Cultural Diversity Management for Business Success

A diverse workforce is important for companies which means that they must be open to recruiting and retaining employees who belong to all sorts of backgrounds irrespective of their race, caste, culture, religion, sex, age etc. This helps in maintaining a pool of employees with a variety of skills and knowledge which promotes different, new and innovative ideas making the company highly competitive in the market. It is thus important that cultural diversity is well managed in companies so that productivity, opportunity and competitiveness of employees can be increased which can help businesses increase their productivity and profitability in the market (Clark and Polesello, 2017). In this report the company which is selected ASDA which is a British supermarket retailer and is present in 631 locations having 165,000 employees. Having a large employee base increases the importance of managing people belonging to different cultures so that the company's profitability can increase in the market.

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Research Aim

“To analyse the impact of managing cultural diversity on productivity, opportunity and competitiveness of employees within an organisation.” A study on ASDA.

Research Objectives

• To understand the concept of workplace discrimination.
• To measure the impact of workplace discrimination on employees of ASDA.
• To analyse the importance of ASDA in reducing workplace discrimination.

Research Questions

• What is the concept of workplace discrimination?
• What can be considered the impact of workplace discrimination on ASDA employees?
• Why it is important for ASDA to reduce workplace discrimination?

The Rationale of the Study

The main reason behind selecting this topic is to identify the importance of managing cultural diversity in an organisation so that the employees having differences in their religion, culture, caste etc. can work together without being discriminated against on these grounds. Another reason for the choice of this topic is that it can help companies understand the importance of having a diverse workforce so that they can be efficiently managed to use the skills and talents of employees to the greatest advantage of the company. This research will also help the researcher in enhancing their knowledge of the importance of managing a workforce belonging to various cultures. Also, this will enable the researcher to improve their research skills and help them in managing time, resources, drawing interpretation, data collection etc.

Literature Review

A literature review or narrative review helps in reviewing articles or secondary data which is available in magazines, books, articles, publication research etc. so that a critique can be generated on the data which is collected from these articles that can help in authenticating the data. This helps in developing a foundation on certain knowledge by discussing published data on a particular subject area which is under research. The purpose of LR is to review the existing articles so that the researcher can generate their own position or views in the existing field of scholarship. Following is a research that can help the researcher in evaluating certain articles so that the topic of this report can be efficiently studied.

The Effect of Having a Diverse Culture in the Workplace

According to Jessamae Bronola, 2018, today's workplace is made up of people belonging to different races, genders, religions and lifestyles which makes it important for companies to build an environment where these differences are appreciated and respected. The potential of employees can be utilised to their fullest extent by extracting their new and innovative ideas which can help the company in improving its processes, products and services in such a way that the changing customer needs can be efficiently met. Also, the differences in cultures of employees can help the company in dealing with the demands of customers belonging to varied cultures thereby improving its its brand image in front of customers.

It is important that the diversity in the company is properly managed so that the employees can feel valued and respected in the company which will help in increasing their efficiency as they will try to achieve company goals on time. Also, problem-solving in the company will improve as the people belonging to different cultures will come up with a wide selection of solutions pertaining to their differences in perception and viewpoints. Through effective cultural diversity management, the company's foreign branches can function and operate smoothly by effective relationship-building with clients and understanding their needs in a better manner. This will also help the company in building its strong brand image in different communities as the company is open to recruiting people belonging to varied cultures. The company can thus by way of a diverse workforce, benefit by having a pool of varied ideas that can help in its growth and expansion. Having an equal and diverse workforce helps increase collaboration among workers so that the aims and objectives of the company can be achieved in an efficient manner and on time. Also, it helps in using the skills and talents of all the employees by giving them equal opportunities so that they can improve their performance so that the overall profitability of the company can be increased.

The Impact of Managing Cultural Diversity on Employees

As per the views of Martin Kweitsu, 2019, due to the increase in globalisation, the composition of workers in companies has been changing with workers belonging to different cultures working together. The diverse workforce thus needs to be efficiently managed so that the differences in their opinions and views do not cause conflict in the company while doing their work or solving problems. Effective management of culturally diverse people in the company can help in increasing the integration of people together as they can all work together in an efficient manner through efficient management policies of the company. Managers of the company play an important role in building an integrated work culture in the company so that the difference in views, values, culture and religion of people do not hamper their work.

An increase in group activities and support from the management of the company can help in creating a friendly workplace which is essential so that all the workers can work together efficiently and collaborate on their work so as to achieve their goals on time. Also, the workers will feel more free and confident in sharing their ideas and opinions while doing their work so that the effectiveness of their output can increase. The innovative capability of employees will also increase as their ideas will be valued in the company regardless of differences in their cultures. This is beneficial for employees and company both as the productivity of workers can increase along with their creativeness. They will also be encouraged to increase their work efficiency and performance so that the company can achieve their objectives within the stipulated time and budget. Healthy competition among workers will also be generated which is helpful for the company in improving its competitiveness in the market so that it can increase its sales. Cultural diversity will help in improving the collaboration among workers and also help in improving the reputation of the company so that more talented staff members can be attracted so as to apply for jobs in the company.

Challenges Faced While Managing Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

According to Kimberlee Leonard, 2019, embracing and managing diversity in today's business world is an essential part of successful business practices. It is important that the managers and leaders of the company understand and value the differences in the culture of employees so that they can work together and help the company in reaching to its goals on time. However, while managing the diverse workforce the managers of the company can face certain challenges that can make it difficult for all the employees to work together effectively. As people belong to different cultures they have different perspectives, languages, beliefs, values etc. which means that it becomes difficult for them to understand the command of managers and leaders in the same way as it is expected to be. The communication barrier can create a gap in understanding which will also affect the way in which outcomes are achieved. Diversity also sometimes creates conflicts among workers due to lower adhesiveness among the workers which can impact their integration with each other. This lowers the quality of performance of workers which impacts the overall productivity of the company as they will be unable to collaborate on their work together which hinders the company's progress.

Integration of multicultural teams can be difficult because of prejudice or negative cultural stereotypes that can create conflicts among employees of a company as some employees can think that others are less skilled than them. This will create difficulty in integrating their work and also can affect the manager in overcoming their bias for some employees which will create problems in managing the work in the company. Effective communication might be difficult while having a culturally diverse workforce as there can be language differences and differences in perceptions based on cultures so the understanding of information can be affected.

Research Methodology

Research methodology is a procedure or technique under which information related to a researched topic is identified, collected, processed and analysed so that efficient results can be drawn. It is important that the data which is collected in research is from authentic and reliable sources so that the interpretations which are made can help in successfully completing the research and achieving efficient results.

Research approach: It is the approach which is selected in carrying out research which are inductive and deductive. The approach selected depends on data collection and data analysis. In this research quantitative data is collected which can be analysed by using the deductive research approach as this approach is less time-consuming and helps in interpreting the data in an efficient manner (Colella and King, 2018). The approach that will be used in this research is deductive so that a hypothesis can be proved by collecting information and interpreting it so that conclusions can be drawn.

Research philosophy: This is a belief about the way in which data on a topic which is to be researched should be gathered, analysed and used. In this report, positivist philosophy must be used so as to collect the quantitative data. Through this philosophy the cost of a researcher can be saved and also the time taken by the researcher can be minimised. Interpretivism philosophy will be used in this research in which data will be collected from various resources so that they can be interpreted and conclusions can be made based on the interpretations.

Cost, access and ethical issues: It is important that the researcher has access to a sufficient amount of capital so that all the tools, techniques and methods can be applied efficiently to conduct research and collect data so that the research can be done effectively. It is also important that complete and easy access is available to the researcher for collecting the required information from employees of ASDA and other sources like books, libraries etc. so that the collection of information can be easily done and research can be completed on time. It is also important that ethics are followed while collecting data by the researcher so that while collecting data the privacy of employees should be respected, confidentiality is maintained etc. An ethical approach can help in collecting better information and also increase the value of data collected (Foblets and Alidadi, 2016).

Types of study: It determines the type of data which will be collected for completing the research which can be either qualitative or quantitative. In this research, the type of data which will be collected is quantitative as it will help in the collection of numerical data which can be easily represented on graphs and tables so that better interpretations can be made. This is a method which will reduce the cost and time of the researcher thereby increasing the quality of research. The quantitative method will be used in this research to collect mathematical data that can be depicted on graphs, tables etc. so that interpretation can be efficiently done.

Data collection: There are two sources from which data can be collected which are a primary source or a secondary source. Through primary sources data is collected directly from the source through questionnaire, surveys, interviews etc. and it is done for the first time so the authenticity and reliability of this data are greater. Secondary sources like magazines, books, articles etc. can help in the collection of second-hand data from sources which already contain information about the topic. This information can be outdated and from the viewpoint of other authors which decreases the authenticity of these sources (Guerin and Green, 2016). Secondary sources will be used in this research for literature review while primary sources are used for conducting the research.

Research instruments: This part of the research methodology has different instruments like interviews, observation, questionnaires etc. In completing this research the data will be collected through a questionnaire so that the researcher can gather information from the workers of the company which will help in collecting more reliable and accurate information so that better results can be drawn. In this research questionnaire is used so that primary data can be collected from the employees of ASDA.

Sampling: This is a process in which out of a large size of the population having common characteristics certain number of people are selected so that the information which is gathered from a sample size can be applied to the complete population. This helps in reducing the time of the researcher in collecting data from the entire population and helps in saving the cost of research (Kumar, 2019).

Data Analysis and Interpretation

To analyse the quantitative data which is collected by the researcher content analysis will be used by the y researcher so that interpretation of data can be easily and systematically done. 

From the above graph it can be interpreted that out of 70 people which was selected from ASDA, only 30 people know about diversity and equality in the workforce while the rest do not know about the same. Therefore it can be said that due to the absence of this knowledge, they remained a way behind other organisations in terms of productivity, as equivalence in working leads to higher productiveness which is absent in ASDA. Further, in the absence of diversity, the organisation is not able to get the competitive edge in the market which they deserves.

As from the above bar graph, it can be interpreted that from a sample size of 70, out of which 30 people have the perception that diversification and level of equality are essential parts of the working culture in ASDAA a proper internal environment of equality results in creation of utmost trust among employees. So if employees do have trust in their organisation they will be able to perform with full efficiency which will result in higher productivity in the overall operation of the business this will result in building a good image of ASDA in the marketplace which makes them a market leader. 

As per the above graph, it can be interpreted that out of 70 people in ASDA they understand the meaning of equality in their manner. Out of 30 people, 20 people think that equality means getting equal opportunities in the workplace. Further 30 people understand that equality means treating all employees in the same manner and on the other hand rest of the 20 people realised that no discrimination is meant by equality. So it can be said that he t majority of people understand of equality as the remittance of equal opportunities to have personal development.

From the above graph, it can be interpreted that all the people in ASD have different understandings of the reasons for the o creation of diversity in the workplace. Out of 70 sample size, 25 peoplthinkks that by having g different cultures in the organisation, diversity can be created ithe n workplace. Further 15 people understand that different working experience leads to the o creation of workplace diversity. At last only 30 people admit that with the help of different skills and knowledge diversity can be created in the organisation of ASDA. So the major reason for diversity which is understood by employees of ASDA the presence of numerous cultural employees.

As from the above bar chart, it can be concluded that when data is taken from 70 people in ASDA about the impacts of diversity in the workplace then, 20 people think that with the help of workplace diversity, innovative ideas can be introduced in the organisation of ASDA. 30 people concluded that with the assistance of internal diversity in the organisation, problems can be solved in a better and sequential manner which results in better productiveness in the employees so that to have a competitive edge in the market by overall business. At last, only 20 people relate workforce diversity to the creation of the brand image in the market which means the major impact of diversity is on the generation of innovative and new ideas to stimulate new features in their supermarkets.

From the above graph it can be interpreted that the perceived thought behind the d adaptation of diversity in the organisation is different for every individual. From the above data of 70 sample size, 20 people concluded that diversity in ASDA leads to have higher competitive edge in the marketplace which provides them high sales as compared to their rivals. On the other hand, nd 35 people interpreted that with the help of managing diversity in the organisation, on enhances the s productivity of ASDA which resultantly gives them high profits, rest 15 people claimed that improved opportunities can be grabbed with the help of workforce diversity due to which overall productiveness can be increased.

With the help of the above data chart, it can be interpreted that cultural diversity affects the business in various from. Out of 70 sample size, 25 peoplthinkks that cultural diversity in the organisation leads the company to meet customer'expectationson which is necessary in order to get t competitive advantage in the marketplace. On the other hand, 30 people felt that cultural diversity is helpful in enhancing employee engagement which assists them in getting enhanced productivity. At last only 15 peoplthinkks that with cultural diversity, goodwill of the company get increased in the industry due to which company gets better customer coverage.

From the above data it can be interpreted that there are so many challenges faced by employees when a varied workforce exists in the business. So this study is based on the overall opinion of 30 candidates working in ASDA. Out of 30, the major problem faced by employees due to o diversified workforce is the communication gap which is faced by 35 employees. Further 20 people faced the problem of understanding, as due to the varied workforce information can not be conveyed properly. On the contrary 15 people are having problems in integration which leads to conflict in the organisation due to which collectively profitability of the business decreases.

From the above chart, it can be interpreted that many issues are faced by ASDA when there is no workforce diversity. In the above research, out of 70 people, 40 people think that due to the absence of workforce diversity, new ideas can not be introduced in the business due to which business will not have any distinct image in the marketplace. Further 30 people concluded that in the absence of workforce variation, it is difficult to communicate with foreign branches due to which working ASDA may face problem that affects their profitability in an adverse manner.

From the above chart, it can be interpreted that diversity in the organisation is an essential element of the success of the business. Out of 70 people on which research is being performed, 30 people think that when there is workforce diversity in ASDA thea n healthy environment inside the organisation can be created which leads to employee productivity. Further, 20 people think that a variety of candidates can apply when workforce diversity exists in ASDA. At least 20 people have a perception that their ideas will be valued if diversity is there in the business due to which employees feel motivated and resultantly their productiveness enhanced.

From the above chart, it can be concluded that numerous strategies are used in order to promote diversity in employees within the organisation of ASDA. From 30 people, 30 people have the perception that with the help of increased employee engagement the practice of a diverse workforce can be promoted. Which will help the company in achieving organisational goals on time and with greater efficiency. On the other hand, if the recruitment procedure is improvised then this can act as a catalyst in promoting diversity within the workforce. At last, 18 people think that the proper practices of training and development may lead to the promotion of a varied workforce.

With the help of the above bar chart, it can be interpreted that there are various strategies which are adopted by ASDA in order to promote equality in the organisation. As per the perception of employees, 30 employees suggest that by providing equivalent opportunities to all the employees, equality can be promoted in the business which will lead to more employee engagement due to which productiveness can be enhanced.  On the other side, 15 employees suggested that with the adoption of a discrimination policy equality can be promoted in the organisation which is helpful in creating trust among employees that they are treated in the best manner so a resultant increase in performance can be seen. At last 25 people think that by adopting the strategy of valuing each and every employee, equality can be promoted in the business due to which high productivity can be seen among employees.

With the help of the above chart it can be concluded that out of 70 sample size, 30 people feel that equality is important in order to have personal and professional growth, 20 people think this is important to gain knowledge and the rest of the 20 people thinks that it is essential for boosting the confidence of an individual which helps in enhancing overall productivity. Thus it can be said that having an equal environment is important for the employees so that they can grow and develop both personally and professionally and also their performance can be improved because of improvement in their confidence.

From the above graph, it can be interpreted that 40 people out of 70 think that diversity and equality may exist at the same time in the business and the rest of the 30 think that it is not possible. Thus it can be said that an organisation can have both equality and diversity in organisation so that various outcomes can be achieved and it can become competitive in the market.

With the help of the above chart, it can be interpreted that the majority of the population thinks that with the help of a varied workforce and internal equality among the workforce the profit of ASDA can be improved. The profits of ASDA can increase as an equal and diverse environment can improve the working performance of worker so that their effectiveness in giving services will increase thereby increasing the profits of the company.

Discussion of Analysis

From the above primary data analysis, it can be said that it is important that the cultural diversity in an organisation is managed so that the productivity, competitiveness and opportunities for employees can be increased. Various methods can be used by ASDA so that it can effectively manage diversity among employees like as giving equal opportunities to all, creating a participative culture in the organisation so that employee engagement can be increased, training and development of managers and leaders so that diversity can be managed etc.

Research Outcomes

These are the outcomes which are reached by the researcher after interpreting the data which is collected by them so that these can be communicated to the stakeholders of the company so that they can understand the importance of research and why should the research results be applied in the company. This will help in efficiently and systematically applying the research outcomes so that the company can implement the results of the research is an effective manner.

Stakeholders: These are the people who are associated with the company and affect and get affected by the business like managers, employees, shareholders, managers, government etc. It is important that the businesses operate in a market in such a manner that the interest of stakeholders can be maximised and their support towards the company can be made positive. The respondents who are selected in this research are the employees of the company so that they can give an accurate idea about the working environment of ASDA so that appropriate measures can be taken in promoting equality and diversity in the company (Ozgen, Nijkamp and Poot, 2017). It is important that the stakeholders are considered while implementing any strategy in an organisation so that their trust and support can be gained which can help in making the implementation of strategy successful.

Communication of research outcomes: In order to communicate the research outcomes so that all the stakeholders can be well informed the research can use various ways like meetings, written forms, presentations etc. These methods can help in communicating the outcomes to all the stakeholders so that they can support the results and help in the implementation of results in the company.

Convincing arguments: This research was conducted so that the impact of managing cultural diversity in the workplace can be identified so that the productivity, competitiveness and opportunity of employees can be analysed. Through this research, it can be found that it is important to maintain and manage a culturally diverse workforce in a company so that a competitive advantage can be gained in the market (Quinlan and et.al., 2019). The worker performance can be improved, the brand image of the company can be improved in the market, it can become more effective in attracting talented and skilled workers etc. are the convincing arguments.

Reflection & Recommendation on Alternative Research Methodology

Reflection: The current research is conducted on the topic of managing cultural diversity which can help in increasing the productiveness of employees so that they can take up the opportunity to grow and develop thereby improving their competitiveness in the company. The research topic was interesting as it helped me enhance my knowledge about the importance of equality and diversity in a company. It also helped me improve my research skills like data collection, interpretation etc. so that efficient results can be drawn. In order to collect reliable data I used a questionnaire and asked certain questions to the employees of the company who were cooperative in nature and helped me gather efficient results. The research went well and helped me in collecting the information which I wanted to achieve. I used various tools and techniques efficiently which increased the quality of my research. Gantt Charts, graphs etc. helped me in completing the research on time while also managing the quality of my research.

Recommendation for alternative research methodology: The method which is used by the researcher in completing this research is a questionnaire where a sample population have been asked some close-ended questions so that data can be collected from them. This method helps in gaining answers to specific questions and also saves the time of the researcher (Ravazzani, 2016). However, another method which can also be used by the researcher is through an interview where the sample population can be asked questions in person and an open-ended conversation can take place. Through this method, direct answers can be gained by the researcher making it an efficient tool to be used. Thus both questionnaire and interviews can be used by researchers in carrying out research in an efficient manner.

Pitfalls during the research: I found it difficult to decide the sample size so that effective data can be collected which can support my research findings. Also, I faced difficulty in prioritizing the task so that the goals and objectives of the research could be met in an efficient manner. Team management was also difficult at some point in time as they were varied amount opinions among members. Effective communication helped me in dealing with conflicts and aligning the efforts of team members. In future I need to improve my stress management and also my sampling skills so that research projects can be efficiently completed in future.

Conclusion

From this report, it can be concluded that cultural diversity in companies is important and must be maintained by recruiting employees irrespective of their caste, culture, religion etc. Cultural diversity must also be managed so that the employees can work together in an efficient manner so that employee turnover can be decreased along with improving the brand image of the company in the market. It is thus important that a diverse cultural workforce is efficiently managed in the company which will help in improving the productivity of employees so that company goals are timely achieved.

Recommendation

In order to effectively manage workers belonging to different cultures in the company following recommendations can be followed:

• Training and development programmes so that managers and leaders of ASDA can accept cultural differences so that they can be free from negative stereotypes and treat all employees equally (Roberson, 2019).
• Give equal opportunities to all the employees in ASDA so that the growth and development of employees can be achieved which will also increase opportunity for employees so that their productivity will also increase.
• The challenges of managing cultural diversity must be efficiently dealt with so that a diverse workforce can effectively work in the company.

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