Strategies for DHL to Build an Inclusive and Diverse Workforce

This report examines DHL International GmbH's strategies for building an inclusive and diverse workforce. The introduction highlights the importance of diversity and equality in today's competitive business environment. Task 1 outlines the aims, objectives, and research questions, followed by a literature review on the importance of a diverse workforce, strategies for building it, and its advantages. A project management plan details the scope, communication, risk assessment, quality control, timelines, cost considerations, and resources required for the research. Task 2 presents a small-scale research component, interpreting the findings and offering recommendations for data analysis. The report concludes with a reflection on the research process and a discussion of the findings and their implications for DHL. The report emphasizes the importance of equality, diversity, and creating a friendly work environment to boost employee performance, innovation, and brand image.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

Contents
TOPIC..............................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Aims and objectives..........................................................................................................3
P2 Project management plan..................................................................................................5
P3 Gantt chart and WBS.........................................................................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Small scale research..........................................................................................................9
P5 Interpretation of findings.................................................................................................11
P6 Appropriate recommendations for data analysis.............................................................18
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................18
P7 Reflection........................................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19

TOPIC
“To determine the strategies which can be implemented by businesses so that they can build
an inclusive and diverse workforce.” A case study on DHL International GmbH.
INTRODUCTION
With the increase in competition businesses are continuously expanding in market and are
also hiring employees belonging to different experiences, backgrounds so as to have a pool of
workforce having varied set of skills and talents. The increase in diverse workforce makes it
important that a work environment is created where equal opportunities are given to all the
workers and diversity is encouraged so that they can work together and help the company in
achieving its goals and objectives. Diversity in workforce can help in increasing variety of ideas
of doing work that can help in bringing innovation in company processes, products and services
helping the business to gain a competitive advantage in market. Inclusive workforce can help in
increasing friendly work environment that can reduce employee turnover and increase work
performance of employees (Bacouël-Jentjens and Christiansen, 2016). In this report DHL
International GmbH is taken which is an American and German courier parcel and express mail
service headquartered in Bonn, Germany. The importance of equality and diversity for DHL and
the strategies and initiatives which can be taken by company so as to build an inclusive and
diverse workforce will be discussed in this report. A small scale research and use of various
research tools will also be done so that correct recommendations can be made at the last part of
this report.
TASK 1
P1 Aims and objectives
Equality and diversity play an important role in managing a large workforce belonging to
different caste, age, sex, religion etc. which can help in increasing the productivity and
performance of employees. It also help in creating a friendly working environment in the
company thereby increasing the commitment of their employees so that they can use their skills
and talents in an efficient manner so that goals and objectives are timely achieved. DHL is a
large organisation having more than 380,000 employees working in the company which makes it
important to have inclusiveness and diversity in workforce in company.

Aim: “To determine the strategies which can be implemented by businesses so that they can
build an inclusive and diverse workforce.” A case study on DHL International GmbH.
Objectives:
 To determine the importance of equality and diversity in workplace.
 To determine the strategies and initiatives that can help in creating an inclusive and
diverse workforce in DHL
 To identify advantages of building a diverse workforce in DHL
Questions:
 How is equality and diversity important for workplace?
 What are the strategies and initiatives that can be used by DHL to create an inclusive and
diverse workforce?
 How will having a diverse workforce benefit DHL ?
Literature Review
Importance of equal and diverse workforce
According to Kelly, 2019, it is important to have an equal and diverse workforce in an
organisation so that all the workers irrespective of their differences in caste, age, sex, religion
etc. can be treated equally. This help in boosting the confidence of workers and encouraging
them to improve their performance so that company goals are achieved on time and a friendly
working environment can be created (Kirton, Robertson and Avdelidou‐Fischer, 2016). Equality
means that all employees are given equal rights and chances to participate in company activities
and decision making which improves their job satisfaction. Diversity help the company in having
employees with variety of skills and talents who can help in solving various problems and doing
a variety of work in the company. A workforce which is inclusive can help in further improving
their performance and they can be motivated to get involved in decision making that can help in
increasing new and innovative ideas.
Strategies for building an inclusive and diverse workforce
As per the views of Pooja, Julia and Turdy, 2020, having an inclusive and diverse
workforce helps organisations in gaining competitive advantage in market and also help in
making them highly productive so that better results can be achieved. There are various
strategies through which this type of work culture can be created in an organisation like
performance appraisals, improvement in recruitment, training and development, participative

leadership etc. These strategies can help in encouraging diversity in workforces and also give
importance to the performance of workers. Also a participative work environment can help in
encouraging new and innovative ideas so that a competitive advantage can be gained by
company. Also it help in satisfying employees with their jobs which can enhance their
productiveness of doing work.
Advantages of diverse workforce
According to Katie, 2019, with the increase in expansion of companies there is an
increase in diverse workforce having different set of skills, talents, experiences and backgrounds.
This has helped companies in various ways through which it achieves its long term goals and
objectives. Diverse workforce helps in increasing innovation and creativity as people with varied
ideas help in solving problems in different manner (Lindberg and et. al., 2016). It also helps in
creating a brand image in market as customer demands are fulfilled efficiently by innovating
company’s products and services thereby increasing the profitability of company. It also help in
improving employee retention and enhancing the performance of workers as they can freely
come up with new ideas that can help in improving the company’s position in market.
P2 Project management plan
In any of the organisation, preparing the project management plays the most crucial role
for performing any of the specific task. While talking about the project management plan, it can
be determined as the report which is to be prepared before starting any of the project. In this
from of report, there are different useful information are generally mentioned which allows the
person to take any of the specific decision through which chances of obtaining the goals
increases automatically. It can be easily determined that how any of the project is required to be
planned, initiated, executed and controlled for performing any of the specific task or a project. It
is said that whenever any of the researcher conducts the research he or she is required to conduct
each and every work in a systematic manner (Ravazzani, 2016). There are higher possibilities
that result can be obtained even with the help of prepared plans and policies related to budget.
Whenever any of the researcher conducts the report, they are needed to explain about some of
the important area such as scope, time, cost, risk and many more because it will allow to utilise
the resources in best possible manner. Below, detail information about the report has been
explained in detail.

 Aims and objective: The main aim and objective of conducting the research is simple
where researcher is willing to find out the ways that can allow the company to develop
the diversified workforce in best possible manner. It will certainly allow to accomplish
the goals in short time period.
 Scope: While discussing about the scope of project management plan, it simply gives
idea about the project goals, deliverables, functions as well as deadlines of the project so
that importance of the project can be identified (Romani and et. al., 2017). In context of
the researcher, it is necessary to understand that what are the main scopes where they can
work so that work for completing the research on specific time period. Scope will mainly
focus on the area from where research can collect the relevant information which can be
effective in completion of project within the given time period.
 Communication: Communication plays an important role in completing a project in an
effective as well as proper manner. It helps in the integration and collaboration of the
work and efforts that are put in by the members of the team. Communication ensures that
the message is transferred and shared with all the members of the team during a project
effectively. This way the members can remain updated about the happenings of the
project as well as put in their best efforts in getting tasks complete. Communication
ensures that roles and responsibilities are understood properly by them so that the desired
output is achieved. Risk: Whenever a research or project is undertaken, there is always risk associated with it
that can impact the way in which it is carried out. Risks can be associated with time or
money etc. that can influence the execution of the research. It is important that the
researcher analyses all these researches beforehand in order to avoid any kind of errors or
problems that can come up in the future. Once the risks are analysed effective measures
and strategies can be adopted to address the same. This will help in overcoming the risks
and carrying out the research in a structured manner. In order to reduce the risk factor, it
is necessary for research to prepare plans and policies and focus towards the available
fund so that problem will not occur in any of the situation. Quality: The researcher should collect data from the most reliable and accurate sources
so that only authentic information is gathered (Sarvaiya and Eweje, 2017). This is done in
order to maintain the quality of the research project and making sure that the results that

are obtained can be trusted by the readers and companies can implement the same in their
systems so as to improve their overall efficiency. The quality of a research speaks about
its effectiveness as well as accuracy. In order to prepare quality work, it is mandatory for
researcher that they must take the help of secondary research and facts from which
reliable information can be collected easily. Time: Time is one component of the research that should be determined before the
project or research is started. Having a clear time frame and deadlines for various tasks
will help the research keep a track of all activities involved in the research and making
sure that they are completed within time (Lindberg and et. al., 2016). The researcher can
make use of various tools like a Gantt Chart or Work Breakdown Structure so that each
task has an allotted time frame and is conducted properly. In order to carry out this
research, the research will require a time duration of three months so that results
presented are accurate and relevant. Thus, time plays a key role in making sure that the
research or project is carried out efficiently. Also, research will have to give major focus
at the time of collecting information through interview process where maximum time
period will be consumed. Even focus must be given by research that he will compete the
work as per the prepared chart else it can be very difficult task to manage other activity. Cost: Cost is also an important factor that can affect the way in which a project is carried
out. It determines the quantity as well as the quality of resources that will be used in the
research. A researcher can allocate cost to the different activities based on their priority
so that the project can be carried out effectively. Time and cost work closely with each
other in ensuring that the results of the research are maximized without putting in any
unnecessary costs (Loseke, 2017). Resources: For a researcher to carry out his research in a proper way various resources
are required. The resources should be utilized in the most efficient way possible so that
accurate results can be drawn (Konrad, Yang and Maurer, 2016). In context to this
research based on DHL International GmbH, the researcher will make use of different
resources like printers, laptop, office and a team to help with the collection of data and
other tasks so that the desired output including goals and objectives can be achieved.

P3 Gantt chart and WBS
Gantt Chart: It can be defined as a chart that is drawn using horizontal lines that depict
the amount of efforts and work that have been put in by members of a team as compared to a
certain duration of time to ensure that the research or project is carried out efficiently (Segovia-
San-Juan and Fernández-de-Tejada, 2017). The chart can be used by the researcher to track the
progress of the project and making sure that all activities within the research get completed
according to the time allocated. A Gantt Chart is useful tool that helps in distributing and
assigning the different tasks as per the time so that the complete project is completed within
time.

Work Breakdown structure: WBS or Work Breakdown Structure is another important
tool in project management that helps the researcher in breaking down a complex project into
small tasks that are easy as well as manageable. These tasks can be achieved much more
efficiently and also, are easy to track. This way the complete project can be completed within the
decided time in an effective manner (Sharma and Mukherji, 2016). Also, the team members find
it easy to complete the tasks within the stipulated time duration.

TASK 2
P4 Small scale research
A research can be defined as a process that includes a researcher investigating about a
topic by gather data from various sources. The sources can either be primary or secondary and
can be collected through both quantitative as well as qualitative methods (Pleasant, 2017). The
methods depend on the kind of sources information is gathered through.
Quantitative method: The data that is collected through quantitative methods is
represented in the form of tables, graphs, statistics, numbers, diagrams etc. and conclusions can
be drawn accordingly. The data that is collected can be analysed through various statistical as
well as mathematical tools and techniques (Al-Jenaibi, 2017). For the respective research, the
researcher will make use of both quantitative as well as qualitative methods to collect relevant
and accurate data from the respondents. The different quantitative methods through which data
can be gathered by the respondents include questionnaires, focus groups, etc.
Qualitative method: It can be defined as research method wherein the data is collected
from the respondents through open-ended questions (Rees and Smith, 2017). The information
that is collected through qualitative methods is collected through observation, facts, ideas and
thoughts etc. A researcher can gain useful and important information about the research topic
through qualitative methods of collecting data. One drawback of the qualitative methods is that
the data which is collected cannot be presented in the form of graphs, numbers, tables or
statistics like quantitative methods.
 Primary source: It is the form of collecting the data where source of collecting the
information are related with survey, questionnaire and many more. Here, it is essential to
understand that information must be authenticate and information must be provided as
per the requirement.
 Secondary sources: These are those form of collecting the data where people likes to
collect the information with the help of articles, newspaper, journals and many more.
This types of sources helps to save the time of the researcher and there is high possibility
that accurate data can be collected (Carter, 2018). In context of research, the secondary
sources can be articles previously prepared, facts published within the newspaper and
many more.

Sampling: It is explained as the process where certain number of people are selected for the
purpose of collecting the data. It is mainly done for the purpose of collecting the relevant
information. The sample size in this particular research is 30.
Questionnaire
Quantitative questions
Q1) Are you aware about what equality and diversity in workplace mean?
a)Yes
b) No
Q2) Do you think that there i an inclusive and diverse environment in DHL ?
a) Yes
b) No
Q3) Do you think having an equal and diverse workforce is beneficial for company?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q4) How is equality beneficial for company?
a) Increase in productivity
b) Reduced conflicts
Q5) How is equality important for employees?
a) Equal opportunities
b) Job satisfaction
c) Professional and personal development
Q6) How is diversity important for company?
a) Diverse ideas
b) Gain competitive advantage
c) Innovations
Q7) What is inclusive working environment?
a) Employee engagement
b) Participative leadership
Q8) What are the advantages of inclusive and diverse working environment?
a) Increased motivation
b) Enhanced brand image

c) Effective decisions
Qualitative decisions
Q9) Which strategies can be taken by DHL to created inclusive and diverse work
environment?
a) Equal and fair opportunities
b) Performance appraisals
Q10) How can the above strategies be implemented in company?
a) Training and development
b) Participative leadership
Q11) Recommendations
P5 Interpretation of findings
Q1) Are you aware about what equality and
diversity in workplace mean?
Frequency
a)Yes 10
b) No 20
Interpretation: From the conducted survey among 30 respondents, it was found that
there were only 20 members who had the knowledge regarding equality and diversity whereas
the remaining one i.e. 10 did not had any of the idea about the concept.
Q2) Do you think that there is an inclusive and Frequency