Impact of Workplace Discrimination on Women: Sainsbury's Case Study

This research proposal examines the impact of workplace discrimination on women employees, using Sainsbury's as a case study. It explores the research objectives, which include identifying the impact of discrimination, determining the issues faced by women due to gender-based discrimination, and exploring ways to eliminate its effects. The proposal outlines the reasons for choosing this research, emphasizing the importance of equality and diversity in reducing workplace discrimination. A literature review supports the research, highlighting existing gaps and relevant studies. The methodology includes research philosophy, approach, strategies, and techniques like surveys. The project also includes a Gantt chart and ethical considerations. The aim is to understand how to improve the working environment for women and improve their performance.

Research Proposal Form
Student Name: ______________________ Student ID: ____________
Centre Name: _____________________
Tutor: ________________ Date: ___________________
Unit: ____________________
Proposed Title: Equality and diversity in the workplace of Sainsbury.
______________________________________________
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project (in the form of a question, objective or
hypothesis)
Research objectives (e.g what is the question you want to answer? What do you want to
learn how to do? What do you want to find out?):
Introduction:
Equality and diversity is the actual term followed for equal opportunities. This is the legal
obligation to protect employees against any type of discrimination. Workplace discrimination
can be against an individual's gender, disability, sex, beliefs, race, religion, sexual orientation or
age. This research project is based on the case study of Sainsbury that is the supermarket chain
in the United Kingdom. Company was founded by John James Sainsbury in 1869 and
headquartered in London, UK. This case study is based on providing equality rights to the
women employees at workplace. It is important for company to provide flexibility to women in
different ways such as child-bearing age, maternity leave and parents etc. By providing
opportunities to the women will be essential for success and growth of company (Arshad,
2020). There are different significance of having women employees at workplace including,
boost productivity levels, expand network of talented individuals, attract younger employees etc.
All these advantages will support company in attainment of competitive advantages
successfully.
Research aim:

Main aim of this research is to identify the impact of workplace discrimination on working
performance of women employees. A case study on Sainsbury.
Research Objectives:
 To Identify the impact of discrimination in the workplace of Sainsbury.
 To determine the issues faced by women due to gender based discrimination at
workplace of Sainsbury.
 To explore ways by which impact of workplace discrimination on women's working
performance can be eliminate by the Sainsbury.
Research questions
 How discrimination impact on workplace of Sainsbury?
 What type of issues faced by women employees due to their gender in the workplace of
Sainsbury?
 What are the effective ways through which Sainsbury can easily overcome impact of
discrimination over working performance of women?
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you are studying, personal
interest, future plans, knowledge/skills you want to improve, why the topic is important):
One of the main reason behind selecting this topic or research is to identify the impact of
workplace discrimination on working performance of women employees. This research is
essential because with the help of this, researcher can easily determine importance of equality
and diversity practices in reduction of discrimination in the workplace. Along with this, current
research is important at personal as well as academic level. At personal level, this research will
support investigator by improving its research skills that results in completion of full project
successfully and systematically (Flabbi and et. al., 2019). At academic level, this study will
support students by improving their knowledge regarding the importance of women employees
in the workplace.
Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question, objective or hypothesis:
Literature review is an important part of the research project as it will helps investigator in

gathering of secondary type of data from various sources which are books, articles, magazines,
publication research and many others. All these are valuable sources for researcher to use and
gather secondary data regarding the discrimination and its impact over working performance of
women. This section of the study will support researcher to identify research gap in previous
investigations. Within a research, main research gap is the impact of workplace discrimination
on working performance of women employees (Fuller and Hirsh, 2019). In previous studies,
there were data available regarding the impact of workplace discrimination on employees
performance, but there were mission information about the impact of discrimination on women
at workplace. In order to fill this missing data, research questions has been followed which are:
How discrimination impact on workplace of Sainsbury?
According to the Landsberg (2018), discrimination at workplace has negative effects. There are
some negative effective effects which will be described as below:
General negative atmospheres: Discrimination at workplace creates a poor working and
negative atmospheres that directly impact on business performance. Discrimination in the
workplace leads to a culture of hostility, suspicion, mistrust, rivalry and resentment among the
employees. All these creation spread negative vibes as well as harm relationships at work,
particularly loss of cohesion and free flow of communications within the Sainsbury which
impacts on teamwork (Heilman and Caleo, 2018) .
Decreased employees productivity: This is another major impact of discrimination in the
working place of Sainsbury. When a workers is discriminated against, they feel helpless as well
as anxiety-ridden, and may show a lack of involvement in fulfilling job responsibilities. This
turn to impact over growth and success of company.
What type of issues faced by women employees due to their gender in the workplace of
Sainsbury?
As per the view presented by Stamarski and Son Hing (2019), gender inequality within an
organisation is a complex process that can be observed in organisational practices, structures and
procedures. For women employee, there are some harmful gender inequalities that are enacted in
HRs practices which are policies, decision making and their enactment. All these will impact on
women in different situations such as hiring, training, pay and promotion. According to the
current case study of Sainsbury, it has been determined that women employees faced different
issues at workplace due to their gender, marital status, being a mother etc. All these are major

issues that have negative influence or impact on working performance of female employees in
the workplace. There are number of negative effects of gender discrimination on women's are
low self-esteem, decreased productivity, feeling unsafe or fearful, workplace conflict, isolation
from other co-workers etc. All these have negative effect over working performance and
productivity of female employees at workplace of Sainsbury.
What are the effective ways through which Sainsbury can easily overcome impact of
discrimination over working performance of women?
As per the view point of Fuhl (2018), there are different ways that will be useful for Sainsbury
in reduction or overcoming of impact of discrimination on working performance of employees.
These ways will be explained as below:
Arrangement of flexibility working option: It is an effective and essential way for company to
provide option of flexible work to their female employees in different situation such as
pregnancy, family issue, child health issue etc. This will be beneficial for company because with
the help of this option, they can easily retail women employees and increase their productivity
level (Panicker, Agrawal and Khandelwal, 2018).
Have a clear policy on a discrimination: This is another important way for Sainsbury to have a
clear policy on any kind of discrimination. For this, equality act 2010 is best way for company to
use and protect women employees from any type of discrimination such as race, gender, age etc.
Section Four: Activities and timescales
Activities to be carried out during the research project (e.g
research, development and analysis of ideas, writing, data
collection, numerical analysis, tutor meetings, production of final
outcome, evaluation, writing the report):
How long this will
take:
Milestone one: _________________

Target date (set by tutor): ____________________
Milestone two: _______________________
Target date (set by tutor): ______________________
Gantt Chart
Gantt chart introduces to the time management tool that will be used within an investigation for
identifying starting and ending time of each activities used within an investigation. This is an
effective tool that helps researcher in completion of research within set-time period.
Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
What type of research approach and methodologies are you likely to use and why? What
your areas of research will cover:
Research methodology is important part of the research project because it will support

investigator in gathering and evaluating of actual information regarding the topic. For this
section, research onion framework will be used by researcher because it support them by
proving information regarding the useful methods, philosophy, approach etc., according to the
topic. This framework includes different layers that will be explained as below:
Research philosophy: There are basically three type of research philosophies which are
ontology, epistemology and axiology. These are main but for carrying out current investigation
on workplace discrimination, epistemology philosophy is more valuable because it support
researcher in collecting and analysing of qualitative and quantitative information through
interpretivisim and positivism philosophy. Within an investigation positivism philosophy is
more valuable because it facilitate in providing of quantitative data in less period of time
(Sabharwal and et. al., 2019).
Research approach: This is another section that is effective for investigator in analysing of
quantitative and qualitative information through deductive and inductive approach. In this
research, deductive approach is useful and appropriate because it facilitate researcher to analysis
quantitative information successfully and timely.
Research strategies: There are number of strategies that will be effective in collection of
information regarding the specific field of study. These strategies are experimental, survey,
interview, action research, systematic literature review etc. In order to conduct present
investigation, survey as well as systematic literature review strategies will be adopted by
investigator. Systematic literature review has been applied for collecting secondary data about
the topic. Survey will be chosen for collecting primary data regarding the rights of women's at
workplace. Therefore, both types of research strategies are useful for investigator in
achievement of each objective of current study (Triana and et. al., 2019).
Research choice: There are three types of research choice for researcher which are known as
memo choice, mixed choice and multi-mixed choice. For executing present study, memo choice
of the study is more valuable because it will facilitating researcher in collection and analysation
of only one type of data which are called qualitative or quantitative. In order to collect as well as
analyse information about the workplace discrimination, quantitative choice under memo
method. This will be essential for investigator in gathering of numerical data and achieving of
research objectives within limited time duration (Velez and et. al., 2018).
Time horizons: There are basically two effective types of time horizon which are cross-sectional

and longitudinal. For executing present investigation, cross-sectional time horizon will be
followed because it support investigator in completion of each activity or tasks of study in given
time.
Techniques and procedures: This is another important part that will support investigator in
gathering of primary information from number of techniques which are interview, questionnaire,
observation, focus group etc. These are important but according to the current investigation,
questionnaire has been chosen by investigator because it helps them by providing reliable and
quantitative information in limited period of time (Yunita and Saputra, 2019).
Comments and agreement from tutor
Comments (optional):
I confirm that the project is not work which has been or will be submitted for another
qualification and is appropriate.
Agreed: ________________ (name)_______________ Date ______________
Comments and agreement form project proposal checker( IV sampling)
Comments (Optional):
I confirm that the project is appropriate.
Agreed /Disagree: (Name of the IV) Date

Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the use of data
collected form human participants are required to gain ethical approval before commencing their
research. Please answer all relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if
incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:
Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed research fully with your
unit tutor. Please complete this form in good time before your research project is due to
commence.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title: Impact of workplace discrimination on working performance of women
employees. A case study on Sainsbury.
Student name:
Student ID number:
Programme:
College Name:
Intended research start date:
Intended research end date:
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your project:
 Interviews Yes No
 Questionnaires Yes No
 Observations Yes No
 Use of personal records Yes No
 Data Analysis Yes No
 Action Research Yes No
 Focus Groups Yes No
 Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where necessary.

Will your research involve human participants?
Who are the participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults:
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
Participants of the current investigation will be recruited randomly under probability sampling
method. 30 employees of Sainsbury will be recruited for this research project.
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what you are doing:
The entire informed consent process will be used by researcher for informing accurate
information about the research aim and objectives to the research participants.
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written? How will it be made
clear to participants that they may withdraw consent to participate at any time?
The entire informed consent process involves providing a subject actual data concerning the
research, giving adequate chance for the subject to consider all options,, ensuring that the
subject has comprehended this information, responding to the subject's questions obtaining the
subject's voluntary agreement. All these information will be written in form.
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of omitting
questions that do not wish to answer?
Yes No
If no please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical issues arising from this
Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be asked for their informed
consent to be observed.
Yes No
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give them a brief explanation
of the study)?
Yes No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?(This could be a brief
summary of your findings in general)

Yes No
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in compliance with the Data
Protection Act (1998)
Yes No
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
Researcher will have access to the personal information and data.
During the research:
Researcher
Where will the data be stored?
Data will be stored in mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops.
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used
Yes No
If Yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Researcher
Where will the data be stored?
Data will be stored in mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops.
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
Data will be recorded or kept for longer time period.
Will data be kept for use by other researchers? Yes No
Section 5 : Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may raise ethical concerns? If
so, please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks that may arise because of
your research. Please consider/address all issues that may apply. Ethical concerns may

include, but are not limited to the following :
 Informed consent.
 Potentially vulnerable participants.
 Sensitive topics
 Risk to participants and /or researchers
 Confidentiality/anonymity
 Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
 Data storage and security, both during and after the research (including transfer,
sharing, encryption, protection).
 Reporting
 Dissemination and use of your findings.
Section 6: Declaration
I have read, understood and will abide by the institution’s Research and Ethics Policy:
Yes No
I have discussed the ethical issues relating to my research with my Unit Tutor:
Yes No
I confirm that to the best of my knowledge:
The above information is correct, and this is a full description of the ethical issues that
may arise in the course of my research
Name: Date:
Please submit your completed form to your supervisor and also attach to the Research
Proposal when submitting to Turnitin.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Arshad, S. H., 2020. Gender discrimination and job satisfaction.
Flabbi, L. and et. al., 2019. Do female executives make a difference? The impact of female
leadership on gender gaps and firm performance. The Economic Journal. 129(622).
pp.2390-2423.
Fuller, S. and Hirsh, C. E., 2019. “Family-friendly” jobs and motherhood pay penalties: The
impact of flexible work arrangements across the educational spectrum. Work and
Occupations. 46(1). pp.3-44.
Heilman, M. E. and Caleo, S., 2018. Gender discrimination in the workplace.
Panicker, A., Agrawal, R. K. and Khandelwal, U., 2018. Inclusive workplace and organizational
citizenship behavior. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.
Sabharwal, M. and et. al., 2019. Inclusive work practices: Turnover intentions among LGBT
employees of the US federal government. The American Review of Public
Administration. 49(4). pp.482-494.
Triana, M. D. C. and et. al., 2019. Perceived workplace gender discrimination and employee
consequences: a meta-analysis and complementary studies considering country
context. Journal of management. 45(6). pp.2419-2447.
Velez, B. L. and et. al., 2018. Discrimination, work outcomes, and mental health among women
of color: The protective role of womanist attitudes. Journal of counseling psychology.
65(2). p.178.
Yunita, P. I. and Saputra, I. G. N. W. H., 2019. Millennial generation in accepting mutations:
Impact on work stress and employee performance. International journal of social
sciences and humanities. 3(1). pp.102-114.
Online
Landsberg. T., 2018. The impact of discrimination in the workplace. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.seesa.co.za/the-impact-of-discrimination-in-the-workplace/>
Stamarski. C.S and Son Hing. L.S., 2019. Gender inequalities in the workplace: the effects of
organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism. [Online]
Available through:
<https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01400/full>
Fuhl. J. 2018. ways to eliminate gender bias in the workplace. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.sagepeople.com/about-us/news-hub/eliminate-gender-diversity-
workforce/>