How my company responded to current issues of Equality and Diversity at work place

This research report focuses on the issues of equality and diversity faced by large organizations, specifically ASDA, and how the management is responding to these issues. It explores the basic concepts of equality and diversity, identifies the prevailing issues, and discusses strategies to respond to them. The report also includes a project management plan, work breakdown structure, and questionnaire for data collection.

Managing a Successful
Business Project
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Table of Contents
Part 1................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario...........................................................................3
LITERRATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................................3
Project Management Plan................................................................................................................4
Work breakdown Structure and Gantt chart....................................................................................6
Research Methods/ Questionnaire:..................................................................................................8
Project Part 2..................................................................................................................................11
Analysis of the findings.................................................................................................................11
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................20
Reflections.....................................................................................................................................20
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22
Appendix:.......................................................................................................................................23
Project Logbook for the chosen organisation.......................................................................23
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Part 1
Title: “How my company responded to current issues of Equality and Diversity at work place”.
A case study on ASDA
Introduction
Equality and Diversity are the two basic aspects that are part of any organisation and have to be
taken into consideration to manage the overall workforce. This concept is based on providing
equal and fair treatment to employees according to the equal number of opportunity is a
respective of the gender biasness. Present research report is based on analysis of the issues faced
by large organisations in terms of issues of equality and diversity and how the management is
responding to these issues.
Project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario
Aim of the research: “To identify the basic concept of equality & diversity and strategies
adopted by organisations to deal with the issues of equality & diversity” A case study on
ASDA
Objectives of the research:
1) Basic concept of equality and diversity
2) Issues prevailing in a organisation related to equality & diversity
3) Formation of strategies to respond to issues of equality and diversity
LITERRATURE REVIEW
Formation of strategies to respond to issues of equality and diversity
According to views of Lynne Callister, 2019 there are some of the strategies that can be adopted
by organisations for the purpose of dealing with issues of equality and diversity. Populist
discrimination has been a major concern for organisations in present times because of the
changing nature of employees. According to the equality act 2010 employees possess a
responsibility to protect their employees from any type of bullying discrimination and
harassment at workplace. According to studies majority of Waterloo co-workers experience
workplace discrimination and this is treated as towards each race and gender. There can be
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formation of some of the strategies in order to deal with the issues of workplace discrimination
or issues of equality and diversity practices. There has to be identification so prevention of
unconscious bias. Employees have to focus on putting equality policies in place. There has to be
emphasis on treatment of employees fairly in their daily activities and all the work related
decisions (Bowl, 2018). Each employee must be treated fairly. Employees have to focus on that
all the communications are free of any type of discriminatory language that is typing on
intentional or creating a perception of an inequality among the employees. Employers can focus
on use of objective criteria in functions such as training recruiting promoting so that there can be
clear objective criteria that can help in performance based decisions according to merit criteria.
Management has to be proactive so that if there is any type of unintentional biases can be
corrected in the provided time period so that employees are not having high dissonance. With
instance to ASDA there has to be focus on curbing out of any type of indirect discrimination by
adopting such mentioned strategies that can lead to damaging the overall brand image of
organisation.
Project Management Plan
Project Management plan:
It refers to a plan that is used to define the various steps as well as phases of research
report. It enables the researcher in monitoring, controlling of different activities related to
project. Project management plan assist researcher to carry out the overall project in an efficient
manner and draw the necessary suggestions (Harding, Nelson and Glover, 2016). The essential
elements of project management plan are scope, quality, communication, cost, resources, and so
on. This plan helps in identification of value proposition as well as the reason for which the
project is being carried out. Management plan for the current project is stated as follows:
 Quality: The researcher needs to gather data from authentic and reliable source in order
to deliver quality results. To ensure good outcomes and provide necessary suggestions it
is essential to consider the quality of data as well as information. Along with this,
researchers can also set some standards so that they able to maintain good quality of
overall research project.
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 Cost: During the research an investigator has to incur some essential expenses. That cost can
be related to travel, management, staff salary and many more. Researcher have to gather
information from respondents for that sometimes they have to travel, it incurred cost. Apart
from this they use a lot of resources in research and need to pay for that.
Description Amount (in pounds)
Staff Salary 40
Travelling Cost 20
Survey 30
Management Expenses 40
Cost of tools and Equipments 20
Total 150
 Time: Every research project has a predefined time within which the investigator should
complete it. They have time for different activities related to project such as data
collection, data analysis, making interpretation, suggestions and so on ( Heagney, 2016).
In the given report researcher has time of 10 weeks to complete the overall research
report.
 Scope: The scope area of above stated project is to identify the impact of practices related
to equality and diversity at work place. In ASDA, Mangers are coping up with various
diversity and equality issues such as gender and pay gap, race and age equality. The
project report will help managers in order to deal with such issues in an efficient manner
arise at work place.
 Resources: To carry out the research researcher will be required various resources such
as journals, books, subscriptions and so on. They also required some interns or staff to
assist them in work. Along with this, they also need fund to pay for above mentioned
resources.
 Communication: While undertaking a project researched have to communicate with
project mangers about the progress of report. So that, they can evaluate the growth of
project and make necessary improvements (Kobelt and et. al., 2017). Both the parties can
communicate through e-mails, telephoning conversation etc.
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 Risk: Uncertainties is also associated with research report. Researcher can encounter
various risks such as technical risk, financial risk and may more while undertaking a
project. They should prepare strategies and plans so that they can reduce down the impact
of contingencies.
Work breakdown Structure and Gantt chart
WBS:
WBS is a structure is a basic technique that can help a investigator that can divide the whole
project in manageable chunks. It facilitate in determination of activities that have to be
performed. There is a sequence of activity that is associated with allocation of roles according to
competence of team members. It is a technique of project management by which the entire
projects is divided into small and manageable tasks. This tool assists the researchers to determine
various activities that they need to execute in order to accomplish the research project in a
stipulated period of time. It used for deciding the sequence in which different activities should
be performed to complete overall project in an efficient manner.
Gantt chart: It is also an essential technique of project management. In this the available time is
divided among various activities as per the complexities of a particular task. There are two
dimensions in this tool. The activities or task need to be performed are mentioned on vertical
axis while the time limit is mentioned on the other side of chart that known as horizontal axis. In
this tool, a predefined time is allocated to each and every essential activity. That will help to
complete the overall project in specific period of time (Özbilgin and Slutskaya, 20170. The
project manger can easily track the performance of employees with the help of this chart by
monitoring time frame to complete different activities
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Research Methods/ Questionnaire:
Research is a study that is undertake by a researcher to analyze the existing problem or
issue in detail to provide necessary suggestions for further improvements (Wildemuth, 2016).
Research Methodology refers different tools and techniques such as qualitative and quantitative
and many other to analyze, collect as well as interpreted the data. Different sources of data
collection are outline below:
 Primary Sources: When information is gathered by investigators themselves, ii is known
as primary data. Information collected through primary sources is completely raw,
authentic and reliable. It includes the sources like questionnaire, survey, face to face
interviews, observation and many more (Young, 2016). In the above sated report data has
been gathered from 30 respondents. This data is first hand and collected for a specific
research.
 Secondary data: It is the data that already has been collected by some other researcher.
It is gathers through various books, journals, articles, newspapers, websites and other
researches. As data is not raw so that it required some modifications according to the
requirement of present research. This method of data collection is time as well as cost
effective.
Apart from the above sated methods, data can be gathered from some other important
techniques that are as follows:
Qualitative Method: It is a non numeric method of research. In this data is expressed
into words rather than numbers. Qualitative methods is use to gather detailed as well as in -depth
information on a specific topic from respondents. Under this, focus group interviews, group
discussions are carried out in order to receive opinion, thoughts of audience on a given topic
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(Nachmias, Ridgway. and Caven, 2019). Questions are designed in such a manner that
investigator will be able to get in depth information.
Quantitative research: It is a useful method when the data is numeric and present with graphs
and charts. In this method various mathematical as well as statistical tools are used to analyze
and interpreted the available data. With the help of Qualitative method data can be from large
population through surveys, questionnaires, observation etc. The questions are generally close
ended or MCQ so that the researcher can get quick response from respondents (BooysenBendl
and Pringle, 2018).
Questionnaire
Questions Frequency
Q1) For how many years how are you working in this
organisation?
a) 0-2 years 8
b) 2-4 years 12
c) More than 4 years 10
Q2) Do you feel that the provisions of Equality Act 2010 are part
of your organisational policies?
a) Yes 10
b) No 5
c) In some cases only 15
Q3) What is equality for you as an employee in ASDA?
a) No discriminatory policies 8
b) Equal pay for same designation 5
c) Equal opportunities in decision making process 9
d) All of above 8
Q4) what can be some of major reasons for gender pay gap in your
organisation?
a) Discriminatory workplace environment 8
b) Providing benefits to employees not according to their 4
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contribution level
c) No Performance based recognition 5
d) All of above 13
Q5) Do you believe that ASDA is responding timely to issues of
equality & diversity that are faced by employees?
a) Yes 8
b) No 12
c) Sometimes 10
Q 6) What can be major impact on employees when there are large
number of issues related to equality & diversity?
a) Reduction in employee motivation level 8
b) Internal conflicts 8
c) High employee turnover 5
d) All of the above 9
Q 7) What are some of the ways that ASDA has been using to
respond to issues of equality and diversity?
a) Equal employee compensation 8
b) Timely performance based appraisal 4
c) Using objective criteria for the purpose of decision making 5
d) No indirect discriminatory practises 6
e) All of above 7
Q8) What are some of benefits associated with implementation of
strategies to deal with issues of equality & diversity?
a) Timely decision making 4
b) Higher employee satisfaction 6
c) Enhancement in employee productivity 8
d) Cost effectiveness 4
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e) All of the above 8
Qualitative questions:
Q9) From below discussed strategy which can be most suitable for
ASDA to respond to issues of equality & diversity& why give
your personal view points ?
a) Inclusion of a diverse workforce
b) Development of a inclusive environment at workplace
c) Use of participative style of leadership of decision making
process
Q 10) What can be three major benefits for implementation of
equality & diversity practises in organisation?
a) ..........
b) ...........
c) .............
Q 11) Suggest some measures that can be adopted by organisations
for enhancing equality & fairness in dealing with issues of equality
& diversity?
..........................................................
Project Part 2
Analysis of the findings
Theme 1: Tenure of working
Q1) For how many years how are you working in this organisation? Frequency
a) 0-2 years 8
b) 2-4 years 12
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c) More than 4 years 10
Interpretation:
From the above mentioned figure it can be clearly seen that out of 30 respondents when it was
asked about the tenure of working in ASDA. Equal distribution among the respondents as there
were 10 employees who are working for a period of more than five years 12 respondents who
have a tenure ranging between two to four years and remaining had a tenure between zero and
two years. It can be summarised that low employee turnover as one third of the total number of
respondents are working for a period of minimum four years.
Theme 2: Provisions of Equality Act 2010
Q2) Do you feel that the provisions of Equality Act 2010 are part of your
organisational policies?
Frequency
a) Yes 10
b) No 5
c) In some cases only 15
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Interpretation:
From the above presented graph it can be summarised that when it was questioned by the
researcher to all the respondents about the different provisions of equality act as a part of
organisations overall policies. There has been a maturity response that is 50% of the total
respondents reacted to the option that there is falling of provisions only in some cases as the
other remaining 10 respondents that that yes the provisions are properly implemented. Out of 30
respondents remaining five had a negative view point as according to them there are no calling of
equality act 2010 as part of organisational policies in ASDA.
Theme 3: Equality for you as an employee in ASDA
Q3) What is equality for you as an employee in ASDA? Frequency
a) No discriminatory policies 8
b) Equal pay for same designation 5
c) Equal opportunities in decision making process 9
d) All of above 8
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Interpretation:
According to the above presented graph it can be interpreted that when it was asked to the
respondents about the meaning of equality as an employee in a ASDA. Respondents believe that
there has to be no discriminatory policies that are actual equality for employees.5 respondents
believed that there must be equal pay for the similar designation that at two employees are
holding. 9 respondents had a belief that there must be equal opportunities that had to be provided
to employees in the decision making process. Remaining 8 respondents out of 30 had a view that
all of the above discussed options must be part of equality practices in ASDA.
Theme 4: Major reasons for Inequality practises in your organisation
Q4) what can be some of major reasons for Inequality practises in your
organisation?
Frequency
a) Discriminatory workplace environment 8
b) Providing benefits to employees not according to their contribution
level
4
c) No Performance based recognition 5
d) All of above 13
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Interpretation:
From the above discussed graph when it was question to employees the major reasons for
inequality practices in organisation there was a response where 8 employees felt that there is
discriminatory workplace environment. 5 respondents had a view that there is no recognition by
the top management according to the level of performance. 4 respondents had a belief that there
are no benefits that are provided by the management to employees according to the level of
contribution. But apart from this 13 out of the total 30 respondents had a belief that above
discuss are all of the major reasons for inequality practices in ASDA. It can be summarised from
the response of the respondents that there are different reasons for inequality situation that is
being practiced in organisation and the management has to ensure that these reasons are not
leading to employee dissatisfaction.
Theme 5: Responding timely to issues of equality & diversity that are faced by
employees
Q5) Do you believe that ASDA is responding timely to issues of equality &
diversity that are faced by employees?
Frequency
a) Yes 8
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b) No 12
c) Sometimes 10
Interpretation:
From the above discussed graph it can be clearly observed that when employees are questioned
about the timely resolving of all the issues related to equality and diversity on part of
management in organisation. There was a positive response of 8 respondents out of 30 as they
felt that there is tiny resolving of all the issues that they are facing.12 respondent had a negative
view point as they felt that no these issues are not solved. Out of the remaining 10 respondents
from 30 they felt that sometimes the issues are resolved and rest of the time it was not resolved
so there was a maturity response towards negative view that there is no proper response of the
management towards equality and Diversity issues.
Theme 6: Major impact on employees
Q 6) What can be major impact on employees when there are large number of
issues related to equality & diversity?
Frequency
a) Reduction in employee motivation level 8
b) Internal conflicts 8
c) High employee turnover 5
d) All of the above 9
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Interpretation:
Above discussed graph it can be concluded that when it was question to employees about the
major impact on the performance level because of different types of issues. 8 employees out of
30 had a view that it will lead to a reduction in their present motivation level. Other 8
respondents had a belief that it will lead to higher amount of internal conflicts among the whole
work force. 5 respondents believed that employees are not willing to work in this type of
organisation where they are facing issues related to equality and Diversity so there is a problem
of employee turnover. Remaining nine employees felt that all the above discussed can be omitted
negative influence on their mind set and this may affect the overall productivity of organisation.
Theme 7: Respond to issues of equality and diversity
Q 7) What are some of the ways that ASDA has been using to respond to
issues of equality and diversity?
Frequency
a) Equal employee compensation 8
b) Timely performance based appraisal 4
c) Using objective criteria for the purpose of decision making 5
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d) No indirect discriminatory practises 6
e) All of above 7
Interpretation:
From the above presented graph it can be summarised that what can be some of the
ways that organisations can adopt to respond to prevailing issues of equality and
diversity. According to views of respondent it employs felt that there has to be
equal compensation provided to all the employees. 4 respondents had a belief that
they must be performance-based appraisal.
Other five respondents had a believe that there must be use of objective criteria for
the purpose of different decisions related to employees that are made by the
management.6 respondents out of 30 felt that there must be no use of any type of
indirect discrimination on the part of employers. Remaining 7 respondents out of
30 felt that above mentioned or some of the ways that can be used by ASDA to
respond to the issues related to equality and diversity.
Theme 8: Benefits associated with implementation of strategies to deal with issues
of equality & diversity
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Q8) What are some of benefits associated with implementation of strategies to
deal with issues of equality & diversity?
Frequency
a) Timely decision making 4
b) Higher employee satisfaction 6
c) Enhancement in employee productivity 8
d) Cost effectiveness 4
e) All of the above 8
Interpretation:
From above presented graph it can be said that when employees were asked about benefits
related to the implementation of specific strategies to deal with issues of equality and diversity
then 4 respondents felt it will enhance the process of timely decision making. 6 out of 30
employees felt that proper equality and Diversity practices are linked to high employee
satisfaction. It implies well that it will lead to enhancement in the productivity of each individual
employee that can be reflected in the overall outcome in terms of achievement of laid
organisation objective.4 out of 30 respondents felt that it will lead to enhancing the overall cost
effectiveness in the organisation.
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Recommendations
There are certain recommendations that can be used by ASDA to respond to the issues of
equality and diversity:
1) The primary conducted research it can be observed that employees are having a high tenure
the organisation. There has to be focus on proper implementation of provisions related to
Equality act 2010 as many employees have a belief that there is no proper implementation of this
act
2) Mentoring training programs have to be always based on the married and objective criteria so
that employees are having a competitive spirit to enhance the present level of contribution.
3) In case of negotiating policies that has to be equal for both men and women employees.
Reflections
For the purpose of the search work I have collected information from some available
secondary sources of data that is using the view points of different writers. Apart from this I have
focused on using of the primary data collection method by the use of questionnaire. Both the
primary and secondary sources of data have helped me in collecting the desired information
according to the set objectives of research. I have faced difficulties related to my communication
skills because there is requirement of effective communication skills in order to influence the
respondents to provide the required information. All the issues related to practices and privacy of
the information revealed by the respondents has been taken care. The experience from the
research work will be very helpful in dealing with the future skill gaps and drawing down the
conclusions related to how organisations are able to respond to the different types of issue that
are faced related to equality and diversity.
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Conclusion
From the above discussed information it can be concluded that organisations are using
several different strategies in order to respond to the changing dynamic conditions of workplace.
Present search report has been based on developing a detailed understanding of the different
types of acne that can organisations to respond to such issues and minimise the negative impact.
Further there is use of both primary and secondary sources of information to collect the required
data for the purpose of reaching to some relevant conclusions. It can be concluded that diversity
is a very crucial aspect that is part of every organisation. Management has to focus on
maximizing the benefits from this high amount of diversity and minimization of internal
conflicts that arise because of differences in background culture belief among their workforce.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Harding, S., Nelson, L. and Glover, T., 2016. Solent oyster restoration project management
plan. Blue Marine Foundation, p.47.
Heagney, J., 2016. Fundamentals of project management. Amacom.
Kobelt and et. al., 2017. The burden of multiple sclerosis 2015: Methods of data collection,
assessment and analysis of costs, quality of life and symptoms. Multiple Sclerosis
Journal, 23(2_suppl), pp.4-16.
Wildemuth, B.M. ed., 2016. Applications of social research methods to questions in information
and library science. ABC-CLIO.
Young, T.L., 2016. Successful project management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bowl, M., 2018. Differentiation, distinction and equality–or diversity? The language of the
marketised university: an England, New Zealand comparison. Studies in Higher
Education, 43(4), pp.671-688.
Özbilgin, M. and Slutskaya, N., 2017. Consequences of neo-liberal politics on equality and
diversity at work in Britain: Is resistance futile?. In Management and Diversity. Emerald
Publishing Limited.
Nachmias, S., Ridgway, M. and Caven, V., 2019. The Legal Framework on Diversity and
Equality. In Inequality and Organizational Practice (pp. 15-36). Palgrave Macmillan,
Cham.
Booysen, L.A., Bendl, R. and Pringle, J.K. eds., 2018. Handbook of research methods in
diversity management, equality and inclusion at work. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Online
7 Tips to Promote Equality & End Workplace, 2019 [online], Available
throughhttps://www.skillcast.com/blog/7-tips-promote-equality-end-workplace-discrimination
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Appendix:
Project Logbook for the chosen organisation
Name of the learner: Name of the Supervisor:
Project Title: Date:
Update of weekly research/ tasks achieved (Account
for a minimum of six weeks with dates)
· What have you completed?
· Did you fulfil Task requirements?
· Are you on track and within deadlines set?
· Did you need to make any changes to your
project management plan?
I have completed the report on topic
To identify the basic concept of equality & diversity
and strategies adopted by organisations to deal
with the issues of equality & diversity” A case
study on ASDA
Yes
Yes the allocated time frame was from 10/09/2020
to 15/11/2020.
No
Any risks and / or issues identified.
· Did you identify risks/issues with a lack of
skills required for undertaking research tasks?
· Did you identify any additional risks/issues
that have an impact on the project management
plan?
Yes, I faced certain issues related to collection of
data and then interpreting data according to laid
objectives.
No
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Problems encountered
· What barriers did you face?
· How did you overcome them
I faced several barriers related to my communication
skills and providing assurance to respondents that
their data will not be used for any other purpose part
from this research report.
New Ideas and change of project direction
What Have I learnt about myself this week?
· How did I feel when I had to deal with
Tasks/problems?
· Did I find it useful to complete the tasks?
· How well have I performed? What did I
Contribute?
· What can I improve on next week?
· How might this learning apply in the future?
This week I have learnt about different insights of
equality & diversity in organisations and ways it can
be dealt
I had to focus on improvement of my present
communication and interpersonal skills
Yes all the task actually lead towards achievement of
the ultimate aim of this report
I have been able to analyse all the issues and collect
both primary & secondary form of information
required to reach to specific outcomes.
Further there can improvement of performance by
focussing on development of better communication
skills and use of more sources for collection of
secondary form of information.
This learning is going to help in performing future
activities of research work.
Project plan status to date (on, ahead, behind)
Signature of the Supervisor and date:
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