Managing a Successful Business Project

This document provides insights on managing a successful business project. It covers topics such as project management plan, research methods, data analysis, and recommendations. The focus is on equality and diversity in the workplace, with a case study on Morrisons.

Managing a successful
business project

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1 ................................................................................................................................................1
Title .............................................................................................................................................1
Background .................................................................................................................................1
Project aim ..................................................................................................................................1
Objectives ...................................................................................................................................1
Project management plan ............................................................................................................2
Gantt chart ...................................................................................................................................4
Work breakdown structure ..........................................................................................................5
LO 2 ................................................................................................................................................5
Research methods .......................................................................................................................5
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................6
Data analysis ...............................................................................................................................6
Recommendations .....................................................................................................................10
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................11
Reflection ..................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Project management is defined as the process to effectively accomplish tasks such as
planning, initiation, controlling, execution and completion towards specific criteria and goals
(Meredith, Mantel Jr and Shafer, 2017). For achieving the success organisations require to adopt
and implement an effective project management strategy (Syed and Ozbilgin, 2019). Morrisons
is one of the leading retailer of United Kingdom which employs and serve people from different
culture and diversities. Thus it is required for the organisation to respond properly towards the
issue so it can retain competitive advantage. The report will include a project management plan
and research methods for to address the equality and diversity issues.
LO 1
Title
“Equality and diversity on business”
Background
All individuals irrespective of their race, religion, gender, nationality and choice has the
right to live with dignity and respect. They must be given equal treatment and must not be
discriminated on the basis of diversity (Wrench, 2016). Within organisational context it is
necessary for the organisations to manage diversity in the teams so that team conflicts can be
avoided and profitable decisions can be taken . The negligence to diversity management and
discrimination can cause dissatisfaction among employees affecting their performance and
creativity. The lack of coordination among team members can also cause inefficient
organisational outcomes (Kirton and Greene, 2015). Thus it is one of the important goal and
priority for the business to emphasis on equality and diversity related parameters of the business.
Project aim
To analyse the ways in which organisation respond to current issues of equality and
diversity in workplace: A case study on Morrisons.
Objectives
The objectives of the project are as follows:
 To understand the concept of equality and diversity.
 To evaluate the impact of diversity at organizational performance.
 To assess the ways through which organization can manage the inequality and diversity
related issues.
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Project management plan
It is defined as the systematic planning approach which describes the various project
activities and related dimensions of project so that it can be completed in most efficient manner.
Cost:
The estimated cost for the project is £500 which includes all cost related to questionnaire,
secondary sources, project planning and documentation and all other related project activities.
Scope:
With globalisation it has become a necessity for the organisation to interact and serve
with the customers from the different backgrounds and culture. Thus if organisation will not be
able to manage diversity within its organisation then it will also fail to meet the diverse needs of
its target customers (Meredith, Mantel Jr and Shafer, 2017)
. Hence project will help organisation to enhance the productivity of its employees as well as to
improve the customer satisfaction.
Time:
The project will be completed in around 5 months. In this time frame all project activities
such as planning, monitoring, execution and monitoring activities will be completed. The
detailed description of time frame for each of the project activity is given below in Gantt chart.
Quality:
In order to ensure good quality of project good quality of sources must be used. The
project tools and methodologies used for the project must be chosen in a way such that it helps to
meet the project objectives effectively.
Communication:
For the good quality of project it is necessary that all project members have good
communication and coordination with each other. The lack of cooperation among team members
can cause delay in the project activities or can even affect their accuracy.
Risk and resources:
For the completion of this project a wide range of resources such as internet, books,
journals and other form of secondary data is used. Some software tools are also used to perform
and maintain the records of various project activities. However there are certain risks associated
with the project. The first risk is failure to complete the project on time. It is possible that project
may not complete on time. The lack of suitable evidence or secondary sources or improper
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response from the participants of the study can also affect the project quality and completion.
Another major risk related to project is budget, it is possible that project activities may exceed
the planned budget. Thus for making project successful these risks must be assessed and
addressed.
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Gantt chart
4

Work breakdown structure
The work breakdown structure for the project is as follow:
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LO 2
Research methods
The project success greatly depends upon the quality of research applied. The following
research methods are used to analyse the qualitative data used in the study.
Research type: The project can use both qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data is
descriptive type and does not include any statistics while quantitative types of project or studies
includes statistical facts. Quantitative data uses statistical or mathematical relations to verify the
relation between various parameters (Kerzner, 2017). Thus results are narrowed and also
requires higher degree of expertise and accuracy. The project will use qualitative data as it gives
more generalise findings to reach conclusion. Another advantage of using qualitative data is that
it is easy to manage and to interpret as compare to quantitative data.
Data collection and ethics: Data collection methods are of two types primary and secondary. In
primary data collection data is collected by the researcher for the first time using survey,
questionnaire or interviews. On the other hand secondary data is collected from secondary
sources such as books, previous research works and journals. For the proposed project both
primary and secondary data is used. The primary data is collected by using a questionnaire and
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conducting an interview. The use of both types of data collection methods helps to collect most
relevant and accurate data related to organisation which is also supported by generalise
secondary data (Heagney, 2016) . During data collection all necessary ethics related to research
such as privacy, consent, confidentiality and safety of the research participants must also be
assured. For regulating that project deliverables are accurate and feasible ethics must be
integrated in data collection process.
Sampling: For feasible and manageable data collection a fix size of population is chosen for the
primary data collection. This process is known as sampling. It is of two types namely probability
and non-probability sampling. In non-probability sampling participants are chosen on the basis
of specific criteria and thus there is unequal probability for an individual to get selected (Joslin
and Müller, 2015) . This type of sampling may result in biasing in terms of population selection
and the data provided by them. This project will use the probability sampling to randomly select
10 employees of Morrisons. Probability sampling is convenient, simple and lacks sampling bias
or systematic errors in choosing research population.
Data analysis: In order to evaluate the project outcomes data must be interpreted and analysed
properly. Data analysis techniques depends upon type of qualitative or quantitative data. The
quantitative data is analysed using statistical tools and parameters such as mean, mode, median
and other statistical attributes (Lock, 2017). However in this study qualitative data is used and
thus for analysing it thematic analysis is used. For thematic analysis various key themes are
developed and interpreted on the basis of response obtained from the participants (Kerzner,
2018). One of the advantage of using thematic analysis over statistical analysis is that it is not
restricted to only research variables instead it can also help to assist the various additional or
generalised factors which can influence the project. Thus research findings are more effective
and influential.
LO 3
Data analysis
The various themes developed on the basis of data collected are as follows:
Theme 1 Diversity based discrimination and insecurity
Q-1 Have you ever experienced any insecurity or discrimination on the
basis of diversity or aspects such as race, gender, culture or
religion?
Frequency
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Yes 2
No 7
Not sure 1
Total 10
Interpretation:
It can be interpreted from the data that 70% of the employees of Morrisons stated that
they have never experienced any discrimination or inequality behaviour in their company.
However only 2 participants stated that due to different ethnic values they are not given equal
growth opportunities. There was only one individual who was not sure regarding such kind of
insecurity or experience. Thus it can be interpreted that work culture of Morrisons does not
favour discrimination.
Theme 2 Training framework for managing diversity
Q-2 Does your organisation have any framework for diversity based team
work training?
Frequency
Yes 1
No 6
8
Yes
No
Not sure
Total

Not sure 3
Total 10
Interpretation:
Six out of 10 participants informed that organisation has training program so that
employees can learn to work with diverse teams. However there were 3 participants who were
not aware of such programs. Thus Morrisons need to improve these programs so that all
employees can manage and respect diversity.
Theme 3 Organizational culture towards discrimination or unequal treatment
Q-3 Is it allow in your organisation to bully, provide unequal treatment
or discriminate anyone on the basis of diversity?
Frequency
Yes 1
No 8
Not sure 1
Total 10
9
Yes
No
Not sure
Total

Interpretation:
A good portion of 80% population stated that in their organisation it is strictly prohibited
to bully or discriminate anyone on the grounds of diversity. It shows that organisation is highly
concerned about safety and rights of individuals.
Theme 4 Response and actions of organization to manage diversity and inequality
Q-4 What actions are taken by your organisation against discrimination
on the basis of diversity?
Frequency
Counselling regarding diversity management within teams 1
Strict legal actions from regulatory perspective 1
Termination or organisational punishment 2
All the above depending upon severity of the discrimination 6
Total 50
10
Yes
No
Not sure
Total

Interpretation:
Participants stated that for different offences of discrimination organisation has different
response. One employee stated that organisation only takes legal actions against any
discrimination while in certain cases psychological and behavioural counselling through
communication, punishment or training is also provided to employees. Majority of 60%
participants informed that the action taken by organisation depends upon extent of discrimination
on the basis of diversity.
Recommendations
From the above analysis it is recommended that Morrisons must encourage
communication among its employees so that they can build personal relations and discriminatory
practices can be avoided. When individuals will accept the diversity then they will be able to
work effectively within teams (Farndale and et.al., 2015). It is also suggested that organisation
must adopt and apply training frameworks so that all employees can be informed regarding
working in diverse teams as well as about the organisational policies to restrict the creation of an
organisational culture which leads to discrimination. Thus organisation must have continuous
monitoring and controlling to assure that no such discrimination or bullying activities takes place
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Counselling regarding
diversity management
within teams
Strict legal actions from
regulatory perspective
Termination or
organisational
punishment
All the above depending
upon severity of the
discrimination
Total

within company. If any of such activities are observed then organisation must take actions
against it. The action may include dismissal, punishments or training programs (Ravazzani,
2016). Further to promote the creativity and innovation through diversity organisation must use
inclusive practices which respect all cultures, languages or diversity aspects. For instance
organisation can use sign boards in multiple languages or individuals must have freedom to
celebrate their culture or diversity without any restrictions from the other employees or
organisation (French, 2015). In various operation of business organisation must emphasis that
all individuals are given equal opportunities and treatment.
LO 4
Reflection
The project has been great opportunity for me to learn the concepts and elements of
project management. During the entire course of project completion I faced several challenges
which were not only overcome by me which also gave valuable learnings. The first challenge
which I experience was when I was scheduling project activities in time frame. At that moment it
was very challenging for me to divide each task into specific time period and to make efforts to
strictly achieve those time deadlines but I succeeded in meeting the time deadlines. Earlier I used
to think that diversity can influence only team work or decision of individuals.
However from the results of data analysis I learned that diversity can emerge as one of
the biggest threat or issue for the organisation. The negligence to it can create conflicts among
team member and it can have negative impact on organisational culture influencing both
individual and organisational performance. There were instances during project execution when I
faced challenges in making project related decisions. For instance when I was preparing
questionnaire I was very confused that which questions I should include so that I can receive
desired response from the participants. I also experienced difficulty in selecting appropriate
method for project. In my opinion the effectiveness of the existing policies and actions of the
organisational response towards diversity can also be measured by using statistical analysis.
However I think that with statistical analysis project outcomes would have been narrowed to
great extent.
With qualitative analysis I also got an understanding of the related concepts such as
organisational culture, legislatives for equality and methods to effectively manage the workplace
diversity. In my opinion if Morrison will follow and implement the above mentioned
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recommendations then it will be able to improve its work culture. Though initially organisation
may face challenges in terms of resources, training and monitoring. I also believe that in short
term organisation may not understand the actual consequences of diversity issues, both legally
and functionally. However in long term success such consequences and impact become very
dominating and influencing. Thus it is very important to regularly monitor that organisational
culture is developed in a way such that it promote diversity and equality.
I feel that the provided recommendations may encounter challenges in acceptance by
employees but if leaders motivate their employees to accept the differences in personality of
others then it will also improve organisational culture and professional efficiency. While
formulating project aim and objectives I was quite unclear that if this topic will result in any
productive finding or not. However gradually as I processed towards different activities such as
data collection, analysis I came to an successful conclusion. Thus project has proven to be very
learning for me in terms of research, analysis, data collection and project management skills.
With the learning from this project I also tried to practically implement it within my team
throughout the project. Thus by completion of this project I learned the role and significance of
diversity and how organisations or teams can address the issue.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above research and data analysis that without integrating
equality and diversity at work place organisation cannot achieve desired level of success. The
organisations must respond properly towards the issue so that well managed and diverse
workforce can help to understand the needs and perspective of different customers as well. The
success of organisations greatly depends upon the extent up to which they are able to manage
work place diversity. It can also be concluded that for managing diversity organisations must
promote regular and effective communication, safety and anti-discriminatory policy, regulations,
diversity training and inclusion programs or activities.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Farndale, E. and et.al., 2015. A global perspective on diversity and inclusion in work
organisations.
French, R., 2015. Cross-cultural management in work organisations. Kogan Page Publishers.
Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.
Joslin, R. and Müller, R., 2015. Relationships between a project management methodology and
project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of Project
Management. 33(6). pp.1377-1392.
Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and
controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kerzner, H., 2018. Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John Wiley
& Sons.
Kirton, G. and Greene, A.M., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach.
Routledge.
Lock, D., 2017. The essentials of project management. Routledge.
Meredith, J.R., Mantel Jr, S.J. and Shafer, S.M., 2017. Project management: a managerial
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Ravazzani, S., 2016. Understanding approaches to managing diversity in the workplace: An
empirical investigation in Italy. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International
Journal. 35(2). pp.154-168.
Syed, J. and Ozbilgin, M., 2019. Managing diversity and inclusion: An international perspective.
SAGE Publications Limited.
Wrench, J., 2016. Diversity management and discrimination: Immigrants and ethnic minorities
in the EU. Routledge.
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APPENDIX
Questionnaire
Name- __________________
Age- ___________________
Gender- _________________
Q- 1 Have you ever experienced any insecurity or discrimination on the basis of diversity or
aspects such as race, gender, culture or religion?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
Q-2 Does your organisation have any framework for diversity based team work training?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
Q-3 Is it allow in your organisation to bully, provide unequal treatment or discriminate anyone
on the basis of diversity?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
Q- 4 What actions are taken by your organisation against discrimination on the basis of
diversity?
 Counselling regarding diversity management within teams
 Strict legal actions from regulatory perspective
 Termination or organisational punishment
 All the above depending upon severity of the discrimination

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