Managing a Successful Business Project

This assignment focuses on the concept of equality and diversity in the workplace, with a specific case study on Mitre Sports International. It includes aims, objectives, project management plan, work breakdown structure, and Gantt chart. The research methodology, data analysis, and findings are also discussed.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

INTRODUCTION
Diversity at workplace mainly shows the distinct or unlike elements which includes
employees from diverse background which are having different characteristics on the basis of
their national origin, religion, physical appearance, education, gender, age, etc. The concept of
equality and diversity aim at enhancing equal opportunity at workplace which should be free
from all kind of discrimination or prejudice (Allaoui, Bourgault and Pellerin, 2019). For
conducting this research on concept of equality and diversity, Mitre sports international Ltd is
selected which a multinational company of UK and is an oldest manufacturer of English
sportswear and equipment from 1817. This assignment includes includes project aims, objectives
and timeframes for timely completion of project. A detail project management plan is also form a
part of this project. Use of WBS and Gantt chart is also provided in this report to provide
timeframes. A small scale research and proper analysis of data through using various tools and
techniques is also included in this report. At end of this assignment recommendation and
reflections are also provided.
PART 1
P1) Aim and objectives for the project
The concept of equality and diversity is becoming very crucial in all sectors of economy.
With the increase in drives of economic growth and more international integration diversity is
increasing in all organisation which has increased the probability of racial and other kind of
discrimination (Islam, 2019). Issues and challenges related with equality and diversity is mainly
shown in multinational company as they are having business operations in many regions and
countries of world. Thus it become necessary for all MNCs to have proper management and
strategies to control and handle diversity at workplace. Mitre Sports International is a
multinational British organisation providing sportswear and equipment to its customers. It was
established in 1817 and having its headquarter in Huddersfield, England, UK. This research is
conducted on Mitre sports International which is having following aims and objectives.
Aim
The main aim of this research work is, “To identify or explore the strategies and
initiative that can be taken by Mitre Sports International(MNC) to build or create an inclusive
and diverse workforce.”
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Objectives
The main objectives or targets of this research and project are as follows:
 To evaluate the concept of equality and diversity in an organisation.
 To determine the importance and need of equality and diversity in a multinational
company like Mitre sports international (Keskin, Ozorhon and Koseoglu, 2019). To identify the various types of initiatives and strategies that should be adopted by Mitre
Sports International to create and build diverse and inclusive workforce.
Questions
 What do you understand by phenomenon of equality and diversity in an organisation?
 Why there is importance and need of equality and diversity in a multinational company
like Mitre sports international?
 What are the different kinds of initiatives and strategies that should be adopted by Mitre
Sports International to create and build diverse and inclusive workforce?
P2) Project management plan
It is a written document which provides detail knowledge about each and every step of a
project which include initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing of a
project. Project management plan provides a guidance and direction to all team members to
complete a task on time through improving their efficiency and performance (Peters, Stanko and
Merrett, 2019). The various elements of project management plan for this research are explained
below:
Cost- It reflects the sum of money of expanses and cost incurred on a project or research
to fulfil its objectives. For estimation of cost for this research proper analysis of current situation
and all expenses are made. The expected cost of this research is £400 which is divided into
various task which is provided below:
Total Estimated Budget
Particulars Amount
Promotion expenses £80
Cost incurred in technology £120
Other Expenses £200
Total Cost £400
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Scope- It represent the performance or chances of success of a project or research. For
management of this research use of proper methods and techniques are made and effective
planning and analysis of market situation is also made thus, chances of success and future scope
of this project is high (zum Felde, 2019).
Time- This element of project management is related with the time duration or time span
which is required for completion of a project or task. For completion of this project and to meet
the objective effectively a time period of 3 moths is required by researcher.
Quality- To ensure the better quality of research use of various method of data collection
is made so that most authentic and genuine information can be collected for effective decision
making. To maintain the quality, reliability and authenticity of data use of primary source is
made.
Communication- Effective communication is necessary while conducting any research
as it reduce the chances of conflicts and confusion which enhance the efficiency of work. Use of
both oral and written form of communication is made to keep transparency and coordination in
efforts of all team members.
Risk- it represent the different obstacles and barriers that arises at the time of research
and can reduce the efficiency and quality of research. In this research the main risks faced are
related with inadequate amount of resources and time management which are resolved by using
various statistical tool (Lin, Jalleh and Huang, 2019).
Resources- This element includes all the assets and tools used for conducting a research.
For this research use of various resources are made which includes Human resource, statistical
tool, technical and financial resources.
P3) Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart
Gantt chart- It is an important time management tool which provides graphical
description of a project schedule. It is basically a bar chart which clearly shows the beginning
and end dates of different elements of project which ensures timely completion of a work. Use
of Gantt chart is made for current research as it provide aids in communicating project status or
plans and also ensures that project remain on track trough detecting bottlenecks and identifying
wasteful task that can be excluded from project timeline. Thus, Gantt chart provide effectiveness
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and also increases the efficiency of project through reducing cost of operation (Kordova, Katz
and Frank, 2019).
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Work breakdown structure- It is an important project management methodology which
is used to break a project into a series of deliverables, tasks and subtasks. Work break down
structure provide a detailed cost and time estimates and also provide effective guidance for better
control and development of project. Use of WBS model is made for this research as it provide a
clear picture about project and avoid all ambiguities and duplication of tasks through facilitating
better distribution and communication of tasks and role between individuals (Abdullah and Foo,
2019).
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PART 2
P4) Research methodology to meet project aims and objective
Timely research are conducted by various organisation and individuals to get knowledge
and understanding about any particular or specific topic. Use of various methods and tools are
made for collecting, interpreting and analysing a data so that an effective decision can be made.
The two types of research method are explained below:
Qualitative Research Method- under this type of research method efforts are made
to get deep information about nature and behaviour of respondents through making use of
open ended conversation and communication. The data obtained through this method is
mainly in theoretical or abstractive form which is difficult to present in form of table and
graphs. Use of various focus group, in-depth interview, surveys, experiments, observation,
etc. are made to collect data from this method (Vuorinen and Martinsuo, 2019).
Quantitative Research Method- This method emphasis on measurement of objectives, thus
numerical or mathematical data is collected through making use of surveys, polls,
questionnaire, etc. this information can be easily presented in form of tables and charts thus
provide better presentation and analysis of data for effective decision making.
Sources of data
 Primary source- This source provide most authentic and first hand data which is
originally collected for a specific research. Use of questionnaire, interview, etc. are
made to collect data from primary source and it is a time consuming process (Sacio-
Szymańska and Nosarzewski, 2019).
 Secondary source- It is basically an old or past recorded data which was gathered by
some other individual for any past project thus, it can be outdate or obsolete data. It
can be collected from any old documents, book, journal , magazine, online websites
etc.
Sampling- it is process of selecting or choosing a specific number observation from a large
population to effectively conduct the investigation in minimum time. Samples are selected
on the basis of some common characteristics or feature of a population (Skjerven, 2019).
For this research use of simple radon sampling is made to maintain the authenticity
and reliability of research as it remove all the possible of chances of favouritism while
making selection of a sample. Use of questionnaire and interview is made to get the
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understanding about the opinion and views of respondents. For this research a population of
20 individuals is selected from stakeholders of Mitre sports international to get their views
on topic: Equality and diversity.
Questionnaire
Q1) Are you aware about the conception of equality and diversity in workforce?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) Do you think proper management of equality and diversity is necessary for all
multinational organisation?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q3) Why equality and diversity is an important concept for a multinational company?
a) Provide more competitive advantage
b) lead to expansion of business
c) Increase productivity
Q4) What possible threats could be faced by Mitre sports international because of
increasing heterogeneity and diversity in the organisation?
a) Increase in racial discrimination
b) More chances of conflicts
c) Communication barriers
Q5) Which types of strategies can be adopted by Mitre Sports International to build a
diverse and inclusive manpower at workplace?
a) Educate leaders
b) Formation of inclusion council
c) Effective communication channels
d) Unbiased HR practices
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Q6) What possible advantages will be offered by equality and diversity at workplace of
Mitre Sports International?
a) Better innovation and creativity
b) Increase in productivity
c) enhance morale of employees
Q7) Any further recommendation for Mitre Sports International to properly employ
equality and diversity in organisation?
Questions of interview
Q1) What are the different types of diversity which can be found at a workplace?
Q2) What possible initiatives can be taken by Mitres sports international to build diverse
and comprehensive workforce?
Q3) How equality and diversity lead to increase in productivity of an international
organisation like Mitre sports international?
PART 3
P5) Analysation of research data using appropriate tool and techniques
Theme 1. Conception of equality and diversity in workforce
Q1) Are you aware about the conception of equality and diversity
in workforce?
Frequency
a) Yes 16
b) No 4
8

a) Yes b) No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
16
4
Frequency
Interpretation
From the above bar graph it can be interpreted that 16 respondents out of 20 are having
awareness about conception of equality and diversity in workforce while 4 respondents are not
having knowledge about the concept equality and diversity.
Theme 2. Proper management of equality and diversity is necessary for all multinational
organisation
Q2) Do you think proper management of equality and diversity is
necessary for all multinational organisation?
Frequency
a) Agree 14
b) Disagree 6
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a) Agree b) Disagree
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
14
6 Frequency
Interpretation
From the above diagram, it can be evaluated that 14 respondents are agreed with the fact
that Proper management of equality and diversity is necessary for all multinational organisation
as it provide more strength and creativity for them to enhance their performance. 6 respondents
are disagreed with necessity of conception of equality and diversity for a multinational
organisation.
Theme 3. Equality and diversity is an important concept for a multinational company
Q3) Why equality and diversity is an important concept for a
multinational company?
Frequency
a) Provide more competitive advantage 10
b) Lead to expansion of business 4
c) Increase productivity 6
10

a) Provide more competitive advantage
b) Lead to expansion of business
c) Increase productivity
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Frequency
Interpretation
From the above bar graphs, it can be interpreted that 10 respondents are having a view
that equality and diversity provide more competitive advantage to a multinational organisation
through enhancing its creativity and other capability. 4 respondents believes that equality and
diversity lead to expansion of business through providing interaction and connection with
different culture and nation. 6 respondents are in support of fact that equality and diversity will
increase the productivity of a multinational company through providing more skilled and talented
employees from various culture and background.
Theme 4. Possible threats that could be faced by Mitre sports international because of
increasing heterogeneity and diversity in the organisation
Q4) What possible threats could be faced by Mitre sports
international because of increasing heterogeneity and diversity in the
organisation?
Frequency
a) Increase in racial discrimination 11
b) More chances of conflicts (individual differences) 5
c) Communication barriers 4
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a) Increase in racial discrimination
b) More chances of conflicts (individual differences)
c) Communication barriers
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Frequency
Interpretation
From the above graph it can be analysed that 11 respondents are in support of the fact
that increasing heterogeneity and diversity will lead to increase in racial discrimination as
mangers or leaders can be biased towards any particular race or cultural. 5 respondents are
having a view that increase in heterogeneity and diversity will facilitates more chances of
conflicts as it increase individual differences and it become difficult to get acceptance or
approval from all employees on a common fact. 4 respondents believes that increase in
heterogeneity and diversity will create more communication barriers in Mitre sports international
as employees from different nation mainly spoke different languages.
Theme 5. Types of strategies that can be adopted by Mitre Sports International to build a
diverse and inclusive manpower at workplace
Q5) Which types of strategies can be adopted by Mitre Sports
International to build a diverse and inclusive manpower at
workplace?
Frequency
a) Educate leaders 5
b) Formation of inclusion council 5
c) Effective communication channels 4
d) Unbiased HR practices 6
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a) Educate leaders
b) Formation of inclusion council
c) Effective communication channels
d) Unbiased HR practices
0
1
2
3
4
5
6 5 5
4
6
Frequency
Interpretation
From the above bar graph it can be interpreted that, 5 respondents are in favour of the fact
providing appropriate eduction and training to larders is an appropriate strategy for Mitre to build
a diverse and inclusive manpower. 5 respondents support formation of inclusion council for
developing diverse and inclusive workforce in Mitre. 4 respondents believes that effective
communication will provide better connection and team bonding between employees thus, lead
to development of diverse and inclusive workforce. 6 respondents support unbiased HR practises
like no discrimination in recruitment process, adequate pay, etc. to build a diverse and inclusive
workforce in Mitre.
Theme 6. Possible advantages that will be offered by equality and diversity at workplace of
Mitre Sports International
Q6) What possible advantages will be offered by equality and
diversity at workplace of Mitre Sports International?
Frequency
a) Better innovation and creativity 5
b) Increase in productivity 6
c) Enhance morale of employees 9
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a) Better innovation and creativity
b) Increase in productivity
c) Enhance morale of employees
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Frequency
Interpretation:
From the above diagram it can be interpreted that, 5 respondents are in favour of the fact
that equity and diversity will lead to better innovation and creativity in Mitre through providing
more talented employees from other culture and background. 6 respondents believes that equality
and diversity will improve the productivity of Mitre through enhancing performance of its
employee. 9 respondents are in favour of the fact concept of equality will boost the morale of
employees of Mitre as it provides equal opportunity to all employees.
Analysis of Questions of interview
Q1 ) What are the different types of diversity which can be found at a workplace?
Interpretation: From the analysis of views of different respondents it can be interpreted that
various types of diversity is found at workplace which includes race and ethnicity, age and
generation, gender, religious and spiritual beliefs, socio-economic status and background, etc.
Q2) What possible initiatives can be taken by Mitres sports international to build
diverse and comprehensive workforce?
Interpretation: From the evaluation of views of respondents it can be interpreted that many
indicative can be taken by Mitres to build a diverse and comprehensive workforce like, better
orientation program, more employment engagement activities, lack of discrimination in
recruitment and selection, etc.
Q3) How equality and diversity lead to increase in productivity of an international
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organisation like Mitre sports international?
Interpretation: From the analysis of view point of various respondents it can be said that
equality and diversity lead to increase in productivity as it provide best and most skilled
employees from various culture and nation thus, increase productivity of Mitre. Equal
opportunity and rights will increase the motivation level of employees thus enhance their
performance and productivity.
P6) Recommendations
Covered in PPT
P7) Reflection
I am glad that I got the opportunity to perform this research on Mitre sports international
to fulfil its aim of,“ identifying the strategies and initiative that can be taken by Mitre Sports
International(MNC) to build or create an inclusive and diverse workforce”. I had learnt a lot of
new things this research as I got opportunity to gain knowledge about equality and diversity.
From this project my communication skills and time management skills are also got improved.
Many barriers are also faced by me during this research which are related with the risk of
inadequate resource and lack of sufficient of time. These problems are addressed by me through
making a project management plan and I had also made use of Gantt chart and WBS model to
sole all the issues. Thus, the objectives of this research are achieved by me on time.
CONCLUSION
From this assignment it can be summarised that management of equality and diversity is
essential for a multinational organisation as it facilitates better expansion of business operation
and also lead to increase in creativity and innovation of workforce. Use of project management
plan is made to provide a guidance to employee and team member about the different phases and
elements of project. Use of Gantt chart and WBS is made for efficient allocation of work and
resources into various teams and groups. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used for
conducting a research to achieve the desired goals and targets.
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