Equality and Diversity in the workplace

Research Project (Equality and
Diversity in the workplace)

Table of Contents
Title:- Equality and Diversity in the workplace...............................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background of the research.........................................................................................................1
Research aim...............................................................................................................................1
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................2
Research questions......................................................................................................................2
Rationale of the research.............................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................2
Concept of workplace discrimination in a company...................................................................2
Problems faced by higher authorities of Apple Inc. due to discrimination at workplace...........4
Strategies adopted by managers of Apple Inc. to decline workplace discrimination within the
organisation.................................................................................................................................5
METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION...........................................................................5
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS...........................................................................7
Questionnaire..............................................................................................................................7
Frequency Table..........................................................................................................................8
Thematic Analysis.....................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............................................................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................13
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................13
REFLECTION AND ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................14
REFLECTION..........................................................................................................................14
ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

Title:- Equality and Diversity in the workplace
INTRODUCTION
Workplace discrimination can be defined as occurrence of different situations where an
employer mainly takes a range of actions against a staff member considering various attributes
like colour, religion, culture, race and so on (Anjum and et. al., 2018). In current time, workplace
discrimination is considered as an issue that has impacted negatively on performance level of
staff of different organisations that are working in international market. Under this research
report, firm that has been taken into consideration is Apple Inc., which was found in the year of
1976 by Steve Jobs. It is an American multinational technology based company which also
headquartered at California. It has been found that, this organisation's staff members are dealing
with workplace discrimination and this resulted into negative impact on performance and
productivity level of them due to low motivation. However, Apple Inc. is looking forward to
reduce the discrimination and it has also considered a range of strategies which will be discussed
in this report.
Background of the research
Over the years, workplace discrimination influenced various business organisations and
the reason that came in front was that they never kept their focus on developing an effective
policy in relation with discrimination. Away with this, companies are continuously looking
forward to reduce workplace discrimination through considering different rules and regulations
like Equality Act, 2010 and so on (Ayala and et. al., 2017). On the other hand, it has been found
that there are different types of discrimination that are present in today's workplaces of
organisations like direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation and so
on. Gender, race, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, age and many more are said to be
some of the crucial elements that are required by companies to develop their own sort of
products and services.
Research aim
The aim of this particular research is “To determine the influence of workplace
discrimination on productivity and performance of staff members. A case study on Apple Inc.”
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Research objectives
 To gain knowledge about concept of workplace discrimination in a company.
 To identify the problems faced by higher authorities of Apple Inc. due to discrimination
at workplace
 To analyse strategies adopt by managers of Apple Inc. to decline workplace
discrimination within the organisation.
Research questions
 What do you know about workplace discrimination concept?
 What are the problems faced by higher authorities of Apple Inc. due to discrimination at
workplace?
 What are the different strategies adopt by managers of Apple Inc. to decline workplace
discrimination within the organisation?
Rationale of the research
The rational motive behind conducting investigation on the chosen topic is that
workplace discrimination carries both direct and indirect impact on performance level of staff
members at a workplace of an organisation. This results into low productivity and it also
demotivate employees (O’Neill, Sohal and Teng, 2016). Most of the companies are looking
forward to reduce the workplace discrimination in order to enhance the profit margins and
productivity level. This is why this topic is specifically being considered because many
investigations were done on various topics but not on how workplace discrimination impacts on
performance and productivity of staff members. Self interest of researcher was also there, which
will improve the knowledge of readers and of research in much effective and efficient manner.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of workplace discrimination in a company
According to Sutanto and Kurniawan, (2016), it is study which is based on workplace
discrimination in all over the world. However, the particular investigation is done on Europe
where it has been found that UK carries highest discrimination because lot of employees are
affected by this. It includes 49 percent workforce which is age group under 25-35 are faced this
problem at work place. It is conducted survey on 10,000 employees on different region like UK,
France, Spain, Poland and Netherlands employees feel such kind of issue (Park and et. al., 2017).
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The most kind of discrimination on the basis of gender, nationality, integrity and appearance.
The issue mainly in such kind of organisation which is related to art and culture, financial
services, architecture, engineering and also faces in educational sector. It is in addition also said
that must be avoid this kind of issue at workplace and focused to provide the safe and secured
working environment to the employees. Workplace discrimination also affect the performance of
the employee as well as profitability of the organisation. According to the researcher's opinion
about this concept it is must be provides training to individual at a time of recruitment in order to
diversity. Superiors of the organisations must be listen the employers issue which is faced in the
workplace and help them to sought out the things in effective manner. It addition United State's
supreme court has ruled which is act and provision to sued those person who discriminate among
the employees. It is discrimination on the basis of skin, colour, genetic and religion (Ugoani,
2016).
It includes affect the performance of the employees and also increase the conflicts
between the employees. Subordinates also not focused with their work and not achieves a target
which ultimately affects the revenue of the organisation. It is essential to each and every
organisation to focused on such conditions and must be planned a strict rules, regulation and
guideline which is followed by each employee of the organisation. HR departments play vital
role in context of that and they provides best solutions to the employees as well as also listen the
grievances of employees (Jammaers, Zanoni and Hardonk, 2016). Discrimination affects the
environment of the company and it is a responsibility of HR department to provide safe, secured
and friendly working environment. In various kind of discrimination so accordingly different
kind of law but most of employees not aware about such laws so organisation conduct seminar
and provides the detail information about that so employees not suffer that. In many organisation
conduct session and it is interacting to each employee because this is a sensitive concept to know
about. It includes various kind of condition which employees not openly talk about and suffers
them so it is a duty of superiors to avoid such conditions and employees openly talk about them.
Workplace discrimination is not good for organisation and employees also its affect both of them
directly. In context of organisation affects the profitability and revenue. On the other hand
employees suffers, lose their confidence and not focused on their careers.
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Problems faced by higher authorities of Apple Inc. due to discrimination at workplace
According to Ajunwa, (2018), gender gap refers to the discrimination between employees
in terms of salary, benefits and opportunities for growth and success. In various organization
there is difference practices are adopt for both male and female. Male employees get higher pay
in and better opportunities in comparison of female staff member. Efforts of female employees
are nor recognized and acknowledge by company that leads them toward demotivation. It put an
adverse impact on productivity of female workforce and overall growth of company (Kruse and
et. al., 2018). Apart from this, it enhances conflicts among human resources working within
organization. In Apple there is no gender gap exist as it has adopted similar policies without
giving consideration to gender of employees. The company has revealed the fact that they are
giving equal payment to all its human resources regardless their gender. It encourage and
motivate personnels to work efficiently for the success and growth of business. This practice
helps them to minimize employees turnover and to get an edge over other competitors. It
encourage efficient and potential female members to be a part of company.
Diversity emphasis to provide similar opportunities to both male and female workers
within company. As both have different perspective that will help nationalization to formulate
lucrative strategies to grab the attention of consumers and to enhance profitability. Diversity not
only motivates employees but also bring new, innovative and unique ideas to increase in revenue
of business. In context of Apple, they believe in gender diversity and acknowledge the efforts as
well as potential of female staff member (Neumark, 2018). It helps the company to improve their
financial performance by earning potential profit. Apart from this due to gender diverse
environment they are able to engage work force in an efficient manner. Because of this they are
able to serve diversify customer base that helps in increasing number of potential buyers at
market place. They believe in providing an inclusive culture to workforce where they can
interact and coordinate with each other to perform several business activities. There is no
discrimination in workforce in terms race,culture,sex, nationalities etc. That assist mangers of
Apple to serve the audience in an efficient manner and to sustain at competitive market place for
a longer period of time.
According to Lloren and Parini, (2017), gender diversity is essential to enhance
employees productivity as well as work efficiency. It helps to formulate a healthy and friendly
environment at work place where all the staff members can communicate and coordinate with
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