Gender-Based Discrimination and Employee Performance Research Proposal

This research proposal investigates the influence of gender-based discrimination on employee performance within Marks and Spencer, a British multinational company. The study aims to identify the concept of gender-based discrimination, understand its impact on employee performance, and determine the issues faced by both employees and management due to such discrimination. The research includes a literature review exploring the concept of gender discrimination, its influence on employee performance, and the issues faced by organizations. The methodology involves a primary data collection method using questionnaires with a sample of 30 respondents. The proposal outlines the resources required, a timeline of 4-6 months, and considerations for validity and reliability. The study aims to contribute to the understanding of workplace dynamics and provide insights into mitigating the negative impacts of gender discrimination, ultimately enhancing employee performance and organizational efficiency.

Research proposal

Contents
Title: The influence of gender-baseddiscrimination on the performance of employee withinMarks and
Spencer....................................................................................................................................................4
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Research Aim:..........................................................................................................................................5
Research question...................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................5
Methodology...............................................................................................................................................7
Resources required and action plan............................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................11
Books & Journals....................................................................................................................................11

Title: The influence of gender-based discrimination on the performance of employee within
Marks and Spencer.
Introduction
Gender based discrimination also known as sexual discrimination acts as an effective action plan
which denies the opportunity, privileges or rewards of a person on the basis of their gender. It
has been said that discrimination among the workplace arise as individuals working within the
organization are not handled equally and discriminate them on the basis of color, gender,
nationality and many more. Because of discrimination on the gender, performance of employees
might affect negatively which reduces the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the
organization. Therefore,it has been said that management team needs to create discrimination
free working environment so each and every individuals can perform their work more efficiently
and effectively. In the present research, Marks and Spencer is chosen as the base organization. It
is a British multinational organization whose headquarters is located in London,England. Marks-
and Spencer is an organization mainly deals in selling home and food products as well as
clothing products. In order to conduct the whole research in an effective manner, aim and

objectives are developed along with the rational of research. In addition to this, literature review
is a section which will assist in gathering data and information related to the specific topic.
Rational of the research
Behind every research there are some reasons due to which the whole investigation is conducted.
Each and every research have their own reason and impact which needs to be considered by the
researchers while conducting the whole investigation. There are two reasons behind conducting a
research which includes personal as well as professional reasons both. One of the primary reason
is related to the personal interest of the research worker towards this chosen topic. As they say
discrimination at their workplace on the basis of gender, researcher wants to do a research with
the help of which they can easily reduce the impact of such factors. In addition to this, another
reason is to enhance their own skills, knowledge and capabilities which will create futures
opportunities. These are the main reasons behind conducting the whole investigation so that both
society and researcher itself gain benefits from this.
Research Aim:
Aim of the research is “To examine the influences of gender based discrimination on the
performance of employees.” A case study on Mark’s and Spencer.
Research Questions:
 To identify the concept of gender based discrimination.
 To know the influence of gender based discrimination on the performance of employees.
 To determine the issues faced by employees and management team of Mark’s and
Spencer due to gender based discrimination.
Research question
 What do you know about the concept of gender based discrimination?
 What is the influence of gender based discrimination on the performance of employees?
 What are the issues faced by employees and management team of Mark’s and Spencer
due to gender based discrimination?

Literature Review
Literature review refers to a systematic procedure as well as comprehensive summary about the
last study conducted on a particular area of the study. There are ample number of different
sources which are needed by the investigator in order to collect secondary based data and
information. Main aim behind conducting this is to examine the gaps within previous research so
that the whole investigation will be concluded in an effective manner
Concept of gender-based discrimination
As per the point of view of Joan Wallach Scott, 2018 Gender discrimination is a bias
predominate the workforce. The law is broke when in an organization female employee is
dominated due to their gender. Workplace gender discrimination is really complicated thing now
a days. Gender discrimination is basically taking place in organization when employees are
treated differently as per their gender or male and female. Gender discrimination describes the
situation in which people are treated differently simply because they are male or female, rather
than on the basis of their individual skills or capabilities. Discrimination which is based on
gender is commonly faced by individuals at the workplace which is mainly in the sort of sexual
harassment, unequal distribution of work and salary to the men and woman, pregnancy
discrimination and many more. There are some gender discrimination laws which is used by
management team within their organization in order to protect the rights of each and every
individual person. Sexual or gender discrimination in business relate to treating someone
unfavorably because of the person’s gender, whether they are applying for a job or are a current
employee. Although women have made clear they have the ability to perform with the same skill
and success in every endeavor engaged in by men, the issue of gender discrimination still holds
many backs. Sex or gender discrimination is treating individuals differently in their employment
specifically because an individual is a woman or a man. If you have been rejected for
employment, fired, or otherwise harmed in employment because of your sex or gender, then you
may have suffered sex or gender discrimination. The term “gender” for the collection of
characteristics that are culturally associated with maleness or femaleness. Discrimination is
generally illegal regardless of whether it is based on sex, or gender, or both sex and gender.
Influence of gender-based discrimination on the performance of employee

According to CS Stamarski - 2015 - Gender discrimination create negative impact on employees
of an organization. This affect the performance of employees because they feel biasness at
workplace. Sometimes gender discrimination also affects the staff members or employee’s health
it can be their mental health or physical health because employee could be treated unfavorable
this affect their health in negative way. Sex or Gender discrimination sometimes affect the
employee's confidence this demotivate employees because managers or leaders could not focus
on them. It has been said that there is a negative impact of gender based discrimination on the
performance of staff members, as people feel demotivated while doing business functions at the
business entity. Due to negative and ineffective working environment at the workplace,
employees lose their interest in order to conduct their work which affect the overall performance
of the staff members within the organization. Inequality sometimes affects the employees in such
a negative way that they take wrong step for the organization. In an organization sometimes
female employees faced more discrimination than male employees this create negative impact on
female employees and also affect the image of the company
Issues faced by employees and management team of Mark’s and Spencer due to gender based
discrimination
As per the point of view of Siltanen, 2020 Employees and managers faced some issues related
to gender discrimination in Mark and Spencer like many female or male employees faced
inflexible work arrangement this define when employees that there is no fixed time or the time is
imperfect for some employees. Unequal pay in Marks and Spencer some employees faced
unequal pay or pay gap issue some male employees get higher pay than the female employees
working at the same position this decrease the motivation of employees. Unequal pay this is also
an issue in Mark and Spencer gender pay reporting, this is one of the most pressing of sexism in
the workplace. There are various sort of issues faced by employees as well as by the
management team of the organization because of gender biased environment, which includes
reduce in efficiency, conflicts and disputes among the workers, reduce in the performance of
employees, decline in sales as well as profit margin. Unfavorable recruitment strategy sometimes
company adopt this strategy and do biasness this is a big issue of any company which creates
negative impact on employee’s performance. Different opportunities sometimes Mark and
Spencer create issue they give more opportunity to their favorite employees and this time ignore

their unfavorable employees this also an example of gender inequality or discrimination.
Redundancies treating female employees unequally in various organizations people thing that
women are not that much capable then a man this is biasness with female employees give
negative impact on female employees of an organization. Bias: Showing preferential treatment
towards male colleagues over female ones, such as in promotions or day-to-day conversation.
Sexual harassment an act of gross misconduct, this behavior towards men or women can have
serious consequences. Holding sexist views: Promoting outdated views about men or women,
such as outdated gender stereotypes.
Methodology
Research philosophy deals with the source, nature and development of knowledge. In
simple terms, a research philosophy is belief about the ways in which data about a phenomenon
should be collected, analyzed and used. The research philosophy will reflect the author’s
important assumptions and these assumptions serve as base for the research strategy. Generally,
research philosophy has many branches related to a wide range of disciplines. In order to collect
data and information related to a specific topic, there are primary and secondary method with the
help of which researcher can easily gather data. In the present research, primary data collection
method is adopted by investigator where survey, questionnaires, observation are used by
researcher. Therefore, in the current investigation, using primary method for collecting
information is adopted where questionnaires is opted by the investigator to collect information in
an effective and appropriate manner. The term questionnaire usually refers to self-administrated
process where by respondents themselves reads the questions and records answer without any
assistance.
Sampling the sample is collected for research is a sub set of population being studied. It
represented by the large population and is used to draw inferences about that population. Usually
for gathering data and information, researcher select some specific sort of sample size with the
help of random sampling method. This method is used to gather information on a specific topic.
In the current investigation, 30 respondents are chosen by the researcher with the help of random
sampling method so that they can easily gather sufficient information to conclude the research.
The selected respondents are the stakeholders of the organization and the reason behind choosing
them is that they are associated with the profitability of the company. It is a research technique

widely used in social science as a way to gather information about a population without having
to measure the entire population.
Validity refers to how accurately a method measures what it is intended to measure. If
research has high validity, that means it produces results that correspond to real properties,
characteristics, and variations in the physical or social world.
Reliability refers to how consistently a method measure something. If the same result can
be consistently achieved by using the same methods under the same circumstances, the
measurement is considered reliable.
Limitation in research refers to accomplish on time and in accurate frame. Although the
idea of knowledge creation may appear to be profound, you are engaged in knowledge creation
as part of completing your dissertation. You will collect secondary and primary data and engage
in data analysis to answer the research question and this answer marks the creation of new
knowledge.
Resources required and action plan
In order to conduct the whole investigation in an appropriate manner, there are ample
number of factors which needs to be considered by the researchers so they can produce positive
outcomes. For conducting an investigation on a specific topic, it is rather necessary to determine
a set time period which will assist in developing as well as adding more value to the research
work. In the present context, the time period which is estimated by the researcher is 4-6 months.
With the assistance of this, investigator can easily be performed their work as they have specific
time period. Apart from this, for doing the whole research in an appropriate manner, different
types of sources are required which includes data collection and analytical method which is one
of the most important factor. Finance is required to be one of the most essential element which
provide assistance to complete the whole task in a positive manner and within given time period.
In order to complete the whole research in an effective manner around 100-200 pounds are
required so that the whole investigation will be done in an effective and appropriate manner. This
whole cost of the research consist of travel cost, stationary cost, salary of team members and
many more. In order to conduct the whole research in an appropriate manner and complete it on
given time frame, work break down structure is mainly adopted by the investigators. This tool

help in dividing the whole research or complex task into different small sections so that team
members can effectively attain their pre defined targets. These targets are also known as
milestones which help in fulfilling all the targets on a timely manner.
Gantt Chart
It is a tool commonly used by researcher in order to identify the overall performance of the
research. With the aid of this method investigator can easily examine the status of their activities
that whether they are on track or not. Gantt Chart is a graphical representation which includes
estimated time period for completing the whole research in an effective manner.

References
Books & Journals
Siltanen, J., 2020. Locating gender: Occupational segregation, wages and domestic
responsibilities. Routledge.
Galli, E. and Rossi, S.P., 2016. Bank credit access and gender discrimination: some stylized
facts. In Financial Crisis, Bank Behaviour and Credit Crunch (pp. 111-123). Springer, Cham.
Blau, F.D., 2016. Gender, inequality, and wages. OUP Catalogue.
Lawson, A., 2016. European Union non-discrimination law and intersectionality: investigating
the triangle of racial, gender and disability discrimination. Routledge.
Tian, X., Yu, X. and Klasen, S., 2018. Gender discrimination in China revisited: A perspective
from family welfare. Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 16(1), pp.95-115.
Schmitz, S., 2017. Race and gender discrimination across urban labor markets. Routledge.
Beaurain, G. and Masclet, D., 2016. Does affirmative action reduce gender discrimination and
enhance efficiency? New experimental evidence. European Economic Review, 90, pp.350-362.