Research Project: Equality and Diversity in the Workplace - HND

This research project examines the multifaceted issues and challenges arising from the management of equality and diversity within the workplace, particularly in the context of the UAE and other countries. The project delves into the impact of social demographics, such as age, gender, and ethnicity, on workplace dynamics and performance. It explores the research background by highlighting the challenges related to equality and diversity, including gender inequality, ageism, and discrimination based on ethnicity and disabilities. The research aims to analyze these issues and propose measures to resolve them, ultimately enhancing organizational performance. The literature review covers key aspects of equality, diversity, and workplace procedures, including the effects of these factors on workplace performance and the importance of fostering an inclusive environment. The project identifies specific problems and challenges within workplaces, such as gender pay gaps, and discusses potential solutions to promote a more equitable and diverse environment. The project also examines the impact of equality and diversity on workplace performance, emphasizing the positive outcomes of creating a diverse and inclusive work culture. Overall, this research project provides a comprehensive analysis of the issues and challenges related to equality and diversity in the workplace and offers recommendations for creating a more inclusive and productive environment.

Running head: RESEARCH PROJECT
Research Project
Name of student
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Author note

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..........................................................................................................3
Research background..........................................................................................................3
Research problem.................................................................................................................4
Research aim.........................................................................................................................4
Research objectives..............................................................................................................4
Research questions...............................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature review..................................................................................................5
Equality in the workplace....................................................................................................5
Diversity in the workplace...................................................................................................5
Procedures in the workplace...............................................................................................5
Impact of equality and diversity on workplace performance..........................................5

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Importance of equality and diversity within the workplace
Chapter 1: Introduction
The research proposal presents us about an idea about the different types of issues and
challenges that may arise out of the management of diversity and equality within the
workplace of the organisation. It will also shed light on how the problems and challenges can
be resolved and thus create a positive impact on the overall performance of the organisation
as a whole (Hideg & Ferris, 2016). The issues and challenges within the workplace of UAE
and other counties as well need to be resolved to ensure better communication and working
as an unit too.
Research background
The background of research highlights the issues and challenges that may be
experienced by the organisation related to the equality and diversity management, which even
creating enough scopes and opportunities to ensure that the workplace becomes diverse for
meeting the business requirements. It has been found that the issue and problems that
challenge the equality and diversity management within the workplace are related to the
demographics such as the age, gender, colour, race or ethnicity and even those who suffer
from some kinds of disabilities (Sharma, 2016). It has been found that within the workplace,
the male employees are provided with more scopes and opportunities as well as leadership
roles than the female employees while the companies, nowadays, have even looked at more
experienced teams consisting of members with vast knowledge and skills rather than focusing
on the formation of a youthful team. On the contrary, there are also situations where the
companies look for young generation people as part of the workplace and in such cases, the
older individuals were ignored or even the existing employees are replaced with new and
young employees, which could also be a form of discrimination within the workplace. During
the process of recruitment and selection also, the diversity within the workplace has been

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considered as males seemed to dominate while the women were found in lesser numbers due
to their inferiority considered by many of the companies (Altawyan, 2017). The individuals
with some kind of disability have also been discriminated and not considered as a part of the
social group, which often led to isolation and poor management diversity and equality within
the UAE workplaces and in other countries too. Thus, the background of research also
presents an idea about how the companies must promote diversity an equality by allowing
equal opportunities as well as benefits provided to each and every organisational member,
regardless of their age, background, ethnicity, gender, colour, etc. This would create a diverse
set of ideas and opinions that could benefit the organisation in the process of strategic
decision making process too (Anderson, 2015).
Research problem
The problem of the research is related to the various issues and challenges
experienced within the workplace due to the differences in age, background, race, religion,
colour, gender or ethnicity. As represented in the background of the research, often inequality
within the workplace has been a major challenge or problem dealt with by the companies and
so the management of diversity should be focused on by the companies (Hoque & Bacon,
2014). With the management of equal opportunities provided to the employees, regardless of
whether male or female memebrs and by recruiting a talent pool consisting of people from
diverse backgrounds, it would be much easier to acquire different sets of ideas and opinions.
This could help in strategic decision making and at the same time, allow the company to
foster the development of a healthy work culture, whether diversity is being promoted along
with facilitating better coordination and working as an unit too (Al-Jenaibi, 2017).
Research aim
The aim of the research is to analyse the issue and challenges experienced out of
equality and diversity within the workplaces of UAE and other countries and then implement

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measures to resolve the issues properly to create positive impact on the overall organisational
performance.
Research objectives
 To identity the various issues that may be related to the equality and diversity within
the workplace
 To evaluate various approaches undertaken by the companies to resolve the issue and
promote diversity within the workplace
 To assess the impacts that may be created with the creation of a diverse workplace
within an organisation
 To recommend necessary measures to facilitate the management of diversity ad
equality within the workplace
Research questions
 What are the various issues and challenges that might arise while managing equality
and diversity within the organisation’s workplace?
 How can the various measures allow the company to resolve the diversity and
equality issues and challenges properly?
 How can the management of a diverse workplace lead to the creation of a healthy
atmosphere and culture within the workplace?
 What are the various measures recommended by the organisation to improve the
management of equality and diversity?
Chapter 2: Literature review
Equality and diversity within the workplace
According to de Waal & Frijns (2016), the market globalisation has changed the
entire way of managing demographics all across the various workplace of the organizations,

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which has also been of major importance for the employers, policy makers and also the
academicians. The diverse workforce consisted of various individuals belonging from
different backgrounds and cultures, though having similar kinds of characteristics, aspirations
and expectations from their lives. Because of the employees belonging from different
backgrounds with different needs and preferences, they feel good to be respected within the
workplace and thus the management of the organization must be assure to create a diverse
workplace consisting of the different groups of employees, thus maintain harmony, peace and
reduce the conflicts and misunderstandings too (de Waal & Frijns, 2016). The managers of
the organisations have also aimed at bringing equality by preventing competition between
people, rather allowed the people to work as an unit. As stated by KASSASBEH (2016), it
has been often found that employees were treated unequally, based on their gender, culture,
background, ethnicity or colour, which resulted in inequality within the workplace and even
reduced the overall production of the workforce.
The impacts of issues resulting out of equality and diversity are immense, because it
has not only affected the ability to gather ideas and opinions from the diverse workplace, but
also has hindered the making of successful strategic decisions. The term equal opportunity, as
stated by Bealer & Bhanugopan (2014), has been related to the various rights of individuals
along with the conformity of legal rules and regulations, which increased the proportion of
minority and even allowed the female employees as well as individuals with disabilities to get
better opportunities of growth and acquire senior position within the workplaces of UAE and
other nations. Profili, Innocenti & Sammarra (2017), also argued that the management of
diversity has allowed the employers to emphasis has been on valuing the differences among
the employees by acquiring their vital ideas, opinions and responses, though by preventing
any forms of discrimination and respecting each other’s concerns too within the workplace to
facilitate the strategic decision making process. The management of equality and diversity

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has also brought inclusiveness, which has helped in meeting the demands and expectations of
the customers, furthermore, helped in preventing any sort of discrimination within the
workplace largely too. By promoting equality and diversity, the companies have also aimed
at allowing the Muslim women wearing hijab to not become subject of discrimination,
thereby, provided them with equal scopes and opportunities for growth and development in
the future as well (Hill & Kenyon, 2007).
Procedures in the workplace
To foster management of equality and diversity, according to Kumra, Manfredi &
Vickers (2012), the organisations have implemented new organisational policies and
principles letting people know about preventing any discrimination based on the race, gender,
religion, ethnicity, colour, or disability. In UAE, the organisations have considered
legislations and laws such as anti-discriminatory laws, laws of equal wages and opportunities
to ensure creation of a diverse workforce and raise the production level largely too. To gear
up towards the increase in proportion of ministry within the UAE workplaces, the
organisations have complied with the legislative requirements and thus implemented various
programmes so as to prevent discrimination with the use of Racial Discrimination Act, Equal
Pay Act, Equal Opportunities Act and the Sex Discrimination Act within the workplace
(Sharma, 2016).
Also stated by Hoque & Bacon (2014), that the HR manager has been associated with
the management of these roles and responsibilities to manage diversity and equality and this
has been possible through various management practices aimed at utilising the well
documented policies and through record keeping. Not only the identity profile of the work
groups consisting of the employees have been understood, but also it has helped in preventing
the barriers that might hider management of equal opportunities within the workplace. The
management of diverse environment has often been considered as effective for enhancing the

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organisational capabilities and this has been possible with the managers allowing the
employees to share their vital ideas, opinions and responses, which are required to enhance
the effectiveness of decision making. Moreover, the acquisition of ideas and opinions have
made them feel valued by the organisation, which, in turn, raised their skills and capability to
work collaboratively and maintain a diverse work culture to achieve the goals effectively.
Impact of equality and diversity on workplace performance
As it could already be understood that the impact of equality and diversity
management within the workplace has been positive, it is also to be considered that this has
been supported by performance appraisal approach too, It has helped in improving the
workplace performance for the UAE companies and companies all around the globe, but even
resulted in higher level of morale and motivation among the employees. The health
organizational culture formed with the help of managing diversity and equality within the
workplaces has helped in making the women, black individuals and individuals with
disabilities to gain good scopes and opportunities to grow and attain good position within the
organisation too (Reeves, McKinney & Azam, 2013). The discrimination based on gender
has been reduced significantly, which enabled the companies to management performance
appraisal and performance evaluation techniques with the aim of performing to their
potential.
For example, it has also been found that the women wearing hijab, were previously
discriminated within the workplace, but now with the management of diversity and through
implementation of new organisational policies, these women have been treated equally just
like others. The older individuals were considered more effective, rather than the young
individuals because of the skills and experiences that they possessed (Vodanovich &
Urquhart, 2017). The fostering of equality and diversity management have created equality
within the workplace and allowed the HR manager and employers to prioritise on the skills,

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knowledge and expertise that they possessed, based on which, the recruitment and selection
procedures have been managed. Not only this, but also the older individuals and individuals
with disabilities have been provided with the right roles and responsibilities, based on their
capabilities, which favoured their behaviours and built positive mind sets among them to
work committedly towards the achievement of business goals and objectives much more
comprehensively (Profili, Innocenti & Sammarra, 2017).

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References
Al-Jenaibi, B. (2017). The scope and impact of workplace diversity in the United Arab
Emirates–A preliminary study. Geografia-Malaysian Journal of Society and
Space, 8(1).
Altawyan, A. (2017). Rethinking gender equality in the workplace. Review of Integrative
Business and Economics Research, 6(2), 142-146.
Anderson, E. (2015). Equality and freedom in the workplace: Recovering republican
insights. Social Philosophy and Policy, 31(2), 48-69.
Bealer, D., & Bhanugopan, R. (2014). Transactional and transformational leadership
behaviour of expatriate and national managers in the UAE: a cross-cultural
comparative analysis. The international journal of human resource
management, 25(2), 293-316.
de Waal, A., & Frijns, M. (2016). The influence of the UAE context on management practice
in UAE business. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and
Management.
Hideg, I., & Ferris, D. L. (2016). The compassionate sexist? How benevolent sexism
promotes and undermines gender equality in the workplace. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 111(5), 706.
Hill, H., & Kenyon, R. (2007). Promoting Equality and Diversity: A Practitioner's Guide.
OUP Oxford.
Hoque, K., & Bacon, N. (2014). Unions, joint regulation and workplace equality policy and
practice in Britain: evidence from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations
Survey. Work, employment and society, 28(2), 265-284.

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KASSASBEH, F. Y. (2016). Equality or Justice? The Position of Labour Laws in Jordan, the
UAE and England of Discrimination against Women in the Light of the Requirements
of CEDAW. PESA Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2(2), 54-78.
Kumra, S., Manfredi, S., & Vickers, L. (2012). Managing equality and diversity: Theory and
practice. Oxford University Press.
Profili, S., Innocenti, L., & Sammarra, A. (2017). A Conceptual Framework of Age Diversity
Climate. Age Diversity in the Workplace: An Organizational Perspective, 95.
Reeves, T. C., McKinney, A. P., & Azam, L. (2013). Muslim women’s workplace
experiences: implications for strategic diversity initiatives. Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion: An International Journal.
Sharma, A. (2016). Managing diversity and equality in the workplace. Cogent Business &
Management, 3(1), 1212682.
Vodanovich, S., & Urquhart, C. (2017). ICTs and the computerised Hijab: Women's
experiences of ICT in the UAE. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in
Developing Countries, 82(1), 1-17.