Workplace Discrimination on the Basis of Gender

This research proposal form explores workplace discrimination on the basis of gender, focusing on the impact on employee turnover and performance. It includes research questions, objectives, literature sources, and research approach.

Research Proposal Form
Student Name: ______________________ Student ID: ____________
Centre Name: _____________________
Tutor: ________________ Date: ___________________
Unit: ____________________
Proposed Title: Workplace discrimination on the basis of gender.
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project (in the form of a question, objective or hypothesis)
Title: Workplace discrimination on the basis of gender.
Aim:
To analyse the impact of workplace discrimination on employee turnover and performance.- A case
study on Marks & Spencer.
Research Questions:
• What does workplace discrimination mean?
• What are the issues arising from gender discrimination in Marks & Spencer?
• What are the benefits of implementing laws and policies related to discrimination?
• How can discrimination be reduced within the organisation?
Research objectives (e.g what is the question you want to answer? What do you want to learn how to do?
What do you want to find out?):
• To understand the meaning of workplace discrimination.
• To identify issues arising from gender discrimination in Marks & Spencer.
• To determine the benefits of implementing laws and policies related to discrimination.
• To suggest strategies this can reduce the discrimination in the organisation.
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you are studying, personal interest, future
plans, knowledge/skills you want to improve, why the topic is important):
Present report has been taken into consideration on workplace discrimination on the basis of gender in Marks & Spencer
Company and its main impact on employee performance. The learner conducts investigation on personal and professional context
(Antman, 2015). In relation to personal, learner wants to enhance its basic knowledge and understanding regarding specific subject
area. On the other hand, in professional context learner can able to deal with the arisen issues while conducting an investigation and
also to perform the research activities in future in a better manner.

Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question, objective or hypothesis:
Workplace discrimination
On the basis of Sherrie Scott (2020) at the workplace, discrimination may be occurring among employer and employee or among
employees and third party. This is an unfair treatment of employee on the basis of different category such as age, gender, religion,
sexual orientation and others. It is not fair for company to arise the workplace discrimination as this enhances the employee turnover
as to reducing the employee’s performance and they leave the company. It is the responsibility of manager to protect workers from
the unfair treatment and discrimination at workplace.
The equality policy of Marks & Spencer stated that we committed to active Equal opportunities policy from the selection and
recruitment by training and development. This company promotes environment free from the harassment, victimisation and
discrimination where everyone will receive the equal treatment.
Issues arising from gender discrimination in Marks & Spencer
As per opinion of Katie Scott (2020) Workplace gender discrimination comes in several forms but this mainly mean that a candidate
is treated different due to gender or sex. In this, an employee that allege that manager only promotes the make employees and keep
the fame in the entry level positions. This kind of discrimination reduces the morale of female employees. Marks & Spencer firm has
admitted the average woman to pay 12.3% less than the average male worker, as a result of which a gender wage gap is still
dominant for the vast majority of the workers at the entry level. In context to this, Marks & Spencer is focus on the departments
where it can balance the gender gap.
Benefits of implementing laws and policies related to discrimination
According to Marie-Anne Valfort (2020) there are different legislations regarding preventing the workplace from discrimination
such as Equality Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and others. These legislations are helpful in treating the male and
female employees on equal basis. Discrimination can be eliminated by executing the discrimination laws to the workforce so
everybody in the business will perform better. The equal pay act, however, allows managers to offer fair compensation for fair work
for women and men. The staff members work similarly if they can do well under the same working environments, duties and actions.
Strategies which can reduce the discrimination in the organisation
On the basis of Tony Jeanetta (2019), Managers should give the workers with equal incentives to function
efficiently and focus on the relevant tasks. There are many strategies which Marks & Spencer adopt to reduce
discrimination at workplace. Company can provide the training to employees; educate them regarding the
discrimination issues, develop the policies regarding the discrimination and also tae the strict action against the
person that arise the discrimination in an organisation. These all strategies are helpful in reduce the
discrimination issues at workplace and also enhance employee’s performance.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Abadeer, A. S., 2015. Norms and gender discrimination in the Arab world. Springer.
Antman, F. M., 2015. Gender discrimination in the allocation of migrant household resources. Journal of
population economics.28(3). pp.565-592.
Cohn, S., 2019. Race, gender, and discrimination at work. Routledge.

De Marco, M., 2012. Audiovisual translation through a gender lens. Brill Rodopi.
De Paola, M. and Scoppa, V., 2015. Gender discrimination and evaluators’ gender: evidence from Italian
academia. Economica.82(325),.pp.162-188.
Delavande, A. and Zafar, B., 2013. Gender discrimination and social identity: experimental evidence from
urban Pakistan. FRB of New York Staff Report, (593)
Online
Jeanetta, T., 2019. 7 Ways to Reduce Gender Discrimination in Your Workplace. [Online]. Available through:
<https://theolsongroup.com/knock-down-gender-barriers/>.
Scott, K., 2020. Marks and Spencer reports a 12.3% mean gender pay gap. [Online]. Available through:
<https://employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/february-2018/marks-spencers-gender-pay-gap/>.
Scott, S., 2020. Discrimination at the Workplace. [Online]. Available through:
<https://smallbusiness.chron.com/discrimination-workplace-2855.html >.
Valfort, M. A., 2020. Do anti-discrimination policies work?. [Online]. Available through:
<https://wol.iza.org/articles/do-anti-discrimination-policies-work/long>.
Section Four: Activities and timescales

Activities to be carried out during the research project (e.g research, development and
analysis of ideas, writing, data collection, numerical analysis, tutor meetings, production of
final outcome, evaluation, writing the report): How long
this will
take:
Milestone one: _________________
Target date (set by tutor): ____________________
Milestone two: _______________________
Target date (set by tutor): ______________________
Gantt Chart
Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
What type of research approach and methodologies are you likely to use and why? What your areas of
research will cover:
Type of Investigation
In conducting present research, there will be qualitative research method used because this gives the
information in detailed manner and also better understanding about gender basis workplace discrimination
(Cohn, 2019).

Research Philosophy
There will be interpretivism research philosophy used because this generalise the outcomes of research by
analysis the opinions and viewpoints of different authors (De Marco, 2012).
Research Approach
In doing the research, inductive research approach will be used because this is helpful in give the authentic
information and provide the deep understanding regarding the specific subject area.
Data collection
There will be primary method used as developing questionnaire. The reason behind using this method is that it
provides the fresh and authentic information within less time period (De Paola and Scoppa, 2015).
Sampling
It is related to collect the sample size from whole population. There will be 30 respondents chosen by using
random sampling method because it is unbiased and give the equal chance to chosen respondents (Delavande
and Zafar, 2013).
Comments and agreement from tutor
Comments (optional):
I confirm that the project is not work which has been or will be submitted for another qualification and
is appropriate.
Agreed: ________________ (name)_______________ Date ______________
Comments and agreement form project proposal checker( IV sampling)
Comments (Optional):
I confirm that the project is appropriate.
Agreed /Disagree: (Name of the IV) Date

Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the use of data collected form
human participants are required to gain ethical approval before commencing their research. Please answer all
relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed research fully with your unit tutor.
Please complete this form in good time before your research project is due to commence.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title: Workplace discrimination on the basis of gender.
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
College Name:
Intended research start date:
Intended research end date:
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your project:
 Interviews Yes No
 Questionnaires Yes No
 Observations Yes No
 Use of personal records Yes No
 Data Analysis Yes No
 Action Research Yes No
 Focus Groups Yes No
 Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary.
Will your research involve human participants?
Yes
Who are the participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults: 19-35
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
The participants will be recruiting by random sampling method.
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you are doing:

How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How will it be made clear to
participants that they may withdraw consent to participate at any time?
The consent from participants will be obtained by using random sampling method. It will be in written
form.
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of omitting questions that do not
wish to answer?
Yes No
If no please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical issues arising from this
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be asked for their informed consent
to be observed.
Yes No
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give them a brief explanation of the
study)?
Yes No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?(This could be a brief summary
of your findings in general)
Yes No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance with the Data Protection Act
(1998)
Yes No
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
Researcher and organisation both will have to access data and personal information.
During the research:
Where will the data be stored?
It will be stored in personal computer.
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used

Yes No
If Yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?
It will be stored in personal computer
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
It will be kept for 2 years and in word format.
Will data be kept for use by other researchers? Yes No
Section 5 : Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may raise ethical concerns? If so,
please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that may arise because of your
research. Please consider/address all issues that may apply. Ethical concerns may include, but are not
limited to the following :
 Informed consent.
 Potentially vulnerable participants.
 Sensitive topics
 Risk to participants and /or researchers
 Confidentiality/anonymity
 Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
 Data storage and security, both during and after the research (including transfer, sharing,
encryption, protection).
 Reporting
 Dissemination and use of your findings.
Section 6: Declaration
I have read, understood and will abide by the institution’s Research and Ethics Policy: Yes
No
I have discussed the ethical issues relating to my research with my Unit Tutor:
Yes No
I confirm that to the best of my knowledge:
The above information is correct, and this is a full description of the ethical issues that may arise
in the course of my research
Name: Date:
Please submit your completed form to your supervisor and also attach to the Research Proposal
when submitting to Turnitin.