"MODULE SEVEN:RESEARCH METHODSFINAL PROJECTA CASE STUDY OF ETHNICITY IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY OF SOUTH AFRICA:WORKFORCE DIVERSITY, GENDER INEQUALITY AND RACE ISSUES Table of ContentsChapter 1: Critical Literature Review1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 21.1Problem Statement .............................................................................................................................. 21.2Research approaches and methodologies ........................................................................................... 31.3Alignment of the Literature Review to my planned management research project ........................... 41.4Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 4Chapter 2:Research proposal2.1Presentation of topic ............................................................................................................................ 62.2 Research questions ............................................................................................................................... 62.3Research objectives .............................................................................................................................. 62.4Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................................... 72.5Rationale for choice of research question ........................................................................................... 72.6Research methodology......................................................................................................................... 82.7Presentation of topic ............................................................................................................................ 92.8Types of data collection for this research methodology ...................................................................... 92.9Population ............................................................................................................................................ 92.10 Data collection and analysis plan and the alignment of methodology with the research question............................................................................................................................. 102.11Alternative tools and strategies that were not considered for this research/justification ....................................................................................................................... 102.12Ethical implications of the research methodology and proposed solutionsto the challenges .............................................................................................................................. 102.13Presentation of topic ........................................................................................................................ 11Practical considerations and plan for completion ................................................................... 112.14Challenges anticipated in analysing and interpreting the data and their mitigation ....................... 112.15Presentation of data ......................................................................................................................... 122.16Data analysis techniques .................................................................................................................. 122.17Presentation formats ....................................................................................................................... 132.18Rationale for formats used ............................................................................................................... 132.19Designing data presentation to avoid misinterpretation ................................................................. 132.20Consideration ................................................................................................................................... 13References............................................................................................................................................. 141 | P a g e Chapter 1: Critical Literature Review1. IntroductionIn 1994, South Africa was unified by a non-apartheid government, creating equal rights andopportunities for everyone, especially the previously disadvantaged groups.As a result local and multinational organisations were now placed under pressure to createintegration and transformation of a new diverse senior management workforce. South Africa ishome to a multitude of cultures and traditional religions; as a result, a vast array of skills as wellas ethnic associated problems is experienced (Bowen et al., 2013). Employee performance andworkforce diversity has been a topic that has been intensely debated by many researchers andacademics. Organisational culture has been noted as one of the most common factorsresponsible for organisational success or failure (Miliken and Martins, 1996). Local and globalmanagement teams would benefit from the concept of diversity management since the globalworkforces consist of teams from around the world.The South African construction companies need to place much importance on diversity inclusivityto become more profitable and competitive,because a diverse workforce can yield greatersuccess rates. Many academics describe diversity as having many levels of dimensions thatencompass race, gender, age, language and religion.The relationship between the performance of organisations and workforce has yielded resultsthat are inconsistent (Bowen et al., 2013).An application called the categorisation-elaborationmodel (CEM) was developed and proposed by the researchers to solve this problem.2 | P a g e Miliken and Martins (1996) contend that information decision making needs to be addressed andconceptualised to integrate the social element of workforce diversity and employeeperformance.1.1 Problem StatementDaya (2014) identifies a wide range of issues present within the diversity and ethnicityparameters of the construction industry across South Africa, ranging from local cultural influenceon the diversity programme adoption with focus on recruitment, training and development ofthe individuals. Furthermore various researchers have argued that the culture of South Africaholds a certain level of moderating impact on the relationship between organisational goals andworkplace diversity. The researchers indicated that both innovation and organisationalperformance can be encouraged through diversity inclusivity (Bowen et al., 2013).Mazur (2010) asserts that organisations need to plan and align their long-term goals to theorganisational mission, culture, approach and ethical practice. Even though Mazur’s analysis hasjustification in a global context, within the South African economic landscape, gaps in this theorydo exist. The researchers’ further hypothesise that there is an extreme demographic misrepresentationacross the organisations related to construction in South Africa,and as a result key social andbusiness issues are impacted negatively (Gomes et al., 2015). The focus of the research topics and hypotheses were meant to enable or give guidelines toorganisations, with critical findings that can allow them to improve their cultural diversity andgender inequality issues across organisational transformational platforms (Kamoche et al., 2015). 3 | P a g e "