Equality and Diversity Strategies at Nike: A Business Project Report

This report analyzes the equality and diversity strategies implemented by Nike, an American multinational manufacturing company. It explores the importance of these practices in the workplace, examining their contribution to organizational growth and employee motivation. The research includes an analysis of the challenges faced by Nike in incorporating equality and diversity, along with recommendations for improvement. The report covers the aim and objectives, literature review, management plan, methodology, and interpretation of results, including a questionnaire analysis. The findings emphasize the positive impact of equality and diversity on innovation, profitability, and overall business performance. The report also highlights the need for continuous efforts to foster an inclusive environment within the company. The report is submitted as part of the BTEC Higher National Diploma in Business Marketing, demonstrating the application of project management skills and research methodologies to a real-world business context.

Managing A Successful
Business Project

Executive Summary.
Report will reveal about the importance of equality at workplace and
diversity in organisations. Equality at workplace and diversity has helped
organisation to grow in the current market. Carrying out the research about the the
topic in Nike has revealed about the equality and diversity and its effects in
organisation. Also after carrying out the research recommendations are given for
enhancing the performance.

Table of Contents
Managing A Successful Business Project....................................................................................................................................................1
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................................................................4
Aim and Objectives .................................................................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.....................................................................................................................................................................................5
MANAGEMENT PLAN RELATING TO PROJECT................................................................................................................................6
METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH .........................................................................................................................................................7
Gantt Chart ..............................................................................................................................................................................................9
INTERPRETING RESULTS....................................................................................................................................................................11
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Equality is concerned with providing equal opportunities to people and not discriminating them on the basis of age, gender,
caste, creed and colour. Diversity involves recognizing and respecting people's cultural differences and using it adequately to achieve
success and growth in the organization. Nike is an American Multinational manufacturing company that deals in the manufacturing of
footwear, apparel and other sports equipments. The company was founded in the year 1964 by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman in
Oregon, United States. The company provides employment to more than 70,000 individual and therefore it is important to maintain a
culture of equality and diversity within the organization. The current report will focus on the importance of culture and diversity in the
workplace, management plan mainly comprises of cost, managing time, quality of the work etc. of research and lastly it will also
include the recommendations to improve the following practice in business.
Aim and Objectives
AIM: To investigate the various types of strategies that Nike put in to build a diverse and inclusive workforce.
Objectives:
 To analyse the concept of equality at workplace and diversity amongst the workforce in Nike company.
 To identify the contribution of equality and diversity in the growth of Nike.
 To ascertain the challenges faced by Nike while incorporating equality and diversity. To provide appropriate recommendations for improving the culture of equality within the company.
Research Questions:
 What is the concept of equality and diversity in the Nike company ?
 How does equality and diversity contribute towards the growth of Nike ?
 What are the challenges faced by Nike company while implementing equality concept in the organization ?
 What are some recommendations to improve the culture of equality within the organization.

Literature Review
Literature review is mainly used in conducting the research by reviewing the judgement and decision by various authors
regarding the particular topic. In this research, researcher will use the thematic procedure to interpret the data which is also raised by
various authors regarding the particular topic.
THEME 1: Concept of equality and diversity in company.
In the view point of Anagnostou (2019), it is imperative for every business organization whether big or small, to follow the equality
concept which means that all the employees must be treated equally and there must be no discrimination on the basis of cast, creed,
colour, race or gender. It basically involves providing all the employees with equal opportunities regardless of their abilities,
background and lifestyle. Diversity is concerned with recruiting and selecting employees from different backgrounds and treating
them equally to achieve the goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. Also, if an organization wishes to innovate then it is
beneficial to have a culture diversity at the work premises as it would bring new ideas in the business and thus help the company to
maximize its profits in the long run.
On the contrary, Tardos and Paksi (2018) states that the concept of diversity in the organization can sometimes backfire as
diversity can lead to mixed opinions in the workplace which may slow down the efficiency and effectiveness of the project and can
hamper the overall growth and productivity of the business. Also, too much diverse culture decreases the amount of trust within the
workplace which acts as a roadblock in the way of success of an organization. Furthermore, it creates communication problems and
causes confusion, conflicts and chaos in the company.
THEME 2: Contribution of equality and diversity towards the growth of an organization.
According to the Konrad, Yang and Maurer (2016), equality and diversity is the backbone of every organization and plays a
vital role in the achievement of goals and objectives. Equality and diversity not only help in the success and growth of business but
also maintains the peace and harmony within the workplace which leads to increased employee productivity. Moreover, equality and
diversity culture allows employees to focus on their individual strengths and thus leads to easy delegation of tasks among the

management, It also encourages an environment of innovation and creativity within the company and further contributes towards the
success of a business in the long run.
However, the Georgiadou (2016) argues that promotion of diverse culture into the organization can sometimes shift the focus
of business from its core activities and can affect the growth prospects of the company. Also, in a diverse environment the level of
conflict increases between the individual team members and hampers the profitability of the business. It is mandatory for every
company to follow the concept of equality if it wants to establish its brand image and accomplish organizational goals and objectives
systematically.
THEME 3: Challenges faced by a business while implementing equality concept in the organization.
According to Holck (2018), there are various challenges faced by an organization while implementing the equality policy as
the most important thing a company has to do is to spread awareness about the importance of equality in the workplace and how it
contributes towards the success of an organization. Also, providing equal opportunities to every individual sometimes cause distrust in
the organization as senior level employees feel that its unfair and then it further leads to problems within the workplace.
Knoppers, Claringbould and Dortants (2015) contradicts by stating that there are no such challenges faced by the business
while implementing the policy of equality and it is imperative to follow it in order to ensure ethical practices and to retain skilled and
talented employees within the company.
MANAGEMENT PLAN RELATING TO PROJECT
 Cost: The cost which is examined in research is concerned with the aspects of collecting and interpreting the collected
information about the concerned topic. The cost of researching the topic mainly included carries the travelling charge,
equipment cost and other electronic equipment. The total expenses for the overall project will be £100.
 Scope: The research has a wide scope as it will focus on the importance of equality and diversity in the organization, ways to
implement it into the business and how it can contribute towards the success and growth of the organization effectively and
efficiently. The keywords of the study will be equality, diversity, culture, workforce, growth prospects and many more.

 Time: In respect of time it is the most important procedure of a project as it includes the total duration taken to complete a
project. The research project began on 27-08-2019 and finished on 31-10-2019. It is the duty of the researcher to ensure the
timely completion of research project with all the goals and objectives being accomplished.
 Quality: The research project made must have an appropriate quality which means that the information collected should be
from appropriate sources both primary and secondary and also it must include referencing and citing. Moreover, feedback must
be taken from the supervisor after proof-reading all the information effectively and efficiently.
 Communication: Communication is very important part of project where major aim is on gathering reliable information to
examines the research outcomes. The present research will be performed through preferring the questionnaire with selecting
the random sampled participants.
 Risk: The major risk identified at the time of conducting their project is that it is concerned with the duration of research
project because it is essential to complete the research project on time and get it checked by the supervisor before the data of
completion.
 Resources: The resources included the electronic tools, notepad and pens, print media, newspapers, magazines, journals and
books and internet.
METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH
The methodology of research involves various techniques and ideas to conduct the research is accurate manner. It includes
various ideas that can be undertaken to gather information and data which is examined in respect of conducting the research. It also
defines the various steps that must be taken by the research project in order to complete with maximum efficiency. For the present
research topic of assessing equality and diversity in Nike company, the following types of methods has been examined that: Types of Research: There are basically two types of research performed called qualitative methods and quantitative methods.
For the following research project qualitative research plan has been used as it focused on the thoughts and opinions of
individuals and dived deeper into the research problem.

 Research approach: It carries various plans and procedure which is used in determining the data and information so that
relevant information is to be gathered (Research Approach, 2019). This is mainly divided into two parts called inductive and
deductive. For this research, inductive approach has been used because for qualitative research type inductive approach is used
in respect of gathering the information from internal sources. As by preferring the qualitative methods, inductive methods is
applied so that data is to be gathered in right manner. Research philosophy: This methods mainly carried with the ideas, thoughts and belief regarding attaining the particular task so
that data is to be gathered in more authentic way (Research Philosophy, 2019). There are basically two philosophies used
under RM, intererpretivism and positivism. In the present project interpretivism research philosophy have been used in order to
conduct qualitative investigation of the data collected over the topic of research. By choosing this methods it used in
interpreting the results to get the information more presentable and also data is to be collected more authentic.
 Data collection : Data is to be collected and used with the process of collecting information and it can be collected through
both primary methods and secondary methods. Primary methods include collection of information through surveys,
questionnaire and interviews. Secondary sources include collection of information from pre written books, magazines, journals
and reports. The present research includes information collected from both the sources.
Use of random sampling method has been done to select the participant for interviews and questionnaires from the population.
 Data analysis: It is concerned with the use of statistical tools and ideas and also analyses the data to get accurate results the
creation of theme. The current research plan uses tabular format, chart and graphs for interpreting the gathered information.
 Ethical consideration: The project is conducted was completely ethical and the primary data was collected from reliable
sources. Also, there were no bias answers and opinions and no participant was forced. The research was conducted with
extreme care and the privacy of the participant was respected.

Gantt Chart

INTERPRETING RESULTS

QUESTIONNAIRE
Question 1: Do you think that it is important to promote the culture of equality and diversity in
the organization ?
A. Agree
B. Strongly Agree
C. Neutral
D. Disagree
E. Strongly disagree
Question 2: Have you ever faced any sort of discrimination at your work place ?
A. Strongly agree
B. Agree
C. Neutral
D. Disagree
E. Strongly disagree.
Question 3: Do you think with this advertisement campaign, equal opportunities will be given
to employees at the work place ?
A. Strongly agree
B. Agree
C. Neutral
D. Disagree
E. Strongly disagree.