Equality and Diversity in the Workplace: Research Report

This research report explores disability discrimination and its impact on employee motivation in the workplace. It discusses the methodology, results, and findings of the study, as well as recommendations for managing disability discrimination. The report highlights the challenges faced by disabled employees and ways to handle discrimination. The study is based on primary data collected through a questionnaire.

Research Report
(Equality and diversity in the
workplace)
1

Executive Summary
This research report is based on disability discrimination and its impact over motivational
level of employees at workplace. Disability discrimination is a type of discrimination that has
negative impact over employees as well as an organisational performance. In order to collect
information about the topic, number of methods has been applied within an investigation. These
methods are questionnaire, quantitative study, simple random sampling, reliability and validity of
study etc. These are useful methods of data collection used by researcher for gathering primary
information about the existing topic. Along with this, results or findings of the study are
completely based on questionnaire because it provides valid results to the researcher. Discussion
is based on primary as well as secondary sources of data collection. In this, each objectives of the
study have been matched with the questions mentioned in questionnaire. This will support in
identifying relationship between the data founded through questionnaire and literature review.
Conclusion is another part of the report that includes entire summary of the project.
Recommendation has been based on results or findings obtained by researcher from
questionnaire. At last, researcher reflects their entire experience of doing this researcher which is
good.
2

Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Methodology....................................................................................................................................4
Results/Findings...............................................................................................................................7
Discussion......................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................18
Reflection.......................................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20
Appendices.....................................................................................................................................22
3

Methodology
Methodology is significant part of the research report because it support researcher in
identification of that have been used for collecting and analysing information regarding the
impact of discrimination over motivation of disabled employees. Research was done with the use
of different methods such as quantitative research, deductive approach, questionnaire, probability
sampling etc. These are main methods that were used by researcher for collecting appropriate
information regarding the current study (Amjad and et. al., 2018). There are some useful
methods which will be explained as below:
Type of study: Research type basically divided into two parts which are qualitative and
quantitative. Quantitative research will be used under this report because it provide data in form
of numbers or numerical and also take minimum time as compare to qualitative study (Aoyama,
Hoshika and Honda, 2018).
Data Collection: This section mainly has two methods of data collection which are primary
and secondary. This report is based on primary data and for collection such type of information
questionnaire has been applied (Gaur and Kumar, 2018). This instrument helps researcher in
gathering of primary and valid information about the impact of disability discrimination on
employee’s motivation. In this method, researcher will require to make some close-ended
questions which will be shown as below:
Questionnaire
Q1) Do you experienced discrimination at workplace of M&S?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) What type of discrimination you faced at workplace of Marks and Spencer?
a) Gender discrimination
b) Age Discrimination
c) Disability Discrimination
Q3) In which manner, disability discrimination impacts on your motivation level within Marks
and Spencer?
a) Positive
b) Negative
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c) Neutral
Q4) What are major negative impact you faced due to disability discrimination at workplace of
Marks and Spencer?
a) Decreased productively and confidence level
b) Loss of self control
c) Lack of job satisfaction
d) Poor performance
Q5) What challenges you faced due to disability discrimination when pursuing a job within an
organisation?
a) Disability pay gap
b) Lack of disclosure
c) Necessary accommodations are not always easy to get
d) Mismatch of supply and demand
Q6) How you handle disability discrimination at workplace of an organisation?
a) File an internal complaint
b) File a charge of discrimination
c) Filling a lawsuit
Q7) According to you, what are the ways that would be used by Marks and Spencer for
managing disability discrimination at workplace? ‘
a) Providing accurate training in disability issues
b) Communicating the equality policies and procedures
c) Develop effective and inclusive working environment
Q8) Does management of disability discrimination at workplace support M&S in fulfilment of its
CSR activities?
a) Yes
b) No
Q9) According to you, maintaining of strong relationship with disabled employees help Marks
and Spencer in achievement of its long term goals and objectives?
a) Strongly Agree
b) Agree
c) Disagree
5

d) Strongly disagree
Q10) Suggest any recommendation to the M&S in promoting of equality and diversity at
workplace.
Sampling: For collecting data from the respondents, sampling is important because it
support researcher in selection of appropriate number of sample. 60 employees of M&S have
been selected through simple random sampling. This sampling is a useful type of probability
sampling. Main purpose of using simple random sampling as it consume less time and minimum
resources of an organisation as compare to non-probability sampling (Gjesfjeld and et. al., 2020).
Research Ethics: Ethics within an investigation is important because it support researcher in
completing of each activities of report in ethical and systematic manner. There are several
principles of research ethics that must be following by researcher. These ethics are beneficence,
autonomy, justice, non-malfeasance, truth-telling, promise-keeping, minimising the risk of harm,
providing right to withdraw, obtaining informed consent, protecting confidentiality and
anonymity etc. These are main principles that should be following by researcher while collecting
data from the respondents. This will help them in completion of research ethically (Güven,
2018).
Reliability and validity of research: This section of methodology is based on the reliability
and validity of data. It is possible with the use of questionnaire because it support researcher in
testing of reliability and validity of collected primary data. Therefore, questionnaire is an
important instrument for researcher for identifying or testing validity as well as reliability of the
data (Kelly and et. al., 2018).
Cost and access: Both are useful part of gathering primary data. This has been applied b
researcher during collection of information from the participants. Appropriate amount of capital
has been needed by researcher for making questionnaire according to the topic. Access is
necessary for researcher as to take permission from M&S for collecting primary data from their
employees. Therefore cost and access are useful part of methodology for researcher to gather
information from the employees of M&S easier (Page and et. al., 2019).
6

Results/Findings
This section of research report is based on primary method of data collection which is
Questionnaire. This instrument is useful for researcher because with the help of this, they can
easily achieve valid and reliable results of this study (Schoonderbeek, 2018). Along with this,
this part of the report is only based on facts and figures and graphs which will be shown as
below:
Q1) Do you experienced discrimination at workplace of M&S? Frequency
a) Yes 35
b) No 25
Q2) What type of discrimination you faced at workplace of Marks and Spencer? Frequency
a) Gender discrimination 18
b) Age Discrimination 20
c) Disability Discrimination 22
7

Q3) In which manner, disability discrimination impacts on your motivation level
within Marks and Spencer?
Frequency
a) Positive 10
b) Negative 45
c) Neutral 5
Q4) What are major negative impact you faced due to disability discrimination at
workplace of Marks and Spencer?
Frequency
a) Decreased productively and confidence level 15
8

b) Loss of self control 10
c) Lack of job satisfaction 15
d) Poor performance 20
Q5) What challenges you faced due to disability discrimination when pursuing a
job within an organisation?
Frequency
a) Disability pay gap 20
b) Lack of disclosure 15
c) Necessary accommodations are not always easy to get 15
d) Mismatch of supply and demand 10
9

Q6) How you handle disability discrimination at workplace of an organisation? Frequency
a) File an internal complaint 20
b) File a charge of discrimination 20
c) Filling a lawsuit 20
Q7) According to you, what are the ways that would be used by Marks and
Spencer for managing disability discrimination at workplace? ‘
Frequency
a) Providing accurate training in disability issues 20
b) Communicating the equality policies and procedures 22
c) Develop effective and inclusive working environment 18
10

Q8) Does management of disability discrimination at workplace support M&S in
fulfilment of its CSR activities?
Frequency
a) Yes 40
b) No 20
Q9) According to you, maintaining of strong relationship with disabled
employees help Marks and Spencer in achievement of its long term goals and
objectives?
Frequency
a) Strongly Agree 20
b) Agree 25
c) Disagree 10
d) Strongly disagree 5
11

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Discussion
This is an important section of the report because it helps in collection of primary
information and their relations with the secondary information founded in literature revive.
Along with this, this part of the report support researcher to presents an interpretation and
evaluate the results for the study. In this, researcher becomes able to draw various aspects of the
findings, findings of other studies such as literature (Wu and et. al., 2018). Therefore, findings
from the questionnaire and their relation with literature review will be interpreted as below:
Theme 1: Discrimination experienced by employees at workplace of M&S
Interpretation: There are total 60 employees of Marks & Spencer in which 35 are
experienced discrimination and 25 are not discriminated at workplace. According to the graph,
majority of participants are experienced issue of discrimination at working environment of M&S.
Discriminated employees said as there is lack of policies about the workplace discrimination
which have created discrimination among employees. Remaining employees are happy towards
business policies and practices associated with the discrimination at workplace.
Theme 2: Type of discrimination at working environment of M&S
Interpretation: At working place of M&S, different types of discrimination faced by
employees such as gender based discrimination, disability based discrimination and age based
discrimination. For this, 18 employees out of 60 are experienced gender based discrimination
within an organisation. 20 are faced issue related with age discrimination and remaining 22 are
experienced discrimination on the basis of disability. Therefore most of the respondents have
issue of disability discrimination at working environment of company. In this discrimination, an
individual employee is treated differently in employment because of their disability.
According to above information founded in literature review, some authors provided their
view about the concept of disability discrimination. They also have view as under disability
discrimination, disabled people treated differently as compare to other employees working at
same level in the organisation (Kocman and Weber, 2018).
Theme 3: Positive or negative impact of disability discrimination
Interpretation: Discrimination on the basis of disability has direct impact on motivational
level of employees. 10 out of 60 employees have opinion as disability discrimination has positive
impact because they have equal rights as well as deserve equal status with all other workers. 45
employees of M&S said as disability discrimination at workplace has negative or bad impact
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because it decreased confidence and productivity level towards job. Remaining 5 employees are
neutral it means they not have proper idea about the positive and negative impact of disability
discrimination.
Theme 4: Negative impact of disability discrimination
Interpretation: Disability discrimination has negative impact on employee’s motivational
level towards the job or organisation. 15 out of 60 respondents have experienced decreased in
productivity and confidence level due to disability discrimination. 10 respondents lost their self
of control by facing discrimination at workplace. 15 participants faced issue of job dissatisfaction
and remaining 20 employees experienced poor performance because of their disability at
workplace.
As per the information collected from the secondary source for literature review, it has
been interpreted that discrimination on the basis of disability has negative effect over
motivational level of employees at workplace (Smedley, 2017). As it proof there is similar
information gathered from the secondary sources and from the participants which is a part of
primary source.
Theme 5: Challenges faced by disabled employees when pursuing a job within an organisation
Interpretation: There are numerous challenges faced by people with their disability while
pursuing a job in an organisation. 20 out of 60 respondents said as disability pay gap is major
challenges because it reduces satisfaction level towards business activities. 15 participants have
idea as they faced issue making accurate disclosure. It introduces to meeting the minimum
important information disclosure need of certain laws, such as brokers’ fees in securities law and
gift tax return disclosures in tax law. Other 15 respondents faced challenge regarding the
necessary accommodation which is not always easy to get within an organisation. Remaining 10
participants experienced challenge of mismatch in supply and demand. It means disabled people
with health disorders want more aid to stay in work or locate a work because they face an
enormous employability gap.
This information is match with the information founded from books, journals etc. for the
literature review. It found that the disabled employees suffering a health issue were more than
two times as possible to leave work as others. Therefore, all these are biggest challenges that
were faced by employees with their disability at workplace (Luo and Wang, 2017).
Theme 6: Ways used by disabled people for handling discrimination at workplace
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Interpretation: There is right to the disabled people to tack action against an organisation
about the discrimination. There are 60 respondents that have to provide their view in equal ratio.
For this, there are various ways such as file a charge of discrimination, filling a lawsuit and file
an internal complaint. In this, employer of the company may be willing to think again its
decision once, employee have explained their rights. If not, yet, it’s time to compliant in more
formally against an organisation. Under file a charge of discrimination, if employer of the
company not handles employees compliant to their satisfaction, for this employee have right to
file a charge of discrimination. Along with this, employees are free to file a lawsuit against their
employer.
This information is also match with the data collected from the secondary sources for
literature review. In this, some authors have to provide their view as disabled people have rights
to take action again an organisation (Zhu and et. al., 2019).
Theme 7: Ways would be applied by M&S for reducing the impact of disability discrimination
Interpretation: There are various ways that would be used by Marks & Spencer for
managing and eliminating the issue of disability discrimination at workplace. 20 respondents
have knowledge as company should provide accurate training to their employers to treat disable
people equally. 22 participants have knowledge as M&S must communicate each information
about the equality procedures and policies to the disabled employees. Remaining 18 respondents
have opinion as development of inclusive and effective working environment support M&S in
management of disability discrimination at workplace. Therefore, all these are more effective
ways for an organisation in handling of issue associated with disability discrimination among
employees.
This information is related with the data collected for literature review. In this, some
authors have suggested these ways that would be beneficial for company in management and
elimination of disability discrimination within a workplace (Smedley, 2017).
Theme 8: Importance of managing disability discrimination for M&S in fulfilment of its CSR
activities
Interpretation: Management of disability discrimination is important for M&S as it will
help them in fulfilment of its CSR activities within a lesser time period. It will also support
company in building of its strong market and brand image in customer’s mind. Therefore,
Organizations of disabled employee play an essential role in the growth of disabled employee’s
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skills within the negotiation process, management, organization and proposal. They also give an
opportunity for common support, while the on top of skills is being developed. As disabled
people are important part of the business success and growth in the marketplace.
Theme 9: Significance of maintaining strong relationship with disabled employees
Interpretation: In order to maintain strong relation with the disabled employees is important
for M&S in development of its growth and achievement of long term objectives. Disabled people
within an organisation support company in negotiation process which turn to help them in
increment of its sales and profitability. 20 respondents are strongly agreed as they said disabled
employees plays an important role in improvement of business success. 25 participants are
agreed as people with disability at workplace help an enterprise in fulfilment of its corporate
social responsibility by working towards the welfare of society. 10 respondents are disagreed as
they said, sometimes the speed of working or functioning with the disabled employee is
relatively low than the employee with no disability. Remaining 5 are strongly disagreed because
they said as disabled employee not work on time and not provide their more interest in business
activities.
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Conclusion
From the above mentioned findings it has been concluded that workplace discrimination is
major issue faced by an organisation at their workplace. There are different types of
discrimination such as gender based, age based and disability based. In current organisation,
disability discrimination is main issue which have been experienced most of the employees. This
discrimination negatively impacted on employees and its motivational level towards job. Due to
discrimination at workplace, number of issues faced by disabled employees such as poor
performance, lack of job satisfaction, loss of self control, decreased productivity and confidence
level. They also experienced various challenges while pursuing job in the organisation including,
disability pay gap, lack of disclosure, necessary accommodations are always easy to get,
mismatch of supply and demand. These issues and challenges have bad effect on employees in
physically and mentally. Along with this, there are number of ways discussed that used by
disabled people for managing discrimination at workplace of respective organisation. These
ways are file a charge of discrimination, file an internal complaint and filing a lawsuit. All these
ways are used for overcoming and managing the bad effect of disability discrimination among
disabled people. In order to manage and deal with disability discrimination at workplace, an
organisation also applied number of strategies such as provided accurate training in disability
issues, developed inclusive and effective working environment, communicated the equality
procedures and policies of business to the employees. These are effective strategies or ways that
helped an organisation in minimising of the issues of disability discrimination and also in
fulfilment of its CSR (Corporate social responsibilities) activities easily. If company maintained
strong and effective relationship with the disabled people then they can easily accomplish their
long term goals and objectives within given time period.
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Recommendation
From the above mentioned results or findings, it has been recommended that there is
requirement related to the development and promotion of equality and diversity at workplace an
organisation. There is also need in reduction of disability discrimination among employees in the
organisation. For this, there are some recommendations to the Marks & Spencer which will be
explained as below:
Follow the law: In order to reduce disability discrimination, M&S must ensure that their
employees and employers have knowledge about the business law. Employees of an organisation
have full right to work within an environment free of any discrimination such as ability, age,
race, sex, disability, religion and gender. This will help company in attainment of strong brand
image.
Educate management on diversity and disability discrimination: One of the main step of
stopping discrimination at workplace as M&S should provide accurate information about the
business to their employees. Managers of the Marks & Spencer must take the lead as well as
ensure that disability discrimination is stopped in entire departments and in all business initiative,
such as hiring and firing. This turn to help business in reduction of disability discrimination at
workplace and development of equality and diversity practices within an organisation. This is a
part of business success and growth at marketplace.
Receive feedback from disabled employees: This is another recommendation to the M&S to
collect information of feedback from the disabled employees and at the same time to fulfil their
requirement. Company should also check that disabled employees have complete and fair access
to possibilities for promotion, training and transfer. As it support them in accomplishment of
their CSR activities and also developing of strong brand image in marketplace.
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Reflection
I have good experience for doing researcher over a broad topic i.e. impact of disability
discrimination on employee’s motivation in the workplace of M&S. This research was successful
for me and I achieved research aim and objectives within a set time period. In order to gathered
information regarding the topic, I used to make a questionnaire as it is an effective instrument of
primary data collection. This method helped me when I externally required quantitative and
reliable data about the current study. I also used different methods for conducting this research
report including quantitative research, probability sampling, research ethics, reliability and
validity of investigation and many others. All these are useful when I needed data in form of
quantitative. Along with this, for gathered primary data, questionnaire is more useful because it
is inexpensive, practical, provide fast results, help in easily analysis of data etc. These are main
advantages obtained by me through questionnaire.
By performing this investigation I learned about the importance of managing of disability
discrimination at workplace. I also increased my understanding regarding the challenges that
were faced by disabled people due to discrimination at workplace. I enhanced my learning about
the ways for managing disability discrimination in the workplace of an organisation. Along with
this, I also improved my research skills by doing this research. These skills are data collection,
data analysis, time management etc. Apart from this, for executing this investigation I
experienced certain problems which are lack of time, lack of resources, and selection of
appropriate number of sample. These problems have negative impact on my performance when I
required completing full project in given time period. If I do this research again, I will be used
Interview as an alternative method of questionnaire. Main reason for using interview as there is
lack of issues about the selection of sample size, time, resources etc. As this will help me in
completion of research systematically.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amjad, M. and et. al., 2018. A review of EVs charging: From the perspective of energy
optimization, optimization approaches, and charging techniques. Transportation
Research Part D: Transport and Environment. 62. pp.386-417.
Aoyama, T., Hoshika, M. and Honda, K., 2018. Reporting Practices in L2 Quantitative Research:
A Systematic Review of ARELE 13–28. ARELE: Annual Review of English
Language Education in Japan. 29. pp.241-256.
Gaur, A. and Kumar, M., 2018. A systematic approach to conducting review studies: An
assessment of content analysis in 25 years of IB research. Journal of World
Business. 53(2). pp.280-289.
Gjesfjeld, E. And et. al., 2020. A quantitative workflow for modeling diversification in material
culture. PLoS One. 15(2). p.e0227579.
Güven, B., 2018. The Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Organizational Citizenship
Behavior. Journal of Business & Economic Policy 5(3). pp.54-66..
Kelly, M. and et. al., 2018. Considering axiological integrity: a methodological analysis of
qualitative evidence syntheses, and its implications for health professions
education. Advances in Health Sciences Education. 23(4). pp.833-851.
Page, V. and et. al., 2019. Towards a Methodology to Test UAVs in Hazardous Environments.
Schoonderbeek, M., 2018. A Theory of" Design by Reserach". Ardeth, (01), pp.62-79.
Wu, Y. and et. al., 2018. A survey of physical layer security techniques for 5G wireless networks
and challenges ahead. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications. 36(4).
pp.679-695.
Kocman, A. and Weber, G., 2018. Job satisfaction, quality of work life and work motivation in
employees with intellectual disability: A systematic review. Journal of Applied
Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 31(1), pp.1-22.
Smedley, K., 2017. Age matters: Employing, motivating and managing older employees.
Routledge.
Luo, L. and Wang, W., 2017. Disability discrimination in employment: Three countries
comparison. JL Pol'y & Globalization, 65, p.14.
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Zhu, X., Law, K.S., Sun, C. and Yang, D., 2019. Thriving of employees with disabilities: The
roles of job self‐efficacy, inclusion, and team‐learning climate. Human Resource
Management, 58(1), pp.21-34.
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Appendices
Q1) Do you experienced discrimination at workplace of M&S? Frequency
a) Yes 35
b) No 25
Q2) What type of discrimination you faced at workplace of Marks and Spencer? Frequency
a) Gender discrimination 18
b) Age Discrimination 20
c) Disability Discrimination 22
Q3) In which manner, disability discrimination impacts on your motivation level
within Marks and Spencer?
Frequency
a) Positive 10
b) Negative 45
c) Neutral 5
Q4) What are major negative impact you faced due to disability discrimination at
workplace of Marks and Spencer?
Frequency
a) Decreased productively and confidence level 15
b) Loss of self control 10
c) Lack of job satisfaction 15
d) Poor performance 20
Q5) What challenges you faced due to disability discrimination when pursuing a
job within an organisation?
Frequency
a) Disability pay gap 20
b) Lack of disclosure 15
c) Necessary accommodations are not always easy to get 15
d) Mismatch of supply and demand 10
Q6) How you handle disability discrimination at workplace of an organisation? Frequency
a) File an internal complaint 20
b) File a charge of discrimination 20
c) Filling a lawsuit 20
Q7) According to you, what are the ways that would be used by Marks and Frequency
22

Spencer for managing disability discrimination at workplace? ‘
a) Providing accurate training in disability issues 20
b) Communicating the equality policies and procedures 22
c) Develop effective and inclusive working environment 18
Q8) Does management of disability discrimination at workplace support M&S in
fulfilment of its CSR activities?
Frequency
a) Yes 40
b) No 20
Q9) According to you, maintaining of strong relationship with disabled
employees help Marks and Spencer in achievement of its long term goals and
objectives?
Frequency
a) Strongly Agree 20
b) Agree 25
c) Disagree 10
d) Strongly disagree 5
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