk the walk. If senior management, advisory boards, and directors do not reflect the diversity of society, change is required, or very quickly employees and the public will know that there is no commitment or action for real organizational change.

II. Conducting the initial diversity assessment Now that employees are informed about the MDS process, it is time to conduct an organizational diversity assessment. The diversity assessment results will give insight into the perceptions of employees relating to the workplace environment, management's contribution to creating a harmonious and productive workplace, and employee working relationships. Including all employees in the diversity assessment provides information about the organization as a whole as well as its employee groups, i.e., position, age, gender, years of service, race, sexual orientation, etc. The diversity assessment results provide a baseline of information to measure future progress. Utilizing the diversity assessment results

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to plan future initiatives ensures the organization's diversity efforts are developed based on a solid foundation of information.

III. Setting diversity business goals Achieving diversity means a shift from a non-diverse business (workforce, suppliers, products, customers) to one that reflects the demographic characteristics of the population within all functions and organizational levels. Achieving diversity requires management to set specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic goals based on business needs and by selecting key areas where diversity can help move the business forward.

IV. Providing employee training and development Memos and team discussions clearly state that achieving diversity is the responsibility of all employees. Opportunities for diversity training must be provided for employees to further develop their understanding of diversity and to learn the necessary skills to achieve diversity business goals. Good diversity training gives employees the skills that they can use to deal with workplace diversity, its implications, and effects. Begin with awareness building to ensure that all employees understand the business and ethical reasons for implementing a diversity strategy. A second-stage diversity program should further develop employees' skills and knowledge to contribute to business success in a meaningful way.

4. Evaluating the diversity strategy :

To restate, Managing Diversity for Success is an ongoing process, not a program. The goal for MDS is to establish diversity as an organizational and business value. To achieve MDS, it is imperative that management evaluates each component of the diversity strategy to determine successes, setbacks, and new opportunities in order to revise the diversity strategy. Communicating the outcomes and future goals of the diversity strategy should be expanded beyond employee groups to include additional stakeholders and the public. The purpose of your communication strategy at this point is to talk about business goals and achievements relating to the diversity strategy for Managing Diversity for Success. The goal is to be recognized by employees, suppliers, customers, and the public as an inclusive organization that places a high value on diversity that is reflected in the business products and services.

Q3.What are the likely impacts of diversity on the company’s performance?10 | P a g e

Positive Impacts of Diversity

I. Cross culture matching : A diversity of culture is very important in any workplace. By having a workforce familiar with a variety of cultures, it can be much easier for even a very small company to appeal to a wider customer base. With geographically limited companies located in culturally homogeneous areas, achieving cultural diversity may require actively recruiting in other parts of the state or country.

II. Better productivity: If we utilize the different skills and abilities of your workforce, it will result in better productivity as each employee plays off the strengths and weaknesses of others. Moreover, companies that are willing to invest in diversity see it pay off in increased productivity because employees are generally more content and encouraged because of the commitment from the company for which they work.

III. Wide array of service abilities: When we have a diverse grouping of employees, we are simple able to offer more to our customers and business partners. From multilingual employees to those that are able to communicate across cultural boundaries in other ways -- for example, understanding certain cultural customs that make our company more appealing to different customers -- a diverse workforce gives you a competitive edge over those competitors that might not value diversity as you do.

IV. Demographics: Demographics are often the most commonly thought of dimension of diversity. Demographic diversity does not just include having members of a variety of racial or ethnic groups on staff, but also having a wide range of ages and a good mix of males and females. Demographic diversity can be extremely important in external interactions, since many potential customers or business partners are more comfortable working with people they feel are like them.

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V. Create dynamic leader: Diversity of work force of any company helps to create a cross culture matching opportunity. As results, the people become cross culture literate. Leaders get the opportunity to handle multicultural people. They can learn about diverse cultural. Therefore, it will make dynamic leader of any organization. Those who can adapt any unpredictable situation and can control any cultural background people.

VI. Generate new innovative ideas: Mix of different culture, age, sex, religion, cast, minorities. They are from different background. They are view of thinking is different. Therefore, they can generate innovative ideas for organization. Collecting different views, thinking, ideas make the innovative ideas.

VII. Open work place for all : Diversity of work force means that, work place is open for all. There have no discriminations. All people treated equally. It works as motivator of work force.

VIII. Reputation of Company: If an organization, makes open their work place open for all. Automatically its can draw attention of job market.

Negative Impacts of Diversity

I. Problem in worker work life balance : In diverse work force, Peoples are different background. The way of life style and the way of living is not same. The problem arises in work life balance. Become difficult for stress management. Need to counseling in a different manner.

II. Problem in participative management : In participative management, people are not willing to participate on decision-making process because their values and norms are not same and sometimes it is not match with the company.

III. Problem in worker grievance handling : Different sex, generation, region, culture all thing are element of diversity. Sometimes people who come from abroad have some problem with adjust another countries culture. So it will very difficult to handle employee grievance.

IV. Resistance to change social and cultural makeup of their workplace is changing. The old people of the organization do not want to diversity because they are used to their conventional

life.

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V. More costly: Diversity training must be needed which is more costly. It takes time to make stable and more productive to make a diverse workforce.

VI. More turnovers and less stability : Sometimes people from different background cannot adapt with organizational politics. Therefore, people leave the organization.

VII. Communication: To achieve the advantages of diversity, you must often provide diversity training, which includes cultural awareness and sensitivity training. Communication barriers become a major challenge in a diverse workforce. Employees that come from different cultures sometimes speak different languages, and encouraging communication can be a challenge. This can negatively affect both formal and informal communication and cohesion. It can also cause more errors and conflicts than you would likely find in a less diverse company.

VIII. Management Costs : As noted, achieving the benefits of diversity and avoiding problems usually requires diversity management. If nothing else, managers and leaders typically must devote time and attention to coaching employees on building relationships and resolving conflict with diverse colleagues. In many instances, companies pay outside parties to come in and provide training on coexisting with differences. These costs are often an ongoing need, since new employees may arrive and veterans may need ongoing refreshers.

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ConclusionSymbolic changes included a declaration that Martin Luther King’s birthday would be a company holiday. It is very much good step no doubt.

Denny’s hired Ron Petty, former head of Burger King USA, as CEO of Denny’s to making safe place for minorities and women. They also hired Ray Hood-Phillips to help develop a diversity program. They gave diversity training throughout the company. They have started to collect new minority supplier contracts. Now they have 37% African-American, 31% women, 21% Hispanic, 7% Asia Pacific, 1% Asian Indian, 3% Native Americans supplier worldwide. The present workforce of Denny’s is fully diversified 53% women, 62% minorities, 42% minorities in management level, and 43% women in management level. Now Denny’s restaurant chain made a miraculous turnaround. They have 4% market share in US market. They need more diversification training and keep the diversity in certain boundary. Denny’s is the most beloved name in the family dining category, providing classic American fare and warm, embracing service at a reasonable price for over 50 years. With more than 1,700 restaurants and sales of over $2.5 billion, Denny’s is one of America’s largest full-service family restaurant chains.

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RecommendationsDenny’s need more diversity training throughout the all level of employees. They need to teach their people how to cope up with different culture, race, and religion. Just need to build hybrid culture in the organization. We know diversity is good but anything excess is bad. Therefore, they should to stay in a certain boundary of diversity. If they make diversity in every aspect of diversity, they the employees can resist changing and may increase high turnover rate. They need to practice human resource management not personal management. Beginning of Denny’s journey was practicing personnel management. That is why they were doing discrimination about minorities, black people. They did not consider a customer as a human being. They employees of Denny’s had some understanding problem about local law, rules, and regulations. Danny’s need to disseminate the information about local law, rules, and regulations throughout the organization. Develop the whole workforce as a human.

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ReferencesI.  http://www.mdcbowen.org/p2/bh/badco/dennysgbu.pdfII.  http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/whitepaperdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=12163   (only a small part

lesson from denny's) III.  http://dennysdiversity.com/

IV.  http://www.dennys.com/#/about/history

V. http://www.denny’s.com.us VI. http://www.dennys.com/

VII. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denny%27s

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