Cultural Diversity Faced by Marks and Spencer in China - Research Proposal Example

Part Table of Contents A Brief for the Investigation 3 1. Personal assessment 3 2. Appropriate of the project 3 3. ment of Issue to be Investigated 4 1.4. Aim and Objectives of the Project 4 1.4.1. Related theory for employee benefits 4 1.4.2. On-line information with line staffs in internet 5 1.4.3. Questionnaire with Line Staffs 5 2. Purposes of investigation 5 2.1. Objective of Investigation 5 3. Reason for the Choice of Issues 6 4. Justification of Choice of Business 6 5. Primary and Secondary Sources Used for Investigation 7 5.1. Primary Sources 7 5.2. Secondary Sources 7 5.3. Primary sources of information meet the investigation requirements: 8 5.4. Secondary sources of information meet the investigation requirements: 9 6. Plan 10 7. Identification of the resources including time needed to carry out the investigation 11 8. Planning 12 References 14 1. A Brief for the Investigation 1.1. Personal assessment From my past research, I realized that I have the capabilities to explore new thoughts and ideas regarding the projects. I have the resilience power to change my work pattern according the projects’ requirements and adopt the changes. I have also developed my presentation skills, which is essential to perform any kind of research. I have the quality to present the project in an attractive and simple way that readers can easily understand the information provided in the project. With these strengths, I also have few weaknesses, which I have to improve. I get bored when things are not going as per my requirement and goes in a wrong way. In addition, I make mistakes while choosing the right methods for the projects. I am sure that I can overcome from these problems and turn these weak points into my strengths by conducting a research on the basis of certain criteria. 1.2. Appropriate title of the project The topic of the project is “Human Resource (HR) Issues Related to Cultural Diversity Faced by Marks and Spencer in China”. I have chosen this topic for this particular study to evaluate cultural diversity of Wu Han, where the company Marks & Spencer (M&S) wants to expand business operations (Alon, 2000). This particular study has facilitated in elaborating the issues of cultural diversity and the implications that these issues would have on the work environment and culture of M&S. Accordingly, I have ascertained the importance of Human Resource Management can be identified for resolving these issues on the basis of strategies (Lauby, 2005). 1.3. Statement of Issue to be Investigated This particular research aims to study about the issues of the employees regarding cultural diversity in Wu Han, China. It is the core duty of the company i.e. M&S to ascertain that issues that may be faced by the employees, so that effective measures can be implemented with the intention of mitigating these issues for better sustainability of the company in the long run. Employees’ individual growth is related to M&S overall growth. In this respect, it is important to recognize critical issues related to work environment of M&S to meet the objectives of the company (Albrecht, 2010). Accordingly, I have related the subject of the study on the consumers as well as the employees of the company to determine the issues associated with cultural diversity in Wu Han, China. In addition, I have conducted a survey about the services, which are provided by the company to have a better understanding about the perceptions of the customers about their preferences, so that quality products can be offered on the basis of customers’ requirements. Stakeholders of M&S are the owners of the company and they invest in company to get a profit percentage from the operations performed. Correspondingly, to protect the stakeholders’ interest, M&S must mitigate both internal and external issues to maximize its profit percentage and increase its share price (Bryson, 2011). 1.4. Aim and Objectives of the Project 1.4.1. Related theory for employee benefits The objectives of the investigation are to know about the issues related to cultural diversity, which can impose a negative impact on M&S in Wu Han, China. For this, I have to maintain the quality of the research by evaluating objectives. I have to keep the objectives of the project specific, so that the objectives are clear to M&S’s employees and the consumers. 1.4.2. On-line information with line staffs in internet Objectives should be measurable and achievable, as if the objectives are not elaborated properly, then in middle of the project I can get confuse about the part that I need to address or which part are needed to be ignored (Kerzner, 2007). It will help the online users to find information about the effects of cultural diversity in the company’s work environment. 1.4.3. Questionnaire with Line Staffs In this context, I have to ask the employees and other staffs about the obstacles they face in the company and other facilities or advantages for the diverse culture in work environment. M&S due to cultural diversity and ask the consumers about the products or service quality of M&S. The questionnaire helps to determine the state of mind about the work process and related benefits in M&S. 2. Purposes of investigation 2.1. Objective of Investigation M&S is a multinational retailer company dealing with multiple products and services headquartered in London with its subsidiary retail chains scattered across the globe (Grayson, 2011). M&S wants to expand its business in Wu Han, China. As it is a London based company, it has different culture from Wu Han and accordingly, M&S have to research about cultural diversity and related problems, which can affect the growth of the company (Butler, 2015). After identifying the issues, M&S have to formulate strategies to mitigate problems related to employees and products. To deal with the problems related with human resource, effective Human Resource Management practice is needed to be implemented for managing the operations of the company (Donnelly, 2010). This investigation include the research topic and related issues, methods of research, issues related to cultural diversity, HRM and M&S’ workplace culture among others. As I have mentioned earlier, M&S deals with various ranges of products and services and has its branch across the world for expansion. External factors are major consideration for expansion and accordingly, cultural diversity of Wu Han is one of the major factors considered by the company. Human Resource Management for mitigating the cultural issues is directly related to employee management of M&S in Wu Han (Armstrong, 2006). By solving employees’ problems and motivating them, the company has planned to accomplish the organisational goals. Motivation helps employees to work in an enhanced innovated and productive manner. 3. Reason for the Choice of Issues In this paper, cultural diversity has been selected as the issue to be studied. Cultural diversity has a strong influencing power on the company’s performances, organisational behaviour as well as in the employees’ behaviour that further act as determinants to the company’s sustainability. Although many scholarly literatures have been focused on studying this particular aspect, only a few have delivered or reflected the intention to draw specific, real-life oriented findings to the subject. 4. Justification of Choice of Business M&S is a leading British retailer with strong brand power and existence in more than one nation. The strong brand power of M&S has also helped to create a landscape for the company to separate itself from other competitors. Notably, as the company delivers significant interest in ensuring a productive culture within its business environment, cultural diversity becomes crucial for the same. Moreover, the brand has been into discussion for its operations in China recently, especially in Wu Han, making sufficient amount of primary data available on its current practices, making the research approach viable to a larger degree. 5. Primary and Secondary Sources Used for Investigation 5.1. Primary Sources Primary resources are the process for directly approaching customer or employee of M&S in Wu Han, China. In addition, questionnaires are set to ask the customers or employees in relation to cultural diversity about the problems they have regarding cultural diversity in their work environment and the procedure based on which these problems can be solved among others. In primary research, the process of data collection is recognised to be time consuming that restricts the ability to perform a comprehensive research (Jones & Gratton, 2010). Employees are uninterested to answer the questions is another problem to collect the information. It has been identified that the questions are designed as per the ethical and societal standards (University of Maryland Libraries, 2014). After receiving the data, proper analysing should be done in a systematic way to get the information quickly. 5.2. Secondary Sources Secondary sources are sources of information, which are already published in websites, books and journals. From M&S’s website, I have obtained information about the company related to the subject under study in this particular research (Jupp & Sapsford, 2006). Information collected from the website was a convenient procedure, but M&S’s website is the most reliable source among the related websites (Hamilton, 2005). In a very short span of time, I have gathered information from secondary sources. I have obtained company’s information, about its management and strategies among others information. 5.3. Primary sources of information meet the investigation requirements: Primary information to be collected Target Respondent Methods of reaching the targeted respondent To know the recruitment process of M&S, the implication of cultural diversity on the company’s growth, employees’ problems management, benefits for employees, strategy to motivate and encourage employees HR and Manager of M&S Personal interview and mailed questionnaires to senior manager To know the problems they have faced in the organization, how cultural diversity affects workplace environment, what type of benefits and protection they want from M&S Employees of M&S Ask to fill the printed questionnaires To know the problems employees have faced in the organization and the cause of terminating the employees Employees who left the organization Mailed questionnaires To know the satisfaction level of the products, what kinds of products consumers want as they have different preferences and what kind of changes they want in the product quality Consumers of M&S Ask to fill the printed questionnaires and interview. 5.4. Secondary sources of information meet the investigation requirements: Websites Information collected Time taken Marks and Spencer plc, 2015. http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus About M&S profile 4-5 hours UNESCO, 2014. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/cultural-diversity/ About cultural diversity 2-3 hours Travel China Guide, Wuhan History. Cultural diversity in Wu Han 5-7 hours Butler, Marks & Spencer continues to face problems at distribution centre. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/07/marks-and-spencer-problems-distribution-centre-castle-donington-shoppers Problems of M&S in different aspects. 5-7 hours Armstrong, A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=D78K7QIdR3UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=human+resource+management&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hDtUVfTgMYHhuQTL4oDwAw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=human%20resource%20management&f=false How human resource management helps M&S to solve these problems 5-6 hours Communicaid Group Ltd, Developing Intercultural Competence. http://www.communicaid.com/clients/marks-and-spencer-developing-intercultural-competence/#.VVQ6n46qqko Developmental Strategies of M&S 5-6 hours After gathering the information from primary and secondary sources, the information is to be analysed critically. As time and money constrains are limited, for analysing the collected data, the qualitative method is the best choice to conduct this research. Qualitative research approach is subject-based method, because it includes analysis of the data based on the personalized observations (Maxwell, 2012; Silverman, 2010). 6. Plan For evaluating the reports, above mentioned criteria are used. By using the secondary source at first, I gained knowledge about the company. After that I obtained knowledge about cultural diversity of Wu Han and its effects on the growth of the company, from which I can relate the problems with M&S. In primary sources, I have approached the employee, manager and HR of M&S directly. For this, I created a hand questions to ask the employees and consumers of M&S to fill the questionnaires. I have collected the information of the employees who have left the organization and accordingly, mailed questionnaires and ask them to fill. I have taken personal interviews of M&S’s manager and senior executive and asked about the problems faced by the employees. As the culture of Wu Han is different from the culture of M&S, UK so, M&S is required to handle many issues regarding cultural diversity such as different thoughts, values, skills and perceptions of the employees. These factors are impeding the growth and profit maximization strategies of M&S. In this respect, by proper Human Resource Management practice, M&S seeks solution to handle the issues related human resources. 7. Identification of the resources including time needed to carry out the investigation In this project to conduct the comprehensive research, I needed some resources for the betterment of this project. For carrying out the investigation effectively, monetary resources, transportation resources, primary and secondary resources were used. Most of the information I have collected is from secondary resources. To know about the company’s profile and other researches, I have taken the help of online resources from which I gathered related information. I gathered information from online and conducted this research such as downloading papers; evaluated the downloaded papers, search many websites among others. Along with this, I have taken help from online library, which provided me information regarded this project’s objectives. To collect the primary sources of information from M&S’s employee, management and consumers, I have to travelled a lot of places and have arranged lots of gifts to encourage the respondents to give the answers of suggested questionnaire. To collect the data, I have infused additional human resources i.e. my friends, peers, colleagues and others. To arrange the collected information, I needed the guidance of my tutor. Without the help of my tutor, I would not be able to complete the evaluation stage of this project on time. 8. Planning References Albrecht, S. L., 2010. Handbook of Employee Engagement. Edward Elgar Publishing. Alon, I., 2000. Introduction. Marks & Spencer: A Case Study in International Retailing. [Online] Available at: http://homes.ieu.edu.tr/mdemirbag/523/marksandspencer.pdf [Accessed May 14, 2015]. Armstrong, M., 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Bryson, J. M., 2011. Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations. John Wiley & Sons. Butler, S., 2015. Marks & Spencer Continues To Face Problems At Distribution Centre. Marks & Spencer. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/07/marks-and-spencer-problems-distribution-centre-castle-donington-shoppers [Accessed May 14, 2015]. Donnelly, R., 2010. Quality worth paying more for. About The Marketing Society. [Online] Available at: https://www.marketingsociety.com/sites/default/files/thelibrary/marketing%20excellence%202%20m%26s%20(sustaining%20the%20brand%20promise)%20case%20study.pdf [Accessed May 14, 2015]. Grayson, D., 2011. Embedding Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Marks and Spencer. Journal of Management Development, Vol. 30, No.10, pp.1017-1026. Hamilton, J., 2005. Primary and Secondary Sources. ABDO. Jones, I. & Gratton, C., 2010. Research Methods for Sports Studies. Taylor & Francis. Jupp, V. & Sapsford, R., 2006. Data Collection and Analysis. SAGE. Kerzner, H. R., 2007. Project Management. John Wiley & Sons. Lauby, S. J., 2005. Motivating Employees. American Society for Training and Development. Maxwell, J. A., 2012. Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. SAGE. Silverman, D., 2010. Qualitative Research. SAGE. University of Maryland Libraries, 2014. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources. University Libraries. [Online] Available at: http://www.lib.umd.edu/tl/guides/primary-sources [Accessed May 14, 2015]. Read More