Aston Martin's Approach to Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

This report examines strategies and initiatives for building a diverse and inclusive working environment, specifically focusing on Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holding plc. The report begins by outlining project aims, objectives, and a project management plan, including cost, scope, quality, time, and resource considerations. It then details a small-scale research project, including qualitative and quantitative research methods, sampling, and a questionnaire administered to 30 respondents within Aston Martin. The data collected is analyzed using frequency distributions to assess employee understanding of diversity and inclusion, the benefits of a diverse workforce, and the implementation of equality and diversity initiatives. The report concludes with reflections on the findings and recommendations for Aston Martin to foster a more inclusive and diverse workplace.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
TITLE.............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Project aims and objectives....................................................................................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
Small scale research along with the data collection method..................................................7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
Analysis of data collected.......................................................................................................9
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................15
Reflection.............................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

TITLE
“To determine the strategies and initiatives which can be taken by companies so that a
diverse and inclusive working environment can be built.” A study on Aston Martin Lagonda
Global Holding plc.
INTRODUCTION
With the increasing globalisation the expansion of companies in different countries have
increased leading to a diverse workforce belonging to different nations, religion, culture,
experiences and backgrounds etc. working together in company (Kim, 2015). This increases the
need of a working environment which gives all the employees equal rights and opportunities to
grow in companies so that they can use their efforts in order to achieve company goals. In this
report Aston Martin which is a British independent manufacturer of luxurious cars founded in the
year 1913 and is headquartered in England, UK. In this report a research will be conducted so
that appropriate initiatives can be taken by Aston Martin so that a diverse and inclusive
workplace can be created in company along with some recommendations on implementing these
strategies. Further a reflection will be done by the researcher so as to reflect on the information
and findings.
LO 1
Project aims and objectives
In order to conduct a research in an effective manner it is important that the aims and
objectives which are to achieved are determined so that a specific direction can be set for the
researcher to follow so that the project gets completed within a specified time and stipulated
budget (Kendrick, 2015).
Aim: “To determine the strategies and initiatives which can be taken by companies so
that a diverse and inclusive working environment can be built.” A study on Aston Martin
Lagonda Global Holding plc.
Objective:
 To determine the importance of having an equal and diverse workforce in company.
 To ascertain the initiatives and strategies which can help the company in building an
inclusive and diverse working environment.

 To identify the ways in which such initiatives and strategies can be implemented in
company.
Questions:
 How is an equal and diverse workforce important for company?
 What can be the initiatives and strategies which can be taken by Aston Martin so that it
can build an inclusive and diverse working environment?
 What are the ways in that can help in correct implementation of such strategies and
initiatives?
Project management plan:
Project management plan is a plan which is devised so that the execution of project can
be done in an efficient manner by listing all the deliverables and requirements which will help in
completing the project on time. This is a tool which can help in determining the cost, scope,
quality, time etc. which will be needed to complete the project so that researcher can take
effective steps in order to accumulate all the components which can help in proper execution of
project (Hass, 2017).
Cost: This help in determining the total cost which will be required in executing each
activity of project so that high quality of results can be obtained. This component also helps in
setting aside sufficient budget by researcher for each activity so that there is no lack of funds that
will be required to be executed during project.
Particulars Amount
Research tools and techniques £100
Data collection £150
Assets and resources £50
Miscellaneous £100
Total Cost £400
Scope: This component is required to determine the specific project goals, deliverables,
costs, deadlines etc. during making a project management plan. This component will help the
researcher in determining the worth of the project and also the importance of results of project
for the company so that it can be completed efficiently (Ong, Wang and Zainon, 2016).

Quality: This component determines the authenticity and reliability of information which
is collected by the way of conducting the research. It is important that the quality of research is
kept high so that highly efficient results can be drawn through research which can help in
achieving project goals in an efficient manner. Researcher thus must collect data from reliable
and relevant sources so that high quality of research can be done.
Time: This is related with the total time which is required to complete the project in order
to achieve the desired results. It is important to determine the project time so that the project can
be completed within a specific period of time. The researcher will require a total time of 3
months (Artto, Ahola and Vartiainen, 2016).
Resources: All the tangible and intangible assets which will be required to execute the
research needs to be determined so that they can be assimilated and used in a desired manner to
derive efficient results. Team member, research tools, sample population etc. will be required by
the researcher to complete the research in an effective manner.
Communication: It is important that effective communication is established during the
complete project so that flow of information among team members can be done efficiently and
desired results can be achieved. Various tools like mobiles, laptops, computer etc, can help in
establishing effective communication during the project (Lientz and Rea, 2016).
Risk: These are the uncertainties related with occurrence or non-occurrence with specific
events which can affect the quality of project and also affect its completion of time and budget.
These risks must be pre-determined so that effective steps can be taken to minimise the negative
impacts of these risks on the project.
Gantt chart: It is a tool which helps in depicting all the activities in horizontal lines
against the time which is required to complete them so that the tasks actually completed within
that period of time can be compared. This help in scheduling all the activities related to project
so that they can be completed within specified.

Work break down structure: It is a project management tool which helps in breaking
the complete project in smaller and manageable components so that project team can find it easy
to manage the complete project. This tool is a deliverable-oriented breakdown of a project which
help in managing the complete project so that each component can be separately completed
leading to completion of complete project within a certain period of time.
LO 2
Small scale research along with the data collection method.
Research: It is a systematic investigation done about a certain topic by finding information
about the topic in various sources like books, journals, internet, physical research etc. so that a
deep knowledge related to the topic can be generated and facts can be established (Lian and Jia,
2016).
Methods of research:
Qualitative research: In this research the data is collected directly from the market by
asking open-ended questions or conversations so that deep information can be gained on the
topic being researched. This help in gaining knowledge about the thoughts of sample population
on the topic which can help in gaining vast information about the topic (Bożek and Werner,
2018).
Quantitative research: This method helps in gathering mathematical, computational and
statistical information from various sources so that the data which is collected can be interpreted
by using diagrams, graphs, tables etc. Through this method correct and accurate information can
be gathered as the data collected can be represented in a form that can help in making
interpretation so that efficient results can be drawn.
Sources of quantitative data collection:

Primary source: These are the sources from where information is collected for the first
time by researcher which help in gathering reliable information as the researcher directly goes to
the source to gather required information. Questionnaires, interviews etc. help in gathering
information from the sources firsthand and without the bias of other researchers which increases
the authenticity and reliability of information so collected (Susmanschi and Ruse, 2018).
Secondary source: These are the sources which help in collecting information which is
not being collected for the first time like through books, journals, internet articles etc. As these
sources contain information of other authors they may be biased and also outdated which affects
the overall quality of information so gathered.
Sampling: It is a process of selecting a few number of people from a large size of population
having common characteristics so that the information collected from sample population can be
applied to the complete large population size. In order to collect information the researcher in
this report designs a questionnaire to be answered by 30 people from Aston Martin:
Questionnaire
Quantitative questions
Q1) Do you understand the value of having an inclusive and diverse workforce?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) Does having an equal and diverse workforce provide benefits to the company?
a) Agree
b) b) Disagree
Q3) How can equality be implemented in Aston Martin?
a) Following Equality Act, 2010
b) No discrimination
c) Equal opportunities
Q4) How can Aston Martin have a diverse workforce?
a) Improving recruitment
b) Indiscriminate selection
Q5) What is meant by having an inclusive workforce?
a) Employee engagement
b) Participative culture

c) Equal rights
Q6) What are the benefits of having an inclusive and diverse culture?
a) Improved work performance
b) Increased innovation
c) Improved brand image
Qualitative questions
Q7) What are the strategies and initiatives that can help in building an inclusive and diverse
working environment in company?
a) Democratic leadership
b) Motivation
c) Performance based appraisals
Q8) How can the strategies be implemented in company?
a) Training and development
b) Support from leaders
c) Increase in engagement
Q9) Recommendations
LO 3
Analysis of data collected
Following data is collected from the sample population of 30 from Aston Martin which can
be analysed and interpreted by using graphs so that conclusions can be drawn:
Q1) Do you understand the value of having an
inclusive and diverse workforce?
Frequency
Yes 10
No 20

From this data it can be said that out of the 30 respondents in Aston Martin, 20 are
unaware about the value of having an inclusive and diverse working environment which means
that there is a lack of understanding of equality among workers and also having workers
belonging to different cultures, nations, religion etc.
Q2) Does having an equal and diverse workforce
provide benefits to the company?
Frequency
Agree 25
Disagree 5

From this report it can be said that 25 people out of 30 agree that having a diverse and equal and
diverse workforce benefits company in many ways while rest 5 do not agree on the same. It can
be said that it is important to have equal and diverse workplace in Aston Martin.
Q3) How can equality be implemented in Aston
Martin?
Frequency
Following Equality Act, 2010 10
No discrimination 10
Equal opportunities 10
Out of 30 respondents 10 say that Equality Act, 2010 can help in creating equality in company,
other 10 say that there should be no discrimination among workers and the other 10 say that
equal opportunities must be given to all. All these can help in increaing equality in company.
Q4) How can Aston Martin have a diverse
workforce?
Frequency
Improving recruitment 20
Indiscriminate selection 10

From the 30 people 20 say that improving recruitment while the other 10 say that indiscriminate
selection can help in increasing a diverse workforce in company so that people belonging to
different experiences and backgrounds can form part of company workforce.
Q5) What is meant by having an inclusive
workforce?
Frequency
Employee engagement 10
Participative culture 10
Equal rights 10

Out of the 30 respondents 10 say that employee engagemnet, other 10 say that participative
culture and rest 10 say taht equal rights can help Aston Martin can help in creating an inclusive
workforce in company so that the views and opinions of workers can be considered while
making decisions.
Q6) What are the benefits of having an inclusive
and diverse culture?
Frequency
Improved work performance 15
Increased innovation 10
Improved brand image 5

From 30 people 15 say that having a diverse workforce can help in improving work performance
of workers, other 10 say that it can help in increasing innovation in company while the rest 5 say
that the brand image of company can improve.
Q7) What are the strategies and
initiatives that can help in building an
inclusive and diverse working
environment in company?
Explanation
Democratic leadership Democratic leadership can help in creating a
participative work culture in company encouraging
employees to take part in making decisions (Dickerson
and et. al., 2016).
Motivation Positive motivation can help in encouraging workers
to participate in company activities.
Performance based appraisals This help in decreasing discrimination as performance
of workers is valued over any other attribute.
Q8) How can the strategies be
implemented in company?
Explanation

Training and development Proper training and development can help managers in
implementing strategies that can help in creating an
inclusive and diverse workforce.
Support from leaders Leaders can help in minimising discrimination among
workers.
Increase in engagement Encouraging employee engagement in decision
making can help in creating equal and diverse
workforce.
Recommendations
From the above data and interpretations it can be said that there are various benefits of
having equality and diversity in company so appropriate strategies and initiatives should be taken
so as to increase an inclusive workplace. Following are some recommendations which can be
followed in Aston Martin:
 Increasing motivational speaker seminars so that equality in workplace can be promoted.
 Improving recruitment strategy so that no discrimination is done in selecting workers
having different characteristics.
 Increasing employee engagement in company so that they can be encouraged to
participate in decision making (Newton, 2016).
LO 4
Reflection
The research which i carried out was on the topic of strategies and initiatives which can be
taken by companies so that an inclusive and diverse workforce can be created in companies. the
research was conducted on Aston Martin so that the company can be benefitted by equality and
diversity in workplace and also its productivity and profitability in market can be increased.
During this research i used various research tools and techniques so that the research can be
completed within time and stipulated budget. During the research i was able to enhance my
research skills which can help me in getting future research projects which is beneficial for my
personal and professional growth. I faced certain problems while the project like time
management, resource utilisation, team management etc. which i solved by using WBS and
taking guidance from my teachers and mentors so that these can be efficiently solved.

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from this report that equality and diversity in workplace plays an
important role in the growth and progress of company in competitive marketplace. The research
helped in determining various strategies and initiatives which can be used by companies so that
an inclusive workplace can be created. Training and development programmes, seminars etc. can
be used by companies so that they can have an effective working environment where all the
workers can work together and can integrate their efforts to achieve company goals.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Kim, M., 2015. Pay secrecy and the gender wage gap in the United States. Industrial Relations:
A Journal of Economy and Society .54(4). pp.648-667
Kendrick, T., 2015. Identifying and managing project risk: essential tools for failure-proofing
your project. Amacom.
Hass, K.B., 2017. Living on the edge: Managing project complexity. In Handbook of Research
on Leveraging Risk and Uncertainties for Effective Project Management (pp. 177-201).
IGI Global.
Ong, H.Y., Wang, C. and Zainon, N., 2016. Integrated earned value Gantt chart (EV-Gantt) tool
for project portfolio planning and monitoring optimization. Engineering Management
Journal, 28(1), pp.39-53.
Artto, K., Ahola, T. and Vartiainen, V., 2016. From the front end of projects to the back end of
operations: Managing projects for value creation throughout the system lifecycle.
International Journal of Project Management .34(2). pp.258-270.
Lientz, B. and Rea, K., 2016. Breakthrough technology project management. Routledge.
Lian, X. and Jia, L., 2016. Application and implementation of Gantt chart with two bar based on
template column technology. Microcomputer & Its Applications, (4), p.29.
Susmanschi, G. and Ruse, E., 2018. Planning Internal Audit Activities Using The Gantt
Chart. Management Strategies Journal, 42(4), pp.132-139.
Bożek, A. and Werner, F., 2018. Flexible job shop scheduling with lot streaming and sublot size
optimisation. International Journal of Production Research, 56(19), pp.6391-6411.
Dickerson III, C.L., Wang, J., Witherspoon, J. and Crumley, S.C., 2016. Work zone management
in the district of Columbia: deploying a citywide transportation management plan and work zone
project management system. Transportation Research Record, 2554(1), pp.37-45.
Newton, R., 2016. Project Management Step by Step: How to plan and manage a highly
successful project. Pearson UK.
Heldman, K., 2018. PMP: project management professional exam study guide. John Wiley &
Sons.
Jayaraman, R., 2016. Project cost control: a new method to plan and control costs in large
projects. Business process management journal.
Burnette, M., Williams, S. and Imker, H., 2016. From Plan to Action: Successful Data
Management Plan Implementation in a Multidisciplinary Project. Journal of eScience
Librarianship, 5(1), p.e1101.

Project Logbook for the chosen organisation:
Name of the learner: Name of the Supervisor:
Project Title: “To determine the strategies and
initiatives which can be taken by companies so
that a diverse and inclusive working
environment can be built.” A study on Aston
Martin Lagonda Global Holding plc.
Date:
Update of weekly research/ tasks achieved
(Account for a minimum of six weeks with
dates)1- What have you completed?
2- Did you fulfil Task requirements?
3- Are you on track and within deadlines
set?
4- Did you need to make any changes to
your project management plan?
I have researched on strategies and initiatives
which can help Aston Martin in improving its
productivity in market.
Yes, all the tasks were completed on time.
Yes.
No
Any risks and / or issues identified?
 Did you identify risks/issues with a
lack of skills required for undertaking
research tasks?
Yes, lack of time and resources.

 Did you identify any additional
risks/issues that have an impact on the
project management plan?
Sampling and in cooperation among team
members.
Problems encountered
 What barriers did you face?
 How did you overcome them?
Lack of effective communication.
Using communication tools like laptops,
mobiles etc.
New Ideas and change of project direction
What Have I learnt about myself this week?1. How did I feel when I had to deal with
tasks/problems?
2. How well have I performed? What did
I contribute?
3. What can I improve on next week?4. How might this learning apply in the
I felt stressed and impatient.
I used my research skills efficiently.
My researching skills can improve.

future?
Tasks planned for next week
 Which tasks are priority?
 Have you set aside sufficient time for
completion?
Allocation of work in accordance with time
by using WBS.
Yes
Project plan status to date (on, ahead, behind)
Supervisor comments to address
Signature of the Supervisor and date:

Template for Performance Review to be attached with the report by the learner:
What was the Project supposed to accomplish?
Along with knowing about the importance of equality and diversity in workplace strategies which can
be used by companies were also determined.
Did the project succeed in its aims/ how do you know? Specifically, please outline any evaluation
and assessment undertaken?
Yes the aims of project were accomplished as desired.
What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the project?
Effective communication and research skills helped me in conducting the research efficiently.
What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled? Was there timely
identification of issues and resolution during the project process?
Gathering information from sample population and cooperation among team members. Effective
communication skills helped me in solving these issues.
What did you learn from undertaking the project?
My research skills got fine and i learned tactics on doing efficient research.
How would you rate your performance as a management consultant leading the project
As a management consultant in a research, I rate myself as 8/10.
What strengths and weakness of your performance did you identify?
Strengths: Communication skills, analysis skills and data interpretation
Weakness: Time management, managing team
How will this inform and support your continuous professional development?
This will help in enhancing my research abilities so that i can grow personally and professionally in
future.