Business Project: Strategies for Diverse Workforce at Clarks Shoes

This report presents a project focused on identifying strategies and initiatives for Clarks Shoes to build a diverse and inclusive workforce. It begins with an introduction outlining the project's aim, objectives, and research questions. A literature review explores the meaning of a diverse and inclusive workforce, strategies for development, and the advantages of implementation. The project then details the project management plan, including cost analysis, scope, resource allocation, communication strategies, quality control, timelines, and risk mitigation. A work breakdown structure and Gantt chart are provided for project organization. The report further includes a small-scale research component using primary and secondary data collection methods. Data analysis, findings, and recommendations for Clarks Shoes are presented, followed by a reflection on the project. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations, and includes references and an appendix with a logbook.

Managing a successful
Business Project

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
P1) Aim and Objectives of the project...................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
P2) Project management plan for undertaking the project.....................................................5
P3) Work Breakdown structure and Gantt chart....................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
P4) Small scale research with the help of primary and secondary methods..........................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
P5) Presentation of the data, data analysis and findings......................................................11
P6) Recommendations..........................................................................................................19
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................19
P7) Reflection.......................................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
Appendix........................................................................................................................................23
Logbook................................................................................................................................23

INTRODUCTION
With the concept and practices of the inclusiveness of the employees an organisation can
efficiently manage their operations and can enhance their competitiveness. This facilitates them
to improve their productivity and overall performance of the organisation (Ravazzani, 2016).
This project is based upon the Clarks Shoes which is a British company that manufacture shoes
and sales them throughout the world. They have their branded stores and franchises throughout
the world also they sell their products through third party distribution. For making the diverse
and inclusive workforce the company has been undertaking this project with the help of which
they can identify various strategies and initiatives that can facilitate them in building such a
workforce. To support this, the researcher will be gathering data from different sources and will
analyse it. On the basis of such analysis they will recommend various strategies and initiatives to
the organisation so that they can develop diverse and inclusive workforce for the organisation
P1) Aim and Objectives of the project
Project aim:
The aim of this project is “To identify different types of strategies and initiatives that can
be adopted by the companies for building diverse and inclusive workforce within workplace. A
study on Clarks Shoes.
Project objectives:
 To ascertain the understanding of the concept of diverse and inclusive workforce.
 To identify different type of strategies and initiatives that can be adopted by the Clarks
Shoes for building diverse and inclusive workforce within workplace.
 To determine various advantages of implementing the strategies and initiatives of
building inclusive workforce within the workplace.
Project question:
 What does the concept of diverse and inclusive workforce means for the organisation?
 What type of strategies and initiatives can be adopted by the Clarks Shoes for developing
diverse and inclusive workforce within workplace?
 What are the advantages of implementing the strategies and initiatives of building
inclusive workforce within the workplace?

LITERATURE REVIEW
What does the concept of diverse and inclusive workforce means for the organisation?
According to Sharon Florentine, the inclusive and diverse workforce has better understanding
with the business environment and it will facilitate them to react to various prevailing business
situations efficiently. With this the companies can attract new and better employees having better
capabilities so that they can contribute to the success of the organisation. The diversity within the
organisation enables them to deal with the requirement of better solutions as diversity among
employees brings out more options and ideas with the help of which they can improve their
operations and incorporate innovation in their offerings (Romani and et. al., 2017). For the
organisation it is important that they consider the requirement of the customers so that their
satisfaction level can be increased and improved with better offerings. The inclusive workforce
contributes a lot in meeting up with such requirement.
What type of strategies and initiatives can be adopted by the Clarks Shoes for developing diverse
and inclusive workforce within workplace?
As per the views of Pooja, Julia and Turdy, with the help of inclusive and diverse workforce
tan organisation can efficiently accomplish their goals and objectives as with they can build a
competent workforce that has capability to manage the operations well. But for this they have to
adopt various strategies with which they can manage and develop such a workforce. For this the
focus of the management of the companies must be on the strategies with which they can make
the employees comfortable with the change such as they can organise various trainings and
development sessions in which the importance of the concept can be understood. The leaders
within the organisation must make them understand the importance of such concept and how it
will going to benefits both the employees as well as organisation. In addition to this the focus of
the leaders must be on the feedbacks from the employees with the help of this they can determine
the requirement and perception of the employees and this will enable them to formulate various
strategies and to plan their actions (Lindberg and et. al., 2016). Apart from this by making the
participative culture of the team leaders the employees can be encourage to adopt the strategies
and to contribute to the organisation in developing an inclusive workforce.
What are the advantages of implementing the strategies and initiatives of building inclusive
workforce within the workplace?

According to the Zojceska (2020), inclusive and diverse workforce is the concept with the
help of which the organisation aims to formulate a better and inclusive workforce that can enable
them in taking competitive advantage over others. This is because it facilitates them to improve
the overall performance of the organisation by incorporating various new and innovative ideas
that can be suggested by the competent and diverse workforce. It leads to increased customers
satisfaction and improved brand image of the company that can help them in retaining the
employees for a longer period of time and thus it will reduce the turnover rate of the
organisation. Apart for this various other benefits are provided to the organisation with the
inclusive and diverse workforce such as with this they can take better decisions due to which
their efficiency will improve for looking towards the success and managing their workforce. In
addition to this involvement of the employees within the organisational activities and decision
making process facilitates them to increase the employees motivation level which is reflected in
their performance (Sarvaiya and Eweje, 2017). It will ensure for the organisation that they can
achieve their organisational goals efficiently on time.
P2) Project management plan for undertaking the project
Project management plan is a document which is prepared by the researcher for facilitating
the research. With the help of this they define various components which are necessary to plan
for efficiently undertaking the research. It includes cost, time, resources, communication, quality,
risk and scope for conducting the research (Lindberg and et. al., 2016). The components defined
and plan for this research are given below:
Cost: It is crucial for the researcher determine the cost for undertaking the project. By
preparing a budget the researcher will determine the total cost on of various activities and
for procuring resources. Researcher will be required approximately 200 pound for this
research project, while Clark shoes will have to bear the cost of approximately 1000 for
implementing various strategies that has been recommended to them by the investigator.
The cost breakdown for undertaking this research is given below:
Particulars Amount (£)
Promotional Expenses $6500
Miscellaneous Expenses $3500
Cost of procuring material $15000

Total cost $ 25000
Scope: This research has wider scope for the organisation as with the help of this they
can ensure equality and diversity among their employees that will motivate them to perform
better. In context to researcher also the scope is wider as this will enable them to better
understanding for various data collection method, sources of data and in developing
understanding for the research topic (Kirton, Robertson and Avdelidou‐Fischer, 2016).
Resources: For undertaking the research efficiently the investigator need to arrange
various resources such as laptops, mobile, funds for procuring various resources. Apart from this
they will be required a team who can assist them in data collection and analysis, for this the
investigator will appoint various graduate interns. Along with this will be required secondary
resources such as books, magazines, journals, various publications etc.
Communication: The communication path is necessary to determine so that details for
the progress can be provided to the project manager. For this research project interaction will
occur with the help of video conferencing, telephonic conversation, emails and formal letters
while the researcher will have face to face interaction with his team so that accuracy and
reliability of the data so collected is ensured.
Quality: Quality has to be maintained for the better outcome of the research and it can be
done by ensuring the authenticity and reliability of the data so gathered the researcher from
primary and secondary sources. The researcher will use the technique of benchmarking and
quality control chart for this research as with this they can establish standards and can compare
whether the specifications so provided are met or not.
Time: For completing this project the researcher will be required time period of 7 weeks
in which they will be allocating activities to different team members the time limit with the help
of Gantt chart and work breakdown structure so that they can and sure the completion of the
project on time (Loseke, 2017).
Risk: Various risks are faced by the researcher at the time of undertaking the project.
Risk which is related with this project includes the time frame within which the project has to be
completed, appropriateness of the cost estimated for the project, various techniques and methods
used for undertaking research as well as utilisation of resources properly. All these risk can be

mitigated by planning such as reserve will be created for funds, resource planning chart and
Gantt chart will be prepared which will enable the researcher in utilising the resources efficiently
and completing the project on time.
P3) Work Breakdown structure and Gantt chart
Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the activities to be undertaken under the
research project along with the time limit within which the activities has to be completed. All the
activities have specific starting and ending date it ensure that the project will complete within the
timeframe that has been provided to the investigator (Loseke, 2017). Also with the help of this
path and sequence all the activities can be identified with the help of network diagram. The Gantt
chart for undertaking this lesson is given below:

Work breakdown structure is a tool with the help of which the project manager divides the
activity into small manageable chunks or tasks that they can be undertaken by different people
simultaneously as per the nature of the activity. It also ensures the completion of the project
systematically as activities arranged in hierarchy which reduces the chances of redundancy
among different activities (Sharma and Mukherji, 2016). The work breakdown structure for
undertaking this research project is given below:

TASK 2
P4) Small scale research with the help of primary and secondary methods
Research methodology is important technique as with the help of this the data can be
collected for undertaking the research with the help of various tools and methods. It facilitates
identifying processing and analysis of the data and information so gathered for undertaking a
particular project (Bacouël-Jentjens and Christiansen, 2016).
Sources of Data Collection: Data Collection method facilitate with sources from where
data can be gathered such as primary sources in which data is directly collected from the
respondent and secondary sources are which in which data are gathered from existing sources
such as books, journals, publications etc. With the help of these sources primary data and
secondary data are gathered out of which primary data is more accurate and reliable. But for
undertaking this project both primary and secondary source will be used as primary data will be
gathered with the use of questionnaire method literature reviews will be used for secondary
research (Carter, 2018).
The research approach offers two approaches with the help of which research can be
undertaken research and quantitative research.
Qualitative research: It is the research in which data and information are collected in
depth on the research topic by way of interviews, focus group, case study method etc.

Quantitative research: This is the technique with the help of which data is gathered in
number and is presented in graph, charts etc. In the data is gathered through questionnaires. For
this research quantitative research approaches will be used (Ferenczi, 2018).
Sampling: To support the quantitative research 30 employees will be selected from the
organisation corresponding to the questions. They will be selected with the help of random
probability sampling.
The questionnaire that will be used for undertaking this research is given below:
Questionnaire
Quantitative questions
Q1) Are you aware about the concept of diverse and inclusive workforce?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) Does Clarks Shoes has an inclusive environment?
c) Yes
d) No
Q3) According to you, how the inclusive and diverse workforce enables an organisation in
improving their overall performance?
a) Brings innovative ideas
b) Facilitate better decision making process
c) Enhances the brand image of the organisation
Q4) In your opinion, what strategies can be adopted by the Clarks Shoes for building an
inclusive and diverse workplace?
a) Leaders must take initiatives
b) Improvement in the culture of the organisation by making it inclusive
c) Feedbacks from the employees for the strategies
d) Empowerment and development sessions
Q5) What policies must be used by the Clarks Shoes for enhancing inclusiveness within the
workplace?
a) Opinions and ideas from the employees
b) Manage the complaints of the employees
Q6) According to you, what are the benefits of the strategies of inclusive and diverse

workforce for the employees of the Clarks Shoes?
a) Equal and fair opportunities to all
b) Improved level of job satisfaction
c) Development of the employees both professionally and personally
Q7) What can be the advantages of inclusive and diverse workforce for the organisation?
a) Increases the motivation of employees
b) Improves the overall performance of the organisation
c) Reduces the turnover rate of the employees
d) All of the above
Qualitative Questions
Q8) What are the major challenges that Clarks Shoes may face while making the strategies
of diverse and inclusive workforce part of their business activities?
a) Conflicts may arise among different groups
b) Resistance by the employees to accept such strategies
c) Poor understanding of the employees at different level
d) All of the above
Q9) How the company can manage such challenges?
a) Better training and development
b) Initiatives of the team leaders in creating vision
c) Allowing employees to participate understand its importance
Q10) Recommendations with the help of which inclusive and diverse workforce can be
developed efficiently by Clarks Shoes.....
TASK 3
P5) Presentation of the data, data analysis and findings
Presentation of the data as per the responses of the employees of the Clarks Shoes
Q1) Are you aware about the concept of diverse and inclusive
workforce?
Frequency
a) Yes 19
b) No 11

Q2) Does Clarks Shoes has an inclusive environment? Frequency
a) Yes 17
b) No 13
Q3) According to you, how the inclusive and diverse workforce
enables an organisation in improving their overall performance?
Frequency
a) Brings innovative ideas 12
b) Facilitate better decision making process 10
c) Enhances the brand image of the organisation 8
Q4) In your opinion, what strategies can be adopted by the Clarks
Shoes for building an inclusive and diverse workplace?
Frequency
a) Leaders must take initiatives 8
b) Improvement in the culture of the organisation by making it
inclusive
7
c) Feedbacks from the employees for the strategies 8
d) Empowerment and development sessions 7
Q5) What policies must be used by the Clarks Shoes for enhancing
inclusiveness within the workplace?
Frequency
a) Opinions and ideas from the employees 15
b) Manage the complaints of the employees 15
Q6) According to you, what are the benefits of the strategies of
inclusive and diverse workforce for the employees of the Clarks
Shoes?
Frequency
a) Equal and fair opportunities to all 8
b) Improved level of job satisfaction 10
c) Development of the employees both professionally and
personally
12
Q7) What can be the advantages of inclusive and diverse workforce
for the organisation?
Frequency
a) Increases the motivation of employees 5
b) Improves the overall performance of the organisation 4
c) Reduces the turnover rate of the employees 5