Managing A Successful Business Project.

Managing A
Successful
Business Project

Table of Contents
TITLE:.............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1) Formulate aims and objective of the project. ..................................................................1
P2) Prepare project management plan by including scope, communication, risk, cost,
resources, time and quality.....................................................................................................2
P3) Explain Gantt Chart and Work Break Down structure....................................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
P4) Carry out small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative method to attain
aims and objectives.................................................................................................................5
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................6
P5) Interpretate research data by using best tools and techniques.........................................6
P6) Suggest recommendation...............................................................................................12
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................12
P7) Reflection.......................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
APPENDIX I.................................................................................................................................15
APPENDIX_II..............................................................................................................................18

TITLE:
“Equality and diversity on business”
INTRODUCTION
In globalized world in order to cope up with competitive advantages it is very important
to work on the issues associated with equality and diversity at work place (Bishu and Alkadry,
2017). There are numerous issues such as , sexual harassment, gender pay gap etc. of equality
and diversity. Top level management is liable to build strategies in order to over come the issues
of equality and diversity the workplace. Mark and Spencer is taken for the completion of the
project. It is a British leading retailer store suited in Westminster, London. This assignment
covers aims and objective of the project. Primary data collection method is used to collect data
from respondents. Gantt Chart and WBS is effectively used in the project to finish the task.
LO 1
P1) Formulate aims and objective of the project.
Background of Mark and Spencer:
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer are the founders of this successful British retail
store in Westminster, London. Mark and Spencer is recognised in the open market place for it's
high quality home products, clothing and food products (French and Strachan, 2015). There are
1400 stores across 57 countries and are capable in meeting customers needs and wants. However,
910 stores are there in United Kingdom and around 220 are owned by Mark and Spencer while
approx 350 stores franchise Simply Food Store. They are successfully proving other services
such as current accounts, insurance, credit cards, mortgages and so on.
AIMS:
“To understand the steps taken by firm in order to overcome gender pay gap issue
occurred by introducing equality and diversity at the workplace”. A Study report on Mark and
Spencer.
Research objectives:
 To study the concept of gender pay gap.
 To understand the problems faced by M&S because of gender pay gap in the working
premises.
 To measure several ways to overcome gender pay gap issue at workplace of M&S.
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Research questions:
 What do you mean by gender pay gap at workplace?
 Which type of problems are faced by M&S because of gender pay gap in their working
premises?
 Discuss several ways to overcome gender pay gap issue at workplace of M&S?
P2) Prepare project management plan by including scope, communication, risk, cost, resources,
time and quality.
Project management plan (PMP) is a formal document that explains every single stage of
a project (Hebson and Rubery, 2018). It is the core element which need to be performed in order
to attain competitive advantages against rivalry . PMP covers distinguish components such as,
planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing.
Scope: The scope of the project is wide as it researcher is investigating on the current
issues of equality and diversity. Gender pay gap is the issue prevailing in a firm for this strategies
are formulated in order to overcome them in the working premises. By making employees aware
why there is gap in their remuneration smooth functioning of the business can be operated.
Risk: By collecting the data from the respondents and managing them properly was the
major risk factor which researcher came across. Along with this convening respondents to reply
the set of questions was quite challenging as they where less interested to answer them.
Researcher were bound with less funds and time due to which in-depth information regarding the
topic was not possible.
Communication: In order to draw meaningful conclusion from the finding researcher
adopted effective communication matrix so that easily information can be transferred. There are
various communication channels used such as, E-mails, face to face communication, mobile
communication channels and so on. Email is the communication channel used by researcher
while conducting the project (Funk and Parker 2018).
Resources: In order to conduct the research activity smoothly various resources like,
finance, human capital etc. are need by researcher. Lack of resources results in unproductive
outcomes. Researcher used all the available resources in optimum manner for best results.
Cost: It is the most important aspect of research because deficiency of funds affect the
functioning of the business. In order to conduct research activity smoothly sufficient funds
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should be there with the team. The estimated amount of $ 700 is need to conduct the activity
effectively and efficiently (Huffman and Reichelt, 2017).
Particulars Amount ($)
Stationery item expenses 100
Travelling expenses 500
Telephone expenses 100
Total $ 700
Time: Researcher requires 7week to complete the task in proper manner. This the
sufficient time for completing the work effectively and efficiently. All the set activities are
attained in the designed time slot which helped to finish the project in the deadline.
Quality: To gain best results as compare to other qualitative approach is used by
researcher in their findings. It helps to provide correct and quality information to the reader so
that they can be bind for longer time duration.
P3) Explain Gantt Chart and Work Break Down structure
Gantt Chart: Henry Gantt was the person who has invented Gantt Chart in the year
1910-1915. This is very effective tool adopted in project management as it showcase project
schedule. On vertical axis task to be performed is listed and in horizontal axis time intervals
while the width of the horizontal bars presents duration of each activity (Kang and Kaplan,
2019). This is used by the researcher has it helps in planning, coordinating and tracking
particular tasks in a project.
3

Work Break down structure: WBS in project management stated as breaking down of
complex work into smaller components so that assigned work can be completed in set time
frame. Work break down structure helps in organizing the team work into manageable sections
so that best results can be attained as compare to rivalry.
Mile stone schedule: On week 2 data collection analysis was conducted while on week
3 research methodology was conducted.
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LO 2
P4) Carry out small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative method to attain aims
and objectives.
Qualitative approach: In this there is no use of graphs, mathematical numbers, pie
charts, diagrams it only focus on quality (Kohout and Singh, 2018). Qualitative approach is easy
to use as there is numerical presentation in the findings. It is cost effective and consume less time
to accumulate quality data for the findings.
Quantitative approach: This particular approach is bit complex in nature. In this
approach more diagram, pie charts, numerical data etc. are used in the presentation. It makes the
project more presentable in nature and readers are able to grab information easily from the data
analysis. It consumes lot of time in demonstrating collected data in the form of images, diagrams
etc.
Mark and Spencer adopts both qualitative and quantitative approach in their research
work in order to provide readers with quality and authentic information.
Primary data collection method:In this researcher are able to gain information which is
fresh and correct as data is directly collected from the respondents. They are not used by other in
their research work as these data are not available on books, journals, magazines, newspaper,
articles and so on. It is the best way to provide reliable and authentic information regarding the
topic to the client. In this case chances of duplication is less and tough bench mark can be set for
others. Some of the examples of primary data collection method are, questionnaire, survey etc.
Secondary data collection method:Here, in this case information is collected from
journals, books, newspaper, articles and so on. In the past days other researcher has also used the
same data for their research topic. By this it reduces the authenticity and excepted results are not
meet (Lewis, 2018 ).
Mark and Spencer uses primary data collection method to collect data for their research
work as it provide fresh information and are not used b y and other researcher in their findings.
40 respondents are taken for the survey.
Questionnaire:
Quantitative Questions:
Q1) Do have understanding regarding gender pay gap?
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a) Yes
b) No
Q2) Are you ware about equality and diversity in an organization?
a) I am aware
b) I am not aware
Q3) Is it essential to study gender pay in Mark and Spencer?
a) Essential
b) Not essential
Q4) Do gender pay gap affect Mark and Spencer day to day operation activity?
a) It affect
b) It does not affect
Q5) Do you think in Mark and Spencer there should be equal pay?
a) Yes
b) It depends
Quantitative questions:
Q6) Mention some the problems related to gender pay gap faced by Mark and Spencer?
Q7) Suggest some of the ways to overcome gender pay gap issue from the working
premises of Mark and Spencer?
Q8) Provide appropriate recommendation for gender pay gap issue occurred by
introducing equality and diversity at Mark and Spencer working premises?
LO 3
P5) Interpretate research data by using best tools and techniques.
Theme 1: Understanding regarding gender pay gap
Q1) Do have understanding regarding gender pay gap? Frequency
a) Yes 33
b) No 7
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33
7
a) Yes
b) No
Interpretation: From the above diagram it can be concluded that from the sample size of
40 respondents 33 are saying they are aware about gender pay gap while left over 7 people are
denying they are unaware about it.
Theme 2: Aware about equality and diversity in an organization
Q2) Are you aware about equality and diversity in an organization? Frequency
a) I am aware 27
b) I am not aware 13
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27
13
a) I am aware
b) I am not aware
Interpretation: From the sample size of 40 communicator it can be concluded that 27
are agreeing that the are holding knowledge regarding equality and diversity at workplace.
Whereas, renaming are not aware about equity and diversity.
Theme 3: Essential to study gender pay in Mark and Spencer
Q3) Is it essential to study gender pay in Mark and Spencer? Frequency
a) Essential 35
b) Not essential 5
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35
5
a) Essential
b) Not essential
Interpretation: The above showcased image render the summarization that 35 out of 40
are replying that it is essential to study gender pay gap in M&S. However, 5 person are admitting
that it is not mandatory.
Theme 4: Gender pay gap affect Mark and Spencer day to day operation activity
Q4) Do gender pay gap affect Mark and Spencer day to day
operation activity?
Frequency
a) It affect 25
b) It does not affect 15
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25
15
a) It affect
b) It does not affect
Interpretation: From 40 respondents only 25 communicator are agreeing that gender
pay gap is affecting the day to day working of M&S at a large scale. And 15 people are saying
not it not affecting the business activity.
Theme 5: In Mark and Spencer there should be equal pay
Q5) Do you think in Mark and Spencer there should be equal pay? Frequency
a) Yes 28
b) It depends 12
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28
12
a) Yes
b) It depends
Interpretation: The pie chart illustrate that from 40 communicator only 28 respondents
are commenting that in Mark and Spencer there should be equal pay in order to raise the overall
performance of employees. While, 12 answering are saying that it is not compulsory to do so it
totally depends on the business.
Quantitative questions:
Q6) Mention some the problems related to gender pay gap faced by Mark and Spencer?
Particulars Expatiation in context of the company
Employees dis-satisfied In M&S due to gender pay gap employee are
dis-satisfied as they thing discrimination is
taking place (Milner and Pochic, 2019). It
decreases productivity level.
Reduces productivity Gender pay gap is the main reason of reducing
productivity and profitability in M&S as staff
imagines they are not valuable assets of the
firm.
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Q7) Suggest some of the ways to overcome gender pay gap issue from the working premises
of Mark and Spencer?
Particulars Expatiation in context of the company
Frame policies for wage discrimination M&S can frame policies regarding wage
discrimination so that co-workers can be
assured that biasses is not conducted.
Understand the laws In seminars laws regarding remuneration can
be explained to the sub-ordinate so that
misunderstanding regarding gender pay gap
can be eliminated (Rindfleish, 2018).
P6) Suggest recommendation
The recommendation are as follows:
 Training should be provided in which laws regarding salary should be explained to the
teammates. By this their concepts can be cleared.
 Management should be flexible enough to tackle the issues such as, gender pay gap,
sexual harassment and so on related to diversity (Silver, 2019).
 Experts should be hired to train mangers and seniors of firm regarding how to eliminate
gender pay gap from the working premises.
 Meeting should be conducted to among creditors, directors and employees in order to
understand the issue of gender pay gap. By this their view points can be better understood
and positive outcomes can be suggested.
 While taking the decision regarding the gender pay gap all the shareholders, creditors,
suppliers and unions should be involved in the decision making process in order to assure
that they are also valuable assets of the firm and their view point are important and any
kind of discrimination is not conducted at any level.
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LO 4
P7) Reflection
I am happy for being a part of this research project. The journey of research was quite
informative in nature and was full of experience. I have conducted research work on very
interesting topic which is “To understand the steps taken by firm in order to overcome gender
pay gap issue occurred by introducing equality and diversity at the workplace”. A Study report
on Mark and Spencer. It has directly or indirectly helped me to gain sustainable organizational
performance. The set goals and objectives are meet in the set time frame due to which productive
results are attained. I was good in some of the skills related to research such as , data collection
skill, critical thinking, report writing skills, interviewing all this has helped to perform better in
the research project. It has aid to render best results as compare to other (Syed and Hennekam,
2018). But I also discovered that I lack in certain skills like, finding information from internet,
problem solving skills, communication all this has created trouble in my research work. Lot of
time was consumed in solving simple quarries which emerged among the team mates. To
complete the project in the set deadline qualitative and quantitative approach is so that
productive results can be attained. Both the approach were given equal weight-age in order to
draw meaningful conclusion for the findings. Primary data collection method is adopted by the
researcher in their project so as to gather authentic and reliable data. The information gathered
from this resources is not used by any other researcher in their findings as they are fresh in
nature.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it can be ended that by building equality and diversity in the
working pace business can easily cope up with competitive advantages in the open market place.
Organization need to frame strong strategies in order to resolve the issues related to equality and
diversity. By this skilled and potential workers can be retained for longer time duration. Project
management plan is designed by including scope, risk, source, communication etc. as it describe
every phase of the project. Qualitative and quantitative approach is used by the researcher as it
provide quality information. Primary data collection method is adopted by researcher in order to
gather fresh and correct data for the findings. The most suitable approach is used so as to present
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the data analyses. Gantt chart and work break down structure is used in the project in order to
complete the task in the set deadline.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bishu, S. G. and Alkadry, M. G., 2017. A systematic review of the gender pay gap and factors
that predict it. Administration & Society. 49(1). pp.65-104.
French, E. and Strachan, G., 2015. Women at work! Evaluating equal employment policies and
outcomes in construction. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.
34(3). pp.227-243.
Funk, C. and Parker, K., 2018. Women and men in STEM often at odds over workplace equity.
Hebson, G. and Rubery, J., 2018. Employment relations and gender equality. The Routledge
companion to employment relations, pp.93-107.
Huffman, M. L., King, J. and Reichelt, M., 2017. Equality for whom? Organizational policies and
the gender gap across the German earnings distribution. ILR Review. 70(1). pp.16-41.
Kang, S. K. and Kaplan, S., 2019. Working toward gender diversity and inclusion in medicine:
myths and solutions. The Lancet. 393(10171). pp.579-586.
Kohout, R. and Singh, P., 2018. Pay equity and marginalized women. Gender in Management:
An International Journal. 33(2). pp.123-137.
Lewis, G. B., 2018. Diversity, pay equity, and pay in social work and other professions. Affilia.
33(3). pp.286-299.
Milner, S., Demilly, H. and Pochic, S., 2019. Bargained Equality: The Strengths and Weaknesses
of Workplace Gender Equality Agreements and Plans in France. British Journal of
Industrial Relations. 57(2). pp.275-301.
Rindfleish, J., 2018. Promoting Healthy Leader–Follower Dynamics to Enhance Workplace
Equality. In Inclusive Leadership (pp. 179-202). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Silver, J. K., 2019. Understanding and addressing gender equity for women in
neurology. Neurology. 93(12). pp.538-549.
Syed, J., Ali, F. and Hennekam, S., 2018. Gender equality in employment in Saudi Arabia: a
relational perspective. Career Development International. 23(2). pp.163-177.
White, H. L. and Rice, M. F., 2015. The multiple dimensions of diversity and culture.
In Diversity and Public Administration(pp. 11-31). Routledge.
Online:
About company. 2017. [online] Available through;
<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus>.
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APPENDIX I
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 research topic on “To
understand the steps taken by firm in order to
overcome gender pay gap issue occurred by
introducing equality and diversity at the
workplace”. A Study report on Mark and
Spencer.
Yes, I have fulfilled my task needs.
Week 1 : Submitted research topic on Time-
Yes, I completed on time.
Week 2 - Framed aims and objectives in an
suitable manner- Yes, I processed the work
on time
Week 3 – Finished the research questions
Week 4 Research Methodology- attained the
criteria on time.
Week 5- Assembled information from
primary and secondary sources- Yes, I
collected data on time.
Week 6- Data Analysis- file came to deadline
within set time duration.
Week 7- Completion of work- All the
assigned task was accomplished on deadline.

No, there is no such requirements.
Any risks and / or issues identified?
 Did you identify risks/issues with a lack
of skills required for undertaking
research tasks?
 Did you identify any additional
risks/issues that have an impact on the
project management plan?
Yes, I faced issues while conveying people to
respond to the questions.
No
Problems encountered
 What barriers did you face?
 How did you overcome them?
While completing the task I face
communication barrier among the team
mates.
In order to overcome the communication
barrier various communication channels ere
used like, written communication method,
mobile communication channels, electronic
communication channels.
New Ideas and change of project direction No.
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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 while dealing with people I felt
hesitated and lack self confidence in
conveying people to actively participate.
Yes, it was informative and enhanced my
knowledge .
I focused more on loop holes and try my
level best to improve them for better results.
In the next week I can improve on my
conveying skills and communication skills.
This learning will guide me to accomplish
the future task in effective manner.
Tasks planned for next week
 Which tasks are priority?
 Have you set aside sufficient time for
completion?
Data collection on time
Yes
Project plan status to date (on, ahead, behind)
Supervisor comments to address
Signature of the Supervisor and date:
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APPENDIX_II
Template for Performance Review to be attached with the report by the learner:
 What was the Project supposed to accomplish?
This present that research is carried out on the topic “To understand the steps taken by firm in
order to overcome gender pay gap issue occurred by introducing equality and diversity at the
workplace”. A Study report on Mark and Spencer.
 Did the project succeed in its aims/ how do you know? Specifically, please outline any
evaluation and assessment undertaken.
Yes, aims and objectives are successfully achieved on time with given resources. Having
adequate support from team mates assist me to acquire depth knowledge on the research topic.
 What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the project.
Time management and team work help me to carried out given research project more
successfully. At the initial stage, setting aims and objectives takes more time due to having
different opinions and views of different members but later it was managed by allocation of
work according to the given time.
 What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled? Was there
timely identification of issues and resolution during the project process?
Lack of time and funds are the major problems that affect my research work but it were tackled
by taking decision of using primary method of data collection in which only limited
respondents are taken into consideration.
 What did you learn from undertaking the project?
It learnt so things like, importance of team work skills and impact of equality and diversity on
overall performance and productivity level of employees.
 How would you rate your performance as a management consultant leading the project?
9/10
 What strengths and weakness of your performance did you identify?
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Strengths : Time management, good communication skills, brainstorming on issues
Weaknesses : difficulty in sampling and data collection.
 How will this inform and support your continuous professional development?
This project has enhanced my practical skills of my knowledge and can help me in getting
future such projects.
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