The Equal Opportunity Commission has repeatedly accused Royal Mail in the UK that they are failed to take the accurate step to make a strong move against the sexual harassment of their female employees at every possible level such as local, national, and regional levels. According to the report of several surveys done on the Royal mail, it has been found that 80% of workers said they had been harassed in the previous year, 33% had been subjected to unsolicited sexual taunting and verbal aggression, and 60% had witnessed a colleague being mistreated (Atkinson 2020). This has been reported numerous times and the results show that between January 1999 and July 2002, 48 sexual harassment complaints against Royal Mail were filed in labor tribunals. During the same period, 140 internal formal complaints of sexual misconduct by female postal workers were lodged, with 65% of the 130 completed inspections substantiated; half of the allegations were directed at a male administrator (Hosang and Bhui 2018).

The research aim is one of such key components that helps the researcher to direct the research in a specific direction. The main purpose of this research work is to see how gender discrimination affects employee performance at Royal Mail.

The objectives of this research work are the following:

• To characterize and identify the definition of gender-based discrimination in the United Kingdom.
• To determine the types of gender-based discrimination that emerge at Royal Mail in the United Kingdom.
• To investigate how gender discrimination affects employee performance at Royal Mail in the United Kingdom.
• To make recommendations/proposals on how to address gender-based discrimination and make a resolve for Royal Mail in the United Kingdom.

Research questions can be developed through the objectives of the research work that will be solved through the findings of the research work. The research questions are the following:

• What is gender-based discrimination in the United Kingdom?
• What are the different sorts of gender-based discrimination that occurred at Royal Mail in the United Kingdom?
• How does gender discrimination affect the performance of employees in the United Kingdom?
• What are the options for resolving gender-based discrimination at Royal Mail in the United Kingdom?

There are several news has been reported against the Royal Mail for sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination upheld in their organization, but there is no such proper research has been done to identify the effects of such incidents on the organization’s productivity and how this problem could be solved. This is the main motive of this research work to find out for the same.

Here the subject organization is the Royal Mail Group Plc which is considered one of the government’s registered multinational postal and courier service companies. This organization has started its operation in the year 1516 as a part of the government department of the United Kingdom. The main vision of the organization is to make the connection between companies, communities, and customers across the United Kingdom (Heller and Rowlinson 2020). The mission statement of the organization is ‘one-price-goes-anywhere’ and they have reached over a 29million addresses across the UK and all over Europe.

Discrimination in the workplace has a direct impact on employee performance. There are numerous forms of gender stereotypes and prejudices in businesses as a result of unjust employer activities, including discrimination in job remuneration packages, recruiting discrimination, partiality in job advancement, and wage-setting discrimination for various aspects of job activities (Triana et al. 2019). Some companies tend to employ lesser numbers of female employees as they choose to have gender biases in their organizational system. According to the theory of Gender Discrimination Rational Bias theory, the decision-maker of the organization sometimes chooses to discriminate if they assume their bosses or others in positions of power in their careers anticipate or encourage it (Kerdpitak and Jermsittiparsert 2020). Discrimination in the workplace can be defined as the act of stereotyping against workers based on variables such as age, ethnicity, gender, religion, handicap, sexual orientation, nationality, and so on. Discrimination in the workplace can be characterized as discriminatory behavior toward workers based on their age, color, or gender. It’s critical to emphasize gender’s potential impact. Gender-based discrimination causes a rise in stress in workers, which affects their morale and, as a result, their mental and physical health. Employee performance is impacted by higher stress levels and mental health difficulties (Frone and Parks 2017). According to the findings of several research works, increasing discrimination has a direct influence on morale, engagement, contentment, and, eventually, productivity. Examining societal views can help measure the current contribution of women in the community. In Royal Mail postal services, there is a salary disparity based on gender due to the rising amount of discrimination based on gender. Boosting education and acquisition can lessen the salary gap between men and women (Bilan et al. 2020). The link between independent and dependent variables has been graphically represented in the conceptual framework. Gender-based, age-based, and race-based discrimination have all been shown to have an influence on employee happiness and performance in the graph below.

Research Questions

Source: (Kerdpitak and Jermsittiparsert 2020)

The approach through which researchers collect data and information about a specific phenomenon is referred to as research philosophy or research approach. Interpretivism, realism, and positivism are three varieties of research approaches (Qutoshi 2018). Interpretivism is founded on an individual’s conviction in using the scientific technique to get a conclusion. Positivism is the study of a certain subjective issue in depth. Finally, realism is based on both of the ideologies already described. Since this research will be based on facts and knowledge, positivism theory will be used.

A Crucial Part of developing a plan of action that guides a researcher’s ideas and efforts, allowing them to do research systematically and on time to produce high-quality results and accurate information. There are three types of methodological approaches: exploratory, explanatory, and analytical or descriptive (Pardede 2019). The exploratory approach is used to acquire a basic overview of the knowledge, whereas the explanatory research design aids in the analysis of the correlation between the two variables. Finally, analytic designs aid in the comprehension and analysis of a subject in terms of logic and facts. As a result, for this study proposal, the analytical design will be used.

Research methodology and tools have been closely dependent on a certain process and through that process, the research can attain its expected outcomes.

The primary and secondary data gathering methods will both be evaluated in this study. Primary data is data that is gathered through first-hand surveys, interviewing, and questionnaires creation and is of fine standards. Any online site can be used to gather secondary data (Mulet, Van De Leemput, and Amadieu 2019).

The manager’s and the employee’s interviews will be presented in a chart and graph format in this study report, which will be based on qualitative data. As the research will be based on both qualitative data.  In the study article, a thematic approach will be used to collect quantitative data (Hegyi and Rakhmatullin 2020).

Once all items have an equal chance of being chosen, random sampling is used (Zhang et al. 2021). In this course of research work, researchers will employ a random data sample strategy. The managers and workers of Royal Mail will be requested to put their opinion about the organizational culture regarding gender-based discrimination and the current changes the organization has adopted in terms of influencing employee performance in the organization.

To ensure the study’s transparency, this research will adhere to ethical criteria. The interviewees will not be coerced to participate, and the process will be finished with a formal authorization document. Each respondent will also be given a consent document. There will be no rules or regulations broken during the research.

Research Rationale

Chapter 4: Conclusion

Every study must have some limitations. The most significant obstacle for academic research is time. Due to a lack of time, the availability of conducting the interview administrators may be an obstacle. And the response might not lead to the anticipated outcomes. Finally, this study proposal has been constructed to meet all of the requirements of the original research project.

Activities Required	1st Week	2nd to 5th Week	6th to 8th Week	9th to 11th Week	12th to 13th Week	14th to 15th Week
Subject Selection
Creating Format
Conceptual Framework
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Making Recommendation

Expected outcomes of a project are considered to be forecasted results. From this research work and circumstantial study of the facts, the Royal Mail is expected to change its remuneration policies for paying equally employees in the same designations. Hence, the legislative prohibition will be maintained to improve employee satisfaction and productivity.   

References

Atkinson, J., 2020. Automated management, digital discrimination, and the Equality Act 2010. Green’s Employment Law Bulletin, (159), pp.3-6.

Bilan, Y., Mishchuk, H., Samoliuk, N. and Mishchuk, V., 2020. Gender discrimination and its links with compensations and benefits practices in enterprises. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 8(3), pp.189-203.

Frone, M. and Parks, K., 2017. Gender Discrimination at Work, Job Dissatisfaction, and Alcohol Use: Testing the Moderating Influences of Gender and Coworker Gender Composition. In alcoholism-clinical and experimental research. 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774.

Hegyi, F.B. and Rakhmatullin, R., 2020. Developing an Evaluation Framework Integrating Results of the Thematic Approach to Smart Specialisation (No. JRC120392). Joint Research Centre (Seville site).

Heller, M. and Rowlinson, M., 2020. Imagined corporate communities: Historical sources and discourses. British Journal of Management, 31(4), pp.752-768.

Hosang, G.M. and Bhui, K., 2018. Gender discrimination, victimisation and women’s mental health. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 213(6), pp.682-684.

Kerdpitak, C. and Jermsittiparsert, K., 2020. Impact of gender-based, age-based, and race-based discrimination on satisfaction and performance of employees. Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy, 11(2), pp.612-620.

Mulet, J., Van De Leemput, C. and Amadieu, F., 2019. A critical literature review of perceptions of tablets for learning in primary and secondary schools. Educational Psychology Review, 31(3), pp.631-662.

Pardede, P., 2019. Mixed methods research designs in EFL.

Qutoshi, S.B., 2018. Phenomenology: A philosophy and method of inquiry. Journal of Education and Educational Development, 5(1).

Triana, M.D.C., Jayasinghe, M., Pieper, J.R., Delgado, D.M. and Li, M., 2019. Perceived workplace gender discrimination and employee consequences: A meta-analysis and complementary studies considering country context. Journal of management, 45(6), pp.2419-2447.

Zhang, F., Ye, Z., Yao, Y.X., Wang, C.Z. and Ho, K.M., 2021. A random-sampling method as an efficient alternative to variational Monte Carlo for solving Gutzwiller wavefunctions. Journal of Physics Communications, 5(12), p.125003.