Strategies for Building a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce

This research report explores the strategies and initiatives implemented by organizations, using Hilton London as a case study, to build a diverse and inclusive workforce. It discusses the aims and objectives of the research, literature review, project management plan, and the role of an inclusive and diverse workforce in improving employee performance.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Aims and objectives of the project....................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
P2 Project management plan..................................................................................................5
P3 Develop a Gantt chart and Work Breakdown structure....................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Qualitative and quantitative research method...................................................................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
P5 Data Interpretation...........................................................................................................11
P6 Recommendation.............................................................................................................16
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................17
P7 Produce a reflection.........................................................................................................17
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

Topic: “The types of Strategies and Initiatives companies put in place to build a diverse and
inclusive workforce”
INTRODUCTION
Employees are considered as valuable asset of an organisation whose efforts and
contribution decides the time frame of achieving organisational goals and objectives. Thus, an
organisation must required to value their workforce which can be possible with the help of an
inclusive and diverse workforce (Hajro, Gibson and Pudelko, 2017). To understand the
importance of such inclusive and diverse workforce, it is important for the management to
conduct a research through appointing a researcher who have sufficient knowledge regarding
using of research methods and techniques. The present assignment report is based on Hilton
London which is currently engaged in providing hospitality services in various nations. The
growth and success of such organisation is very much depend on satisfaction level of customers
which can be maximises if employees are well treated and valued within an organisation. To
understand the importance of inclusive and diverse workforce, the researcher prepares a research
report discussing the aims and objectives of research, Literature review, Project management
plan, Timeline of research, Research methodologies and other research related concepts in order
to draw a valid conclusion at the end of research.
TASK 1
P1 Aims and objectives of the project
Research Aim: To examine the different kinds of strategies as well as initiatives framed by an
organisation to build a inclusive and diverse workforce. A case study on Hilton London
Research objective:
 To understand the concept of inclusive and diverse workforce in Hilton London
 To analyse the strategies and initiatives implemented by Hilton London for making their
staff more inclusive and diverse.
 To identify the role of inclusive and diverse workforce in the context of improving
performance level of employees as well as Hilton London.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of inclusive and diverse workforce
As per the view of Sharon Florentine, with strong diverse and inclusive workforce within
an organisation facilitate them to take various advantages such as it enables them to attract
talented people and to retain their existing employees for a longer period of time. The diverse
and inclusive people are motivated which brings innovation to the company by facilitating them
with innovative ideas. In the hotel industry, innovation in the services is crucial attract the
customer and with the help of diverse and inclusive workforce they can efficiently satisfy the
needs and wants of their guest. Nowadays most of the companies are focusing upon this concept
so that they can offer more opportunities to their employees to outperform, while some of the
organisation still considers this concept as an implication which has to be adopted to meet up
with the requirements (Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace, 2018).
Strategies and initiatives implemented for making their staff more inclusive and diverse
As per Tom Wells, inclusion of the employees with the workplace culture has positive
impact on the overall efficiency of the organisation. With the help of this policy people
belonging to different religion, culture, and orientation can be united by treating them equal and
fair. To ensure this the Human Resource Department of the organisation take necessary steps to
influence the people by adopting variety of strategies. Such strategy includes incorporation of
inclusive languages, organisation of mentoring community, sharing the leadership perspective of
the company and ensuring effective communication among all the employees so that better
understanding can be developed among them. This initiative enables the management of the
organisation to create better workplace environment and culture which can motivate the
employees for improving their performance and cooperating with each other to achieve the
overall organisational objective (Diversity and inclusion: 8 best practices for changing your
culture, 2019).
Role of inclusive and diverse workforce in the context of improving performance level of
employees
As per the view of Anja Zojceska, motivation among the employees has various
advantage for each and every organisation as with the help of this they can focus upon their
overall organisational performance. With the help of inclusive and diverse workforce companies
can efficiently take competitive edge over others as this is strategy plays crucial role in operating

innovation by bringing innovative ideas for satisfying the customers more efficiently. It also
increases the creativity and understanding among the employees due to which they can take
decisions easily and quickly. Such strategies offer various benefits to the organisation in long run
as it make their employees committed towards organisation due to which their turnover rate
reduces with which their cost of procuring new employees reduces, also these employees
contributes more efficiently. The hospitality industry specially must consider such policies so
that they can ensure better relations with their guest as better workforce will enhance the
experience of their customers (Effective Strategies to Build a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace,
2018).
P2 Project management plan
Project topic: “The types of Strategies and Initiatives companies put in place to build a diverse
and inclusive workforce”
Project aims and objectives:
Aim of the project: To examine the different kinds of strategies as well as initiatives framed by
an organisation to build a inclusive and diverse workforce. A case study on Hilton London
Objectives:
 To understand the concept of inclusive and diverse workforce in Hilton London
 To analyse the strategies and initiatives implemented by Hilton London for making their
staff more inclusive and diverse.
 To identify the role of inclusive and diverse workforce in the context of improving
performance level of employees as well as Hilton London.
Scope: The scope of this project can be defined in terms of the ability of the organisation for
developing strategies for making their workforce inclusive and diverse. The researcher with the
help of various data will analyse the impact of strategies on the organisation which will also
enable them to undertake similar researches in future (Scott, Ditroilo and Marshall, 2017) .
Communication: At the time of undertaking research, investigator has to interact with the
project manager of the hotel so that they can be updated regarding the project. It can be done by
way of videoconferencing, through email, telephonic meetings and many more. It will enable
the project manager to identify the progress in the project so that a composition on time can be
ensured.

Resources: For efficiently conducting research it is important for the investigator to identify the
resources that will be required to them. For this research the investigator will be required to
procure funds, laptops, mobile phone, various books and journal, subscription for the articles
etc. To support the research work the investigator will hire interns assist them in gathering data
and its analysis.
Quality: It is important for the investigator to ensure the quality of the outcome of the research.
This can be done by ensuring the authenticity and reliability of various sources from where the
primary and secondary data has been collected. To manage the quality, the technique of quality
chart can be use while undertaking the research so that specification of the deliverable can be
compared with the actual quality so that the quality of the final outcome can be improved as per
the specifications. In addition to this the technique of benchmarking can also be used for
establishing standards for quality (Martini, Pareto and Bosch, 2013).
Cost: While undertaking this research project the researcher will incur some cost which has to
be estimated by them so that they can make necessary arrangements for the funds. The total cost
of undertaking this research is £70 which includes this stipend that is to be paid to the interns,
purchasing of various resources etc.
Time: The time that will be required for completing this research will be 7 weeks. For ensuring
the completion a project on time the investigator will prepare a Gantt chart in which they will
allocate time limit to different activities within which day must be completed.
Risk: The risk that are associated with the research includes the authenticity of the data as if the
data gathered is not taken from authentic source then it can affect the outcome of the research.
The another is which is related to the project is of completion within the time limit and to
ensure this researcher will prepare WBS and Gantt chart so that activities can be identified that
are to be undertaken along with the time limit in which they must be completed. This will
ensure that project gets completed within the time scale (Fageha and Aibinu, 2013).
P3 Develop a Gantt chart and Work Breakdown structure
Work Breakdown structure: It is essential for researcher to decide the time frame within
the researcher should be completed so as to gain better result. For this, the researcher must

understand every concept of methods and techniques uses in carrying out research which can be
possible through breaking down the elements of project into small manageable task and activities
(Skuza, McDonnell and Scullion, 2018). It makes easy for researcher to bring out the
information related with roles and responsibilities that they have to delegate to their team
members involved in carrying our present research. This assist researcher to minimise the
possibilities of any deviations that restrict their members in execution of their allotted task and
activities.
Gantt chart: It is a kind of horizontal chart that describes the time of completion of each
and every activity executed in process of completing entire research. This helps researcher to
know the actual status of research which makes easy for him/her to take further decision in order
to complete research within pre-determined time frame. This directs the researcher to make its
team members motivate so as to complete their allotted roles and responsibilities in allotted time
period (Eriksson, 2015). This makes easy for researcher to end the research within limited time
period and draw a valid conclusion which helps its client i.e. Hilton London to make decision for
their own betterment.

TASK 2
P4 Qualitative and quantitative research method
Research methodology consists of various methods and techniques which are required to use
by the research to carry out an effective research on the chosen topic. It assist researcher to
analyse gathered information so as to draw a relevant and valid conclusion at the end of research.
These methods and techniques uses in research are briefly explained as under:
Quantitative method: It is kind of research method that researcher can adopt in order to
gather data in numeric terms. Using of such kind of method by researcher is quite beneficial as
the results can be justified in numbers but only if the researcher have sufficient knowledge about
interpreting the gather numerical data into meaningful way so that others can easily understand
(Cooke, 2017).
Qualitative method: It is another kind of research method that can be adopted by researcher
to gather information by reaching to the respondents. It takes more time and energy to collect
due to visiting selected respondents to understand their perceptions and responses and interpret
all into understandable manner.
Researcher can gather data from different sources according to their available resources and
importance of topic. For this, researcher have two options to adopt in order to gather data related
with the topic of undertaking research. Here are the explanation of these methods:

Primary data: It is also known as first hand information which is directly collected by the
respondents thus using such method brings more accurate and relevant data to the researcher. On
the other hand, using of such source has some disadvantages as well such as consumes more
time, energy and funds thus researcher must have sufficient amount of resources (Cappelli and
Keller, 2017).
Secondary data: It is the method which can be adopted by research according to their
availability of resources and time. Using of such source of collecting data helps researcher to
invest less time and funds due to having data on internet published by different authors on the
research topic. Aside this, it provides less accurate and relevant data thus can affect the validity
of outcome drawn by research at the completion of research.
In the present research, the researcher adopts both primary as well as secondary source of
collecting data in which questionnaire is used as a technique of primary method and books,
journals etc. are taken into consideration while collecting secondary information (Bacouël-
Jentjens and Christiansen, 2016).
Sampling: It is the part of research in which number of people is selected as respondents out
of populations whose views, opinions and suggestions helps researcher in drawing a valid
conclusion at the end of research. In the present research, 40 employees are chosen as sample
whose direction and suggestions can be collected through filling questionnaire by them so as to
end the research with accurate and valid conclusion.
The questionnaire so used by the investigator is given below:
Questionnaire
Q1) Which age category you belongs to?
a) 25-30
b) 35-40
c) 45-50
d) 55+
Q2) Do you know what does the concept of inclusive and diverse workforce means?
a) Yes
b) No
Q3) What do you understand by the inclusive and diverse workforce?
a) Recruiting employees having different background

b) Equal and Fair opportunity to each employee
c) Understanding and co-operation among employees
d) All of the above
Q4) Will it be beneficial for organisation such as Hilton in long run?
a) Yes
b) No
Q5) As per you opinion, how strategies and initiatives for inclusive and diverse workforce
can benefit Hilton Hotel in longer period?
a) Improve the productivity of the employees
b) Will motivate the employees by ensuring equality
c) Reduction in turnover rate
Q6) What are the different types of strategies for building a diverse and inclusive
workforce can be adopted by your organisation?
a) Integrated focus on all the strategies such as recruitment, selection, training etc.
b) Formation of various standards and policies for managing the employees
c) Both of these
Q7) According to you, what are the challenges that will be faced by Hilton London while
making such strategies as part of their organisational activities?
a) Conflicts among the employees on different level
b) Difficulty in making the employees understand
c) Resistance to adopt such policies and initiatives
Q8) What are the possible initiatives that the management of Hilton London can take for
implementing different strategies at the workplace?
a) Encouraging employees participation
b) Better induction and orientation programs for the employees
c) Training to each and every employees on different levels
d) All of the above
Q9) Recommend various ways and different types of strategies with which an inclusive and
diverse workforce can be developed by the Hilton London......

TASK 3
P5 Data Interpretation
Theme 1: Age category
Q1) Which age category you belongs to? Frequency
a) 25-30 14
b) 35-40 10
c) 45-50 8
d) 55+ 8
Interpretation: The respondents selected to identify the views and suggestions on the
research topic are employees having different age group. Among 40 respondents, 14 respondents
are in the age group of 25 to 30 whereas other 10 respondents are having age in between of 35 to
40. The remaining 16 respondents are above 45 age group.
Theme 2: Concept of inclusive and diverse workforce
Q2) Do you know what does the concept of inclusive and diverse
workforce means?
Frequency
a) Yes 28
b) No 12

Interpretation: Out of 40 respondents, 28 respondents knows the concept of inclusive as
well as diverse workforce along with the benefits that will achieve by company whereas the
remaining 12 doesn’t have knowledge regarding the same.
Theme 3: Meaning of diverse and inclusive workforce
Q3) What do you understand by the inclusive and diverse workforce? Frequency
a) Recruiting employees having different background 8
b) Equal and Fair opportunity to each employee 10
c) Understanding and co-operation among employees 10
d) All of the above 12

Interpretation: Among 40 respondents, 12 respondents thinks that diverse and inclusive
workforce includes recruiting employees, providing fair opportunities to each worker and better
cooperation among employees whereas the remaining 28 respondents have their own individual
thoughts regarding such concept.
Theme 4: Beneficial for Hilton
Q4) Will it be beneficial for organisation such as Hilton in long run? Frequency
a) Yes 30
b) No 10
Interpretation: Out of 40 employees chosen as respondents, 30 are in favour of
implementation of diverse and inclusive workforce whereas the remaining 10 didn’t show their
willingness for the same.
Theme 5: Advantages of the various strategies and initiatives
Q5) As per you opinion, how strategies and initiatives for inclusive and
diverse workforce can benefit Hilton Hotel in longer period?
Frequency
a) Improve the productivity of the employees 20
b) Will motivate the employees by ensuring equality 12
c) Reduction in turnover rate 8

Interpretation: From the above graph, it can be clearly seen that all the respondents
have positive opinions about diverse and inclusive workforce strategies. Out of 40. 20 thinks it
increases productivity of employees whereas remaining 12 and 8 respondents thinks it will bring
motivation and reduction in turnover rate respectively .
Theme 6: Types of strategies must be adopted
Q6) What are the different types of strategies for building a diverse
and inclusive workforce can be adopted by your organisation?
Frequency
a) Integrated focus on all the strategies such as recruitment, selection,
training etc.
15
b) Formation of various standards and policies for managing the
employees
12
c) Both of these 13

Interpretation: Among 40 respondents, 15 are in favour of integrating all the strategies
such as recruitment, selection and training whereas the other 12 thinks the management can form
various standards and policies to manage the work of employees. The remaining 13 are in favour
of both options.
Q7) According to you, what are the challenges
that will be faced by Hilton London while making
such strategies as part of their organisational
activities?
Responses
a) Conflicts among the employees on different
level
This is the issue which may arise at
workplace due to having employees of
different cultures having perceptions that
leads misunderstanding.
b) Difficulty in making the employees
understand
Showing willingness towards the policies
may have an issue for an organisation due to
differences in age of employees as old age
employees are in favour of no involvement
of employees in all operations of company.
c) Resistance to adopt such policies and
initiatives
Lack of communications brings inefficiency
as through this, understanding of employees
cannot be developed which causes conflicts

among them.
Q8) What are the possible initiatives that the
management of Hilton London can take for
implementing different strategies at the
workplace?
Responses
a) Encouraging employees participation Some of the respondents thinks that
implementation of training and
development programs can improve the
effectiveness of strategies and initiatives
framed by an organisation.
b) Better induction and orientation programs for
the employees
Allowing employees to get involved in the
activities of Hilton makes them comfortable
towards their new policies.
c) Training to each and every employees on
different levels
Some of the selected respondents provides
their consent to adopt both the initiatives as
it enhances the understandings of
employees regarding benefits received by
them as well as an organisation.
P6 Recommendation
From the above analyse and interpretation, the researcher came to draw a valid
recommendation to the management of Hilton London related with their strategies of inclusive
and diverse workforce. It ensures them to take decision for the betterment of their employees as
well as an organisation. Here are some recommendations provided by researcher to Hilton
London after analysing the gathered data:
 It has been recommended to the management to implement strategies and initiatives to
build inclusive and divers workforce as it makes positive impact on their overall
productivity and profitability. It brings motivation among employees which in results
maximises their contribution towards achievement of organisational gaols and objectives.

 The management of Hilton London must mainly emphasis on the maximising the
working behaviour of their workforce by Integrating all the strategies such as
recruitment, selection, training etc. as well as Formation of various standards and policies
for managing the employees.
 There are various challenges that can be faced by Hilton London such as conflicts among
employees at various levels, difficulties in managing employees understand and
resistance of employees to adopt such policies. Thus, it is important for their management
to prepare an action plan to tackle with the same so as to get beneficial outcome in return.
TASK 4
P7 Produce a reflection
This research was undertaken by me which was done for Hilton London for developing an
inclusive and diverse workforce for them. With this research I realised that this area of study
very interesting and has tremendous scope because human capital is important resource of the
organisation which enables them in taking competitive advantage over others. It enhanced my
knowledge and understanding regarding the topic and also makes me realise the area which I
need to improve upon. For undertaking research, I used various methods with the help of which I
collected data from the employees of the hotel and from various secondary sources. At the time
of analysing such data I analysed lack of analytical skills which I need to improve upon. To
facilitate this I took various online sessions with the help of which I could enhance such skills. In
addition to this I realise that my communication skills are satisfactory and to improve them I
need to develop a habit of reading a lot and also for improving written communication I took a
few online sessions in which I could manage to learn to effectively write emails and prepare
reports. For ensuring the quality of the report I focus upon the authenticity and reliability of the
sources from where the data has been collected. This is enabled me to undertake this research
efficiently and to provide deliverables on time to the manager of the hotel.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above research report that an organisation can only sustain
in competitive market for longer period of time only if they can manage their employees
efficiently. For this, the management must build inclusive and diverse workforce that can
motivate them to create new and innovative ideas which can be profitable for an organisation if

implemented effectively. For managing the research project, WBS and Gantt chart plays a
significant role which updates researcher about the progress of research.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bacouël-Jentjens, S. and Christiansen, L.C., 2016. Diversity management in Denmark and
France: A comparative approach. In Research handbook of international and
comparative perspectives on diversity management. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and practice in European human resource
management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey. Taylor & Francis.
Cappelli, P. and Keller, J.R., 2017. The historical context of talent management. The Oxford
handbook of talent management, pp.23-42
Chesbrough, H., Vanhaverbeke, W. and West, J. eds., 2014. New frontiers in open innovation.
Oup Oxford.
Cooke, F.L., 2017. Talent management in emerging economies. The Oxford Handbook of Talent
Management, p.440.
Dai, L., Maksimov, V., Gilbert, B. A. and Fernhaber, S. A., 2014. Entrepreneurial orientation
and international scope: The differential roles of innovativeness, proactiveness, and
risk-taking. Journal of Business Venturing. 29(4). pp.511-524.
Eriksson, K. and et.al., 2015. Experiential knowledge and cost in the internationalization process.
In Knowledge, Networks and Power (pp. 41-63). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Fageha, M. K. and Aibinu, A. A., 2013. Managing project scope definition to improve
stakeholders’ participation and enhance project outcome. Procedia-Social and
Behavioural Sciences. 74. pp.154-164.
Hajro, A., Gibson, C. B. and Pudelko, M., 2017. Knowledge exchange processes in multicultural
teams: Linking organizational diversity climates to teams’ effectiveness. Academy of
Management Journal. 60(1). pp.345-372
Martini, A., Pareto, L. and Bosch, J., 2013, June. Improving businesses success by managing
interactions among agile teams in large organizations. In International Conference of
Software Business (pp. 60-72).
Scott, D. J., Ditroilo, M. and Marshall, P. A., 2017. Complex training: the effect of exercise
selection and training status on postactivation potentiation in rugby league players. The
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 31(10), pp.2694-2703.
Skuza, A., McDonnell, A. and Scullion, H., 2018. Macro talent management in Poland: The role
of talent and the challenges ahead. In Macro Talent Management in Emerging and
Emergent Markets (pp. 66-83). Routledge.
Online
Anja Zojceska, 2018. Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace. [online] Available through:<
https://www.talentlyft.com/en/blog/article/244/top-10-benefits-of-diversity-in-the-
workplace-infographic-included>

Sharon Florentine, 2019. Diversity and inclusion: 8 best practices for changing your culture.
[online] Available through: <https://www.cio.com/article/3262704/diversity-and-
inclusion-8-best-practices-for-changing-your-culture.html>
Tom Wells, 2018. Effective Strategies to Build a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace. [online]
Available through:< https://blog.talaera.com/strategies-diverse-inclusive-workplace
What is a project management plan?. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.4pmti.com/blog/project-management-plan/>
Template for evidence collection to be
attached with the report by the
learner:
Logbook
Project Logbook for the chosen organisation:
Name of the learner: Name of the Supervisor:
Project Title: Date:
Update of weekly research/
tasks achieved (Account for a
minimum of six weeks with
dates)
 What have you
completed?
 Did you fulfil Task
requirements?
 Are you on track and
within deadlines set?
 Did you need to make any
changes to your project
management plan?
Comments
I have completed my research on the topic of
“The types of Strategies and Initiatives companies
put in place to build a diverse and inclusive
workforce”. A case study on Hilton London.
Yes
Yes
No
Any risks and / or issues
identified?
 Did you identify
risks/issues with a lack of
skills required for
Yes, I faced various issues related with the
interpretation of the responses of the employees
and in communicating with the project manager.

undertaking research
tasks?
 Did you identify any
additional risks/issues
that have an impact on
the project management
plan?
No
Problems encountered
 What barriers did you
face?
 How did you overcome
them?
The barriers that I faced were lack of
communication among team member and this lead
to which the various difficulties such as
confusions while undertaking the activities.
For dealing with this issue I had to take various
online sessions.
New Ideas and change of
project direction
What Have I learnt about
myself this week?
 How did I feel when I had
to deal with
tasks/problems?
 Did I find it useful to
complete the tasks?
 How well have I
performed? What did I
contribute?
 What can I improve on
next week?
 How might this learning
apply in the future?
While undertaking this project I felt tensed and
depressed because I had to gather a lot of data that
has to be authentic.
Yes
I took all the necessary actions that can improve
my performance and due to this I could perform
better.
It will facilitate me in undertaking researcher in
future as with this i have developed various skills
and knowledge.

Tasks planned for next week
 Which tasks are priority?
 Have you set aside
sufficient time for
completion?
Collection of the data which is authentic and
reliable so that the quality of the project can be
insured.
With the help of Gantt chart I allocated time to
different activities.
Project plan status to date (on,
ahead, behind)
Supervisor comments to
address
Signature of the Supervisor
and date: