Managing Successful Business Project (MSBP) Report: M&S Diversity

This report, focused on a Managing Successful Business Project (MSBP), examines the promotion of diversity and equality within Marks & Spencer (M&S), a UK-based multinational retailer. The report begins with an introduction outlining the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace, highlighting the challenges companies face in managing diverse cultures. It then presents the aims and objectives of the project, which include formulating strategies and initiatives for developing a diverse and inclusive workforce at M&S. The project management plans cover aspects of cost, time, and quality, alongside a work breakdown structure and Gantt chart. The research methodology section details both qualitative and quantitative approaches, including the selection of interpretivism as the research philosophy and inductive approach. Data collection methods, including sampling and primary data collection through questionnaires, are described. The analysis of data using relevant techniques and tools is presented, including the interpretation of findings related to employee awareness of diversity and the benefits of a diverse culture for organizational growth. The report concludes with a reflection and a summary of the key findings.

Managing Successful Business
Project (MSBP)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Aims and Objectives...............................................................................................................3
P 2 Project Management Plans....................................................................................................3
P 3 Work Breakdown & Gantt Chart...........................................................................................4
..........................................................................................................................................................6
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
P 4 Research Methodology..........................................................................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................8
P 5 Analysing data using relevant techniques and tools..............................................................8
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................15
P 7 Reflection.............................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Background
Equality and diversity in an organisation can be referred as promotion of equality of
opportunity for all the employees in an organisation through diversity and also giving each
employee a chance for growth and advancement without discrimination and free from prejudice.
Having equality and diversity in an organisation is vital for its growth and advancement but there
are various challenges which are faced by companies to manage diversity and equality in a
workplace. In this report Marks and Spence is taken as an organisation, which is a multinational
retailing company of UK. This report discusses about how a company can promote diversity and
equality in its workplace. So, in order to manage diverse culture and promote equality it is
important to formulate various strategies and take various initiatives in order to build diverse and
inclusive workforce within the organisation. Also, strategies should be such that it should have
the capacity to overcome the challenges of diversity and equality. If an organisation is able to
develop a proper strategies it can be beneficial for its growth and development.
LO 1
P1 Aims and Objectives
Aim: To formulate different strategies and initiatives, employed in an organisation to develop
diverse and inclusive workforce- A case study on Marks and Spencer.
Objectives:
 To analyse the benefits of diversity and equality for the organisation.
 To identify different types of initiatives and strategies taken by M&S to build a diverse
and inclusive workforce
 To assess the challenges faced by the company in building diverse culture in an
organisation.
P 2 Project Management Plans
Cost: -cost means that the expenses which are incurred on completing the research. Research is a
project that incurred cost of research which is incurred on the resources required for research
(Beck, 2018). Research will take following
Resources Cost
Stationary 15 pounds

Travelling 75 pounds
Questionnaire print 8 pounds
Internet charges 12 pounds
Electricity bill 20 pounds
Total 130 pounds.
Time: - the research will take time to be completed. For the study is will take most time in
project planning and determination of the needs of the resources. It will take 8 weeks to be
completed starting from 10 august and ends on 5th October.
Quality: - quality of the project is need to meet the objective and aim of the research project. The
quality is mainlined by using the ethics and existing facts. Quality must be maintain in the
research so that it gives the expected results and fulfil the needs of the company.
Communication: -research must be communicate to the respondents in decent manner and
ensure that they understand what the researcher wants to communicate. Also, it communicates to
its supervisors about the project and every step taken in the research so that any change of need
of changes can be taken place.
Risk: - researcher have risk of increase the cost of the project more than estimated cost. also, it
has risk of respondent miss represent the facts and figure also the research may take more time
than expectations of researcher.
P 3 Work Breakdown & Gantt Chart
Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Auto
Schedule
d
Project initiation 4 days? Fri 8/23/19 Wed 8/28/19
Auto
Schedule
d
formulation of topic 1 day? Fri 8/23/19 Fri 8/23/19
Auto
Schedule
d
formulation of aim,
objectives and research
questions
3 days Mon 8/26/19 Wed 8/28/19 2
Auto
Schedule
Project planning 14 days Thu 8/29/19 Tue 9/17/19

d
Auto
Schedule
d
Research methodology 4 days Thu 8/29/19 Tue 9/3/19 2,3
Auto
Schedule
d
collection of data 10 days Wed 9/4/19 Tue 9/17/19 5
Auto
Schedule
d
Project execution 12 days Wed 9/18/19 Thu 10/3/19
Auto
Schedule
d
Analysis of data 12 days Wed 9/18/19 Thu 10/3/19 3,5,6
Auto
Schedule
d
interpretation of data 7 days Wed 9/18/19 Thu 9/26/19 6
Auto
Schedule
d
Project closure 24 days Wed 9/4/19 Mon 10/7/19
Auto
Schedule
d
conclusion and
recommendation 3 days Wed 9/4/19 Fri 9/6/19 5
Auto
Schedule
d
reflection 2 days Fri 10/4/19 Mon 10/7/19 8,9

LO 2
P 4 Research Methodology
Research methodologies is the process of research process and methods used to conduct
the research. It is a specific procedure or the techniques used to identify, select, process and
evaluate the information about the research topic (Heilman, Manzi and Braun, 2015). Research
can be divided in two parts qualitative research and quantitative research. Quantitative research
used to quantify problem by the transformed into the numerical data that can be transformed into
using of the statistical data where the qualitative research used to gain an understanding of the
reason, motivation, opinions which are help to develop the insights into the problems or helps to
develop the ideas or opinions. This report is based on the both the types of the research.
Research philosophy: - It is a vast topic and here it the topic in great details. Also, helps
to detail the research details. There can two types in the research on the basis of research
philosophy. The research philosophy of qualitative data is called Interpretivism which means that
the data of the qualitative data interpretive research assumes that access to reality is only
construct through social constructions. Basis for the Interpretivism are language, consciousness,
instruments, share meaning. Quantitative research is called positivism which is based on the
human experience and knowledge where it helps in the view the world with comprising discrete

and observation elements. Positivism depends on the quantifiable data and observation of the
data.
The researcher of this study has opted for interpretivism research philosophy method in
order to understand the equality and diversity in an organisation. (Kumar, 2019).
Research approach: - it is the plan and procedures that consist the steps of the broad
assumption to detailed methods of the collection of data, analysis of data and interpretation. it is
a vital part of any study regardless of the research areas. Research approach have two types on
the bases of the data inductive and deductive. Inductive research used to collect the qualitative
data it means that it starts with the research aim and objectives and research questionnaire that
achieved during the process of research in this approach researcher use the generated untested
conclusions of the research. Deductive research approach is used in the qualitative data the
approach refers that hypothesis for your dissertation that needs to be confirmed of rejected. The
theory develop hypothesis which are tested during the research process.
The researcher of this study has opted for inductive research approach in order to assess
the ways by which multinational companies can manage equality and diverse cultures in an
organisation.
Research design: - research design means that the choice between the qualitative and
quantitative research or it is the design refers to choose of between the specific methods of data
collection and analysis. Research design can be dividing in two parts descriptive and exploratory.
For the qualitative data exploratory research design is used which purpose to generate insights
about the situations. Exploratory research design is used for the quantitative data which means to
verify the insights and select course of action. This study has included both the research design.
The researcher of this study has opted for descriptive research method which in turn helps
researcher in gaining in- depth knowledge on the importance of diversity and inclusive
workforce.
Sampling: - it means that the researcher selects a target group from the available sample
for the research. This includes the random basis and participating technique in the sampling.
Random means that the research ask question from the random basis and random peoples who
are aware about the data (Mackey and Gass, 2015). Participative techniques mean that researcher
finalise a group of people as sample and ask questions. Sample is a group of people which
represents the larger section of the group which researcher is selected.

The researcher of this study has opted for random sampling method where 20 managers
of the M&S were selected to carry out the study. This in turn helps in gathering relevant
information.
Data collection: - Data collection means that the process of collecting data from the
sample related to the researcher by the way of questionnaire to find the solutions of the
problems. Data collection can be divided in two parts primary data and secondary data. Primary
data means that research directly collect the data from the sample and it is fresh data for the
qualitative research method primary data is means to depth understanding of the aims and
objectives for this it uses close ended question and interviews and for quantitative data it uses the
mathematical calculations in different formats it is done through the close ended questions and
correlation and regression, mean mode and median (Bresler and Stake, 2017). Secondary data
means that researcher use the already published data and make new results from the available
data. This report is based on primary data.
The researcher of this study will use primary research method to examine the ways by
which Multinational companies can formulate different strategies for promoting diversity and
equality.
Data analysis: - it means that the analysis of the data collected in the data collection so
that it used to take further analysis with the data.
The researcher of this study has opted for qualitative research method where thematic
analysis will be used in order to analyse and present the data effectively.
LO 3
P 5 Analysing data using relevant techniques and tools
Theme 1-Awareness of diversity and equality in workplace.
Q1: Are your aware of equality and diversity within the workplace? Frequency
Yes 15
No 3
Not Sure 2
Total 20

Yes No Not Sure
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Frequency
Interpretation: It can be interpreted from the above table that out of 20 respondents, 15 have
replied that they are aware of equality and diversity in the workplace as they believe that it is the
most common term used in workplace and have got various benefits. 3 respondents have replied
No, as they believe that company is facing some challenges in developing a diverse and inclusive
atmosphere in the workplace. Out of 20 participants, only 2 are not sure from the fact. So, based
on the majority, it can be interpreted that employees of M&S are aware of diversity and equality
in their workplace.
Theme 2- Diverse culture beneficial for the growth and development of the organisation
Q 2: M&S has diverse culture which has been beneficial for the
organisational growth and development.
Frequency
Agree 5
Strongly Agree 10
Neutral 1
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 1

Total 20
Interpretation: It can be interpreted from the above data that out of 20 responds, 5 responses
agrees to the cultural diversity offered by the organization is beneficial for the growth and
development of the organization which helps in the generation of diverse culture within M&S.
10 responses strongly agrees that the cultural diversity offered by the organization helps in the
development of diverse culture. One response reflects neutral as he does not see much of
difference regarding cultural diversity. 3 responses disagree that diversity does not play a role in
growth and development of M&S. 1 response strongly disagrees that diversity does not play any
role in the growth and development of the firm.
Theme 3- Strong leadership supports value of inclusion and diversity
Q3: Does company have strong leadership which support its value of
inclusion and diversity?
Frequency
Yes 13
No 4
Not Sure 3
Total 20
Strongly Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5

Interpretation: From the above data it can be interpreted that out of 20 response, 13 of the
workers believes that the support of the leaders values the diversity and inclusion of the work
culture, as the leaders are very much supportive in nature and helps the growth of the workers
providing a diverse environment. 4 responses thinks that the leaders are not responsible for the
support and value of inclusion and diversity. 3 responses are not sure about the leadership's
support to the value of inclusion and diversity. As leadership can lead to more diverse culture.
Theme 4- Committent to inclusion and diversity in its workplace.
Q4: Is company committed to inclusion and diversity in its
workplace?
Frequency
Yes 15
No 3
Not Sure 2
Total 20
Yes No Not Sure
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Frequency

Interpretation: it can be interpreted that out of 20 responses, 15 of the workers believes that the
company is committed to inclusion and diversity in the workplace which can bring about the
sociological change within the workplace. 3 responses firmly believes that the company is not
committed to the inclusion and diversity in its workplace and does not support in the growth and
development of the M&S. As the diversity is not addressed they are not able to meet up the
diverse needs of the workplace which affects the company. 2 responses are not sure about the
change in commitment to inclusion and diverse within workplace.
Theme 5-People of different background are equally valued and respected.
Q5: People from different cultural backgrounds are equally valued and
respected.
Frequency
Agree 4
Strongly Agree 10
Neutral 3
Disagree 2
Strongly Disagree 1
Total 20
Yes No Not Sure
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Frequency

Interpretation: From the above study it can be interpreted that out of 20 responses, 4 agrees that
the people from different background are equally valued and respected which offers a diverse
culture in the company. 10 responses strongly agrees that the cultural backgrounds are equally
valued and respected. 3 responses gives a neutral response sees less of interest in the cultural
background are valued and respected. 2 responses disagrees to the point that the cultural
diversity are equally respected. 1 response strongly disagrees to the point that the cultural
diversity are valued within workplace.
Theme 6- Employee of varied background interact effectively
Q6.Employees from different backgrounds interact effectively within
the workplace.
Frequency
Agree 6
Strongly Agree 9
Neutral 2
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 1
Total 20
Agree
Strongly Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

Interpretation: It can be interpreted from 20 responses that, 6 responses agrees that people of
different background interact effectively within workplace. 9 responses strongly believes that an
effective interaction within the workplace are due to employees of different backgrounds. 2
responses shows neutral behaviour towards the employees of different backgrounds interact
effectively within workplace. 3 responses disagrees that the employees of different background
do not interact effectively within workplace. 1 response strongly believes that the employees of
different background do not interact effectively.
Theme 7- Free and open environment for ideas, beliefs and opinions
Q7.Does M&S provide environment which is free as well as open for
ideas, beliefs and opinions?
Frequency
Yes 15
No 4
Not Sure 1
Total 20
Agree
Strongly Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Frequency

Interpretation: from the above study it can be interpreted that out of 20 responses, 15 believes
that M&S provides a free and open platform for the ideas, beliefs and opinions which creates a
diverse culture. 4 responses disagrees to the point that organisation does not provide a free as
well as open platform for the ideas, beliefs and opinions.
Theme 8- Diversity and inclusive workforce increases the productivity
Q8.Diversity and inclusive workforce have increased the productivity
of organisation?
Frequency
Yes 13
No 5
Not Sure 2
Total 20
Yes No Not Sure
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Frequency

Interpretation: From the above study it can be interpreted that out of 20 responses, 13 believes
that the diversity and inclusive workforce have increased productivity of M&S. 5 responses
disagrees to the point that diversity and inclusive workforce does not have increased
productivity. 2 responses are not sure about the changes brought by the diversity and inclusive
workforce to increases productivity.
LO 4
P 7 Reflection
From the above study we have concluded that the diversity in the organization depends
upon the various factors which are discussed in the study. We have analysed that the study
focuses on the development of the individual employee who are an asset to the organization. To
create a diverse structure in the workplace there is a study conducted which helps in the
evaluation of the growth of the organization. We have evaluated that the growth of the employee
can be achieved through providing a diverse workplace within the organisational environment,
which provides a sustainable culture to the workers.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that responses against equality can be seen
within the organization giving a chance to each individual for their personal growth and
development as an individual. through various supports within the organization as of leader and
manager which can help the growth of the employee in the firm which can create a diverse
culture within the workplace. Various evaluations are carried out to enhance the work skills of
the workers which helps in the growth and development of the firm.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Yes No Not Sure
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Frequency

From the study various ways of improvement can be addressed within the workplace
which can help in easy achievement of the business objectives which can help in the
development of the firm and in the accomplishing of the business goals. A diverse workplace
must be provided which shares a free ideas within the workplace and helps in building a mindset
of the employees. Group tasks must be provided which can helps in exchanging and involvement
of ideas within workplace, this can help in the growth and development of the organization.

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