Analysis of Equality and Diversity in the Workplace: Marshfield Bakery

This report analyzes the impact of workplace gender equality policies on employee productivity, using Marshfield Bakery as a case study. The report begins with an introduction to equality and diversity, defining key terms and outlining the project's aims and objectives, which include understanding the importance of promoting equality, identifying the relationship between gender equality and business activities, investigating the impact of gender equality policies on productivity, and finding ways to minimize gender inequality. The methodology includes a literature review, project management plan, Gantt chart, and work breakdown structure. Research findings are presented, along with a summary and recommendations. The report emphasizes the significance of workplace gender equality in enhancing employee loyalty, reducing turnover, and fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. The analysis covers the importance of promoting equality and diversity, the relationship between gender equality and daily business activities, and ways to minimize gender inequality in firms. The report concludes with a reflection on the findings and recommendations.

Equality and Diversity in the
Workplace

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 Aim and Objectives...........................................................................................................1
P2 Project management plan..................................................................................................4
P3 Gantt chart and work break down structure......................................................................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
P4 Research methods..............................................................................................................7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
P5 Research findings..............................................................................................................9
P6 Summary and recommendations.....................................................................................16
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................17
P7 Reflection........................................................................................................................17
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................19

INTRODUCTION
Equality means that individual whether male or female or group of individuals are being
treated equal. It means that no discrimination takes place with them on the basis of religion,
colour, gender, race and disability. Bullying, harassment and victimization are the issues that are
being taken as equality and diversity problems. Diversity means to understand that each
individual or group of individuals have their unique personality, thought process, and perception.
Realising differences in it can be considered as Diversity (Fletcher, 2017). These can be on the
basis of race, gender, religion or belief. Present Report will lay emphasis on Equality and
Diversity followed in Marshfield Bakery. It is a family business which is engaged in selling
bakery handmade goods across Europe and United Kingdom. Report will lay emphasis on
project aim and objectives. It will also lay focus on primary, secondary methods that are used for
meeting out the aims and objectives. Assignment will also lay emphasis on the research
methodology that has been used in project. It will provide summary and reflection based on
Project.
LO 1
P1 Aim and Objectives
Background: Workplace gender equality policy has been considered as the most
important aspect under the Equality act, 2010. Equality can only be achieved in organization
when it is engaged in providing both male and female with same rewards, pay, opportunities and
resources (Moleiro and et. al., 2018). There must be no discrimination on the basis of gender,
men and women both must possess equal opportunities and outcomes. According to equality act,
2010 the barriers which are being faced by females to have an equal pay like men, must be
removed by the organizations.
Aim:
“To analyses the impact of Workplace gender equality policy on employee’s productivity: A
study on Marshfield Bakery”
Objectives
 To understand the importance of promoting equality and diversity in organisation.
 To identify the relationship between gender equality and day to day business activities of
employees.
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 To investigate the extent to which workplace gender equality policy helps in raising
Marsh Field Bakery’s productivity.
 To find out ways to minimise gender inequality in firms.
Research Questions
 What is the importance of promoting equality and diversity in organisation?
 How gender equality and day to day business activities of employees are interlinked?
 Explain the extent to which workplace gender equality policy helps in raising Marshfield
Bakery’s productivity?
 What are the ways to minimise gender inequality in firms?
Significance: Workplace gender equality is most important as this can assist individuals in
providing them with same opportunities and responsibilities to develop their skills and abilities.
It will also assist organization in creating employee loyalty and also reducing the turnover.
Company where equality exists workers are able to contribute more in different ways by
capitalizing talent of each other (Silverman, 2016). Company which is engaged in maintaining
the workplace diversity and equality, the filing of law suits against them also get reduced. It
enhances the goodwill of organization. Incidents related to discrimination are being decreased by
treating everyone equal.
Rationale: Equality and diversity is one of the most important aspect which needs to be
adhered by organization as it will assist them in increasing the productivity and also the
operational efficiency of firm. When discrimination does not exist in workplace then
performance of company is also being increased. It provides organization with better results.
Organizations which are involved in following workplace equality also increases their reputation
and goodwill. This will assist company in attracting more number of qualified and skills
employees towards them which is necessary for the growth of organization.
Literature Review
Importance of promoting equality and diversity in organization
In the opinion of Sharma, (2016), promoting equality and diversity in organization assist
in increasing employee belongingness. When no discrimination exists in the workplace, it
enhances the quality of work that is being done by workers which ultimately increases the
productivity and operational aspects. Gender equality provides both male and female with equal
opportunities and responsibilities to increase their skills and abilities. It assists them in achieving
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their individual as well as organizational goals and objectives. Organization following equality
has a good reputation in market, this attracts more capable employees towards them which is
necessary for their growth. Providing equal opportunities also create sense of belongingness in
mind of employees. In this situation employees are less likely to leave the organization. Diversity
helps to recognize and respect “ways of being” that are not necessarily our own. So that as to
interact with others and build bridges to trust, respect, and understanding across cultures.
Identify the relationship between gender equality and day to day business activities of
employee-
According to Breitenbach and et. al., (2016), The gender equality and day to day business
activities could be affected if there is inequality among male and female employee at workplace
by their employers. If female employees at workplace get discriminated, they will be
demotivated and could not render work with the positive attitude ahead. All employees at
workplace must be treated equally so that they could work with positive attitude and could place
themselves at one level. In many of the organization, due to gender difference female employees
couldn't perform well and show their skill & knowledge. As per Sarvaiya and Eweje, (2017),
Each of the employee had equal right equal opportunities in the business activity, if any one of
them is not comfortable with the working environment of organization then they will not be able
to perform day to day business activities well. Somehow, the overall working of employee would
suffer if there is gender inequality among workers. Hence, the company couldn't achieve their
goal and objective effectively. The discrimination to employee could be done in many ways in
the form of unequal pay, rendering responsibility, allocation of task, not giving first preference
for bearing any challenge etc., There is a strong relationship among gender equality and day to
day business activities which is performed by workers at workplace. It is very essential for an
organization to maintain equality among employees at workplace to motivate and encourage
their workers.
Ways to minimize gender inequality in firms-
As illustrated by Daly, (2019), An organization must have gender equality among all of
their employees. No one should have given more preference, all of them must be treated equally.
For minimizing gender inequality among employees at workplace, organization must ensure that
they encourage their female employees time to time so that they get motivated and get further
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progress. Flexible working hours could be given to the employees, and must access employee's
performance on the achievement and delivery rather than how much time is spent by them. It is
helpful for working mothers as well as father also. An organization must have a clear policy on
discrimination and then further there employees should understand and know the policy well.
There must be several penalties to employees for sexual harassment and discrimination by
anyone at workplace. So that employee would feel safe and valued by their employers.
Employers should support female employee also for more senior roles so that they feel valued
and encouraged by them. Company must implement gender neutral recruitment process so that
candidates could be recruited without any favouritism as per their skill, quality and knowledge
and no discrimination is to be done by employers on the basis of gender. Organization must aim
for having 50-50 gender split in their teams from top management to the executive floor. So that
employee of all gender feel valued and recognized by company. These steps will be helpful for
company to reduce gender inequality among employees at workplace and equal treatment could
be given to each and every employee.
P2 Project management plan
Project management Plan: This plan can be defined as the collection of baselines and
subsidiary plans. This document can be used to describe and analyse every phase of a project.
The various components of Project management plan include planning, executing, monitoring
and controlling. The plan can be developed for managing scope, schedule, cost, quality, human
resource, communication, risk and procurement. These are as Follows:
Aim and Deliverables: The aim of the research is to analyse the impact of Workplace
Gender equality. Deliverables which will be achieved after completion of project report is that
there will be Gender equality at workplace.
Scope: It is basically the part in which planning related to project is being done. In the
Scope, company can measure that how much the implied objective or goal is beneficial for firm.
In this, all those strategies will also be described that will be useful for successful completion of
project. Scope of the present topic is that it will increase employee’s loyalty and will reduce the
turnover. Future Scope of Project is that workp
Time: This basically means the time which will be required to complete the set task and
objectives. It is very necessary for the project manager to prioritise task on the basis of their
importance so that the set objectives can be completed and finished on time. Setting a time
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period for the completion of task is very necessary (Bowl, 2018). Researchers must make sure
that to fulfilling the objectives, they must be engaged in doing keen research about the topic.
Like for example managing equality and diversity in the workplace is a Broad Topic and
collecting information on it will take approx. a time period of about 3 Months.
Quality: It is being considered as the main aspect in Project management plan as quality
planning also influences the costs, scheduling and the various other elements. For monitoring
and controlling the tasks performed in project various tools and techniques can also be used like
for example KPI, benchmarking and many more. Quality planning that is being undertaken by
researchers must be consistent and reliable. When the quality planning is not strong then it will
increase the risk that the result of planned task cannot be as expected. Researcher will make
efficient use of resources for maintain quality
Communication: It is also one of the most important element in project management
plan as it allows researchers to collect data related to goals and objectives that they want to fulfil.
In this, researchers make use of various communication tools. Researchers make use of tools
such as mails, text messages, fax, chat box so that they can interact with the stakeholders and
come up with useful data which is being required in order to fulfil the implied objectives
(Thompson, 2017).
Risk and Resources: Various kinds of risk is being associated for successful completion
of project like for example risk related to quality, financial, human resource and technical. In this
research the risk related to managing human resource can be faced by researcher. For successful
completion of research, the resources must be effectively utilised by Researcher. For completing
this project, it has been analysed that researcher has made an appropriate use of human resource,
laptop, projectors, bill boards etc.
P3 Gantt chart and work break down structure
Gantt Chart: This Chart is Basically being used to illustrate a project Scheduling. The task
that needs to be performed or covered are been listed on vertical axis. The time required for
completion of these tasks are also being provided on the Horizontal Axis. Duration which will be
required for performing activities are also been showed on Horizontal Axis.
Time Frame:
Activities/Week W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7
Subject of the
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research and
Topic will be
identified
Study related to
Literature Review
and gathering of
Data.
Research
methodology
Utilization
Sources for
gathering of Data
Analysis of Data
Conclusion
Submission of
research report
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Work Break Down Structure: It can be defined as that Deliverable oriented hierarchical
decomposition of work that needs to be addressed by team who is working on the completion of
project. All the work that has been mentioned in Work Break Down Structure needs to be
identified, estimated, scheduled and budgeted. This structure can be beneficial for enhancing the
skills and abilities of employees who are involved in performing the activities as Work Break
down structure provides them with all important information that is essential for scheduling the
project.
LO 2
P4 Research methods
Research Methodology: It is the essential process that can be used in identifying, selecting,
processing and analysing information or data based on it. Validity can be analysed by readers
while evaluating the study. It covers all those tools that can be used for collecting information
related to research like for example Questionnaire and interviews are the most common tools that
can be utilised for purpose of research.
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Research Types: There are mainly two types of research that includes Qualitative and
Quantitative. Qualitative Research is that way in which non-numerical data is being collected.
This type of Data is purely based on characteristics, metaphors and symbols. It does not include
data which is numerical (Foster, 2019). Quantitative Research is basically gathering of
information related to numbers and analysing it through mathematically based methods. In this
research Qualitative data has been used. It is been used as qualitative research focuses on words
rather than numbers, depth rather than breadth.
Research Approach: There are two types of research approaches that is inductive and
deductive. Inductive approach means collecting Data through observation and theories. This
type of approach is linked with Qualitative research while Deductive approach is being linked
with Quantitative approach. In Deductive research, the Scope related to research is being
narrowed down. In this report Inductive Approach is used. This is used as this approach covers
dense raw textual data into a brief, summary format
Research Philosophy: There are two type of Research Philosophy that is Interpretivism and
positivism. In Interpretivism researchers are engaged in combining the interest of human in
study. In Positivism, it consists of the empirical observation and the concept of Social Science. In
this study Interpretivism is being used so that knowledge related to project topic is been
increased.
Data Collection: It is one of the most important part of Research. There are two types of
methods included in data collection one is primary and other one is Secondary. Primary data is
basically raw data that is not been processed previously like Questionnaire, surveys etc.
Secondary data is being collected from articles, magazines, published Journals, Newsletters. For
completing this project, Researchers has made use of primary data collection method.
Data analysis: Once the data has been collected, it is essential for researchers to analyse
them. Analysis is required so that authenticity and reliability of information can be gained.
Researchers can analyse the data with the help of various data collection techniques available to
them. As the main method of information gathering is Qualitative researcher will make use of
Thematic analysis tool. It can assist them in collecting Data.
Sampling: Sample means a group of individuals that is been considered in data analysis
part. It is one of the most important work done by researchers as collecting group of people is
important to make Data reliable. There are basically two types of Sampling one is probability
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and other is non probability. For this Research, Random probability sampling is being selected
(Silverman, 2016). Sample Size used for report is 50 that are employees.
Ethical consideration: Researchers must engaged in following the proper code of conduct,
so that study becomes reliable and valid. They must make sure that their research does not
hamper belief, attitude or thoughts of any individual participating in research.
LO 3
P5 Research findings
Theme 1: working length in company
Less than 1 year 7
Between 2-3 year 7
Between 3-5 Year 6
More than 5 year 30
Interpretation
According to analysis, 7 out 50 employees are working in the company for less than 1
year and have less experience about the job (Haynes, 2017). 7 out of 50 employees are having
experience between 2 and 3 years and are working the bakery. Employees which are working In
9
Less than 1 year
Between 2-3 year
Between 3-5 Year
More than 5 year
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Column B

the bakery between 3 and 5 years are 6 out of 50 employees and the most experienced employees
are 30 out of 50 which are working in the bakery for more than 5 years.
Theme 2: Notice inequality towards women in the firm
Yes 20
No 30
Interpretation
This data helped management to understand the gender inequality condition in bakery as
20 out of 50 employees agreed that women employees are discriminated on the basis of gender
and 30 out of 50 employees answered that there is no inequality in the business firm in regard to
women employees (Georgiadou, Gonzalez-Perez and Olivas-Lujan, 2019).
Theme 3: MARSHFIELD BAKERY needs to implement gender equality policy strictly
Strongly agree 10
Agree 6
Disagree 9
Strongly disagree 25
10
Yes No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Column E