Challenges in Managing Cultural Diversity in UK Automotive Sector

RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................................................5
SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................8
METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................10
PROPOSED TIME SCALE (GANT CHART).....................................................................................................11
PRELIMINARY RESULTS (DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION).............................................................12
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................19
EVALUATION OF THE RESEARCH METHODS AND APPROACHES................................................................21
PERSONAL REFLECTION OF THE RESEARCH...............................................................................................21
RECOMMENDATIONS ON AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT..............................................................................21
AREAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH..................................................................................................................22
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................23

INTRODUCTION
Background of research
Workplace diversity is explained as variations in institutions and individuals. Sounds
basic but diversity includes race, sex, community of people, age, temperament, style of
cognition, tenure, organizational structure, employment, history and more. Diversity includes not
just the perception of men, but also the perception of others. These perceptions influence their
relationships. For wide range of staff to work efficiently as an organisation, workers need to
tackle problems like communication, ability to adapt and change effectively. Ford UK is British
owned subsidiary of the Blue oval Holdings and subsidiary of the Ford International Capital LLC
that is subsidiary of the Ford Motor firm. In this company, there are large numbers of employees
working from the different backgrounds (Al-Jenaibi, 2017). Attracting, developing and
sustaining diverse workforce. This company develops the diverse groups at all level of company.
Rationale of Research
Present work is focused on problems faced by team members in the UK automotive
manufacturing sector in the management of cultural diversity. Conduct this analysis in a personal
and professional setting. In the professional sense, investigator want to know the advantages of
cultural diversity in the workplace and the problems that team leader primarily tackles in an
organization from its cultural diversity. This work would allow the researcher to develop his
analysis and analytical abilities. I will carry out the work in the future (Barak, 2016).
Aim
To determine the challenges faced by team leaders in managing cultural diversity in the
UK Automotive manufacturing sector. A case study of team leaders at Ford UK.
Objectives
 To examine the benefits of cultural diversity to organisation.
 To analyse the dimensions of differences in cultural values.

 To identify challenges faced by team leaders in managing cultural diversity in the UK
Automotive manufacturing sector.
 To determine ways through which the cultural diversity can be managed in Automotive
manufacturing sector.
Questions
 Does cultural diversity is beneficial for company?
 What are main dimensions of the differences in the cultural values?
 Which kind of issues faced through the team leaders in the UK Automotive
manufacturing sector in context to managing the cultural diversity?
 What are the effective ways to manage cultural diversity at workplace?
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY
The core area of an enterprise is cultural diversity. Several workers of different
backgrounds and culture work in a business. Team Leader is responsible for managing all
employees who belong to various backgrounds and also know each other's different culture. This
contributes to the development of a good working environment. The aim of this research is to
know the difficulties that primarily the Company is facing in handling and addressing cultural
diversity (Bouncken, Brem and Kraus, 2016).

LITERATURE REVIEW
Globalization and impact on cultural diversity
According to opinion CAROL M. KOPP (2020) Globalization is process of integration
and interaction among the persons, firms and governments in all over the world. It is process
through which the business develops its international influence or begins to conducting
operations at international level. The globalization creates new jobs as well as the economic
development by cross- border goods flow, labor and capital. On the other hand, there is a
positive and negative impact of the globalization on culture diversity. The positive impact stated
that technological global mecca can empowering for different culture and this permits the self-
representation sharing on new level. Global technology is helpful in providing opportunity to
explain the collective identity with determining place foe the different cultures. On the other
hand, there is a negative impact of globalization on the cultural diversity consisting impact on the
multinational corporations which have on promoting customer culture, impacting societal values
and workers exploitation.
Benefits of cultural diversity to organisation
Kellie Wong (2020) stated that Culture is defines as knowledge and characteristics of
specific group of the people that encompassing religion, music, language, arts and others. It is
defined as behaviours and beliefs which identify how staff members of company interact and
also handle the business transactions effectively. In context to organisation, culture is collection
of expectations, practices and values that guide as well as information actions of team members.
A better culture exemplifies the positive traits which lead to make improvement in performance
while dyfunctional firm culture starts qualities which can hinder successful firms.
Dianne Shaddock (2020) stated that the effectiveness of a firm is relying on its
opportunity to take the benefits and take advantage of diversity. If companies systematically
assess their managing of issues related to organizational diversity, establish and execute diversity
strategies, numerous benefits such as:

Increased adaptability- The organizations with wide range of staff will provide more
solutions to service issues, recruitment and resource allocation. Staff from a range of
backgrounds brings different skills and perspectives to formulate solutions that are versatile to
respond to evolving conditions and consumer demands (Brown, 2017).
Variety of viewpoints- A diversified employee who is confident sharing multiple
viewpoints has a broader variety of thoughts and experiences. The company can leverage this
pool to more effectively respond to business strategy requirements and customers ' needs.
More effective execution- Businesses encourage diversity in workplace encourage all
staff members to do their best. Then, company-wide strategies can implemented, leading to
increased productivity, profit and investment returns.
Dimensions of differences in cultural values
On the basis of Melany Gallant (2020) Culture is knowledge, believing, attitudes and
standards system that is learned and shared. Culture therefore includes a great deal of behaviour.
Diversity rises in people's and organizations' daily lives because of globalization Seven aspects
(or faces) of cultural beliefs help to clarify how cultures vary.
Individualism vs. collectivism- Many societies assign greater significance and
importance than common good to personal interests and growth. Individualists claim their own
desires take precedence. The association or the working group is more concerned with
collectivists than with itself.
Acceptance of power and authority- Many people embrace a gap of power at different
levels; others do not understand power in certain cultures hierarchy (Davis, Frolova and
Callahan, 2016). There are communities in which individuals work as team. Automotive
manufacturing sector have a hierarchy of authority in culture.
Materialism vs. concern for others- Some religions emphasizes recognition and
purchase of money as well as artifacts. Other end of continuum focuses on the interests of others,
personal relations and common well-being.

Formality vs. informality- A nation that attaches great value to formality, ritual,
ceremonies, social rules and rankings. In comparison, informality relates to relaxed attitude
towards the same cultural aspects. There are more methodical people than others.
Urgent time orientation vs. casual time orientation- People from countries with a
limited emphasis on time see time as a resource and also appear impatient. Persons with an
informal time emphasis regard time as infinite and constant resource and prefer to be cautious.
Work orientation vs. leisure orientation- A major cultural disparity is the amount of
hours a week and perceptions of employment in careers and leisure sports and other non-working
behaviors. The conduct of leisure is less successful in general.
High context vs. low-context cultures- High context culture are those which
communicate in ways that implicit and also rely more. On the other hand, low context culture
rely on the explicit verbal communication. In underlying cultures, people rarely take time to
develop experience and creating trust in business transactions (Frijns, Dodd and Cimerova,
2016). The high context culture is value interpersonal relationship, collectivist and sustainability
of employees for long time period. In this, it is effective to leading the staff members from
diverse culture and from this they can work effectively.
Challenges faced by team leaders in managing cultural diversity in the UK Automotive
manufacturing sector
According to Kimberlee Leonard (2020) Organizations face the issue of diversity and it
develops the negative impact of organizational productivity. Team leaders play a necessary role
in business and their focus on managing the diverse workplace at workplace. There are some
issues faced through team leaders in managing cultural diversity in the UK Automotive
manufacturing sector mention below:
Communication issue- For diversity projects to thrive, cognitive, language and cultural
barriers must be resolved. The inability to communicate main goals leads to uncertainty,
communication inability, and low morality (Hatipoglu and Inelmen, 2018).

Implementation of diversity in workplace policies- It can be biggest obstacle for team
leader of diversity. Armed with findings of employee surveys and analysis data, they need a
tailored plan for optimizing their individual organization’s effects of workplace diversity.
Successful Management of Diversity in Workplace- With the diversity management
program, diversity preparation is not always enough. A plan to build a culture of diversity that
encompasses each department and company role must be developed and enforced.
Ways through which the cultural diversity can be managed in Automotive manufacturing sector.
On the basis of Daniele L. (2015), managing the cultural diversity is important for an
organization. This is helpful in develop positive working environment for the staff belongs to the
various culture and backgrounds. Workplace cultural diversity is result of the traditions, values,
belief and practices of staff members on the basis of age, ethnicity, gender and race. Managing
the workplace cultural diversity is helpful in improving the retention and also minimize cost
related with the employee turnover. In diverse workplace, staff members are remain loyal if they
feel respected as well as valued for unique contribution. Cultural diversity can be reflected in the
context of instruction, time comprehension, authority or various cultural calendars. It is essential
that people in various cultures understand, interact and communicate. There are some of the
effective ways for managing cultural diversity mention below:
Re-define work schedules- Individuals of diverse national, ethnic or religious
backgrounds also have numerous festivals, holiday or holy days. So many holidays cannot be
permitted by any corporation. But Automotive manufacturing sector does have to take them into
account. It can offer paid vacation for your individual holidays while others work as usual.
Awareness- Behavior Cultural awareness is ability to be understand the responses to
various people and how behavior can interfere with successful work relations. Automotive
manufacturing sector need to learn prejudices to be getover. Instead of the preconceived and
partial notions, Automotive manufacturing sector need to view people and also focus on the
actual behavior (Hofhuis, van der Zee and Otten, 2016).
Develop open Communication- It is necessary for successful work and team success to
provide information accurately and quickly. In case of trouble in the project and urgent