Working with Diverse People - Assignment Example

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Working with Diverse People
Student
Institution

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WORKING WITH DIVERSE PEOPLE
Task 1
Louis and Backer, from the African-American community, had been newly recruited to
work among eight whites to accomplish a company’s project. The African Americans and the
white Americans have different cultural values which have been a source of conflicts between
these two cultural groups. For instance, in the African American culture, raising voices during a
meeting is a sign of an exciting conversion; however, in the white American communities, on the
other hand, raising voices is a sign of arrogance or a sign of indicating that a fight has begun.1
One day, as they were in a group discussion discussing some accomplishments of the project,
Louis and Backer began raising their voices and holding their discussions even as the group
leader was chairing the meeting. This raised tension among other members causing the group
leader to force the two to leave the room.
As one of the members of the group, I raised my hand and requested the group leader to
call them back and inquire why they had to raise their voices during the meeting. When they
were called back into the meeting, Louis explained that they were revisiting some of the issues
that they intended to raise during the meeting and did not have any intentions of causing harm.2
Louis's explanation made other members of the group understand that raising voices during a
discussion is a sign of an exciting conversation.
With the knowledge I have gained in this area, I would have handled the situation
differently by being open-minded and non-judgmental. Individuals in the meeting proved to be
judgmental of the two African American men whose intentions were not bad. I would have
advised them to ask for an opportunity to speak in the meeting they had an issue. This would
have prevented the conflict.

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One verbal strategy that could have been used is being flexible towards others. In this
scenario, the group leader was working with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds,
therefore, being flexible and focusing on the issue rather than the person could have enabled him
to save the situation.3 Another strategy that could have been used to deal with the situation is
encouraging people to love each other and embrace diversity at the workplace.
Task 2
One of the features of Daisy’s diversity as a cultural aboriginal woman is an inability to
understand English. Individuals from the aboriginal culture mostly use aboriginal languages such
as Creole. The second feature is that Daisy could not tolerate males to assist her with her care.
According to the Aboriginal cultural norms, female patients should be attended to by female
healthcare professions. This might be one of the underlying reasons that compelled Daisy to
reject the services of the male care support provider.4 On the other hand, features that indicate
that Daisy is an older person within the community accessing an aged care service include being
diabetic, having a minor stroke and being partially deaf. Diabetes is thought to be more prevalent
among older people than young people. Also, minor strokes and partially deafness are some of
the attributes of older people in society.
Since Daisy is partially deaf, I will make sure that I do not shout or exaggerate mouth
movements when speaking because shouting makes speech reading more difficult and can even
distort the sound of the speech. I would also ensure that I speak slowly, clearly and distinctly so
that I can effectively pass across the information. Also, I will call her name before beginning the
conversation to attract her attention. Secondly, as a male care support giver, I will ensure that the
agency provides Daisy with cochlea implants to boost her hearing ability.