• Impact of religious beliefs in human resource management
• Table of Contents
• Introduction. 5
• Organizational Background. 7
• Literature review.. 9
• Diversity in the workplace. 9
• Types of workforce diversity. 10
• Barriers for accepting workforce diversity. 11
• Approaches managing workplace diversity. 11
• Legal requirement in diversity management13
• Impacts of organizational culture. 14
• Managing organizational culture. 15
• Impacts of some major religions on human resource management16
• Managing religions in workplace. 18
• Methodology. 20
• Overview of research techniques. 20
• Quantitative. 20
• Qualitative research methods. 21
• Reason for using qualitative methods. 21
• Limitation of qualitative methods. 22
• General inductive approach. 23
• Justification of research method(s) chosen. 23
• Primary research. 24
• Limitation of the primary method. 25
• Secondary research. 25
• Sample selection. 25
• Design of questionnaires for survey. 26
• Likert Scale. 26
• Conducting the research. 26
• Ethical considerations. 26
• Findings. 27
• Employee mentorship programs. 35
• Leadership strategies. 36
• Current strategies for dealing with religious conflict37
• Employee development and motivation process. 38
• Internal communication system.. 39
• HR activities. 40
• Management and general staff relation status. 40
• Employee rights to conduct their religious activities. 41
• Current strategies to deal with diversity in workplace. 42
• Overall comment on employee management and retention. 43
• Recommendation. 43
• Employee mentorship programs. 43
• Leadership programs. 44
• Improvement of internal communication. 44
• Improvement of human resource activities. 45
• Improve of the management and staff relation. 46
• Employee right to conduct their religious matters. 46
• Organizations culture Improving. 46
• Improving employee relations. 47
• Conclusion. 48
• References. 50
• Introduction
• Work force diversity, which is the distributive of difference among the employee, can affect the performance of an organization. In order to ensure that the organizations achieve its objectives the human resource manager is involved in the formulation of strategies that can help the organizations deal with issues related to workforce diversity. According to Begeç (2013, p.64) diversity is the degree of basic human difference among the population where each individual has a unique combination. The diversity management approaches therefore in most cases focus on individual rather than a group. Diversity in the workplace can broadly be classified into four distinct areas, which are the personality, trait, skills, ability, and internal characteristics. The personality refers to the individual characteristics that can be used to compare and contrast individuals. In relation to this a well adjusted personality trait in most cases are highly valued and can help an organization to achieve its objectives. Traits, which include factors such as height, weight appearance, and age, also affect the workforce diversity in organizations. In addition the ability of an individual is also known to influence how one behaves and performs in a given situations.
• The management has the responsibility of ensuring that diversity in workplace is effectively handled through implementing the appropriate strategies which ensure that the different religious backgrounds have been respected. Failure to support the right strategies in ensuring employee management and retention is supported leads to the employees lacking motivation and the required level of morale in perfuming their duties since they base the aspect of executing these duties as a matter of being forced by the management. Religious differences in the workplace are similar to the other types of diversities and the management can implement strategies to ensure that this diversity is utilized and maximized for the benefits not conflicts in the organization. For instance, the management can use the religious diversity in educating the employees and members of the organization how to deal with persons from different cultures. This can also be utilized in improving the capacity of the management in dealing with customers from different regions. Issues of religion diversity can be appropriately supported through facilitating effective communication amongst the employees which improves the aspect of interaction and socialization as well as ensuring that the management has the right feedback from both customers and employees thus being in a position to support the required decision making process that ensures the major issues are effectively dealt with.
• Internal characteristics such as gender, race, and ethnicity are also known to influence diversity in an organization. Gender is widely recognized is one the most important factor that need to be put into considerations when managing workforce diversity in organizations, this is because the difference between men and women affect the job performance. Moreover the ethnicity which is a collection of people who have a common characteristic such religions can also affect the workforce diversity management (Stahl & Bjorkman, 2006, p.223). Management of the workforce diversity has been known to have several advantages. First, diversity management helps to ensure that the employee work productively in a nonthreatening environment. When the management has implemented proper policies to manage the workforce diversity in most cases the employee are able to get the assurance that the process of promotion and salary increase will be transparent. In addition proper management of the workforce diversity helps to that all the employees equally develop to their potential. According to Ilmakunnas (2011, p.224) managing workforce diversity helps to improve the balance of power in an organization while at the same time bolstering the employee motivations.
• Religious beliefs can have a huge impact on the organizations performance. This can be linked to the fact that in some cases religious accommodation may lead to disruption of the business activities. The human resource manager play a critical role in managing religious diversity in the workplace and ensuring that the entire organizations works as a team towards ensuring that the organization achieves its objective. According to Neal (2013, p.48) one of the most effective ways that the management of the company can use in order to manage religious diversity in the workplace is mainly through improving communication. In this case the employees are required to raise issues related to their religion to the management. Case et al, (2012, p.1) notes that effective training is another important method that can be used to manage religious diversity in the workplace.  
• This paper investigates the impact of religious beliefs in organizations. This paper is organized in such as way that the introduction gives a brief description of the organizations that was used in to compile data used in this study. The second chapter is the literature review, which provides the relevant theories and underpinning knowledge related to the topic of study. Additionally the literature review helps the view of others authors regarding the impact of religious beliefs in organizations. The third chapter of this paper is the methodology, which presents the method that was used to collect data used in this study. The methodology also provides an outline of the questionnaire that was used in the data collection. Chapter four of this paper provides the context from which the data collected in this paper was done. Moreover chapter five of this paper provides detailed analysis of the data collected. The analysis provides as substantial background to determine the issues that are influencing aspects of human resource and religious diversities in the workplace. The recommendations offered in this study will be based on the aspect of literature review conducted and the responses of the participants who generally represent the members of the organization under investigation. Finally chapter six of this paper provides conclusion and the various recommendations related to the topic of study.
• Organizational Background            
• Sainsbury’s supermarket is one of the leading major foods retailing chain store. The company offers up to 30000 different fresh consumers’ brands. In addition the company also provides a wide range of quality foods and grocery products, services such as the bakery, meat, and fish among others. John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury established the Sainsbury in the years 1869. The founders of the company had set an objective of ensuring that the company grows to become one of the leading companies in offering first choice for food shopping. The company also had an objective of providing high quality products that offers their customers value of their money. Some of the major statistic with regard to the company is that it employs over 150000 employees. The management of the company has committed effort towards ensuring that they promote gender equality where it has over sixty percent of the employee being women. The company currently serves over 14 million customers weekly. This high performance of the company can be linked to the fact that nearly 60% of these stores are majorly located in the major urban centers. Moreover the company has also recently invested in the banking industry where it now provides banking services to its customers. This is in line with the company mission of ensuring that it offers a wide of products to its customers. The performance management is an important aspect at Sainsbury since the management is committed in remaining to be one of the leading companies in offering consumers products. In relation to the management of the company has implemented performance management strategies to help in ensuring that the organization achieves its objectives. For instance the company has created performance value that helps to guide the employee in their performance target.
• The management the company has also implemented strategies to help promote diversity among its employee. This diversity is evident in the way that the company employs people from diverse backgrounds. In this case employing people from diverse background, these employees are able to bring in new ideas that help the company to the changing consumers demand in the market. Through offering employee with different talents and experience the company is able to delivers service to customers on a global basis. A diverse workforce in most cases feels free to express their varying points and ideas that in turn help the company to meet its business strategy. In addition diversity among the employee is also able to inspire the employee to realize their full potential.
• In 2004 the management of the company introduced the diversity management website that provides both the management and the employee various strategies to help in managing faith, religions and disability management among other aspects. For instance the company has introduced some flexibility in dealing with events such as holidays in order to ensure that they accommodate the entire workforce. With regard to its business plans the management of the company has introduced measures that they promote diversity and equality in the workplace.
• Literature review
• Diversity in the workplace
• Workforce diversity refers to the act of regarding and accepting the each other’s individual difference. The workforce diversity has four main components the demographic attribute, task related knowledge, skills, and abilities. In the workplace where the diversity is celebrated rather than tolerated individual are open in all their cultural aspects. According to Simons and Rowland, (2011, p.173) diversity in the workplace is mainly based in two perspectives which are the information and decision perspective and the social organizational perspective. The workforce diversity is known to affect the organizational effectiveness including the capability of the organizations to attract the human resource, cost, issue of creativity and problem solving. In relation to this the workforce diversity influences creativity and innovativeness in the organizations. The social perspective of the workforce diversity influences the performance of the internal network as well as the whole organizations.
• Appreciation of the workforce diversity plays a critical role in building departmental relationships in an organization and hence helping in ensuring that the entire workforce are committed to improve the organizational performance (Nederveen Pieterse et al., 2013,p.783). The appreciation of the workforce diversity also helps to create a more inclusive and supportive work environment, which in turn encourage greater creativity. It is also evident that the establishment of strong diversity strategies in an organization also plays an important role in the employee retention in an organization.
• Types of workforce diversity
• According to Mor-Barak (2011, p.135) the diversity of the workforce can be broadly be classified into major types which are the visible and invisible. The visible diversity refers to the characteristics that are readily observable or to some extent detectable. The visible attributes include the feature such as race, gender, physical disability among others. The physical diversity among the employee can therefore be detected on an individual even if nothing is known regarding their existence. On the other hand the invisible characteristics refer to the general attribute such as religions, educations and an individual tenure with in an organization. Powell (2011, p.124) argues that the cultural diversity also exist in the monolithic organizations where majority of the employee are in one group while the other smaller group especially the management are in another group.
• There has been increase in the levels of diversity among various organization due to a numbers of factors. Globalization is one of the factors that has led to the increase in the diversity in the workplace. This globalization has resulted mainly due to the fact that various countries have removed trade barriers allowing free flow of goods and services across the nation. Human resource manager are therefore currently faced with the challenge of dealing with the pressure from the workforce diversity resulting from the free flow of goods and services.
• Migration from one country to another is another fact that has constantly led to an increase in the workforce diversity. Most of the European countries are faced with challenge of experiencing low births rates which has decreased the number of young people in these countries forcing most of the organizations to import labor from others countries. This imported labors has led to an increase in the workforce diversity in various organizations. According to Bilimoria& Piderit, (2007, p.88) changes in the role of women in the society has also led an increase in the workforce diversity.
• Barriers for accepting workforce diversity
• Various barriers affect the ability of the employee to accept workforce diversity. In this case the prejudice exhibited by some employee can affect the workforce diversity. Employee with prejudice judge their colleague based on certain aspect such membership to a certain group. Ethnocentrisms where an employee tends to regard their own group or culture to be superior against others also negatively impact the workforce diversity. In relation to this stereotyping in the work place also undermines the workforce diversity (Konrad, 2006, p.167). With regard to stereotype the employee regard the members of certain group to have undesirable features. Any form of discrimination may also undermine the workforce diversity in the workplace. In this case any action by the management of an organization to discriminate certain members of the community should therefore be highly discouraged (Arnold & Kruzan, 2012, p.4).
• Approaches managing workplace diversity
• One of the possible measures that can help to increase workforce diversity is through implementing measures that can help to reduce the prejudice and stereotyping in the workplace. Andrew Patrick(2011,p.41)notes that there is need for the management of the organization to ensure that it recognizes that diversity exists and learn to value and respect the fundamental differences.   In addition there is also the need for the management of an organization to ensure that they stress on the importance of the employee integration in the workplace. Moreover there is also need for the management of an organization to ensure that they encourage the employee to build various relationships in the workplace. Singh and Kumar (2011, p.125) notes that formation of a positive relationship can help to ensure that the entire workforce work as team. Language training is another important aspect that is no to reduce the cultural diversity. Tansky and Heneman (2006, p.32) argues that the human resource manager should also ensure that the entire workforces are provided with the equal chances when it comes to offering of employee promotion. In order to have an effective career progression in an organisation there is need for the manager to meet individual employee and discusses the career options. Supporting the employee with flexibility with regard to the balance of work and life is also another strategy that can help increase awareness of need for the employee to appreciate their diversity in the workplace. Tansky, and Heneman, (2006, p.32) argues that human resource managers should also ensure that there is accountability with regard to the managers who supervise the diverse pool of employee. Various work teams should also be structured in such a way to ensure that they are ethnically, racially and gender balanced. In relations to this the human resource manager should also make fair decisions and be able to lead the organization by example through upholding the diversity of the employee (Hennig-Thurau, 2000, p.164).
• There also various trends that the human resource managers should try to observe in order to effectively manage the workforce diversity. Konrad, (2006, p.166) notes that the human resource manager should ensure that they adjust their policies in order to cater for the aging populations. This is because in some cases the old workers face being stereotyped as lazy and weak and more prone to risk of injury than the younger ones. Most of the leading organizations have implemented management training to help the management to address the age bias in the workplace (Konrad, 2006, p. 167). According to Konra (2006, p.168) the human resource manager also plays an important role in ensuring that the employee are accorded respect in their workplace. Various research shows that the organization that takes allegations of harassment and impose meaningful actions in most cases have low incidence of harassment as well (Konra 2006, p.170).
• Legal requirement in diversity management
• Direct
• Indirect discrimination
• The equality Act 2010 is one of the acts that legally protect people from discrimination in the work place especially in a wider society. The act cover employee against discrimination against disability, gender, race, religions, pregnancy among others. These special groups are often referred to as the protected character. The equality act 2010 makes it illegal for the employer to discriminate a person with disability for a reason related to their disability. In relation to this the law also make it illegal to have for the various company to make policies and rules that in ways may discriminate the disadvantaged people in the organizations. According to the equality act 2010 section six it is illegal for the employer to discriminate an employee based on the gender (Great Britain, 2011, p.13).
• Moreover the equality act 2010 also helps to protect the employee from harassment or being subjected to hostile environment on the grounds of age or any other protected characteristic. In addition the act also helps to protect the employee from unfair victimization as result of making complain about discriminations or giving evidence. The act also protects individual from discriminations against various philosophical beliefs that an individual may be having. However a certain group must genuinely hold the philosophical belief.
• Impacts of organizational culture
• Every organization has its own organizational culture, which plays a critical role in determining the success of an organization. According to Mandruleanu (2012, p.124) the organizational culture refers to the various ideas, beliefs and ideology that the individual of an organization share. Proper management of the organizational culture helps to unite the employee from different background. The shared organizational culture plays a critical role in ensuring that there are no employees who are neglected and that everyone is treated equally in the organization. Proper management of the organizational culture also helps to keep the employee in an organization motivated and at the same time that they are loyal to the management. According to Huhtala et al., (2013, p.267) having a well established organizational culture help the employee of an organization to feel as part of the management.
• Various organizations that have already established an effective organizational culture in most case the employee are provided with an opportunity to practice health competition. Establishment of a strong organizational culture helps to provide the employee with a platform that can enable them to strife and perform at their best (Mathew & Ogbonna, 2009, p.656). Moreover the presence of a well-established organizational culture also helps to provide the employee with a sense of direction. This is because in such an organization the employees understand their role and responsibility and the different way to achieve their objectives. Organizational culture is also known to give the employee a certain identity related to the organization. In relation to the organizational culture plays a role in the creation of the organizational brand image.
• Managing organizational culture
• The leadership of an organization plays a critical role in the management of the organizational culture. This is because the leaders are involved in the championing of the positive organizational culture and at the same time involved in eliminating the subculture that do not conform with the organizational goals and objectives (Pfister, 2009,p.45). In order to eliminate the subculture that undermine the organizational growth objective the leaders can help in identifying the propagators such cultures. Employee engagement is another method that the management of the organization can use in order to manage the organizational culture. The management of the organization should also commit effort in order to empower the employee in the organization and ensure that they feel free to air their grievances (Kusluvan, 2003,p.272).This can help to ensure that the organization develops a culture that can that can facilitate growth and development of the organization.
• Moreover establishment of different teams is also another important factor that can help in the management of the organizational culture. Formations of the teams can help the employee to appreciate their culture diversity and ensure that they work together to improve the organizational performance (Ahmad, Veerapandian, & Wee Yu, 2011.p.12). Teams also provide an opportunity where individual are able to develop their talents. There is also need for the management of the organizations to monitor the organizational cultural dimensions to ensure that the organization develop a positive culture that can help it to achieve its goals and objectives. Most importantly there is need for the management to ensure that they train their employee in terms of cultural awareness. This can help to ensure that the employee understand the different cultural aspects that can help to bring organization growth and development. According to (Weigand, 1994, p.60) establishment of reward system can help to express and reinforce the values and norms that conform to organizational goals and objectives. It is therefore evident that the rewards systems are equally powerful tools that can be used by the management to communicate desired attitude and behaviors in an organization.
• Impacts of some major religions on human resource management
• Some of the major religion such as Muslim impact the human resource management in several ways. This can be linked to the fact that the work ethics and Muslim religious beliefs affect the organizational commitment. Islam is believed to be social constitutions because it mainly instructs how the Muslim should worship God and how they are supposed to relate to other people. Islamic religious beliefs increase the commitment of the Muslims toward ensuring that they work hard to improve the organizational performance. Islamic religions also teach the employee how to dress and behave in the workplace (Deckop, 2006, p.222). This has an effect on the dressing code of an organization since the employee may demand to be allowed to wears these religious garments in the workplace. In some case the Islamic religion can impact the productivity of the company especially in the situations where the employees have fasted due to the religious matters. This may have an effect since the employee may be in position to offer quality products and services during the fasting period.
• Islamic religions also have an influence on the leadership’s positions in an organization. This is because in most cases the Muslim tends to seek leadership position in an organization. Having a Muslim leader in an organization can facilitate work behavior since the leaders can connect people together for a common purpose using the religious teaching. In relation to this leader who adopts leadership style integrated with religious matters helps to embrace development of an individualistic holistic system of the body, mind and spirit. Their feature of praying five times a day also characterizes can adversely affect the organizational performance in the event that the management decides to grant their employee such request. Another major defining feature of the Muslim is the fact that they believe in sacred places such as Mecca where each followers is committed towards ensuring that they realize this goal (Crawley, Swailes & Walsh, 2011, p.114). Demand by the employee to attend such event may interfere with the follow of work in an organization. There is no sharp distinction between the religions and secular aspects of life among the Muslim. This commitment to religion can interfere with certain human resource activities such as the social events since the employee may Muslim argue that their religious believe need to be factored in the projected.
• Workplace spiritualism with regard to the Muslim plays a critical role in improving transparency and promoting trust between the management and the employee. This in turn helps to lower the employee turnovers rates and increase the employee retention. It is also evident that workplace spiritualism also helps to increase creativity between the employee and commitment. This is because religion helps to increase the employee experience with regard to the personal matters and therefore is able to translate the same effort towards the employee. According to Brewster and Mayrhofer (2012, p.516) character is the core foundations of ethical leadership’s behaviors, which implies that the spiritual leaders can have a huge impact on the employee commitment in the workplace. Employees in most cases demand their leader to be act morally and at the same demonstrate virtues of being good leaders. Islamic believe also helps to ensure that the leaders in an organization take a positive stand and at the same time behave in a way that show that their own self interest are not the driving force. Additionally the Muslims are also considered servants of God and therefore are required to engage in good deed in both business and personal life. Islam embraces both private and public life affecting not only their religious aspects but also the social behavior (Ali, 2005, p.231). Most importantly incorporations of Islamic work ethics also help to ensure that there is willingness to exert efforts on behalf of the organization.
• Christianity also has a substantial impact on the human resource activities. Incorporation of the Christianity teaching in the selection and recruitment process helps to ensure that the process is free and fair where every candidate is given an opportunity to take part in the process. This in turn helps to ensure to ensure that the company recruits employee who can help it to achieve its growth strategies. According to the Christianity teaching one is suppose to treat the other people like he or she would like to be treated. In this case therefore applications of the Christianity teaching helps to ensure that there is equality is maintained. Various leaders who apply principles of Christianity in most case are able to maintain transparency in their operations.
• Managing religions in workplace
• Religious beliefs in the workplace can have a huge impact on the performance of a business. This is because in some cases it may lead to disruption of business when accommodated. Some form of religion can also undermine the principles of health and safety in the workplace. Various religions can also have an impact on other employee including those of different religion or belief. In addition the religions can have impact on the customer or services users. Proper management of the religious diversity in the workplace has various benefits to the management of an organization.
• According to (Paludi, 2012. P, 56), it is clear that religious diversity within an organization enhance diverse viewpoints, some of which are essential to the organization. However, managing these different religious beliefs effectively comes with a price as this is one of the most complex job human resource personnel has to carry out. With the diversification of the employees, issues relating to religion diversity are a subject that most of the employers have either addressed or need to address. Acceptance of contradictory religious belief is an issue that many people come across both at place of work and outside. As the workforce continue to get more and more diverse, having a clear understanding on how to address workers’ religious rights is very important for managers. The civil right act indicates that employers are under no circumstance allowed to discriminate any worker due to his or her religious values. This being the case, every employer has a responsibility to accommodate their workers religious belief as long as this does not affect the organization performance. Managers should pay their attention on ensuring that workers carry out their duties according to the organization’s expectations, despite of ones religion or otherwise. According to (Paludi, 2012. P, 56), it is clear that every employer should always ensure that worker’s religious needs are satisfied or addressed in a healthy manner unless such brings hardships to the organization. In order to achieve this objective, employers should come up with clear guideline to govern them.
• According to (Hill, 2012. p 17), providing training to all workers within the organization is one of the most effective way through which the management can manage religious diversity. it is clear that within a healthy organization conflicts among workers is always guaranteed and sometimes workers will do things intentionally in order to cause thus clashes. The author suggests that the outcomes can be overwhelming in a situation where different religion gets involved in a conflict. This being the case, it is very essential that training is provided to all workers. They should also be given an opportunity to discuss what is acceptable in as far as discussing faith in place of work is concerned. Some of the workers may try to execute their system of belief on others without their knowledge. Employees should be encouraged to accept differences. Even though most religions tend to oppose one another, a general ground can arrived at once acceptance is achieved. Supervise workers and if any form of conflict arises due to religious matters, encourage parties involved to discuss and resolve the matter away from other employees.
• Offering time of to workers for religious basis is also an effective way of managing religious within an organization. The employer should offer these knowing that other employee practicing a different faith are likely to criticize the decision since they too do not get the same treatment. The employer should also remind worker that religious holidays are being given as paid holidays. Some of these holidays include Christmas and Easter (Hill, 2012. p 17). The management has to ensure that workers understand clearly the kind of conducts, which are not acceptable within the organizations and measures that will be taken incase dispute occurs among workers. Overreacting to petty issues that occurs within the organization should also be prevented. A newly diverse place of work is likely to have growing pains and it is always vital to embrace these challenges and avoid overeating to them (Hill, 2012. p 17). Individuals should realize that it is not always possible to please very person at all times. However, compromise is an essential element of true diversity.
• Methodology
• Overview of research techniques
• Quantitative
• Quantitative mainly uses the numerical and statistical process to answer specific questions. Various statistics are used to support inquiry or program assessment. This type of research initially looks at the general case and later progresses towards specific. This approach normally considers a potential cause of something and later hopes to verify it. If there is strong relationship between the cause and effect using this method it is possible to predict the probability of the possible outcome. The quantitative method therefore uses measurable data to formulate the facts and at the same time try to uncover certain pattern. Data collected using the quantitative methods are often believed to be more accurate since they are collected using standardized methods. With regard to the sample the quantitative research method requires large number of cases in order to represent the population of interest. The data collection requires structured techniques such as the online questionnaires, on street or the telephone interview. In addition the statistical data is in form of the tabulation tabs where the findings in most cases are descriptive in nature. However it is important to note that this research paper mainly uses the qualitative data collection method
• Qualitative research methods
• The qualitative research is the method is used to gathers data that is not in numerical forms. The qualitative research method is used when the researcher mainly wants to gain understanding of the underlying motivation. The research can also be used to uncover the prevalent trends with regard to thoughts and opinions. With regard to the sample it is evident that the qualitative research method is usually used on a small number of respondent selected to fulfill given quota. Data collection in this method mainly involves unstructured or semi-structured technique for instance the interview or various group discussions. The data analysis method used in this type of research mainly involves the non-statistical techniques. However the findings presented in this case are not conclusive and most cases cannot be used for generalizations of the population of interest.
• Reason for using qualitative methods
• This study mainly uses the qualitative method to collect and analyze information from various sources. This method has been used since it is mostly applicable to studying a limited number of cases in depth, which is the case, is in this research since the paper wishes to analyze the impact of religions in the human resource management. The method also allow comparison of the data collected since it is possible to compare the effect of religions ion in the human resource manager of a given institutions with another institution. In relation to this the method also allows one to understand the case understudy into a substantial depth. This research method also allows one to collect data in the most naturalistic method as possible. Moreover using the method it is also able to understand how the participants in the study interpret information. This can be linked to the fact that the researcher is also able to get an opportunity to interact with the participants of the study. Using the method the researcher is able to demonstrate a certain phenomena under study.
• Moreover the use of the method also allows flexibility. This is because one can be able to non-numerical data from the judgment of the experienced manager’s sales professional and industry expert. Data collected from the professional and industrial expert can help to make some possible predication on the final data that will be collected. The qualitative data collection method also has some ambiguity property since it can be applied in the situation where no historical data has been collected.
• Limitation of qualitative methods
• The qualitative research method used in this paper also has some disadvantage considering that the knowledge produced to some extent might not be applicable in others setting. This is because the finding might be somehow unique in the sense that relatively few people are included in the study and hence it might be applicable in other situations. It is also difficult sometime to make predication of certain future occurrence. In addition it is also evident that it takes more time to collect and analyze data using this method. In relation to this data analysis using this method to some extent is also time consuming since in some cases it may involve collection of opinion of different people.
• General inductive approach
• The assumption in the general inductive approach is that the data analysis is determined by both the research objective and from the multiple reading and interpretation of the raw data (Miles & Huberman, 1999, p.155). The main task in the general inductive approach is the development of the summary framework that helps to convey key themes in the study. In addition it is also evident that using the method the researchers is also allowed to make decisions regarding what is important for the data. The procedure of the analysis will mainly involve preparing of the text, defining of different categories and eventually search of summarization of the data collected in graphs and pie charts.
• Justification of research method(s) chosen
• The research approach incorporated in the dissertation is the qualitative research approach whereby the study will be based on surveys. Structured questionnaires addressing on the central issues regarding how religion in Sainsbury affects the human resource. The effectiveness of the qualitative approach used is that it encourages the use of data collection methods which are survey and investigate the issue exhaustively (Saini & Shlonsky, 2012, p.16). Most important is that qualitative research is the approach incorporated when an investigation in regard to the social or behavioral matters is being investigated since it aims at achieving the personal views from the participants who have already experienced the situation.
• Therefore, the research philosophy, approach and data collection methods must align and integrate successfully in order for the research to provide the appropriate results (Hafler, 2011, p.124). The qualitative approach incorporated has the ability to facilitate the researcher with a thorough investigation of the problem under study and help in facilitating the best recommendation on the strategies that can be incorporated to cease the forces or eliminate the problem. Qualitative research also facilitates a good understanding of the current problem facing the organization since the participants facilitate first hand information of what they have observed in relation to the issue under investigation unlike in quantitative research whereby the data compared is mostly not current (Willig, 2013, p.187).
• Primary research
• This incorporated the questionnaires, which were used to collect information from the participants in relation to the matter in hand. The survey questionnaires addressed all the required aspects, which the research questionnaires focused on investigating. The significance of incorporating primary research is due to the fact that this is a qualitative research and   it required to be integrated with the appropriate research methods. Primary research stands to be the most effective method that can be embedded in qualitative research.
• Advantages of incorporating primary research
• The primary research has several advantages compared other methods. First the method allow for target data collection for instance this method allowed the collection of specific information related to the effect of religion in the workplace. The primary research data interpretation is better compared to others methods since it allows the researchers to understand the specific issues. Most of the data collected are also recent and relevant to the topic of study. Use of the recent data allows the researchers to gain the current trends related to the topic of the study. The collector of the primary data in most cases is the owner of the data and therefore he can patent the information. Most importantly the use of the primary methods is also efficient to some extent since the researchers is focused on a specific data
• Limitation of the primary method
• One of the possible limitation of the method is the fact the it can be very costly to some extent since it involves collections of the primary data which might be expensive. The method is also time consuming
• Secondary research
• Secondary research included the review and evaluation of the earlier work by different authors or researchers who addressed on the same issue. Secondary research was however applicable in conducting the literature review or in setting the background of the research in order to get the focus of the research and determine whether different researchers had similar results under similar topic. This was not only a review but also a critique to the weaknesses and strengths of the researches conducted by different authors.
• Sample selection
• The selection of the sample or participants as based on random selection whereby the persons perceived to have enough experience and worked in the department related to human resource were selected. To ensure that the participants provided the researcher developed social relation with the participants through chatting in the internet and communicating through the phone. Most importantly, a permission to carry out the research had been sought from the management of the organization whereby they provided the researcher with a confirmation letter to assure that they fully agreed and supported the research to take place in the organization. The letter was used as a justification to the participants in order to build their courage towards facilitating the right information. .
• Design of questionnaires for survey
• The survey questions incorporated in the research were designed in accordance to the literature review conducted from previous work related to the same filed. Most importantly, the survey questionnaires were also designed following the research questions or the hypotheisis since these are the overall guide on how the research will be conducted. The design of the questionnaires allowed the participants to choose answers from the provided or provided their own answers in an additional field left for that purpose. The first section of the questionnaires was to facilitate the participants with few choices to determine whether any of them   was applicable to the question under study.
• Likert Scale
• In this case, the participants were also allowed to choose more than one answers for the same question although this applied to several questions. The second section provided suggestions from the participants while the third section provided the participants with limited criteria of choosing a direct answer, either yes or no. the questions were however designed using the simple but fluent language that the participants would directly understand the requirements of the question. Sample questionnaire incorporated in the research is provided in appendix 1.0 in the list of appendixes.
• Conducting the research
• Ethical considerations
• The process of carrying out the data collection was through emailing the survey or interview questions to the participants whereby they were supposed to fill and provide their feedback in areas which required them to facilitate more information. The reason for emailing the survey questionnaires to the participants was due to the fact that the organization was far from research site and more costs would be experienced if the researcher was to physically conduct interviews or provide the questionnaires. An essential item or aspect that needs close attention to the research is to minimize the cost spend in conducting the interviews or supplying and collecting the questionnaires but choose the best strategy that would facilitate relatively similar findings. During the research all ethical aspects were considered such as privacy and confidentiality as requested by many of the participants whereby none of the participants knew the other and although the management knew the participants, there was an agreement that the participants were free to contribute in any aspect they needed to contribute. All the participants were given four days to provide their feedback although the feedback provided one day later was also accepted. This was mostly supposed to cover the whole weekend
• Findings
• From the findings the research involved forty participants including 10 managers and 30 employees and all the participants to return their questionnaires having filled them. From the employee mentorship question, 12 employees indicated that it was poor, 10 of the remaining employees indicated that the employee mentorship program in the organization was fair. 5 of the remaining indicated that the mentorship program in the organization was good while the remaining 3 employees indicated that it was excellent. None of the employees chose the ‘no comment’ option.
• In the manager perspective, 2 managers indicated that the mentorship program was fair, 3 of the remaining indicated that the mentoring program was good while the remaining 3 managers indicated that the program was excellent. 2 managers however did not comment on this question and only managed to choose the ‘no comment’ option.
• From the research question two which aimed at determining the leadership strategies in the organization, 13 employees indicated that the leadership strategies in the organization were poor, 10 of the remaining employees indicated that the management strategies in the organization were fair whereas 5 employees indicated that the leadership was good. The remaining 2 employee participants indicated that the leadership was excellent. None of the employees failed to comment to the question.
• From the manager perspective 1 of the total participants indicated that the leadership was poor, 3 managers indicated that the leadership in the organization was fair while 3 of the remaining participants indicated that it was good and the remaining 3 indicated that it was excellent. None of the managers also failed to comment on the leadership of the organization.
• The third question aimed at determining the effectiveness in the Current strategies for dealing with religious conflict and from the employee perspective, 13 employees indicated that the strategies were poor while 10 out of the remaining participants indicated that the currently strategies incorporated in the organization to deal with religious conflict were fair. Seven out of the remaining indicated that the current strategies were fair while the remaining participant indicated that the strategies either were good, none of these participants indicated that the strategies were excellent or failed to comment.
• From the a manager perspective, the participants who took part in the research had 1 participant indicate that the current strategies for dealing with conflict and religious discrimination in the workplace were poor, 6 participants indicated that the strategies were fair while two of the participants indicated that the strategies were good. The remaining 1 participant failed to comment but none indicated that the strategies were excellent.
• From the fourth question, the survey sought to get feedback based on the employee development and motivation process whereby the 12 of the employee participants indicated that the employee development and motivation process was poor. 11 of the remaining participant indicated that the employee development and motivation program was fair whereas 5 of the remaining participants indicated that it was good. 2 of the participants failed to comment while none of the employee participants indicated that it was excellent.
• From the feedback of the managers who took part in the research, out of the 10 managers, 2 of the managers indicated that the employee development and motivation was poor while 4 of the participants indicated the employee development and motivation program was fair. 3 of the participants indicated that it was excellent while the remaining participant failed to comment on the issue.
• The fifth question of the survey aimed to determine the effectiveness of internal communication system in the organization whereby from the employee feedback, 13 indicated that the communication system in the organization was poor, 10 indicated that it was fair while 3 out of the remaining participants indicated that the communication system of the organization was good. The remaining 4 participants did not comment whether the internal communication system of the organization was good or poor. Nevertheless, none of the employees participating in the survey indicated that the internal communication system was excellent.
• From the management perspective, 2 out of the participating mangers indicated that the internal communication in the organization was poor, 4 indicated that it was fair while the remaining 4 participants indicated that the internal communication system was good and none of them indicated that it was excellent of failed to comment.
• The sixth question aimed to determine the effectiveness of the HR activities in relation to supporting religion and this saw 14 out of the participating employees indicate that the activities were poor, 12 indicated that the human resource activities in the organization were fair. The remaining 3 participants indicated that they had no comment on the hr activities in the organization. None of the participants indicated whether the hr activities in the organization in relation to religion were excellent or good.
• From the perspective of the managers who took part in the research, 1 of them indicated that the hr activities in the organization were poor, 4 indicated that they were fair whereas 2 of the remaining participating managers indicated that the hr activities in the organization were good. The remaining 3 managers indicated that they perceived the hr activities in the organization as excellent based on their performance. None of the managers failed to give their comment.
• The seventh question aimed at determining the management and general staff relation status whereby this saw 15 employees indicate that it was poor, 8 participants indicated that the management and staff relation was fair while 5 of the remaining participants indicated that it was good. The remaining 2 participants did not have any comment towards the management as well as the internal relation of the employees. None of the employees participating in this research indicated that the management and the staff relation were excellent.
• From the manager perspective, 2 of those who participated in the research indicated that the management and staff relation in the organization was poor, whereas 3 of the participants indicated that it was fair. 4 of the remaining participating managers indicated that the management and staff relation in the organization was good while the remaining participant had no comment. None of the managers in the survey indicated that the management and motivation activities in the organization were excellent.
• The eighth question aimed at determining whether the organization had given the employees rights to conduct their religious activities whereby 18 participants indicated this was poorly done. 10 of the remaining participants indicated that the level of employee freedom in conducting religious activities in the organization was fair. The remaining 2 participants had no comment on the issue. None of the employees participating in the research indicated that the level of employee rights and freedom was excellent.
• From the manager perspective, 2 of the managers participating in the study indicated that the level of freedom for the employees in conducting their religious activities in workplace was fair, 5 managers indicated that it was good whereas the remaining 3 managers indicated that the employees enjoyed excellent opportunity and freedom for carrying out their religious duties in the workplace. None of the managers indicated that the rights and freedom of the employees to practice their religious activities in the organization were restricted.
• Question nine aimed at investigating the effectiveness of current strategies to deal with diversity in workplace whereby 10 of the employees who participated in the research indicated that the strategies were poor, 13 indicated that the strategies were fair and the remaining 7 participants indicated that these strategies were good. None of the participants indicated that the strategies were excellent.
• From the response by the managers who took part in the study, 2 managers indicated that the current strategies for dealing with employee diversity in workplace were poor, 4 of them indicated that the strategies were fair while the remaining participants indicated that the strategies were good.
• Question 10 sought to get responses on the overall employee management and retention programs in the organization whereby 14 of the participants rated it as poor, 10 of the employees rated it as fair while the remaining 6 employee participants rated it as good. None of the employees who participated in the survey rated it as excellent.
• The managers participating in the survey also had their say whereby 1manager rated it as poor, 5 managers rated it as fair 4 rated it as good and the remaining one participant rated it as excellent.
• The results of the survey for employees and managers are represented in tables 1.0 and 1.1 respectively.
• Poor
• Fair
• Good
• Excellent
• No Comment
• Employee mentorship programs
• 12
• 10
• 5
• 3
• 0
• Leadership strategies
• 13
• 10
• 5
• 2
• 0
• Current strategies for dealing with religious conflict
• 13
• 10
• 7
• 0
• 0
• Employee development and motivation process
• 12
• 11
• 5
• 2
• 0
• Internal communication system
• 13
• 10
• 3
• 0
• 4
• HR activities
• 14
• 12
• 0
• 0
• 3
• Management and general staff relation status
• 15
• 8
• 5
• 2
• Employee rights to conduct their religious activities
• 18
• 10
• 0
• 0
• 2
• Current strategies to deal with diversity in workplace
• 10
• 13
• 7
• 0
• 0
• Your overall comment on employee management and retention
• 14
• 10
• 6
• 0
• 0
• Figure1.0: Table indicating response of employee participants in the survey
• Poor
• Fair
• Good
• Excellent
• No Comment
• Employee mentorship programs
• 0
• 2
• 3
• 3
• 2
• Leadership strategies
• 1
• 3
• 3
• 3
• 0
• Current strategies for dealing with religious conflict
• 1
• 6
• 2
• 0
• 1
• Employee development and motivation process
• 2
• 4
• 3
• 0
• 1
• Internal communication system
• 2
• 4
• 4
• 0
• 0
• HR activities
• 1
• 4
• 2
• 3
• 0
• Management and general staff relation status
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 0
• 1
• Employee rights to conduct their religious activities
• 2
• 5
• 3
• 0
• 0
• Current strategies to deal with diversity in workplace
• 2
• 4
• 2
• 0
• 2
• Your overall comment on employee management and retention
• 1
• 5
• 4
• 0
• 0
• Figure1.0: Table indicating response of manager participants in the survey
• The following are the graph representing the results of the survey for employee and manager participants indicated as Figure 1.3 and figure 1.4 respectively
• Figure 1.3: Graph indicating employee responce from the survey
• Figure 1.3: Graph indicating employee responce from the survey
• Discussion and analysis
• Employee mentorship programs
• From the results of the survey it is clear that the employees are the most affected members of the organization basing on the activities of the human resource in the organization. The management of the organization has failed to incorporate the appropriate measures or strategies to deal with employee mentorship and majority of the employees participating in the research indicated their concern on the weakness of the management from this perspective. Most of the employees would like to be guided and provided with counseling on how to deal with each other in the workplace despite the fact that they come from different religions. In this case, mentorship programs act as solution to ensure that the employees understand the need as well as the significance of the mentorship programs in supporting unity and cooperation of employees from different religions. The implication here is that since the management has failed in supporting the appropriate strategies required to be used in mentoring the employees, then the bottom line is that employees might not relate in the required manner. Mentorship programs act as the guide or the line clear of how the organization expects the employees to behave and the manner in which each employee should respect and treat each other. Mentorship programs in dealing with employee conflict due to religious differences would work effectively since the employees would understand the boundaries which they are allowed to operate within and the operating procedures of the organization (Gregory, 2011, p.20). If the management fails to incorporate the appropriate programs as the case in the organization, the employees would override in trying to indicate or portray their religious positions and thus leading to conflicts.
• Leadership strategies
• Leadership strategies as the responses of the employees and the managers who took part in the survey, majority had their views that the organization does not have the appropriate leadership required to facilitate the required operation measures. The employee participants had their views mostly through indicating that the leadership did not even incorporate any strategies to ensure that the diverse cultures and religions in the organization were appropriately controlled and connected. Recognition of the religious differences by the management is crucial since it will be in a position to determine a strategy that can be able to ensure that these religion differences are effectively solved without undermining or oppressing any religion. Failure of the management to incorporate the appropriate strategies in dealing with the differences in religious diversities or which ensure that each religion represented in the workplace is respected leads to the employees not only creating conflict but also losing the morale to execute their duties in the most effective strategies as required. From the literature review, the leadership has the most significant role not only for uniting the employees or respecting the religious diversities in the workplace but also in developing and supporting an organization culture that ensures that the cultural differences in the organizations are well recognized and dealt with (Nederveen Pieterse et al., 2013, p.783). Most importantly as the findings or results have implicated that the managers as well as the employees are affected by the failure of the leadership to facilitate the role model of dealing with the religious diversities in the organization, this leaves the juniors with no model to copy in relation to relating to different persons in the organization from different religious background.
• Current strategies for dealing with religious conflict
• The employees participating in the interview implied that they did not recognize any effective strategy that the management of the organization has supported to facilitate balance and respect for each religion represented in the organization. The managers, too, who took part in the survey, had their comment whereby they indicated that they had not united and some thought that they needed to revise the strategies for dealing with religious diversities in order to amend any changes that required to be done to ensure the functionality of the strategies to the latter. Currently, as some of the employees argued, some of the strategies failed to recognize the rights and presence of some religious groups and this has led to problem of the employees not supporting the activities of the organization in an appropriate. Religious conflicts often arise if the management has not implemented the appropriate counter measures to ensure that incase the conflict arises there effective alternatives to deal with the situation. The management has failed to deal with the religious conflicts in the organization and this has slowed the performance of the organization in relation to the coordination and unity of the employees. Some of the employees commented that the management only imposed strict rules and seldom did the most effective strategies for dealing with religious conflicts used in the organization. This rules out to be a predominant weakness that pulls the performance of the organization and leading to poor working environment for the employees. Most essential is that the employees do not feel as part of the organization and they execute their duties not to satisfaction and but only do it for the reason that they are convened to the rule.
• Employee development and motivation process
• The responses from the employees and the managers participating in the survey indicated that employee development and motivation strategies were not up to the required standard. Some of the employees even indicated that employee motivation was too poor and the management did not even recognize the effort that employees did. Employee development strategies were even below the required expectation and that aspects such as career advancement were not evident or present in the organization. The organization has not facilitated the required working environment for the employees and they lack motivation towards working to the anticipated results. The response from some f the managers have supported the fact that, as the leaders, they have failed to provide the required environment for ensuring that the employees are satisfied as well as catering for their welfare. Employee development includes aspects such as training and learning facility for the employees to increase or expand their knowledge based on their career an aspect that many of them have indicated that the management has never shown any interest of providing. These are the aspects which occupy the employees and unite them since they work together in facilitating the required level of performance. From the view point of the participants they would compare the organization with other organization in the same industry that have facilitated the required level of employee development and motivation plans and this is lacking in the organization. The managers also commented the issue of failure of leadership to facilitate employee motivation incentives which include rewards and recognition whereby this is evident since the employees too have indicated their concern the failure of the management in playing its role as the agent of motivation.
• Internal communication system
• Internal communication system includes another aspect that the management of the organization has failed to support in coordinating and ensuring that the aspects of the stakeholders are effectively and clearly communicated. Internal communication in the organization ensure that the management have the right feedback from the employees as well as from the customers and that this information can be used in making the decisions which are effective and which support the development of the company. some of the employees who participated in the survey even indicated that they have never been consulted for any decision to be made in the organization since they joined the company and the arrangement or the hierarchy of communication in the organization is disorganized such that any feedback would not reach the management in the right form or as early as possible. This has led to the poor handling of issues by the management of the organization due to lack of the right information to determine the problems facing the organization and making the decisions which are valid and effective to support the required level of performance. Some of the managers participating in the survey also accepted or commented the fact that the communication strategy in the organization is poorly aligned in that employee or customer feedback is not often or regularly consulted when the management needs to reach for the decisions involving the organization. The manner in which the contributions or ideas from the employees or customers can reach the top level leadership has not clearly been facilitated in such a way that the employees or customers can facilitate their feedback or response to the management and help in solving the conflicts as well as addressing the issues which might concern religious aspects.
• HR activities
• The human resource activities in the organization were perceived by the participants especially the employees to be low and did not support the required level of recognition generally in ensuring that the aspects which related to the religion diversity in the organization. The responses from these participants indicated that neither was the management concerned about supporting activities or initiatives, which ensured that the employees practiced their religious activities or which recognized the different cultures in the organization. The hr department is responsible of is supposed to ensure that the welfare and issues of religion have been dealt with in the appropriate manner. The management did not implicate full support towards the aspects which concern the employees and this was evident in that the participating managers admitted of the weakness that exists in the human resource department. Some of the employees even commented that despite of their efforts to try and consult the hr for dialogue, the effort have been fruitless since they are assumed or ignored. In this case, failure of the human resource management means failure of the entire organization in facilitating the required employee welfare and this has led or contributed to the organization failing to reach the anticipated performance level.
• Management and general staff relation status
• From the response of the participants who took part in the study, majority of them indicated that they were not pleased with the manner in which the management and staff relations were handled and that the best rating they would offer was poor. Some of the employees indicated that since the internal communication system was very poor, the staff relations in the organization would not be to the required level. The view or perspective of many participants was that the organization would not perform without the right measures or requirements whereby in this case the major concern to support improved employee relation and management was through supporting the communication strategy in order to ensure that it delivered as required. The managers who participated in the survey conducted also supported the fact that the organization had not much enough to support improved employee relation. The distinction between the management and the employees was recorded to be poor communication. The management and staff relation was recorded to be very low and that the management to the worst extent did not consider recognizing the employees as important persons or members of the organization since they did not implicate any improved communication . Despite the fact that some managers supported the issue of failure from some but not all the departments of the organization, the total response indicated that something immediate had to done in order to ensure that the relation between the employees and the management had gone up to the required level.
• Employee rights to conduct their religious activities
• The feedback of the research also indicted that the management of the organization did not allow employees to conduct their religious activities within the organization, an aspect that made some of the employees to feel neglected about their religious background. For instance, the participants who came from the Muslim background indicated that they were required by their religion to pray frequently every day and they indicated that this permission to perform their religious activities were not allowed in the organization. The employees also indicated that the management did not even consider allowing them to practice or conduct even the most urgent or important aspects based on their religious. The employees have rights to exercise their religious activities in the workplace although to a limited extend (Powell 2011, p.124). Recognizing the rights of the employees or the members of the organization remains to be an essential aspect that need to be facilitated in order to ensure that everyone in the organization feels that they are part of the organization and that they have to perform their role in an effective manner. The management should also facilitate support to the employees to ensure that they can have some time to go and meet their religious role and this requires that the management can facilitate some regions or places where these employees can attend to their religious activities. Some of the employees who took part in the investigation provided their feedback that some of the managers would even punish them or they have witnessed cases where some employees were retrenched following having involved in religious activities which were not required in the organization. This was to extreme since the employees required their religion to be respected too.
• Current strategies to deal with diversity in workplace
• In the issue of the efforts by the management in dealing with the aspects of diversity in the workplace was also perceived by the participants to be poor whereby some even indicated that the workplace had a lot of discrimination in terms of religious background. This was an indication that workplace diversity was not well catered for and the current strategies were not effective enough to facilitate the required level of managing the diversities and conflicts which would arise due to the differences in religion in the organization. The management had not carried substantial research to determine the level of conflict issues arising in the organization following the existence of different religious backgrounds in the workplace. The comments from the participants who took place in the study were that cases of religions being considered as great or higher honored than others were evident in the workplace and that the employees did not respect one another’s religion something which led to lack of cooperation and lack of togetherness or unity amongst the employee force. Despite of the management of the organization focusing on improving the performance of the organization, the strategies for dealing with diversity were proven unworthy or too weak to deal with the situation in the organization. The management needs to recognize the potential that workplace diversity poses and harness the power of diversity to support the required strategies in dealing with the aspects relating to region (Powell 2011, p.124).
• Overall comment on employee management and retention
• The comments from the participants especially the employees based on the overall performance of the organization based on employee diversity and retention strategies was that they indicated the management had poor strategies. Form the manner of communication to the aspect of catering for the employee welfare, the participants indicated that they required the management to increase or update its strategies in dealing with employees and supporting workplace diversity. Employee management was perceived to be the poorest or the aspect that was not dealt with to satisfaction and this led to the existence or the resulted to the aspect of employees not performing their duties as required. The employees who participated in the research also had their view that the management cared less for the welfare of the employees and did not even consider recognizing them in the right manner that will ensure that the employees feel being part of the organization and being motivated. Employee retention in the organization was poor since the management did not consider or implementing the required strategies that could ensure that the diversity in workplace was well managed and that the employee welfare was effectively and appropriately catered for.
• Recommendation
• Employee mentorship programs
• From the questionnaires it is evident that there is need for the management of Sainsbury’s supermarket to implement strategies to help to ensure that the employee the equipped with necessary knowledge that can help them deal with issue related to workforce diversity (Allen, Finkelstein, & Poteet, 2011, p.3). Implementing mentorship programs can help to enhance employee satisfaction, which can help to increase productivity in the company. It is also evident that implementing mentorship programs can help to increase the employee retention ability in an organization. In addition implementation of the program can help reduce frustration among the employee since they will be equipped with the right skills to perform their duties in the workplace. The employee mentorship program can help to ensure that the employee progress with regard to their career goals and aspirations. Most importantly the program can help to ensure that the employee produce quality products and services.
• Leadership programs
• Implementation of the leaderships programs is another strategy that can be used to helps in managing religion in the workplace. This can be linked to the fact the leaders in most case provides good directions that can help the company to achieve its goals and objectives. This implies that in the situations where the leaders are equipped with the necessary skills to deal needed to handle issues related to the employee diversity they may be in a position to manage religion in the workplace. The leaders in the company also need to be equipped the skill need to handle conflicts that can arise due religious issues. This can help to ensure that the employee are contented that the management is concerned with their religious matters. Equipping the leaders with skills required to manage religious issues can help to ensure that the organization adopts long-term strategies to deal with such issues.
• Improvement of internal communication
• Improvement of the internal communication can also play a critical role in helping to improve management of workforce diversity in the organization especially with regard to religion (Neal 2013, p.48). This is because with an improvement in the internal communication the employee can have an opportunity to present their grievances related to the religious matters. Improving internal communication can also Sainsbury’s supermarket to achieve it growth strategies. In relation to this improving the internal communication can also help reduced day-to-day conflict between the management and the employee. Starter decision making at all levels can also be enhanced with the improvement in the internal communication. It is also evident that improving the internal communication also helps to empower employee. The employees are also in a position to understand the organizational values and purposes with an improved internal communication.
• Improvement of human resource activities
• From the finding it is evident that there is need for the human resource manager of Sainsbury’s supermarket to improve on his human resource practices. This is because most of the employee indicated that the human resource was not addressing their issues properly. In this case there is need for the human resource manager to ensure that workforce diversity is maintained during the recruitment (Konra (2006, p.168). This can help to ensure that there is workforce diversity in the company and hence ensure that there equal distribution in terms of religion. The human resource manager also needs to ensure that he maintains principle of equality and ensure that there is no employee discrimination. There is also need for the human resource manager to ensure that the employee are provided with the freedom to attend to their religious matters however the freedom should not in any way cause undue pressure to the management of the organization or reduce the production levels. As outlined in the literature review the human resource should ensure that the employee are equipped with the necessary skills that can help them to deal with the issue related employee religious diversity. It is therefore evident that it is the responsibility of the human resource manager to arrange for the employee training aimed at equipping the employee with essential skills they requires in order to maintain harmony. Accountability and transparency should be maintained with regard to the management of the employee welfare.
• Improve of the management and staff relation  
• From the questionnaires it is evident that there is a considerable hostile relationship between the management and the staff. This hostility among the staff and management is among one of the reason that has led to increase in the religious conflict. There is therefore need for the management of the company to commit effort towards ensuring that they improve their relation with the junior staff for instance the company needs to organize certain social event to facilitate interaction (Kusluvan, 2003, p.272). Improving the staff relation can help to ensure that the employees of Sainsbury’s supermarket are able to raise their issues related to religious matters. In relation to this improving the management staff relation can help to ensure that the organization is able to work as a team toward improving organization goals and objectives.
  Employee right to conduct their religious matters
• There is also need for the management of Sainsbury’s supermarket to ensure that the employee rights for their religious matters are maintained. This implies that the management should implement measures to help to ensure that the employees are given an opportunity to practice their religious matters. Allowing the employee to conduct their religious matters with ease can help to motivate the employee to continue working for the organization. However it is important to note that the management should also ensure that the freedom given to the employee to attend to religious matters does not interfere with the production in the company.
• Organizations culture Improving
• Improving organizational culture is also another strategy that can help to ensure that the company is able to improve on their employee diversity management strategies. In this case the management of Sainsbury’s supermarket needs to implement strategies that can help to champion a positive organizational culture. In order to help in managing organization culture the management of the company can divide the employee into various groups to help them appreciate cultural diversity (Ahmad, Veerapandian, & Wee Yu, 2011.p.12). Formation of groups can also help the employee to understand the various religious issues of their fellow employee. Another strategy that can help to manage the employee culture is through training the employee on the various cultural dimensions that are available within the organization. Training can help to bring organizational growth and development and hence ensure that they are equipped with necessary skills they need in order to develop.
• Improving employee relations
• Improving employee relations can help to enhance workforce diversity in organization (Nederveen Pieterse et al., 2013, p.783). There is need for the management of Sainsbury’s supermarket to share the vision that they have with the employee to ensure that the entire staff understand and take pride in the company future. In relation to this the management needs to seek the employee suggestion regarding how they are supposed to handle issues related to religion in the workplace. Improving the employee relation can help to ensure that the employee feel free to present their grievances to the management. In order to deal with religious issues effectively there is need for the management to encourage employee feedback. This feedback will help to make the management of the company aware of the issues that affect the employee. The management must therefore maintain constant interactions with the employee. In addition the management is also supposed to be friendly to the employee to ensure that they feel comfortable working for the company.
• Conclusion
• Managing religious is one is the most important factor that can help to ensure that the entire workforce work as team. Failure of the management Sainsbury’s supermarket to implement proper measure to help in managing workforce diversity has affected its performance. This is because the employees who are not given an opportunity to attend to their religious matters feel less motivated by the actions of the management. The finding presented in this research papers indicates that most of the employee in the company are not contented with the policies implemented by the management to help in managing employee diversity. Most of the employees feel that the management does respect their rights to conduct religious activities with ease. There is also poor internal communication system, which in turn affect the employee religious matters. The finding also indicates that current strategies implemented by the management Sainsbury’s supermarket do not contribute to effective employee management. This can be linked to the fact that most of the employee rated the current strategies as poor. Management and staff relations were also weak which in turn limited the ability of the employee to raise their religious matters. Most of the employee also rated their human resource activities to be poor in terms of dealing with the employee relations. There is also lack of clear leadership’s strategies in the company, which has also negatively affected the ability of the company deal with the issues related to religious diversity. With regard to the ability of the company to retain their employee most of them indicated that the company had poor employee retention capacity. This indicate that lack proper measure to help in managing employee religious matters can increase the employee turnover rates and hinder it from achieving their organizational goals and objectives. Analysis of the current strategies of dealing with the religious conflict it is evident that the company has failed in implementing effective strategies. This has negatively affected the performance of the company since it has increased the employee turnover rates
• This research paper therefore present a strong a argument that enhancing the employee mentorships program is one of the strategies that can help the management of Sainsbury’s supermarket to deal religious issues in the workplace effectively. Employee mentorship program can help to ensure that the employee understand the need for cultural diversity in the organization. There is also need for the management of the company to launch various leadership programs aimed at equipping the management with the necessary skills they need to manage religious issues effectively. Moreover there is also need for management of various organizations to ensure that they improve their internal communications strategies. This can help to present the employee with an opportunity to air their grievances regarding their religious matters. Improving internal communication can help the management to establish various issues that affect the employee of an organization.
• This research paper also argues that improving the relationship between the management and employee is another strategy that can help to enhance diversity in organizations. This is because improving the relations helps to ensure that the employee free to share their personal matters especially with regard to religion. Finally there is need for the management of any organization to ensure that it respects the employee rights to conduct their religious matters. This can help to improve employee retention and commitment in an organization.
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