Central Australian College: Diversity and Wesfarmers Case Study Report

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of diversity and diversity management within Wesfarmers, an Australian retail conglomerate. It examines the company's approach to fostering an inclusive workplace, focusing on gender balance and the inclusion of Indigenous people. The study delves into the background of diversity management, its benefits, and the factors that influence its effectiveness, such as recruitment, training, organizational culture, and performance management. It identifies the challenges Wesfarmers faces in managing its diverse workforce and the strategies it employs to overcome these issues. The research methodology includes a quantitative research design, with primary data collected through surveys from 200 Wesfarmers employees in Hobart, Australia. The report also covers ethical considerations, the significance of the study, and concludes with findings, recommendations, and a discussion of how Wesfarmers can further improve its diversity management practices. The report also highlights Wesfarmers' financial performance, market share, and workforce demographics, emphasizing the importance of diversity in achieving business success.

Running head: DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST
CENTURY
CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE
HOBART, TASMANIA
BSBRES801 Initiate and lead applied research
DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY:
A CASE STUDY OF WESFARMERS, AUSTRALIA
Name of the Student:
Submission Date:

1DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this paper based on the topic “Diversity and Diversity
Management in the 21st Century: A Case Study of Wesfarmers, Australia” is
a piece of original work. I have offered due credit to the scholars or the
authors whose works have been used for reference by way of in-text
citations and a reference list. I further certify that this paper had not been
published or submitted by anyone else apart from me.
Thank You
-----------------------------------------------------------
(Name of the Student)

2DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would firstly like to thank my Professor, Mr……, for giving me the
opportunity to complete my paper on the topic “Diversity and Diversity
Management in the 21st Century: A Case Study of Wesfarmers, Australia”. I
would also thank my Supervisor for the constant academic support provided
by him and without which I would not have been able to complete this
paper.
Lastly, I would also like to thank my friends and family members for the
constant support that they have offered me.
Thank you
-------------------------------------------------------
(Name of the Student)

3DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to undertake an analysis of diversity and diversity
management in the 21st century in the particular context of the corporation
Wesfarmers. Furthermore, the study also focuses on the diversity
management issues faced by the corporations and also the measures which
they are using for the resolution of the same. The researcher intends to
complete the study through the usage of the quantitative research design
and thereby the primary data collection method had used. More
importantly, the researcher intends to use the tool of survey to collect
information from 200 workers of the retail outlets of Wesfarmers in Hobart,
Australia. For the analysis of this data the researcher intends to use the
quantitative data analysis method. The entire study would be completed
within 7 weeks. This study is an important one since it highlights the
diversity management issues faced by the retail corporations through the
usage of the case study of Wesfarmers and also the manner in which the
corporations can overcome these diversity management issues.

4DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................6
1.1 Chapter Overview..................................................................................6
1.2 Background of the Study.......................................................................6
1.3 Overview of Wesfarmers........................................................................7
1.4 Diversity Management in Wesfarmers...................................................9
1.5 Diversity Management Issues faced by Wesfarmers...........................10
1.6 Measures used by Wesfarmers for addressing its Diversity
Management Issues...................................................................................12
1.7 Rationale of the Study..........................................................................13
1.8 Research Objectives, Questions and Hypotheses................................14
1.9 Summary..............................................................................................15
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................17
2.1 Introduction.........................................................................................17
2.2 Diversity and Diversity Management...................................................17
2.3 Benefits offered by Diversity Management..........................................18
2.4 Factors affecting Diversity Management.............................................19
2.4.1 Recruitment and Selection............................................................19
2.4.2 Training and Development............................................................19
2.4.3 Organizational Cultural.................................................................20
2.4.4 Performance Management............................................................20
2.5 Issues faced by corporations related to Diversity Management.........20
2.6 Conceptual Framework........................................................................21
2.7 Literature Gap......................................................................................22
2.8 Summary..............................................................................................22

5DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................23
3.1 Introduction.........................................................................................23
3.2 Research Design..................................................................................23
3.3 Study Area............................................................................................23
3.4 Sampling..............................................................................................23
3.5 Sample Size..........................................................................................23
3.6 Data Collection.....................................................................................24
3.7 Instrumentation...................................................................................24
3.8 Data Analysis Tools..............................................................................24
3.9 Data Analysis Method..........................................................................24
3.10 Budget................................................................................................25
3.11 Timeline.............................................................................................25
3.12 Limitations of the Study.....................................................................26
3.13 Conclusion..........................................................................................26
CHAPTER 4: ETHICS AND RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE.............................27
4.1 Ethical Considerations.........................................................................27
4.2 Significance of the Study.....................................................................27
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................29
5.1 Summary of the Findings.....................................................................29
5.2 Conclusion............................................................................................29
5.3 Recommendations................................................................................30
References.....................................................................................................32

6DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Chapter Overview
This chapter highlights the important facets of the study on the basis
of which the entire study had been conducted. For instance, the researcher
had elucidated the background information of the study, the concepts of
diversity and diversity management in the 21st century and also the manner
in which the major business corporations like Wesfarmers are managing
diversity presently and others. In addition to these, the researcher had also
formulated the important hypotheses of the study in this particular chapter
along with discussion of the same.
1.2 Background of the Study
As stated by Becket (2016), the process of globalization as well as the
extensive usage of the different modern technological developments had
substantially changed the nature of the contemporary business world.
Anderson and Bolton (2018) are of the viewpoint that this change is not only
perceptible in the particular context of the products or the services which
are being offered by the contemporary business or the business models
which are being used by them but also when the workforce of the modern-
day corporations are being taken into account. For instance, it is seen that
an important feature of the workforce of the contemporary business
corporations can be attributed to the fact that unlike the earlier times they
have become highly diverse in nature (Vaiman, Collings & Scullion, 2017).
As a matter of fact, the corporations are increasing offering employment
opportunities to people from diverse social, ethnic, cultural and other
backgrounds to complete the different organizational works in an effective
manner. This can be explained on the basis of the fact that the
contemporary corporations not only operate in diverse markets or locations
but also offer a wide array of services or products which require different
kinds of skill sets or expertise level (McCallaghan, Jackson & Heyns, 2019).

7DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Furthermore, by fostering diversity the corporations are being able to
facilitate the exchange or for that matter the transfer of skill sets or
knowledge among the workers which in turn would enable them to
complete different tasks adequately and thereby enhance individual as well
as organizational performance as well (Markey et al., 2018). In addition to
these, it had been seen that the national governments of the different
nations of the world like Australia, Canada and others had mandated the
business corporations to offer adequate employment opportunities to the
diverse ethnic groups, indigenous people and others of their nation so as to
facilitate the development or the growth of these people and also of the
national economy as well (Young & Jones, 2019).
Ying Liao et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that the contemporary
corporations not only needs to focus on the enhancement of their workforce
diversity in terms of different ethnic groups, indigenous people, people from
different social or cultural backgrounds and others but also on the inclusion
of women, people with diverse kinds of disability and others. Adding to this,
Dhanani and Jones (2017) have noted that an important challenge that the
different corporations face related to the fostering of diversity within their
workplace can be attributed to the fact that because of the differences in
values, beliefs and other important attributes held by these people the
number of workplace conflicts increases substantially. This if not managed
adequately can adversely affect the growth or the development of the
corporation and also negatively affect their profitability as well (Noon,
2018). Thus, it becomes important for the corporations to use the process of
negotiation to resolve these conflicts, enhance engagement among the
workers and also take the help of other important so as to derive the
required benefits from their diverse workforce. It is in the background of
these facets of the process of diversity that this study aims to undertake an
analysis of diversity and diversity management in the 21st century in the
particular context of the business corporation Wesfarmers.

8DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
1.3 Overview of Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers Limited, established in 1914 by Farmers' and Settlers'
Association of Western Australia and headquartered in 40 The Esplanade,
Perth, Western Australia, Australia, is an Australian conglomerate which
has extensive interests in the Australian and New Zealand retail industry
(Wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). The primary idea behind the formation of this
particular conglomerate was to offer the best quality merchandise and
services to the Western Australian farmers and gradually it grew into a
major retail conglomerate of the nations of Australia and New Zealand
(Forbes.com, 2020). Furthermore, in the year 1984 the corporation was
listed on the “Australian Securities Exchange” and in the year 2016 it
became the largest retail corporation of the nation of Australia overtaking
Woolworths and BHP (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). More importantly, the
corporation under discussion here is known for the high quality of retail
products, chemicals, insurance services, telecommunication services,
information technology services, fertilizers, coal mining and other similar
products or services that it offers to its target market (Forbes.com, 2020).
The concerned corporation has various subsidiaries like Coles, Kmart,
Bunnings Warehouse, Harris Technologies and others operational in the
nations of Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, India, United Kingdom and
others (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2020).

9DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Figure 1: Financial Statistics of Wesfarmers Limited
Source: Wesfarmers.com.au (2020)
As per Wesfarmers.com.au (2020), the net profitability generated by
Wesfarmers in the year 2019 was $2,772 million whereas the gross revenue
generated by it was $68.44 billion which in turn makes it the largest retail
corporation of the nation of Australia. In addition to these, it had been seen
that the corporation under discussion here holds more than 38.9% of the
market share within the retail industry of the nation of Australia, which is a
matter of fact makes it the largest retail corporation of Australia in terms of
the market share held by it (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). Furthermore, as of
2019 the corporation offered employment to more than 223,000 people from
Australia, New Zealand and the other nations of its operation and a
significant number of these workers of the corporation are indigenous
people, people from different cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds
(Forbes.com, 2020). In this relation, it needs to be said that the effective
usage of this diverse workforce of the corporation had not only enabled it to

10DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
substantially improve its performance in the present times but also greatly
contributed towards the success attained by the same as well.
1.4 Diversity Management in Wesfarmers
Anderson and Bolton (2018) are of the viewpoint that the retail
industry in the present times had emerged the largest industry of the world
within the economic framework of the different nations of the world and
thereby offers employment opportunities to millions of people all over the
world. Adding to this, Mazibuko and Govender (2017) have noted that the
retail industry deals with customers from all walks of the society
irrespective of economic, social, cultural or the ethnic background to which
they belong and thus it becomes important for the retail corporations to
recruit workers from different backgrounds so as to offer adequate
customer services to its diverse clientele. More importantly, it had been
seen that for the effective management of their diverse workforce the retail
corporations are increasingly taking the help of the process of diversity
management and ingraining the same within the human resources
management practices and also the overall business strategies followed by
them (Gould & Sardeshmukh, 2017). This as a matter of fact had helped the
corporations related to the retail industry to substantially broaden its target
market through the improvement of its customer service and thereby
achieve the required amount of success as well. In this regard, the retail
conglomerate Wesfarmers is no different since over the years it had been
seen that the concerned corporation had embraced the process of diversity
and diversity management for the becoming the largest retail corporation of
Australia.
According to Wesfarmers.com.au (2020), the goal of the diversity
management practices followed by the corporation is to “strive to create an
inclusive work environment, with particular attention to gender balance and
the inclusion of Indigenous people”. In this relation, it needs to be said that
the concerned corporation is one of the pioneers in terms of diversity and

11DIVERSITY AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY
diversity management practices followed by it and thereby are very few
corporations of Australia which can match with these practices or policies
followed by Wesfarmers. For instance, it had been seen that 35.1% of the
workers of the concerned corporation are females whereas 28.9% of the
employees holding management or leadership designations within the
corporation are females which as a matter of fact is the highest in the
nation of Australia (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). More importantly, it is seen
that the diversity in terms of workforce of Wesfarmers is not just limited to
male-female diversity rather it extends to diversity in terms of indigenous
people, workers from different cultural, social or ethnic backgrounds as
well. As a matter of fact, it is seen that 2.2% of the total workforce of the
concerned corporation are indigenous people of Australia and the
corporation is planning is enhance this representation even further
(Wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). More importantly, the corporation is presently
undertaking various campus drives and other similar kinds of activities to
hire more workers from diverse backgrounds so as to enhance the diversity
of the corporation (Forbes.com, 2020). In addition to these, it had been seen
that the various kinds of basic as well as advanced training programs,
workshops and others are being offered to these workers so that they would
be able to perform as per the expectations of the corporation and thereby
make the most of the employment opportunity that had been offered to
them while contributing towards the overall growth of the corporation as
well (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). Furthermore, the corporation had also
formulated adequate diversity management policies, inclusion policies and
others so as to effectively address the conflicts or the issues which might
arise on the score of the same and achieve the objectives with which these
policies are being used.
1.5 Diversity Management Issues faced by Wesfarmers
Philip and Soumyaja (2019) are of the viewpoint that the concept of
diversity management is a nascent one and thus it is seen that there are not