Challenges faced while managing cultural diversity in the workplace

This research project focuses on the challenges faced while managing cultural diversity in the workplace, with a case study on TESCO. It examines the impact of cultural diversity on organizational performance and explores the benefits and challenges of managing diversity at TESCO.

Research Project
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Contents
Title: Challenges faced while managing cultural diversity in the workplace..................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Overview & background of research..........................................................................................3
Research aim...............................................................................................................................4
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................4
Research questions......................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................5
TIME LINE......................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
Appendix........................................................................................................................................11
Questionnaire............................................................................................................................11
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Title: Challenges faced while managing cultural diversity in the workplace
INTRODUCTION
Overview & background of research
Cultural diversity is determined as the existence of range of culture and ethnic groups
within the same community or society. Cultural diversity is highly vital for the society as it
provides opportunity to each and every associated people, company, schools and nations to learn
from one another in adequate manner and attain success in the respective field in quicker
manner. With the passing time businesses are planning to implement cultural diversity practices
at workplace in order to make sure that the firms can effectively develop learning organisational
environment where all the employees can effectively learn from one another along with
acquiring prosperity in the long run. The following study is based upon TESCO, a retail
organisation based in United Kingdom that comprehensively carries out its functioning at global
level. The firm operates its business in almost 11 nations across the world where it has around
6800 stores whose work is being managed by almost 450000 employees. It basically deals in
grocery stores and general merchandise retailer. It has been analysed that the company holds
good market share that is approx 28.4% in UK market but still it is spreading its roots in other
nations too that will provide long term benefit to the same company and help them out in
attaining success in lucrative form. On the other the revenue growth of respective company is
approx £63.911 billion. As per the operational presence of the company across the world, it can
be said that the company focuses on incorporating cultural diversity with the motive of boosting
up organisational performance and enhancing learning experience of the employees. Here, the
top authority pertaining to the entity has inferred that cultural diversity has enhanced number of
issues at workplace due to difference among the individual who are working for this company. In
order to reduce these issues, the higher authority pertaining to the corporation has taken the
decision to emphasise on conducting effectual study on the topic cultural diversity and how its
effective management will provide support to the company in improvising its financial
performance on a global level and attain success in quicker manner. With respect to this, the
higher authority has hired an investigator who will effectively conduct detailed investigation in
the topic managing cultural diversity at workplace. The hired investigator has developed
effective aim, objectives and questions for the study associated to the subject matter. Creation of
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effective research aim and objective will make the conduction of research more valuable as it
simplifies the processing of whole research by bifurcating overall research topic in the smaller
section which provides support the investigator and their team in conducting whole in easier as
well as systematic manner.
Research aim
The research aim for the current study is “To examine the impact of the
managing cultural diversity on organisational performance of TESCO” A case study on
TESCO.
Research objectives
 To understand the concept of cultural diversity at workplace
 To identify various benefits that TESCO would gain by managing cultural diversity at
workplace.
 To find out different challenges faced by TESCO during managing cultural diversity at
workplace.
Research questions
 Explain the concept of cultural diversity at workplace?
 What are the various benefits that TESCO would gain by managing cultural diversity at
workplace?
 What are the different challenges faced by TESCO during managing cultural diversity at
Rationale of research
One of the major purposes behind carrying out this investigation is acknowledged to be the
attainment of understanding of the investigator on proposed topic that is impact of managing
cultural diversity on performance of the company operating its business at international
marketplace. Another influential rationale behind occurrence of this study is regarded to be the
personal interest that vests of the investigator in order to develop their own skill as well as
knowledge. This developed knowledge will help investigator in enhancing their capability of
conducting research whenever they will get opportunity to conduct the research. Along with this,
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it can be further said that by conducting this investigation researcher will be enhance their
conflict management, communication, research, analytical, problem solving, team working, time
management etc. All of these skill will not only help investigator conducting effective research
but these skills also comes under employability skill which are enhances chances of individual to
work in the corporate world in an adequate manner. In addition to this, it can be said that
development of adequate knowledge on the chosen topic that is managing cultural diversity at
workplace would provide assistance in to organisation in attaining success in rapid manner. The
main reason behind this is that they know how effectively they can manage the workforce
belonging to different culture and influence them to perform their work in a way that provides
due assistance in timely attaining the corporate goal and also leads to success for the same
company in adequate manner.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is acknowledged to be the section that has an imperative role to play
within every investigation as it helps them out reviewing the same topic in detailed manner by
including different perception and viewpoints given by several authors towards the same. This
section also helps researcher in terms of deriving true outcomes upon the research topic as they
developing conclusion by going through all the aspects of the investigation in an effectual way.
In the literature review, information is basically drawn from the various secondary sources, for
example, book, journal, online source and other kinds of published work that supports in
gathering range of information over the subject matter. With reference to the current study,
investigator has accessed several book, journal, online article, magazine, and so on in order to
develop their understanding on influence of management of cultural diversity upon corporate
performance of the global company. It can be further said that the respective section will help
readers as well investigator about the core topic. In addition to this, it will also aware them about
the proposed issues that might be faced by the company while implementing cultural diversity at
workplace.
Concept of cultural diversity at workplace
In accordance with the view point of Choi and Rainey (2014), it has been said that culture
diversity is a wide concept in reference to a business organisation. When managers of an
organization open up to recruit and hire large number of candidates from various educational
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background, area, religion, race as well as culture. In the present competitive working era, people
grab job opportunity at various geographical locations which shows that the cultural diversity is
enhancing their efficiency and performance. When companies decide to perform their business
functions at international marketplace it is required by them to recruit potential candidates from
the country which as a result increase number of diversified workforce. This will assist them so
as to perform their work more efficiently and effectively as well as learn new things from their
colleagues. For instance, Tesco is an organization operates their business functions all over the
world, for this management team needs to hire candidates from the country where they operates
which increases the diversified workforce at organisational workplace. Effectively managed
cultural diversity help in gaining more profits and add value to the products and services offered
by them.
Various benefits that Tesco would gain by managing cultural diversity at workplace
According to perception presented by Ang and Van Dyne, (2015), it is said that
management of cultural diversity will provide assistance in gaining different benefits and
advantages which increases the goodwill and sales of the business organisation. Some of the
advantage gain by managing cultural diversity is increase in efficiencies of staff members,
reduce employees turnover, increases employee engagement, increases profitability as well as
productivity of the company. All these benefits assist managers in doing their business functions
in more effective and appropriate manner. All these advantages create value to the business for
attainment of success and prosperity at the competitive marketplace. Individuals working in the
organization, interact to the colleague belonging to the distinct religion and culture backgrounds
which help them in learning new things. This will leads towards the enhancement of their skills
and knowledge so as to carry out the roles and responsibilities in an impeccable way within the
organization. Therefore, with the help of management of culture diversity in an appropriate way
within the workplace help in gaining ample number of benefits and advantages.
Different challenges faced by Tesco during managing cultural diversity at workplace
From information stated by Katie Sawyer (2018), it is seen that culture diversity with reference
to business is acknowledged to be the aspect whereby business welcome people pertaining to
different national and cultural backgrounds owing to which they have differences in their country
of origin, race, religion, values, customs, traditions, and so on. In relation to multinational
corporations, diversity is an effectual phenomenon which allows an organisation to derive
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benefits such as increment of overall company’s productivity, retention of talented pool,
augmentation of organisational goodwill, enhancement of staff engagement, and so on.
According to Chen, Liu and Portnoy, (2012), Diversity management defines as a procedure
which intended to create, develop as well as maintain positive working atmosphere whereby
similarity and dissimilarity of personnel are being valued. Tesco is one of the biggest
organisation perform their business functions across the whole wide world and satisfy the needs
and wants of consumer in an effective and efficient manner. Their main aim is to grow at the
competitive marketplace and gain success at the market with the due assistance of management
of diversity in the organisation. But it has also been identified that in order to manage cultural
diversity, management team faces ample number of issues and challenges that may have an
effect on the overall performance along with business operations. Managers of Tesco face issues
such as language & cultural barriers, cultural differences, gender equality and many more. All
these highly influence the functionality of Tesco in a negative and adverse manner. Apart from
this, it can be further said that employees within the company with several cultural background
creates cultural issues as different cultural background directly creates conflicts among the
employees. This directly places major influence over the organisational performance. Along with
this, it can be further said that issues developed with cultural diversity not only hampers
employees working practices but at the same time it would also influence organisational
performance too because employees are not working with their full potential that ultimately
affects the expected timing of accomplishing organizational goals and objectives. There are
various challenges that a company face while implementing workplace equality. It is essential for
the company that there is maintenance of all the activities related to the equality which are
implemented in accordance with the workplace diversity.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Data collection methods: This encompasses primary and secondary methods. Both the
methods provide support to researcher in collecting pool of data on the proposed subject matter
in best possible manner. Under primary method, data is directly gathered from respondents. The
gathered data hereby is raw and completely fresh as it is first hand data that provides support to
individual in completing the project with valid outcome.
On the contrary, investigator gathers overall information from data collected by another
author in secondary method. In this method, the gathered information is not fresh but still it is
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helpful in conducting research in limited time frame with maximum information. In this, mainly
investigator makes use of book, journal, online article, and so on. Researcher effectively makes
use of primary along with secondary methods that will help them out in completing present
investigation with best possible outcome. Under primary, questionnaire would be developed
which will be circulated among the chosen sample size.
The major motive behind choosing secondary means is to draw maximum information
within the limited timeframe in order to get valuable research outcomes. Whereas, reason behind
choosing secondary information is to make use of fresh data which will enhance reliability of the
research and contribute in drawing authenticate outcome.
Research approach: This is mainly of 2 kinds that is deductive and inductive form.
Inductive type of approach focuses on creating own theory by conducting research and find out
new outcome for the same. Whereas, in the case of deductive method of research approach, it
can be said that the respective method is useful in answering proposed research questions in
effective manner. In current study, investigator effectively makes use of deductive method so as
to complete this with authenticate information and accuracy.
Types of investigation: This is another effective section of methodology which specifies
how actual gathered data will be analysed by the researcher. This is basically performed by the
usage of two types of methods that is quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative type of analysis is
mainly adopted by investigator for conducting it that consists of human perceptions. The
respective method does not even include any time of numerical method or statistical formulae.
Conrastingly, quantitative method focuses over making use of numerical methods for analysing
overall information to draw valid outcomes. In current study, quantitative method of data
analysis is used as it contributes in conducting descriptive analysis.
Research philosophy - A research philosophy is known as the belief or value that is used for
collecting, analysing and using the data for research work. Positivism – According to positivism,
reality is stable and this can be observed and described from viewpoint of an objective.
Interpretivism – According to this approach, the only way to subjective interpretation of and
intervention in reality is understood. According to this strategy there are various interpretations
of reality and they are maintained as part of scientific knowledge. Interprevitism has a tradition
that there is no pride in positivism.
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Sampling: This is acknowledged to be an effectual method which helps the investigator
in selection of sample size from within the overall population. This is basically performed with
the usage probabilistic and non probabilistic sampling tool. Both of these methods are adopted
by investigation according to the requirement and type of research. In the current research,
sample size is selected with the application of probabilistic method belongs to sampling. The
major rationale behind opting for this is that it provides corresponding opportunity for every
individual to get finalised as respondents, thus providing due contribution in attainment of valid
outcomes for the research. In the current study, 40 respondents are taken via leveraging random
sampling method and all of these are the organisational employees.
TIME LINE
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ang, S. and Van Dyne, L., 2015. Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge.
Chen, X. P., Liu, D. and Portnoy, R., 2012. A multilevel investigation of motivational cultural
intelligence, organizational diversity climate, and cultural sales: Evidence from US real
estate firms. Journal of applied psychology. 97(1). p.93.
Choi, S. and Rainey, H. G., 2014. Organizational fairness and diversity management in public
organizations: Does fairness matter in managing diversity?. Review of Public Personnel
Administration. 34(4). pp.307-331.
Chrobot-Mason, D. and Aramovich, N. P., 2013. The psychological benefits of creating an
affirming climate for workplace diversity. Group & Organization Management. 38(6).
pp.659-689.
Cooper, D., Patel, P. C. and Thatcher, S. M., 2013. It depends: Environmental context and the
effects of faultlines on top management team performance. Organization Science.
25(2). pp.633-652.
Dalton, L., D'Netto, B. and Bhanugopan, R., 2015. Cultural diversity competencies of managers
in the Australian energy industry. The Journal of Developing Areas. 49(6). pp.387-394.
Ellemers, N. and et. al., 2012. Women in high places: When and why promoting women into top
positions can harm them individually or as a group (and how to prevent this). Research
in Organizational Behavior. 32. pp.163-187.
Ferdman, B. M. and Deane, B., 2014. Diversity at work: The practice of inclusion.
Ferdman, B. M. and Sagiv, L., 2012. Diversity in organizations and cross-cultural work
psychology: What if they were more connected?. Industrial and Organizational
Psychology. 5(3). pp.323-345.
Garib, G., 2013. Leisure managers’ perceptions of employee diversity and impact of employee
diversity. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 32. pp.254-260.
Guillaume, Y. R. and et. al., 2017. Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What
moderates the effects of workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
38(2). pp.276-303.
Martin, A. M., 2014. Multiplicity organizations: A qualitative phenomenology study of cultural
diversity in the workplace(Doctoral dissertation, Capella University).
Martin, G. C., 2014. The effects of cultural diversity in the workplace. Journal of Diversity
Management (JDM). 9(2). pp.89-92.
Ocloo, J. and Matthews, R., 2016. From tokenism to empowerment: progressing patient and
public involvement in healthcare improvement. BMJ Qual Saf. 25(8). pp.626-632.
Patrick, H. A. and Kumar, V. R., 2012. Managing workplace diversity: Issues and challenges.
Sage Open. 2(2). p.2158244012444615.
Riccucci, N., 2018. Managing diversity in public sector workforces: Essentials of public policy
and administration series. Routledge.
Rice, M. F., 2015. Diversity and public administration. ME Sharpe.
Riivari, E. and Lämsä, A. M., 2014. Does it pay to be ethical? Examining the relationship
between organisations’ ethical culture and innovativeness. Journal of Business Ethics.
124(1). pp.1-17.
Sharma, A., 2016. Managing diversity and equality in the workplace. Cogent Business &
Management. 3(1). p.1212682.
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Appendix
Questionnaire
Questionnaire
Q 1) Have you ever heard the term cultural diversity?
a) Yes
b) No
Q 2) According to your viewpoint what are the main benefits that TESCO can attain with
effective management of cultural diversity at workplace?
a) Increase in efficiencies of staff members
b) Reduce employees turnover
c) Increases employee engagement
d) Increases profitability as well as productivity
Q 3) In your perception, what are the main challenges TESCO would face while
implementing cultural diversity at workplace?
a) Cultural difference
b) Linguistic barriers
c) Gender inequality
Q 4) Do you think TESCO can gain higher profitability with the inclusion of diversified staff
at workplace?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q 5) According to your perception does cultural diversity at workplace creates conflicts
among employees?
a) Yes
b) No
Q 6) Among the below stated options, which one is the best way through which cultural
diversity can be easily managed at workplace?
a) By enhancing awareness among employees
b) By revising organisational policies
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c) By conducting training sessions for employees
Q 7) Do you think, providing equivalent opportunity to employees is the only option to
manage cultural diversity at workplace effectively?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q 8) According to you, what are main benefits that employees can gain with diversified
workforce within TESCO?
a) Increase in knowledge about different cultural
b) Better learning opportunities
c) Improvement in team working activities
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