How do multinational companies incorporate equality and diversity in the workplace for improving corporate productivity and competitiveness? A study on Unilever Plc.

This research report focuses on how multinational companies, specifically Unilever Plc, incorporate equality and diversity in the workplace to improve corporate productivity and competitiveness. It includes aims, objectives, project management plan, and various research methods.

Managing Successful
Business Project

Table of Contents
TITLE..............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 : Aims and Objectives of the project......................................................................................3
P2 : Project Management Plan....................................................................................................4
P3 : Work break down structure and Gantt chart for providing time frames..............................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
P4 : Small-scale research by qualitative and quantitative research methods..............................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................12
P5 : Analysis of research and data using appropriate tools and techniques..............................12
P6 : Recommendations on the basis of the data analysis and results of research.....................19
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................19
P7 : Reflection from the research and its usefulness to the organisation..................................19
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
.........................................................................................................................................................6

TITLE
How do multinational companies incorporate equality and diversity in the workplace for
improving corporate productivity and competitiveness? A study on Unilever Plc.
INTRODUCTION
Equality and diversity in the workplace is very important in order to provide equal
opportunity for the employees to develop their career in right direction. Having equality in
diverse work place attract and retain most of the working employees in the organisation and best
services can be provided to the respective customers. The organisation that is taken into
consideration is Unilever Plc. Which is a UK based multinational company that deals in
consumer goods such as hygiene, personal care, nutrition etc. This report is a research report
which aims to understand the requirement of equality and diversity in the process developing a
competent, driven and inclusive workforce. This report includes aims, objectives, project
management plan, various methods of conducting research etc.
TASK 1
P1 : Aims and Objectives of the project
Overview of the project : This project is about implementing equality and diversity in
the organisation. It is very important to implement equality and diversity in diverse work place as
it provides skills, knowledge to employees and career opportunity. It also makes them competent
to acquire and adapt the changes taking place globally (Ashtiani, 2017). This research will help
Unilever to improve their process so that they can meet up the international requirements.
Aim of the Project : The aim of the project is to incorporate equality and diversity in the
process developing a competent, driven and inclusive workforce. A study on Unilever Plc.
Objective of the project : The objectives that are to be achieved from the project are :
 To develop a basic understanding of equality and diversity which will help the
organisation to analyse their existing employee base.
 To understand the challenges faced by the organisation due to changes taking place in
work culture which affects the existing employees.
 To analyse the ways and strategies that can be followed by the organisation to improve
their workforce.
Questions : The questions to which this research project will provides answer are :

 How equality and diversity helps organization to analyse their existing employee base ?
 What are the challenges that organization can face due to changes in work culture and the
way it affects the existing employees?
 What are the strategies and ways that can be followed by the organisation for improving
their workforce?
P2 : Project Management Plan
Project management plan is a document that defines how a project is executed,
controlled and monitored. The other components of project plan could be initiating, planning and
closing. It is basically a summary of activities that has to done and plans that has to be
implemented during the course of project. Various attributes that are part of project management
plan are cost, scope, time, quality, communication, risk and resources (Bell, Bryman and Harley,
2018).
The aspect of project management are discussed below from the point of view of
researcher and company both.
Basis For Organisation For Researcher
Cost To implement the strategies in the
organisation, the cost that this
organisation has to bear is £52000
which are related with the training of
the employees, research and
development, cost of changes that will
take place in HR practices and of the
investment that they have to make to
acquire new assets required as per
change.
The researcher also have to undertake
various activities such as appointing a
team for research and data collection
from various sources for which they
incur cost. The estimated cost that
will bear by the researcher will be
£6000.
Scope The scope of the project for the
organisation is wider as it will bring
change by implementing equality and
diversity in the organisation in order
to get efficient employee in their
The scope of the project for the
researcher is that it provides an
opportunity that will help in creating
an understanding of equality and
diversity in the workplace and also to

organisation by giving them career
growth opportunity. This will
improve the performance of the
organisation as the employees will
work more effectively and will make
their employees competent to cope
with the change.
identify different strategies that can be
adopted by other employers of
Unilever to improve their skills
(Boddy, 2016).
Time The time that will be taken by the
organisation to adopt the changes will
be 45 days as they have to implement
equality and diversity in their
procedures etc.
Researcher will take 2 months to
complete the research by breaking the
activities through Gantt chart and
work breakdown structure which will
help them to complete their project on
time.
Quality This research will improve skills and
knowledge of the employees by way
of more training and procuring better
staff. It will improve the quality of
their performance which will be
reflected in the organisation's
performance (Pieterse, 2019).
The researcher will conduct both
quantitative and qualitative research
which will help them to gather detail
information. Thus, it will help them to
utilise it further as well.
Communication The organisation will communicate
the change to the employees,
managers and the teams by interacting
with them directly through meeting
or by sending them the mails.
The researcher will communicate the
progress and will take details from the
clients using emails and by telephonic
conversation.

Risk The risk associated with the project
for the organisation is of extra cost,
time and efforts in case the changes
does not improve to the level as
expected.
The risk that researcher faces is of
inaccuracy of the information
provided by the sample selected for
conducting the research.
Resources The resources that is required by the
organisation in implementing the
research are their human resource,
time, funds etc. Also they have to
adopt new technology to meet up with
the international requirements
(Bresler and Stake, 2017).
Researchers will require access to
internet to gather the information.
Also they require time and funds but
the most important resource for them
is information.
P3 : Work break down structure and Gantt chart for providing time frames
Work Breakdown structure is a tool that helps in diving the project into smaller
manageable tasks. It make the process simple to execute and manage by the supervisors. This
methodology can be used to divide any type of product. WBS makes project accurately
assignable to the project teams, helps in identifying the points where control is necessary
(Bryman, 2017). The researcher will prepare this structure to break his activities so that he can
manage the activities easily and thus project can be completed on time.

Gantt Chart is a tool that shows the activities to be performed in the specified time
provided against the activity. This helps in tracking the activities and keep the management
updated about the completion of the project. Gantt chart can be prepared for event scheduling,
production scheduling etc. through Microsoft Excel or by using specialised software. Researcher
will prepare Gantt chart so that he can plan sequence of the activities and time frames in which a
particular activity has to be done to avoid delays (Papke-Shields and Boyer-Wright, 2017).

TASK 2
P4 : Small-scale research by qualitative and quantitative research methods
Research Methods are the strategies and techniques that helps in collecting the data for
analysis. The research methods are classified into two parts :
Qualitative research is the method of collecting data directly from the participants
which are non-numerical. They are asked open-ended questions. This will help the researcher to
understand the reason about what and why researcher thinks so (Crane, 2019). Various
Qualitative methods are one-to-one interviews, ethnographic research where people are observed
in natural environment, case study research etc.
Quantitative research are those methods which deals with numerical data and facts &
figures where measurement can be done in absolute numbers (Palinkas, 2015). Various methods

of conducting quantitative research are surveys or questionnaire, observation, experiments,
document screening etc.
The data can be collected from two sources : Primary and Secondary. Primary data is
the fresh data collected by the investigators for specific purpose from the samples selected out of
the population which comes under the investigation, whereas secondary data is that data which
has already been collected by someone but other investigators also uses it as per their needs
(Fletcher, 2017). It can be gathered from publications, newsletter etc. For the present research,
primary data is been used as researcher used the method of interview and analysed the customers'
behaviour with the help of questionnaires.
The research method used for this project is Quantitative methods where data is collected using
questionnaires.
Sample for research is the selected smaller group that is taken out of the total population
under research which represent the entire population. The sample selected for this research are
50 employees from Unilever Plc.
The Questionnaire that is used in the research is :
Questionnaire
Q1) Since how many years you have been working in this organisation ?
 0-5 years
 5-10 years
 10-15 years
 More than 15 years
Q2) Is Unilever Plc have an diversity strategy?
 Yes
 No
Q3) On what the organization diversity focus?
 Internal
 External
 Both
Q4) Do you think training program is vital for maintaining diverse culture and equality.
 Strongly Agree

 Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
Q5) Do the organization have sufficient budget for supporting its equality and diversity
strategy?
 Yes
 No
Q6) Does Unilever Plc measures the effectiveness of its diversity and equality strategy?
 Yes
 No
Q7) What advantages will Unilever Plc will get if company is able to manage diversity and
equality in workplace ?
 Able to sustain globally
 Improves efficiency and profitability
 Capable of meeting international requirements
 All of the above
Q8) Are employees of the organization are been treated equally without any discrimination?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
Q9) Has the company's performance enhanced due to diverse work culture?
 Yes
 No
Q10) Recommend some measures that can be taken by Unilever Plc to overcome the issues
faced in meeting international requirement..........

TASK 3
P5 : Analysis of research and data using appropriate tools and techniques
Theme 1: Number of years for employees has been working
Q1) Since how many years you have been working in this organisation Frequency
 0-5 years 12
 5-10 years 10
 10-15 years 18
 More than 15 years 10
12
10
18
10
0-5 years
5-10 years
10-15 years
More than 15 years
Interpretation : Out of 50 employees who were part of sample in the organisation, majority of
respondents have replied that they have been working in organisation for more between 10 to 15
years. Also, out of 50 participants 10 have replied that they have been working in the company
for more than 15 years.
Theme 2 : Adoption of diversity strategy

Q2) Is Unilever Plc adopting diversity strategy in the organization? Frequency
 Yes 45
 No 5
45
5
Yes
No
Interpretation : Out of 50 people 45 agree that the Unilever Plc adopts the diversity strategy
which states that it is helpful for the growth of the company. Whereas out of 50 peoples 5
peoples disagree that it is not adopted by the company so it is interpreted that majority of
respondent says that the diversity strategy is adopted by the company.
Theme 3 : Focus of Diversity
Q3) On what the organization diversity focus? Frequency
 Internal 10
 External 10
 Both 30

Internal
External
Both
Interpretation : The opinion of people for the focus of diversity within the organization is that
out of 40 peoples 10 peoples states that the internal diversity is followed by the organization and
out of 10 peoples states that external diversity is focused. And 20 people agree that they focus on
both external and internal diversity which is helpful for the organization in maintaining the
diverse culture within the company.
Theme 4 : Maintaining diverse culture and equality
Q4) Do you think training program is vital for maintaining diverse culture
and equality.
Frequency
 Strongly Agree 37
 Agree 12
 Disagree 1
 Strongly Disagree 0

37
12
1
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Interpretation : Out of 50 peoples 37 peoples agree that the training program is important for
maintaining the diverse culture and 12 respondent agree the same and whereas the 1 of the
respondent disagree. So it is interpreted that the training program is helpful for the organization
in maintaining the diverse and equality culture so that the retention of employees in company has
been increased.
Theme 5: Organization's sufficient budget for supporting diversity & equality strategy
Q5) Do the organization have sufficient budget for supporting its equality
and diversity strategy?
Frequency
 Yes 29
 No 21

Yes
No
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency
Interpretation : The 29 people out 50 respondent agrees that the organization have an sufficient
budget for equality and diversity strategy whereas the 21 people doesn't agree the same. So it is
interpreted that the majority of peoples had said that company has an sufficient fund for this
strategies and funding a huge amount for this strategy which is further helpful for the growth of
the company.
Theme 6 : Measuring the effectiveness of the diversity and equality strategy
Q6) Does Unilever Plc measures the effectiveness of its diversity and
equality strategy?
Frequency
 Yes 30
 No 20
Yes
No

Interpretation : The 30 people states that the company measures effectiveness of diversity and
equality strategy and 20 people do not agree with that. So it is interpreted that the majority of the
peoples says that Unilever Plc measures effectiveness of the diversity and equality strategy
which can be helpful for the company in developing more strategy and evaluating that the
strategies impacting the workforce or not so that they can develop or work on that further.
Theme 7 : Advantages of managing diversity and equality in workplace
Q7) What advantages will Unilever Plc will get if company is able to
manage diversity and equality in workplace ?
Frequency
 Able to sustain globally 7
 Improves efficiency and profitability 9
 Capable of meeting international requirements 3
 All of the above 31
7
9
3
31
Able to sustain globally
Improves efficiency and prof-
itability
Capable of meeting interna-
tional requirements
All of the above
Interpretation : Most of the people in the organisation believes that it helps in achieving almost
all the objectives provided in the option as equality and diversity within organization will help
them acquire better work culture for the employees which will help them adopt to changes and
thus will improve overall organisation performance.
Theme 8 : Employees equally treated

Q8) Are employees of the organization are been treated equally without
any discrimination?
Frequency
 Strongly agree 15
 Agree 24
 Disagree 10
 Strongly disagree 1
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Interpretation : 24 people agree that the organization treat their employees equally without any
discrimination whereas 15 people strongly agree the same and 10 people do not disagree that. So
it is interpreted that the employees are treated equally within the workplace and no
discrimination is done among employees, which is helpful for the company to grow the number
of employees and retain the wide range of employees.
Theme 9 : Enhancement of company's performance
Q9) Has company's performance enhanced due to diverse work culture? Frequency
 Yes 42
 No 8

42
8
Yes
No
Interpretation : 42 out of 50 believes that yes Unilever performance has been increased due to
the diverse culture whereas 8 respondent doesn't agree the same so it is interpreted that the
performance of the company has been increase as the productive work is rendered by the
employee due to the diverse work culture.
P6 : Recommendations on the basis of the data analysis and results of research
From the research various recommendations are drawn for the organisation which will
help them to achieve their objectives. It is recommended to implement equality and diversity in
the organisation as it attract new talent through various external sources as they posses new
ideas, skills, knowledge and abilities which make organisation to get better staff and make
organisation efficient enough to adapt the changes. This also retain the employees for long
period in the organisation. It is also been recommended that organisation is having its focus on
diversity both internally and externally. They have to keep this focus for long run to main its
diverse culture globally. The different training programs have to implemented in order to
maintain the diverse culture. There are some employees that are having perception that
organisation is not treating them equally, Unilever have to convey these employees so that they
can retain in there organisation for long period.
TASK 4
P7 : Reflection from the research and its usefulness to the organisation
While undertaking this research, I felt that it helped me in improving my understanding
regrading the concern which affect the existing practices and procedure of the organisation. It
helped me in identification of my strengths and weaknesses in this particular concern. The

strength I felt while conducting the research was effective time management which reduces the
chances of project delays and completion of the research within the cost allocated to the project.
(Jahagirdar, 2015). Weakness that I analysed while interpreting the results from the questionnaire
was, the answer provided by the respondent may means anything else then what I interpreted
from them which was a threat too for the research as on the basis of such interpretation only
recommendations are provided to the clients.
While conducting research the data was collected using quantitative and
qualitative methods of research, this data can be further used for analysis and in other research
papers as it is collected by my team which ensures its accuracy and authenticity. The problems I
faced was of communication and understanding at some point with the managers of the
organisation who were held responsible for the research. But I completed the research on time as
I divided my activities into smaller tasks backed by specific time to complete using Gantt Chart
and WBS which also help me utilising resources efficiently. This Research motivated and
encouraged me to conduct more assignments like this in future which adds-on a lot to the skills
and build up confidence (Krosnick, 2018).
CONCLUSION
From the above research report it is been concluded that organisation have to implement
the equality and diversity in its workplace in order to make the employees attracted towards them
and retaining the employees for long period in the organisation. This research helped in
identifying the cost, scope, time and various other aspects related to the research. It helps both
the organisation and researcher to decide the extend to which they have to consider the factors
and in what period the research and its implementation has to wind up. For collecting data
primary and secondary both the sources were used. Also Gantt chart and WBS were used to
ensure the completion of the research on time.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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against a work breakdown structure. U.S. Patent 9,720,737.
Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B., 2018. Business research methods. Oxford university press.
Boddy, C.R., 2016. Sample size for qualitative research. Qualitative Market Research: An
International Journal .19(4). pp.426-432.
Bresler, L. and Stake, R.E., 2017. Qualitative research methodology in music education. In
Critical Essays in Music Education (pp. 113-128). Routledge.
Bryman, A., 2017. Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their integration.
In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57-78). Routledge.
Crane, A. and et. al., 2019. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in
the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Fletcher, A.J., 2017. Applying critical realism in qualitative research: methodology meets
method. International Journal of Social Research Methodology .20(2). pp.181-194.
Guerra-Santin, O. and Tweed, C.A., 2015. In-use monitoring of buildings: An overview of data
collection methods. Energy and Buildings .93. pp.189-207.
Jahagirdar, K.R. and et. al., 2015. Systems and Methods for Project Planning and Management.
U.S. Patent Application 14/328,390.
Krosnick, J.A., 2018. Questionnaire design. In The Palgrave handbook of survey research (pp.
439-455). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Kyriakidis, M., Happee, R. and de Winter, J.C., 2015. Public opinion on automated driving:
Results of an international questionnaire among 5000 respondents. Transportation
research part F: traffic psychology and behaviour .32. pp.127-140.
Mohammad, I. and et. al., 2016. Showing relationships between tasks in a Gantt chart. U.S.
Patent 9,336,502.
Noble, H. and Smith, J., 2015. Issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research. Evidence-
based nursing .18(2). pp.34-35.
Palinkas, L.A. and et. al., 2015. Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis
in mixed method implementation research. Administration and policy in mental health
and mental health services research .42(5). pp.533-544.
Papke-Shields, K.E. and Boyer-Wright, K.M., 2017. Strategic planning characteristics applied to
project management. International Journal of Project Management .35(2). pp.169-179.
Pieterse, J.N., 2019. Globalization and culture: Global mélange. Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers.
Siami-Irdemoosa, E., Dindarloo, S.R. and Sharifzadeh, M., 2015. Work breakdown structure
(WBS) development for underground construction. Automation in Construction .58.
pp.85-94.
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Wallace Clark. Journal of Management History 21(3). pp.309-327.
Online
Unilever, 2019. [Online]. Available through:<https://www.unilever.com/about/>
1

APPENDIX I
Template for evidence collection to be attached with the report by the learner:
Project Logbook for the chosen organisation:
Name of the learner: Name of the Supervisor:
Project Title: How do multinational companies
incorporate equality and diversity in the workplace for
improving corporate productivity and competitiveness? A study
on Unilever Plc.
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?
Comments
I have completed all the task in
relation to fulfil the aim of the
organisation.
Yes, I have fulfilled all the task
requirements.
Yes, I completed the worked on time
within time limits assigned.
NO, I don't have to make any change
in project plan.
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 found some issues while
conducting this research such as
communication gap, difficulty in
understanding of human nature.
No, I didn't found any other issue
other than mentioned above.
2

Problems encountered
 What barriers did you face?
 How did you overcome them?
The barriers were regarding selection
of topic, method of collecting data,
research methodologies, determining
sample size etc.
Through my knowledge and skills also
experience of the prior research
project.
New Ideas and change of project direction No
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?
At first I felt nervous but then by
applying my skills and knowledge I
overcame the issue.
Yes
I performed significantly well and my
research help the organisation to
bring equality and diversity in
workplace.
It will help me in getting future
projects.
Tasks planned for next week
 Which tasks are priority? Have you set aside sufficient time for
completion?
Data collection and Interpretation
Yes
Project plan status to date (on, ahead,
behind)
On date
Supervisor comments to address
Signature of the Supervisor and date:
3

4

APPENDIX II
Template for Performance Review to be attached with the report by the learner:
 What was the Project supposed to accomplish?
The project was to aimed to incorporate equality and diversity in the process developing a
competent, driven and inclusive workforce.
 Did the project succeed in its aims/ how do you know? Specifically, please
outline any evaluation and assessment undertaken.
Yes, research was successfully done and its assessment was done by the
project manager of the organisation by analysing the pros and cons of the
recommended strategies.
 What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the
project (e.g initial inception, project activities and project outcomes) from
a range of perspectives.
The time was efficiently utilised and within the cost assigned to the
project. This helped in successful completion of project without any delays.
 What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled?
Was there timely identification of issues and resolution during the project
process?
Authenticity of data gathered from the internet was an issue and this issue was
identified while data from different sources was not matched regarding
globalisation. For which all the data collected was cross verified.
 What did you learn from undertaking the project?
While undertaking the research I learnt to work in team as I appointed a
few students to help me throughout the project. And also I learnt how
improvement in the procedure will help the organisation.
 How would you rate your performance as a management consultant
leading the project?
5