Managing Equality and Diversity Challenges: Aston Martin Case Study

This report analyzes Aston Martin's response to challenges related to equality and diversity in the workplace. It explores issues such as gender pay gaps, sexual harassment, and gender inequality in leadership. The report examines Aston Martin's strategies for promoting a diverse and inclusive work environment to enhance employee productivity and competitiveness. It includes a literature review on the meaning of equality and diversity and the issues that arise due to a diverse workforce. A project management plan is developed, including cost estimations, scope, timeframes, quality measures, and risk assessments, supported by a Gantt chart and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The report also details the research methods used, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, and data collection sources. The aim is to determine how companies respond to issues related to inclusiveness and diverseness at the workplace so that the efficiency of workers can be increased by giving them equivalent opportunity which builds their competitiveness.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

TOPIC
“What is the response of companies towards challenges which occur due to equality and
diversity at work like difference in payment due to gender difference, molestation, biasses in
leadership due to gender inequality etc. so that the productiveness of workers can be enhanced
and competitiveness among workers can be established.” A study on Aston Martin Lagonda
Global Holdings plc.
INTRODUCTION
As the businesses are expanding across international boundaries they have to hire
employees having different nationality, cultures, religions who have differences in their beliefs,
values, expectations, experiences etc. which creates workforce diversity. Variety can help in
bringing innovation in company's products and services through varied ideas. Equality at
workplace is important so that employees are not differentiated on the basis of caste, religion,
gender, disability etc. which help in giving equal opportunities to them to grow and develop
personally and professionally (Bryson, 2018). Promoting equality and diversity helps in dealing
with the issues such as gender pay gap, sexual harassment and difference in leadership due to
gender inequality. This report is based on Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc which is a
British company and manufactures luxurious sports cars and grand tourers. It has a 100 years of
experience in designing and creating world's most creative and luxurious automotive. This report
discusses about the ways in which the company deals with issues such as difference in pay based
on gender, sexual harassment, gender divide in leadership etc. a small research is also done in
this report by using Gantt Chart and WBS to develop a project management plan so that equality
and diversity can be established in the company.
TASK 1
P1
With the increased globalisation and integration of businesses there is a rising demand for
promotion of equality and diverseness at the workplace so that diverse workforce can be
efficiently managed along with giving them same opportunities to grow in the company. This
helps the company in fully utilizing the potential of employees by encouraging them which helps
the company to achieve its goals and objectives on time. Also a good, safe and secure working

environment can be established which attracts the attention of potential employees towards
company.
Aim : To determine what are the responses of companies to issues related to inclusiveness and
diverseness at workplace so that the efficiency of workers can be increased by giving them
equivalent opportunity which builds their competitiveness.
Objectives :
 To identify the information that is given on company website relating to equality and
diversity in its workplace.
 To determine functions of HR so that issues related to diverseness at workplace can be
identified.
 To gather the opinions of company employees related to equivalence and heterogeneity at
the workplace.
Questions :
 What is the meaning of equality and diversity at working premises?
 What are the issues that are faced by company due to variety of workforce?
 How can the issues which are identified can be resolved?
Literature Review
Meaning of equality and diversity at work
According to Frances O' Grady, it is important that equality is maintained at the place of
work regardless of age, race, gender, class, sex or the country they belong so that they can
always learn something new at work which can help to up-skill their abilities. This will further
help in using these new capabilities in order to bring innovation in company products and
services which can help the company to remain competitive in the market. It is important to
understand the meaning of this concept so that a company can establish it in its policies which
will help in making the workers more compatible with each other that will ultimately create a
friendly environment in company. It will also help in improving the efficiency with which they
work so that better results can be produced by company and will also build good competition
among them.
Issues that occur in company due to diverse workforce

According to Rose Johnson workplace diversity comes in place when recruitment of
people belonging to different caste, age, sex, religion, nation, expectation, beliefs etc. is done.
The diverseness is considered as an investment by companies but it can lead to conflicts as they
will have different level of thinking, abilities and skills which also affect their competitiveness.
Some of the issues faced by the companies are barriers in communication due to difference in
language, opposition to introduction of changes in company, management of heterogeneous
people etc. At Aston Martin problems that are faced also include molestation of women, unequal
treatment of female workers, payment differences based on sex etc.
How can the issues be resolved
According to Ruth Mayhew proactive measures alone are not enough in order to handle
the issues that arise due to diverse workforce. For dealing with these issues a combination of
preventive and reactive measures are important. It is important to establish strong grounds of
equality in the company so that all the workers can be given same chance to participate in tasks
irrespective of varied factors which makes them different. For this the company must start
training programmes and empowerment which will help in strengthening the morale of people
which will increase their compatibility with each other so that competitiveness of company can
be enhanced in market.
P2
A project plan is a document which helps to guide execution of all the stages of a project
in an efficient manner. This plan is created by a project manager so that the cost, resources and
time required, risk involved etc. can be determined so that the project objectives can be achieved
which are discussed below:
 Cost : This element helps in estimating the budget of plan so that the expenses that are
needed to be done so as to execute the plan properly can be determined (Allaoui,
Bourgault and Pellerin, 2019). This helps in evaluating the total cost that the company
will have to bear in order to achieve the objectives of the plan. Also a proper estimation
of money that is required to be kept reserved for the project can be determined so that all
the activities of project can be carried out in an efficient manner. Total cost of this project
for the company is :

Total Forecasted Budget
Particulars Amount
Promotional expenses £80
Cost incurred in technology £150
Training and development expenses £100
Collection of data £200
Other Expenses £200
Total Cost £730
 Scope : It helps in determining the specific project goals, features, functions, deadlines
etc. so that the desired results can be properly achieved. Proper methods and techniques
are to be applied in the project so that objectives are achieved on time and within the
estimated budget. These methods and techniques must be appropriately chosen and
efficiently applied so that the result of the project can help in improving the efficiency of
the organisation. Time : This element helps in estimating the total time that will be required from the start
of the research to the application of research results in the company to achieve desirable
goals. The time taken by researcher for this project is 2 months so that the methods of
research which are chosen can be effectively applied which can help in the completion of
the project on time and by using the skills and talents of the researcher. Quality : It is related with collection of information from authentic and reliable sources
so that effective conclusions can be taken which will help in completing the project on
time and within the estimated budget (Christian, 2019). The researcher uses both
qualitative and quantitative sources to collect information so as to ensure the authenticity,
reliability and quality of data that has been collected so that accurate interpretation can be
done which can help in deriving results that are beneficial for the organisation. Communication : Effective communication needs to be established so that the stream of
information through various stages can be done efficiently and the messages can be
perceived in the same meaning as it is intended so that effective results can be achieved.

E-mails, video-chats, messages etc. are used by researcher so as to maintain the
transparency and ease with which messages are shared. Risk : These are the factors which creates barriers and affects the efficiency and quality
of research. These risks can be shortage of time, resources, research skills,
communication skills etc. Various other risks that were faced by researcher during
conducting the project were lack of financial resources and lack of time which affected
the research to be done in the manner as desired by the researcher.
 Resources : These are the tools and assets that help the researcher in conducting the
research efficiently so that desired results can be achieved. These resources are
mathetical tools, technology that is used, financial tools etc. The resources that are to be
used by the researcher are printers, laptops, projectors etc. so that communication can be
done with managers of the company so that updates can be given to them regarding the
progress of project along with the problems that are faced by the researcher. 3 mobile
phones, 4 laptops, 1 projector etc. are the resources that are required by the researcher.
P3
Gantt Chart : It is a horizontal bar chart which showcase all the activities against the time
in order to accomplish each and every activity of project management plan on time. This will
help investigator in properly convey about the task to the project manager. Also, it assist
researcher in ascertaining all the issues or hurdles of the project which might hindrance
successfully implementing all the activities so that unnecessary processes can be removed from
the project and effectiveness of the project can be assured (Erickson and et. al., 2014).

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) : This is considered as most effective tool which
helps researcher in breaking down all the complex or multi tasking project into smaller parts so
as to accomplish all the activities in a most significant way (Henry And et. al., 2014). It helps in
reducing complexness of the project by bifurcating them into manageable task so that all the
team members can give their best to perform their task and to attain business objectives within
limited period of time. WBS is given below in the context of this project:

TASK 2
P4
Research refers to a systematic procedure which can be utilised by the researcher in order
to collect necessary information about a specific topic that will give their contribution in coping
up from all the issues or in creating new theories. Here are defining some of the tools which can
be used by researcher to collect, interpret and evaluate data in terms to make most appropriate
decision for attaining research objectives.
Qualitative research method : In this method, researcher give their emphasis on open
ending conversations in order to collect more deep information about the perception, behaviour
and nature of different respondents which have been determined by researcher. Herein the
information it hard to represent in a graphical or tabular manner. Various resources can be
utilised here like observation, surveys, interview and many others (Kordova, Katz and Frank,
2019).
Quantitative research method : The data which is collected here is remain in numerical
form which can be presented by graphs and tables so as to represent and analyse it in a better
manner in terms to make effective decisions. Polls, questionnaire and many more resources are
included in this.
Sources of data collection : Primary : This resource of collecting data provide more relevant and first hand data as
data is gathered by researcher personally with the help of interview, polls, questionnaire
etc. but this process is more time consuming and costly.
 Secondary : Herein, data which is collected by researcher has already used by any other
investigator to conduct its research. Herein, collected data may be out-dates and as per
the perception of another investigators. For this, various magazines, journals, online sites
can be utilised.
Sampling : This refers to a process which has adopted by researcher to select the number of
respondents which requires to undertake so as to collect more accurate information and to
accomplish objectives of research (Ng and Rumens, 2017). The sample size is determine on the
basis of mutual characteristics and features of diverse population. Herein, researcher is applying
non-random sampling method and select a sample size of 40 to collect information or data.

Questionnaire
Quantitative questions
Q1) Do you know what is equality and diversity at the place of work?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) What is the importance of these concepts?
a) Equal opportunities
b) Increase productivity
c) Business become more competitive
Q3) What are the problems faced by Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc due to
diverse workforce?
a) Conflicts among workers
b) Difficulty in communication
c) Increased group-ism
Q4) What are the problems that occur if there is no equality at workplace?
a) Demotivation
b) Decrease in productivity
c) Increase in jealousy
Q5) Do these concepts help company to achieve its objectives?
a) Yes
b) No
Q6) Why is diversity at workplace important?
a) Pool of varied ideas
b) Innovations increase
Q7) How is the working environment of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc?
a) Friendly and safe
b) Unfriendly and unsafe
Q8) What are the strategies to increase equality at workplace?
a) Training and development
b) Encouraging equal participation
c) Performance appraisal

Qualitative questions
Q9) What are the issues related to inclusiveness and diverseness at Aston Martin Lagonda
Global Holdings plc?
a) Difference in payment due to gender inequality
b) Molestation
c) Leaders are always men
Q10) Methods by which these issues can be efficiently dealt with?
a) Quick response to these issues
b) Managers must be proactive
c) Encouraging women empowerment
Q11) Response of company to issues related to equivalence and heterogeneity at
workplace?
Q12) The steps taken by company so that the issues that are discussed can be dealt with?
Q13) Any suggestions?
TASK 3
P5 Evaluate research data using tools and techniques
Q1) Do you know what is equality and diversity at the
place of work?
Frequency
a) Yes 25
b) No 15

a) Yes b) No
0
5
10
15
20
25
25
15
Frequency
Interpretation : As per the above file, it can be concluded that from the 40 employees of Aston
Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc 25 respondents are pertaining they are well-introduced with
the concept of equality and diversity and remaining 15 says that they does not have any
knowledge about it. This represent that maximum number of employees are aware from that
people from different culture, gender, religion, values and expectations are working together
within the organisation and believe that by creating equality achievement of organisation goals
can be ensured (Rao and Roberts, 2018).