Impact of Cultural Diversity Practices on M&S Employees' Performance

This report investigates the influence of cultural diversity practices on employee productivity and performance within the UK retail sector, specifically focusing on Marks & Spencer (M&S). The study explores the concept of cultural diversity management, identifying its impact on employee productivity and performance. It also examines the challenges M&S faces when implementing these practices and recommends strategies to overcome them. The research utilizes both primary and secondary sources, including questionnaires and literature reviews, to analyze the data through thematic analysis. The report concludes with recommendations for M&S to effectively manage cultural diversity, thereby enhancing employee productivity and overall performance. The study covers various aspects, including the benefits of diversity, potential conflicts, and strategies for fostering a positive and inclusive workplace environment within the retail context.

A. Title
To evaluate the impact of
Cultural Diversity practices
on the employees'
productivity and performance
at workplace in the context of
retail sector in UK. A study
on Marks & Spencer (M&S).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, praises and thanks to God, The Almighty, for showers of blessings
which helped me immensely throughout the research project and its successful completion.
Secondly, I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to the Respected Principal who
has given me the opportunity to do research on this topic which is “The impact of Cultural
diversity practices on the employees' productivity and performance” which broadened my
mind and thoughts regarding the retail sector of UK and the well-known company Marks &
Spencer.
Next, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Research Supervisor for providing me
invaluable guidance from the beginning of the research till the end. My classmates and friends
also deserve an equal appreciation without whose support I would not be able to accomplish the
objectives of this research.
Besides all, I would give my heartfelt thanks to my family members who encouraged and
appreciated me in all the steps of the study especially when times got tough who acted as my
supporting pillars in my research work.

B. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research is basically done as the retail firms in UK prefer more diversified workforce
in order to obtain a wide variety of new and innovative ideas and opinions. It provides many
opportunities to the employees to interact with the other employees from different background
and culture. On the other hand, it also creates many issues like conflicts, high investment and
many more. So, there is a need to manage the cultural diversity at the workplace in order to gain
more benefits and ways to meet up the challenges faced.
The research focused on the cultural diversity at Marks & Spencer which is a multinational
retailer in UK. The researcher tried to cover all the aspects regarding the impact which Cultural
diversity practices have on the productivity and performance of the employees. Scholar used
primary sources like Questionnaire where the respondents chosen were some employees from
M&S and secondary sources including Literature review by different authors to obtain a deep
insight regarding the objectives of the research.
The study analysed the data through thematic analysis which helped in drawing various
significant conclusions. The researcher also recommended various strategies which can be
implemented in companies like M&S to manage the cultural diversity at the workplace.

C. TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Title.............................................................................................................................................1
B. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.........................................................................................................3
C. TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................4
D. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................5
Background of the study..............................................................................................................5
Research Aim and Objectives......................................................................................................5
Rationale of the study..................................................................................................................6
E. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................8
Theme 1: Concept of managing cultural diversity at workplace of retail firms in UK...............8
Theme 2: Impact of Cultural Diversity practices on employees' productivity and performance.
.....................................................................................................................................................9
Theme 3: Challenges and Barriers faced by the retail firms during the implementation of
cultural diversity practices.........................................................................................................10
Literature Summary...................................................................................................................11
F. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................12
Research approach.....................................................................................................................12
Research Philosophy..................................................................................................................12
Data collection...........................................................................................................................13
Sampling....................................................................................................................................14
Data Analysis.............................................................................................................................15
Ethical Considerations...............................................................................................................15
Research Limitations.................................................................................................................15
G. DATA ANALYSIS and H. OUTCOMES................................................................................17
I. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................28
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................28
Recommendations......................................................................................................................28
J. REFLECTION...........................................................................................................................29
K. REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................32
L. APPENDIX...............................................................................................................................35
Questionnaire.............................................................................................................................35

TOPIC: To evaluate the impact of Cultural Diversity practices on the employees' productivity
and performance at workplace in the context of retail sector in UK. A study on Marks &
Spencer (M&S).
D. INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Cultural Diversity plays a major role when people from different cultures works at the
same workplace respecting each others’ culture, beliefs, behaviours and opinions. There is a need
to manage the cultural diversity in order to ensure the smooth functioning of organizations in
every aspect. This is mainly based on people from different race, age, religion, ethnicity, gender
or religion (Hingley, 2016).
Cultural diversity at workplace provides material and intangible benefits to the employees as
well as employers (Hall, King and Finlay, 2017). On the other hand, it also results in conflicts
and many other issues. So, the companies have to implement various practices in order to
manage the cultural diversity at the workplace.
The research is basically done by considering a British multinational retailer company Marks &
Spencers (M&S), headquartered in London, England which deals in the selling of own labelled
clothes, food and home products (Is M&S stuck in the middle ?, 2018). The company considers
its employees as its biggest assets who are responsible for its overall progress.
Therefore, the researcher feel the need to study about the ways to manage the cultural diversity
by implementing various practices which helps in increasing the productivity and overall
performance of the employees in M&S. The research also shed light on the strategies which can
be used by M&S in order to meet the challenges which are faced by the company while
implementing those practices.
Research Aim and Objectives
Aim
To study the impact of Cultural Diversity practices carried out in M&S on the
productivity and the performance of the employees at the workplace.
Objectives

 To evaluate the overall concept of cultural diversity management at M&S.
 To identify the ways in which cultural diversity impacts the overall productivity and
performance of the employees at the workplace.
 To ascertain the challenges which M&S can face in the implementation of the practices to
manage cultural diversity.
 To recommend the strategies whose implementation can help M&S to meet up the
challenges faced above in order to increase the productivity and performance of the
employees at the workplace.
Research Questions
 What is meant by concept of culture diversity management?
 How culture diversity impact on overall performance and productivity of employees?
 What are the challenges faced by firms in effective implementation of culture diversity
within organization?
 What are different strategies that can be used to overcome challenges and enhance
performance of employees?
Rationale of the study
The main reason behind this research is that most of the employees are become
dissatisfied as they are discriminated on the basis of gender, race and many other factors which
also results in unequal distribution of opportunities provided to them. This disturbs the overall
productivity and performance of the employees.
As the competition in the retail sector of UK is increasing day by day, it becomes a major
concern for the retail firms to increase its productivity by making the employees more satisfied
and productive so that they become able to give a tough competition to its competitors (Dean,
2016). The companies face lot many issues in managing the cultural diversity at the workplace.
So this research can be proved much useful to various stakeholders such as researchers who wish
to do further study on this topic, the other retailer companies who wish to implement the various
practices of cultural diversity management and the investors who invest in various operations of
the companies. This will especially benefit the managers, the HRM and the employers of the

M&S in order to increase their employees productivity and performance thereby enhancing the
customer base and profitability of the company.

E. LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Overview enables the researcher to critically evaluate the particular topic by
going through various books & journals which are already published by well-known authors
(Williams and Kayaoglu, 2020). It helped the researcher to gain a deep insight by making
various themes according to the objectives of research and to draw significant conclusions from
them which can help M&S to manage the cultural diversity at its workplace in order to improve
the productivity and performance of its employees.
Theme 1: Concept of managing cultural diversity at workplace of retail firms in UK.
As per the view of Otaye-Ebede (2018), there is a need to manage the cultural diversity at
the workplaces for the smooth functioning of the organizations. The study analysed that the
perspectives of different cultures helps the retail firms to bring in innovation and creativity which
helps in solving various problems and meeting the fluctuating demands of the customers in
completely new and exciting ways. The researcher also evaluated that employees from different
cultures allows the organizations to expand their broader range of products and services to their
respective areas which are completely known to them resulting in targeted marketing. Therefore,
managing cultural diversity becomes most important in the organizations for facing a rapid
growth and progress.
In support of the above statement Kanakaratne, Bray and Robson (2020), assessed the
benefits of managing cultural diversity in the recruitment process as it broadens the talent pool of
the potential employees. Further, it explained that it helps in hiring ambitious and globally
minded candidates which improves the employee retention as well as reduce the investment
which is associated with employee turnover. The study also explained that cultural diversity
management also teaches the employees to create a sense of dignity and respect towards each
other's beliefs and cultures which improves the environment of the workplaces. It makes the
workforce more motivated and enthusiastic in order to compete with the competitors in the
emerging markets of UK's retail industry.
On a contradictory note Holmes (2018), argued that managing cultural diversity requires
a large amount of investment of money and resources. The study further elaborated that this
money can be used by the companies in other important operations and practices like training
and development, marketing and many more. The scholar also analysed that it can create

communication problems as every employee is not aware of the issues and language in which it
is transferred which creates some sorts of interaction problems. As the employees speak different
languages, it can result in misunderstandings and misguidance which leads to confusion in the
workplace.
The contradiction was further expanded by Hoang, Barnes and Munroe (2019), which
stated that cultural diversity can result in conflicts as too many opinions are accumulated and it
becomes a major issue to take a particular decision which is in favour of some while in against of
others. Moreover, the scholar explained that the employees whose perspectives are ignored stop
sharing their views which reduces all the benefits of diversity at the workplace. The conflicts
disturb the overall environment of the workplace lessening the amount of trust among the
employees and the supervisors. The study also believed that the conflicts due to cultural diversity
increases the complaint levels which makes the situation uncomfortable to handle for the
management in the workplace.
Theme 2: Impact of Cultural Diversity practices on employees' productivity and performance.
From the view point of Raju and Singh (2018), it can be described that when the
employees work in coordination with other employees from different backgrounds, thinking,
backgrounds, they become more comfortable being themselves. This helps in making the
employees more satisfied and productive. The study also discussed that the employees become
more engaged and committed in order to perform the tasks in the best possible manner. This
enhances their motivation and encouragement which helps in achieving the goals of the retail
firms.
Further building up on this view point, Khan and et.al., (2019), has explained in their
book that the employees have a feeling to support each other as all belong to different
backgrounds and are not adaptable to the environment of the workplace. This increases the
efficiency of their communication and trust for each other. The scholar also identifies that the
employees start working in a team where different perspectives helps in innovative and unique
ideas which contributes in gaining various competitive advantages and ultimately rapid progress
in the retail industry.
In contrast to the above statement Borges, dos Santos and de Moraes Hoefel (2019),
elucidated that the employees sometimes become pressurized when they don't feel that they are

being themselves which makes them feel rejected and unable to perform the tasks effectively
reducing their productivity. The study also analysed that the employees waste most of their time
in coping up with the differences with other employees and does not focus on their personal as
well as professional goals. They sometimes get distracted from the aim to achieve the
organizational goals and move towards making good relations with the employees to make the
environment healthier in order to feel comfortable.
Wren (2020), also supported the above contradiction by highlighting that the discussions
made in order to become familiar with the other employees and to accept their behaviour
sometimes slow down the projects which are to be done in a given deadline. The study also
explained that the responsibility of decision-making is in the hands of the manager only so it may
lead to missing of some opportunities as many opinions and viewpoints are gathered which keeps
the manager in a confused situation to decide what is right and what is wrong.
The study was further supported by Filimonau and Gherbin (2017), as it highlighted many
issues of cultural diversity at the workplaces like lower cohesiveness among the employees and
the higher management bodies, mistrust and tension among the employees which lowers their
motivation and the productivity, stereotyping due to employees from different cultures,
communication problems due to the different languages of the employees which makes the
interaction difficult and some unexamined assumptions which are generated due to less efficient
communication between the employees and the supervisors.
Theme 3: Challenges and Barriers faced by the retail firms during the implementation of cultural
diversity practices
According to Otaye-Ebede (2019), the companies face various challenges while
implementing the cultural diversity practices. The companies sometimes forget to consider its
own brand thinking about the different cultures and behaviours. The products and services
provided by the company reflect its brand so it becomes challenging for the company to keep its
brand name alive by accepting and respecting the employees from different cultures. This study
also elucidated that the company has to maximize joy and connection by minimizing the fear
among the employees regarding different backgrounds which motivates them to perform their
tasks effectively so that their productivity and performance can be enhanced.

In contrast to the above challenges mentioned Ramanathan and et.al., (2017), argued that
the company forgets to achieve its goals by focusing on implementing the practices which can
manage the diversity at workplace. This hinders the overall progress of the retail firms. The
scholar also analysed a tough competition in the retail sector of UK, so company must implement
such practices which enhances the skills of the employees rather than making collaboration
among them. The skills and abilities of the employees contribute greatly to the organization's
performance and helps in competing with the competitors in the retail sector of UK.
Literature Summary
After going through the research papers published by different authors, it can be analysed
that all the authors have their different point of views regarding the cultural diversity
management at workplace and its impact on employee’s productivity and performance. Some
were in favour to implement such practices which can help the employees to cooperate with each
other irrespective of their cultures and backgrounds while some were in against of this as they
considered these practices as a waste of time, money and resources. It can be concluded from the
above discussion that the diverse workforce helps in bringing innovation to compete and enhance
the brand image but must be managed effectively and its practices must be implemented
efficiently. The companies must not totally be focussed on the diverse practices rather lays
emphasis on achieving the goals of the organization along with managing the diversity at the
workplace.

F. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter of Research Methodology describes the overall design of the research work
and its implementation regarding specific objectives to be achieved (Zapp, Marques and Powell,
2017). It highlights various aspects of the research such as the approach used while doing the
study, its philosophy, the ways in which data is collected from different sources, the respondents
used to support the study, the analysis of the data gathered to draw significant conclusions, the
ethics considered during the complete research and its limitations addressed by the scholar. This
helps the researcher to obtain a deep insight about the complete research and the methods
implemented to gain relevant findings from the same.
Research approach
Approach in research considers all the assumptions in order to decide the particular
method. There are mainly two approaches to perform any research i.e., Inductive and Deductive
(Swain, 2018). Inductive approach helps in analysing the data collected and generates a new
theory based on the findings while the deductive on begins with a hypothesis and tests various
theories and facts. The researcher used the inductive approach as the data is to be analysed
rather than theories to be tested. This is also used because while developing the research
questions and objectives there was not theory focussed. It also helps in generating meanings
from the data which is gathered for identifying the relationships for building a theory. The main
reason of using this approach is also that it is based on learning through experiencing and
observing for reaching to optimal conclusions. This is why it proves to be better approach for
analysing the impact which cultural diversity has on the performance and productivity of the
employees in M&S. Inductive approach is chosen as the research was qualitative and needed to
analyse the view points of the employees regarding the cultural diversity practices at the
workplace and the impact it had on the productivity and performance of its employees.
Research Philosophy
The philosophy of any research is basically a notion or belief which helps in data
gathering, analysing and its implementation (Ryan, 2018). It is broadly divided into 2 types-
Interpretivism and Positivism. Interpretivism is used when the researcher needs to analyse the
human behaviour and views. It can be done by sending the questionnaires, doing social surveys

etc. Positivism uses the quantitative data in order to analyse the whole society rather than
focusing on particular objectives. The researcher used the interpretivism philosophy as the study
needs to answer the above mentioned research questions and for that it is necessary to
incorporate the human aspect associated with the impact that different cultural diversity practices
have. Another reason for choosing the philosophy is that this requires assessing the actions,
words or behaviour deeply. The main focus is on the meaning which people or the employees in
this case can bring to different situations and the specific behaviour which is used for
interpreting the world, society or the workplace. Also there is no need for any law to achieve the
objectives and the data needed must also be flexible which is why this philosophy can proved to
be better than the other philosophies.
Data collection
This is the most important process in which data is used to support the study on particular
topic (Corti, 2018). Data can be collected from various sources like primary and secondary.
Primary sources give first-hand data in raw form by some respondents which can help in
achieving the objectives of the research. The secondary data is collected from the already
published books & journals, research papers etc. by some well-known authors who have studied
about the particular topic. The researcher used both the sources i.e., Questionnaire in primary
and the literature review in secondary data collection, in order to make significant conclusions by
going through the responses of the employees in M&S and also the scholarly articles which
helped in obtaining deep insight about the topic. Though the researcher used both the primary
and secondary sources for collecting the data, but still there are some merits and demerits of the
sources:
Merits: Questionnaire method is inexpensive to use as this is the affordable way to gather the
data along with becoming more practical. This also helps in gathering the desired information
from large audience in short time. This also helps in comparing and contrasting the data used in
the research along with making the analysing and visualising much easier. The questionnaire also
helps in developing new strategies which can be used in the research for suggesting various
strategies to manage the cultural diversity at the workplace in order to minimize its negative
impacts. The every aspect of cultural diversity can be covered using the questionnaires. The
research also used the secondary sources for collecting the data which was proved to be

economical and saved the expenses and efforts. It also helped in making the primary data
collection more specific as by using various books and journals the researcher was able to
analyse the gaps and the deficiencies and also some additional information which is required to
be collected.
Demerits: The biggest disadvantage of using the questionnaire method was that the respondents
may not be 100% truthful with the responses which give some dishonest answers. Some
questions can be unanswered which force the researcher to make easy questions which are
comfortable to be answered by the respondents. Also, this method is not able of capturing the
emotional feelings or responses of the respondents. It does not give the chance to observe the
body language, reactions or the facial expressions of the respondents which is why sometimes
the useful data remains unnoticed. Furthermore, there are various disadvantages of using the
secondary data which includes its non-fitting in the marketing research framework. The
information got may not be exactly what is required for the research due to the different class
boundaries. The accuracy of the data collected from the secondary sources is also not known and
the data may be outdated. Though there are various disadvantages of using these data collection
methods, but it did not affected the overall outcomes of this research which required analysing
the impact of the cultural diversity on the employees’ productivity and performance in M&S.
Sampling
Sampling is done in order to collect the primary data from respondents. These can be
done in two ways depending on the respondents who are sufficient to meet the objectives-
Probabilistic and Non-Probabilistic (Myin‐Germeys and et.al., 2018). Probabilistic is
implemented when the respondents are chosen without deciding any criteria while Non-
Probabilistic is applied when there is a specific criterion decided by the scholar in choosing the
respondents.
The researcher here used the Simple random sampling of Probabilistic type as 30 employees of
M&S are chosen at random which gave their responses through the questionnaires which helped
the researcher to know about the cultural diversity practices at M&S and its impact on the
employees' productivity and performance.

Data Analysis
Collected data is analysed by the researcher so that various findings can be made and
conclusions can be drawn. Analysis of data can be done in two ways- Thematic ad SPSS (Jones,
Tong and Monsivais, 2018). Thematic analysis is used when themes are to be made according to
the questions asked by the respondents which segregates the whole study in various parts. The
responses are demonstrated by various charts and figures which gives clear idea about the views
of the respondents regarding certain topics. SPSS uses certain tools which helps in analysing
statistical and numerical data. The researcher used thematic analysis in order to analyse the
responses submitted by the employees to give an insight about the practices of cultural diversity
at its workplace and the impact it had on the productivity of its employees.
Ethical Considerations
Ethics play an important role while doing all the processes in the research (Eaton, 2020).
The researcher must follow all the ethics while performing the various steps in the study. The
scholar here has considered all the ethics like the consent forms were provided to the
respondents with the questionnaires and the information provided by the respondents was kept
completely confidential which ensures that their responses play a major role in the research.
Declaration form was signed by the researcher ensuring the knowledge and information to be
true. There was no kind of biasness in choosing the respondents and analysing the data obtained.
Research Limitations
Every research has some limitation in terms of cost, resources or time which are to be
addressed by the researcher (Queirós, Faria and Almeida, 2017). The time available for the
research was less but the researcher made the justifies use of the limited time and addressed all
possible challenges to draw the significant conclusions from the findings. The respondents were
also few but researcher tried to take their responses who represented the whole population of
employees in M&S in order to gain insight about the impact that cultural diversity had on the
performance and productivity of employees. Though the research type also did not contain any
numerical data or statistics as it was qualitative but the scholar made use of all the qualitative
data which helped in gaining relevant findings which helped in achieving the objectives of the
research.

Breakdown of cost of research
The total cost required for the successful completion of the research will be £12,200.
Particulars Cost (in £)
Internet cost 800
Resources 1300
Questionnaires 300
Subscription to research
associations
1400
Raw materials 700
Subscription to books &
Journals
1000
Wages of the R&D staff 1200
Salaries of the people
contributed to research
1300
Patent fees 1400
Maintenance and upkeep of
R&D office
1000
Insurance, depreciation,
repairs of the equipments
1000
Contingent fund 800
Total 12,200

G. DATA ANALYSIS and H. OUTCOMES
Theme 1. Cultural diversity Practices useful for the organization
Do you think cultural diversity is useful for
organizations?
Particulars
Yes 27
No 3
Total 30
Interpretation
From the above graph, it can be easily seen that maximum number of employees
believes that cultural diversity is useful for organization because it increases quality, efficiency,
productivity and build strong relation between stakeholders. Very few people not agree with the
statements that it has any effect on firm and according to them it rises conflict between different
member of the company.
90%
10%
Usefulness of Cultural Diversity
Practices
Yes
No

Cultural diversity practices useful for organization and it increases quality efficiency and
productivity of the firm and it can be understood from the survey results. According to Otaye-
Ebede (2018), this practices are helpful in easy run of the business and it also impacts on
increasing communication level which helps in problem solving of related to work and decrease
person differences of members.
Theme 2. Cultural diversity has multiple benefits
What are the benefits of cultural diversity ? Particulars
Increase performance of employees 3
Increase creativity 2
Increase profit of the organization 3
Increase good-will of the firm 3
Above all 19
Total 30
7%
10%
7%
10%
67%
Benifits of cultural diversity Increase performance of
employees
Increase creativity
Increase profit of the
organization
Increase good-will of the
firm
Above all

Interpretation
Research conducted on 30 workers shows that, 19 workers emphasizes that cultural diversity has
multiple benefits such as it Increase performance of employees, creativity, profit of the
organization and good-will of the firm and only 2 persons believes that it has major impact on
creativity. 9 participant select on performance, profit and good will which can be benefit from
diversified culture.
It can be analyse from the questionnaire results that cultural diversity on the firm has
multiple benefit and ultimately increase overall performance & talent of employees and also
improve personal growth. As per the opinion of Kanakaratne, Bray and Robson (2020), this
helps in increase talented and skilled workers from the group of workers. It also increases
mutual respect of everyone in the organisation and build strong relationship which are necessary
for growth of the organisation.
Theme 3. Equal opportunities can contribute in maintaining cultural diversity
What are the ways in which cultural
diversity of organization can be maintained?
Particulars
Strong Leadership 6
Cultural events 4
Friendly atmosphere 8
Equal opportunities to all 12
Total 30

Interpretation
Scholar conducted survey in order to understand the view of employees ways in which
diversified culture can be maintained in Mark and Spencer. 30 participant survey shows that
most of them agrees that it has higher impact on creation of opportunities for all while only few
selected option of cultural events can contribute in maintaining workplace diversity. 14
respondent choose option of strong leadership and friendly atmosphere in questionnaire.
It can be evaluated from the survey that giving opportunities is one of the way to
maintain cultural diversity. In the view of Ramanathan and et.al., (2017), if all workforce will
get equal chances in new work and increase their interact through cultural events and friendly
atmosphere can help be useful practice for diversified culture. Author also describe that
leadership plays significant role in taking output from different kind of workers in the company.
Theme 4. Innovation and Creativity increases from cultural diversity practices
Which one of this positively impact from
cultural diversity in your work?
Particulars
Performance 6
Strong Leadership Cultural events Friendly
atmosphere
Equal opportunities
to all
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
6
4
8
12
Column C

Innovation 7
Creativity 7
Quality 4
Above all 6
Total 30
Interpretation
From the pictorial representation it can be evaluated that 46% equally agree that
creativity and innovation increase from cultural diversity practices in the Mark and Spencer.
They share experience which improve such traits while working with such kind of practices.
However. 40% believes that performance and all of the above impact on cultural diversity of the
workforce.
Innovation and creativity of workforce improves from diversity practices and it easily
observed from survey results. In the opinion of Ramanathan and et.al., (2017), diversity practices
has multiple benefit such as it increase quality and productivity of the worker and also enhance
their thinking skills. It also increases performance of the workforces which contribute in growth
of the organization.
Theme 5. Cultural diversity practices of Mark and Spencer
20%
23%
23%
13%
20%
Impact of cultural diversity
practices
Performance
Innovation
Creativity
Quality
Above all

How you will rate cultural diversity
practices of Mark and Spencer ?
Particulars
Very Bad 6
Bad 4
Good 5
Very Good 3
Excellent 12
Total 30
Interpretation
It can be evaluate from illustrate representation that most of the respondent rated option
of excellent practices which consist of 40% of all participant and only 13% rate for bad option.
27% of person believe it is good or very good while only 20% selected option of very bad,
20%
13%
17%
10%
40%
Respondent Rating on cultural diversity
practices of M&S
Very Bad
Bad
Good
Very Good
Excellent

From the above result of interview, it can be observed that Mark and Spencer practices
are highly effective and accepted by most of the workers. According to han and et.al., (2019),
workers come from different background and culture feel part of organization by proper
implementation of cultural diversity practices and also increase their loyalty, quality, efficiency
and productivity. It also positively impact on motivation of employees which ultimately impact
on growth of the firm.
Theme 6 time period in which cultural diversity practices changed in Mark and Spencer
In what time period do you think that
cultural diversity practices should be
changed in Mark and Spencer?
Particulars
Often 4
Always 14
Sometimes 10
Seldom 2
Total 30
Often
Always
Sometimes
Seldom
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Cultural diversity practices changes in M&S
Column B

Interpretation
From the above demonstration, it can be concluded that majority of people believe that
Mark and Spencer always or sometimes changes diversity practices to build strong relationship
between workforce and hence to make impact on growth of the organisation. Less number of
people belives that this practices either seldom or often changes as per the need of Firm benefit.
Company frequently change cultural practice which help in gaining competitive
advantage by best work and workers and it can be evaluated from the above result of
questionnaire. As per the opinion of Kanakaratne, Bray and Robson (2020), changes in existing
work-culture practices is important for the growth of the firm and it also helps in expansion of
business in different area with effective workforce.
Theme 7. Cultural Diversity practices increase performance of the employees
Do you think cultural diversity improve
performance of the employees?
Particulars
Yes 29
No 1
Total 30
97%
3%
Cultural Diversity Practices impact on
Employees
Yes
No

Interpretation
Above graphs pictorial representation explain that 97% of workers believes that cultural
practices improves performance of the employees and according to their opinion, it is because of
improving communication level and increasing innovation and creativity. Only 3% of persons in
the survey is not agreed that this practices has any effect in increasing productivity as they
analyse it in real life.
It can be evaluated from the obtain result that employees' performance is positively
impacted from cultural diversity practices. As per the view of Raju and Singh (2018), training
and development programs of the organization with effectively use of these practices can
enhance working capacity of the employees and hence it contributes in growth of the firm.
Theme 8. Cultural diversity increase peace and harmony in the organisation
Do you agree that cultural diversity can
maintain peace and harmony in the
organization?
Particulars
Agree 8
Strong Agree 14
Neutral 5
Disagree 2
Strongly Disagree 1
Total 30

Interpretation
It can be evaluated from the above graph that 22 person out of 30 for the questionnaire
either agree or strongly agree that cultural diversity contribute in maintaining peace and harmony
in the organization while for the above statement only 5 persons remain neutral. 3 respondent in
the survey disagree or strongly disagree for the statement.
It can observe from the result of the interviews that cultural diversity increases peace and
Harmony among different members in the organization. According to Khan and et.al., (2019), it
creates bonds between different stakeholders of the firm which help in achieving higher goals.
Theme 9. Communication barrier challenge faced by organization in cultural diversity
practices implementation
Which one of the challenge faced by the
organization in implementation of cultural
diversity practices?
Particulars
Communication barrier 15
Working style 7
Cultural differences 8
Total 30
Agree
Strong Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
0
4
8
12
Peace and Harmony by cultural
diversity
Column C

Interpretation
Demonstrate graph can be interpreted that larger portion of selected person of the survey
vote for communication barrier which was faced by person in diversification practices at
workplaces and very few choose the option that it face problems in terms of working styles and
cultural differences of the employee's. Employee's opinion is based on their experience in Mark
and Spencer which is primary source of study.
Communication is one of the major problem faces by the organization in implementing
diversity practices in Mark and Spencer. As per the opinion of Otaye-Ebede (2019), different
ideology workers cannot interact easily which effect on growth of the organization. Researcher
also focuses that cultural differences and working style become major issue in the firm and it
decrease quality, efficiency and productivity of company.

I. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
It can be concluded that cultural diversity is an important part of the organization. Mark
and Spencer use cultural diversity practice to build strong relationship between employees and
also it impacts on growth of the firm. Literature review describe opinion of different author
related to study. Cultural diversity has multiple benefits such as it increase quality, efficiency,
loyalty and productivity which impact on growth of the company. It also maintains discipline
and increase mutual respect among different members in the M&S. There are also multiple
challenges by the organization in implementation of cultural diversity practices in the firm for
example it becomes difficult to creates understanding between different ideology workforce.
Communication barrier rises conflict between employees which has negative effect on growth of
the organization. In research methodology, scholar has chosen qualitative research with inductive
approach which gives better result. It also uses interprevistism philosophy which gives
opportunities to better understand employees of the Mark and Spencer. Researcher choose 30
sample size of the employees which increase accuracy of outcomes. In data analysis investigator
has chosen thematic which helps in better understanding of information through graphs. Overall
cultural diversity practices plays important role in firm growth. also it allows in creating a
positive culture and environment in that.
Recommendations
 Company human resource management team should hire workers from different culture
and background which contribute in increasing cultural diversity. These workers use their
skills and experience in work and hence increase efficiency, quality and productivity of
the work.
 Company should create separate department for creating policy and procedure for diverse
workforce and closely operate it to get higher results and also time to time change in the
system of work-culture for increasing its effectiveness.
 Conflicts and problems must be resolve quickly by leaders and higher authority so that it
cannot become barrier in performance of the employees as well as of the firm.
Communication gap must be decrease by group meetings and understanding their
problems related to work-culture.

 Equal opportunities must be given to all workers by analysing their performance and time
to time increment, incentives and promotion to them which increase their loyalty towards
organization. It will result in reducing gender inequality and promoting diversity
 Any affirmative actions in the policy and procedure must be removed so that any
discrimination on the bases of color, race, sex, religion or national origin can be avoided
and if any discrimination is done then strict legal action is taken.
 Cultural events and programs can be organised which can also contribute in diversity
practices and it increases respect for different culture which ultimately impact on growth
of the organization.
 Training and development must be given to new employees in entertaining ways and also
introduce with organization and employees so that they cannot face any isolation and can
improve their performance. It can be possible using induction in the beginning of work of
new employees.
 Transformative leadership must be use by managers and higher authority in work-culture
to increase performance innovation and creativity of the employees and try to give more
autonomy at work places. Encourage them for team participation which build increase
their communication skills.
 Feedback and suggestion must be taken from the workers and resolve their problems
quickly which contribute in improving cultural diversity.
J. REFLECTION
This research work on such a wonderful topic provided me the best experience as a
researcher. I tried to use all the relevant methods in the study which proved to be beneficial in
drawing the various conclusions and obtaining a deep insight about the topic. I realized that I am
good at doing data analysis, because I didn't face any problem in the complete analysis of the
data collected from the respondents from Marks & Spencer who were none other than some 30
employees who were selected at random. I can use this experience in my future research where I
will try to make certain criteria to choose the respondents.
As I chose the qualitative type of research, it gave me various opportunities to integrate the
human behaviour and opinions in my research work. I could also use the quantitative type of data
which could help in collecting the numerical and statistical data which would help in developing

various statistics. But I realized that the objectives of this research can be achieved by making
use of qualitative data only. But in the future researches I will try to use the quantitative data also
so that I can experience using the same and analysing that whether the outcomes gained could be
better or same. I analysed the data collected by thematic analysis which segregated the whole
study into various parts therefore, it became easy for me to evaluate all the responses based on
the themes. The graphical and pictorial representation used in this research made it more creative
and easy to make the interpretations. I will continue the same method in my future work as well.
The number of respondents was 30 which gave best results which represented almost all the
employees. So, in my next studies the number of respondents will be same. If in future I use the
quantitative data then I will use the SPSS tools to analyse the same as it cannot be analysed
through the thematic analysis. I could also use the interview method instead of the questionnaire
which could be done in less time and with more than 1 respondent at the same time. Though the
questionnaire helped in gaining the significant conclusions and optimal results but in future
research if it is not possible to use the questionnaires, then I will make use of interviews so that I
will get the experience of using the same and will come to know about its benefits and
drawbacks over the questionnaires.
However, I faced problem in management of time as very less time was available for the data
analysis part which ideally requires majority of the time. But I made the best use of the available
time in getting the optimal results and outcomes. As mentioned in the proposal, research had to
be done in 11 weeks but I spent my most of the time in going through previously published
books & Journals so left with a very less time for analysing the data obtained by the respondents
of M&S through Questionnaire. So, I will try to manage the time in my future research work and
will spend time according to the time decided for every task. In addition to this, I will make a
time plan prior to the research and will do every task according to the time decided for it in the
plan. I will monitor my activities according to the plan so that I will get sufficient time for every
task which is going to be performed in the research.
After doing this research, I realized that M&S must manage the cultural diversity at its
workplace by implementing certain practices like equal opportunities must be provided to all the
employees irrespective of their race, gender, backgrounds and many more factors which
differentiate employees from each other. The research also made me realized that the conflicts if
arise among the employees must be resolved by making unbiased decisions. M&S should also

celebrate each and every occasion regardless of the nationality which makes the employees feel
valued and indiscriminate. The company must therefore implements such practices which do not
hurt the values and culture of any employee and must teach everyone to respect each others'
nationality.
The overall research gave me complete knowledge about the cultural diversity at the workplaces
and the implementation of its practices at M&S can enhance the productivity and performance of
the employees. The topic was much interesting to research about and also it broadened my mind
to a great extent. I will try to research about such topics which will give me certain opportunities
to explore myself and my knowledge in order to focus on various industries of UK. This research
was focussed on the retail sector of UK. I hope to study about the various other industries in UK.

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L. APPENDIX
Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Occupation:
1. Do you think cultural diversity is useful for organizations?
 Yes
 NO
2. What are the benefits of cultural diversity ?
 Increase performance of employees
 Increase creativity
 Increase profit of the organization
 Increase good-will of the firm
 Above all
3. What are the ways in which cultural diversity of organization can be maintained?
 Strong Leadership
 Cultural events
 Friendly atmosphere
 Equal opportunities to all
4 Which one of this positively impact from cultural diversity in your work?
 Performance
 Innovation
 Creativity
 Quality
 Above all
5. How you will rate cultural diversity practices of Mark and Spencer ?

 Very Bad
 Bad
 Good
 Very Good
 Excellent
6. In what time period do you think that cultural diversity practices should be changed in Mark
and Spencer?
 Often
 Always
 Sometimes
 Seldom
7. Do you think cultural diversity improve performance of the employees?
 Yes
 No
8. Do you agree that cultural diversity can maintain peace and harmony in the organization?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
9. Which one of the challenge faced by the organization in implementation of cultural diversity
practices?
 Communication barrier
 Working style
 Cultural differences
10. Can you recommend any changes in cultural diversity Practices of the organization?