Consumer Stories

Publisher’s Note: Last week, ABD shared details about multi-million dollar improvements coming to the Doubletree, Augusta Marriott, and a re-imagined Ramada Hotel—which is a Marriott boutique hotel. The numbers bear out how extra employees and business may be leading to the growth. Overall employment in 2025 for the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area increased by 2,900 and ended the year at 249,800. The local hospitality industry was a HUGE factor. This represents a 1.2 percent increase in employment. By contrast, US employment only increased at 0.4 percent, and Georgia employment increased

Diversity has become a bit of a dirty word recently, but economic and management research suggests there are benefits to diversity in team settings. True diversity, which goes beyond race or gender, and includes diversity of skills, experience, abilities, and thought, may increase team performance. However, diversity may result in lower group cohesion and increased conflict. These conflicting benefits and costs of diversity mean that the overall relationship of diversity on team performance may be positive or negative. In a recently published paper, I and Dinesh Hasija from the Hull