Research: Cultural Diversity's Impact on Employee Performance at M&S

This report presents a research project investigating the impact of cultural diversity on employee performance, with a focus on Mark and Spencer (M&S) as a case study. The introduction establishes the importance of cultural diversity and its influence on organizational success. The report outlines the research proposal, including the research question, objectives, and a supporting literature review that explores the significance of diversity in the workplace. The methodology section details the research approach, incorporating the research onion to justify the use of positivism, a deductive approach, and a combination of survey and literature review strategies. Primary and secondary research methods are described, and the findings are presented. The report also discusses the impact of diversity on employee behavior and the strategies that can be applied for managing diversity at the workplace. The research aims to evaluate strategies applied to manage diversity at the workplace. The report concludes with recommendations for M&S and reflections on research methods, and offers suggestions for alternative research methodologies. The report includes a questionnaire in the appendix.

Research
Project

Title: The impact of cultural diversity on employee performance. A case study on M&S....................3
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1....................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Research proposal that clearly defines a research question or hypothesis supported by a literature
review ..................................................................................................................................................3
P2 Appropriate research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research.......................6
TASK 2..................................................................................................................................................10
P3 Primary and secondary research using appropriate methods.......................................................10
TASK 3..................................................................................................................................................20
P5 Communicate research outcomes in an appropriate manner for the intended audience...............20
TASK 4..................................................................................................................................................21
P6 Reflection on the effectiveness of reserach methods ...................................................................21
P7 Alternative reserach methodology ...............................................................................................21
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................22
RECOMMENDATION.........................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................................23
APPENDIX ...........................................................................................................................................25
QUESTIONNAIRE............................................................................................................................25

Title: The impact of cultural diversity on employee performance. A case study on
M&S
INTRODUCTION
Cultural diversity is also known as multiculturalism which simply means group of diverse
individual that are from different culture or society. (Rizwan and et. al., 2016). Most of the business
firm started to embrace corporate diversity in the early 2000s due to many trends in demographic as
well as changing workforce. In simple term it can be said that, cultural diversity mainly used for
explaining several cultures which co-existing with larger culture. This research is based on Mark and
Spenser which is British multinational retailer which was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and
Thomas Spencer. They are serving at worldwide level and headquarter at London, United Kingdom. It
is important to have cultural diversity within organisation which result in wide impact on employees
performance as well as also in accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives in effective
manner.
TASK 1
P1 Research proposal that clearly defines a research question or hypothesis supported
by a literature review
Generally diversify culture consider language, religion, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity,
gender and many more. Main reason behind conducting this research is to gather knowledge related to
cultural diversity and its impact on employees performance (Kumudha and Jennet, 2018). Within this,
people are from different culture and work together for accomplishing common objectives. For
business firm also cultural diversity is important but it results in several other negative impact on
employees performance. Apart from this there are some personal and professional reason both reasons
behind selecting this research topic. As further researcher want to work in HR department so this
research will provide him assistance in gaining wide knowledge about cultural diversity within
workplace and also how to enhance performance as well as motivation of personnel’s.
Research aim
“To evaluate strategies applied to manage diversity at workplace.” A case study on M&S
Research objectives
 To identify importance of diversity at workplace
 To determine different strategies to manage diversity at workplace

 To analyse impact of diversity on employee behaviour at workplace
Research questions
 What is the importance of diversity at workplace?
 What are different strategies used to manage diversity at workplace?
 How diversity impact on employee performance at workplace?
Literature review
Literature review is important part of the study because it helps researcher in collection of
secondary data from various number of secondary sources i.e. magazines, books, articles etc. All these
are useful sources for investigator because it will help them in identification of research gap. Within
an investigation, main research gap is strategies applied to manage diversity at workplace. In previous
investigations, there were data available about the importance of cultural diversity management but
there were missing information about the strategies for management of diversity. In order to fill such
gap, research questions has been followed by investigator. This will support researcher in
accomplishment of research aim and objectives as well as fulfilling of missing information. Research
questions of present investigation will be explained as below:
What is the importance of diversity at workplace?
As per the views of Lepsinger (2018), Cultural diversity is also known as multiculturalism
which simply means group of diverse individual that are from different culture or society. Generally
diversify culture consider language, religion, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender and many
more. Most of the business firm started to embrace corporate diversity in the early 2000s due to many
trends in demographic as well as changing workforce. In simple term it can be said that, cultural
diversity mainly used for explaining several cultures which co-existing with larger culture (Shore,
Cleveland and Sanchez, 2018) (Sanyang and Othman, 2019) (Saifullah, 2019). There are several
importance of cultural diversity within working of Mark and Spencer explanation of these are as
follows :-
 Enhanced creativity – People from distinct backgrounds tend to experience differences as well
as have diverse perspectives. Exposure to a variety of views leads to greater creativity to a
workplace.
 Minimize employee turnover – Mark and Spencer with diversified staff have specific
individual characteristics and viewpoints more inclusive. Diversity and organizational
inclusion contribute to recognition and respect of all workers.

What are different strategies used to manage diversity at workplace?
As per the views of Burney (2020), it has been identified that there are several strategies which
Mark and Spencer can use for managing diversity at workplace. Explanation of these are as follows :-
 The hiring process – Developing diversity within hiring procedure is essential component of
strategy management plan as well as it is important to incorporate federal equal employment
opportunity guidelines (Evans-Lacko and Knapp, 2016). Because it is an starting point for
making sure that hiring procedure effectively encourage diverse applicant pool.
 Education – It is not enough to put posters related to diversity in workplace or update staff
manual. There is requirement of effective strategy incorporates diversity training in company.
Before starting training it is important for manager of Mark and Spencer to decide key areas
which have to be focus as well as have to discuss what they have to accomplish.
 Policy review - While company policies in general tend to be all-encompassing, ensuring the
same treatment for all, this doesn't always contribute to encouraging diversity (Hossain and et.
al., 2019). To embrace a more diverse workplace, companies must review polices on holidays,
time off and employee communication.
Equality and diversity policy of Mark & Spencer –
 Maintain a level of at least 30% female directors on the M&S Group plc board over the
short to medium term.
 Assist the development of a pipeline of high-calibre candidates by encouraging a broad
range of senior individuals within the business to take on additional roles to gain valuable
board experience.
 Consider candidates for appointment as non-executive directors from a wider pool
including those with little or no previous FTSE board experience.
 Ensure non-executive directors ‘long lists’ include 50% women candidates.
 Only engage executive search firms who have signed up to the voluntary Code of Conduct
on gender diversity and best practice.
 Report annually against these objectives and other initiatives taking place within the
Company which promote gender and other forms of diversity.

 Report annually on the outcome of the board evaluation, the composition and structure of
the board as well as any issues and challenges the board is facing when considering the
diverse make up of the Company.
How diversity impact on employee performance at workplace?
According to the views of Kerga and Asefa (2018) Diversity includes various elements such as
organizational values, employee behaviour, etc. It enables in developing a positive culture at work
place. Also, by managing all these diversities is maintained as it can be said that diversity depends on
organization culture. Any modification within culture will impact directly on diversity. Apart from
this, it will also give wide impact on behaviour of staff members. While working as a team member’s
people will get to know about each other religion, values and so on. In team employees will interact
with each other and share thoughts, ideas and so on. Moreover, manager also plays an essential role in
managing diversity (Sundari, 2018). They treat them in fair and equal manner.
In diversity if there occurs any discrimination within organization then it impacts on employee
behaviour in negative way. This is because it leads to unfair and injustice among employees. They do
not respect ethics and values and also are not able to maintain dignity. Alongside, it leads to change in
their behaviour. They start working in unethical ways. Apart from it, a negative environment is
developed within organization (Ozgen, Nijkamp and Poot, 2017). Another reason is manager start
favouring those who are favourites. Usually, discrimination occurs between men and women. the use
of strategies depends on management decision and nature of organization. For this there are many
other factors as well which are considered. For instance, current situation of business firm, policies,
procedures and many more. Moreover, it is crucial for manager to recognize that how essential staff
are and how they can be retained.
P2 Appropriate research methods and approaches to primary and secondary research
In research methodology section of investigation, research onion will be used. This section
will explain methodology for study by consisting different layers of research onion. Research onion
illustrates stages which are involved within development of research work. In addition to this, research
onion provides description related to different research process stages (Zhuwao, S. and et. al.,2019).
Research onion includes various stages explanation of these are as follows :-
Research philosophy
Research philosophy is related to set of belief regarding nature of reality which will going to
investigate in research. Research philosophy is of two type positivism and interpretivism (Anglim and
et, al., 2019). Both types of research philosophies are essential but for conducting present
investigation, positivism philosophy is more valuable for researcher because it will helps investigator

in collecting and analysing of data or information in form of numbers and quantitative. On the other
hand, interpretivisim philosophy is not applied within a study because it is based on qualitative
research and also requires additional time period.
Research approach
It is the procedure which involves several steps related to gathering as well as analyzing data.
There are mainly two type of research approaches i.e., deductive as well as inductive. For conducting
respective research investigator will use deductive research approach as it is linked with quantitative
research. Deductive approach of the research is more essential for investigator because it support in
analysing of quantitative information in minimum time duration. Along with this, it will provide
assistance in gathering information required and also allow analysing the data in quantitative manner
as well as opinion of every individual. In addition to this, it will help researcher in accumulating
information and providing valid outcomes. On the other side, inductive approach of the investigation
is not appropriate because it is based on qualitative data and also takes more time.
Research Strategies
It is related to how research will going to conduct research work as well as there are several
research strategies which used by investigator such as action research, systematic literature review,
survey, case study and many more. All these are effective strategies but within an investigation survey
and systematic literature review will be applied. Systematic literature review will be used for
gathering secondary data from journals, books, articles etc. Survey is a part of primary data collection
that will be followed by researcher for gathering first-hand information. Therefore, both are useful
strategies that will be applied by investigator for carrying out this research successfully. (Lambert,
2016). Apart from this, main reason behind selecting survey is because it is economical in nature and
help in gathering more data which arising from research questions.
Research Choice
There are two type of research methods i.e., quantitative and qualitative both of these are
important for conducting research in more appropriate manner. Quantitative research help in
collecting numerical data which analysed by utilisation of mathematically based methods. On the
other hand, qualitative research uses for answering question i.e., why and how people behave in the
way that they do. Simply it can be said that qualitative research provides in-depth information related
o human behaviour (ANJORIN and Jansari, 2018). For conducting this investigation, both quantitative
and qualitative research will use by investigator as it is more effective because this will help in
conducting research in detailed manner and also help in effective data collection. This choice of the
study will support investigator in gathering of numerical information in minimum time period.

Qualitative choice of the investigation is also essential because it helps in analysation of respondent's
opinion .
Time Horizon
This explains required time for completing project work. Cross sectional as well as
longitudinal are two different time horizons methods. For conducting present research, cross sectional
will be suitable method for researcher because this will assist in conduct an investigation within
required or specific duration. Main reason about choosing cross-sectional approach as it is based of
real situation and assist investigator to complete each activity of study within given time period as
compare to longitudinal approach.
Timeline and Activity
List of activities Start date End date Duration
Identify a topic 22.01.2020 23.01.2020 2 days
Literature review 24.01.2020 06.02.2020 14 days
Settings up aim and
objectives
31.01.2020 06.02.2020 7days
Drafting
methodologies
07.02.2020 16.02.2020 10 days
Complete proposal 17.02.2020 21.02.2020 5days
Designed questionnaire 10.04.2020 12.04.2020 3 days
Collection of data 13.04.2020 20.04.2020 8 days
Analyzing data and
interpretation
21.04.2020 30.04.2020 10 days
Discussion and
conclusion
01.05.2020 07.05.2020 7 days
Submission 08.05.2020 08.05.2020 1 day
Gantt chart
Activity 2
days
7 7 5 5 5 3 8 10 7
days
1 day

days Days Days days days Days days days
Identify
research topic
Literature
Review
Settings up aim
and objectives
Drafting
Methodologies
Complete
Proposal
Designing
questionnaire
Collection of
data
Analyzing data
and
interpretation
Discussion and
Conclusion
Submission
Data Collection methods

There are mainly two type of data collection method i.e., primary and secondary. Both of these
methods will utilise for conducting research, for literature review section secondary method will
utilise. On the other hand, for questionnaire part primary method will utilise. Along with this, primary
and secondary are two important sources of data collection that has been applied by researcher for
conducting this study successfully. For gathering secondary information, there are different sources
such as articles, books etc. will use for literature review. In order to collect primary data, questionnaire
is a most essential source that will be applying by researcher for achieving aim and objectives of study
within set time.
Sampling
It is related to selection of respondents from whole population. There are two different
methods for selecting sample i.e., probabilistic as well as non-probabilistic sampling method (Risberg
and Gottlieb, 2019). For conducting this present research, random sampling method will use by
researcher which is part of probabilistic method. With the assistance of this, 35 respondents have been
selected for conducting research. Main reason for selection of this method is to provide equal chance
to selected respondents.
Research instrument
For conducting this research, questionnaire will utilise by researcher as it is most effective
method for gathering information and data. Main reason behind selecting questionnaire as it is nor
expensive as well as less time consuming.
TASK 2
P3 Primary and secondary research using appropriate methods
There are some useful and appropriate methods that will be using by researcher for conducting
primary and secondary research. These methods are:
Cost
Cost is important for researcher while conducting and completion of entire activity of research
in successful and systematic manner. For conducting this research there will be requirement of around
£1500. This amount of capital helps researcher in completion of full project systematically.
Access
This is essential because it helps investigator in conducting of primary and secondary research effectively. There will
be requirement for researcher to have access for collecting primary information from selected respondents. In order
to gather secondary data, it is important for researcher to have full access to use company's website. Therefore access
is important for doing primary and secondary research.

Ethical consideration
There are different principles of reserach ethics such as informed consent, confidentility and
data protection, respect for respondents, justice etc. All these are main principles that must be follow
by reseracher. As it will support them in completyioon of full study ethically as well as systemtically.
It is essential part of research as investigator have to ensure that data and information gathered should
not be share with someone else. Through ethical consideration only respondents will feel safe and free
to share their information with research as they feel secure that it will not going to be share with
someone else.
P4 Appropriate analytical tools, analyse research findings and data.
Frequency distribution is an analytical technique that will be applied by searcher for analysing
quantitative information in less period of time. In this technique researcher will require in making of
frequency distribution table and distributing entire table in single table. This is an effective and useful
tool for researcher in analysing of quantitative type of data within minimum time. Frequency
distribution table has been shown as below:
Frequencu distribution table
Q1) Do you have understanding about the cultural diversity? Frequency
a) Yes 30
b) No 5
Q2) What is the importance of diversity at workplace? Frequency
a) Increased productivity 10
b) Reduced employee turnover 10
c) Improved creativity 15
Q3) As per your opinion, in what manner cultural diversity impact
on performance of Mark and Spenser?
Frequency
a) Positive manner 25
b) Negative manner 10
Q4) What are the negative effect of the cultural diversity on M&S
productivity?
Frequency
a) Creation of barriers 15
b) Miscommunication 10
c) Dysfunctional adaptation behaviours 10
Q5) According your opinion, what type of issues M&S is facing in
managing the cultural diversity within their organization?
Frequency
a) Ethnic and Cultural Differences 20
b) Language and Communication. 7
c) Gender equality 8
Q6) What are the several ways M&S should be adopt to overcome
from cultural diversity issues in an organisation and also develop
positive working environment?
Frequency
a) Learn about different cultures 10
b) Provide diversity training 12
c) Share knowledge 13

Q7) What advantages Mark & Spencer can gain from managing the
cultural diversity at workplace?
Frequency
a) Improved reputation of company 15
b) Improves cultural insights 10
c) Wider range of skills 10
Q8) How diversity impact on employee performance at workplace? Frequency
a) Negative 15
b) Positive 20
Question 1: Do you have understanding about the cultural diversity
Q1) Do you have understanding about the cultural diversity? Frequency
a) Yes 30
b) No 5
a) Yes b) No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
30
5
Frequency
Interpretation – After going through above discussion it has been summarised that, most of the
people are aware with the concept of cultural diversity. Because out of 35 respondents 30 are saying
that they are aware with the concept of cultural diversity. Whereas, remaining 5 are saying that they
don’t have any idea about cultural diversity.
Question 2: The importance of diversity at workplace
Q2) What is the importance of diversity at workplace? Frequency
a) Increased productivity 10
b) Reduced employee turnover 10
c) Improved creativity 15