CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people - Case Study v1.1 (2018/01/19)

This case study for CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people discusses scenarios where discriminatory behavior is displayed towards women, people with mental health disorders, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Strategies are provided to curb the bad behavior while remaining respectful to colleagues.

CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people
Case Study v1.1 (2018/01/19)
CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people
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Case Study
Please read through the following case studies. Reflect on your learning and your own research
within this unit.
Prepare a response that responds to each of the issues presented below. Your responses must
reflect your knowledge, skills, and application for this unit.
Scenario 1
Danielle is the practice manager of a large dental practice in the city. She is the only female
staffer at management level. The CEO often refers to her as the ‘office mum’ although no male
manager is ever referred to as the ‘office dad’. He also expects her to handle office birthdays
and always asks her to organise coffee for their monthly managerial meetings. Danielle is
becoming really frustrated with these requests and the ‘office mum’ label. She tells her CEO of
her concerns, and he responds by telling her that she is being ‘overly sensitive’.
Do you believe that the CEO is displaying any sexist behaviour, or is Danielle being overly
sensitive? Outline your reasons for your response.
Outline at least three strategies that Danielle could use to curb this behaviour while still
remaining respectful to her CEO and colleagues.
Although women had made it clear that they can perform any activities with the same skill or
ability, gender bias or discrimination still holds many back. Although the intensity of the gender
biasness in this context is quite low, but then any responsibility should be distributed equally.
At first it is extremely unprofessional to refer any employee by weird names or job roles. Calling
a lady as an ‘office mum’ can be extremely demeaning and demoralising, discriminating others
role with the lady, although in most of the cases the job role of the women is just similar to the
other male colleagues. It has to be remembered that being a women does not make her an
inborn expert in cooking, “making coffee” or arranging girly things such as “birthday parties”.
Arrangement of the birthday parties or arrangement of coffees are shared responsibilities that
can be taken care of one at a time and should not be imposed upon a particular person. Hence I
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CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people
Case Study v1.1 (2018/01/19)
believe that the CEO has been displaying a sexist behaviour to some extent.
Three strategies that can be taken up by Danielle to stop this sexist behaviour :-
1. To talk clearly with the employees and make them remember about their shared
responsibilities.
2. To take up the responsibilities spontaneously when they are being provided, but
reminding strictly about other’s responsibilities, when repeated responsibilities are
given.
3. Danielle can take initiative in making of a roister by herself where each one will be
assigned with some duties each week such that these unofficial tasks are equally
disseminated among the employees. Such a step would not only display Daniel’s
responsibility towards the office but will also not create any resentment amongst the
other employees.
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CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people
Case Study v1.1 (2018/01/19)
Scenario 2
You are the team leader of a practice where one of the employees constantly makes ‘jokes’
about people being ‘bipolar’, ‘going postal’, or being ‘off their meds’.
You happen to know that one of the other employees — within earshot of these comments —
is on medication for depression.
Outline at least three strategies to stop the bad behaviour without revealing confidential
information, and discuss why you would use them.
It is not at all funny to crack insensitive jokes regarding the mentally ill patients. It can be
therapeutic to laugh together or to make people laugh but is certainly not good to laugh at the
expense of the people with mental health disorder. It not only breaches human respect and
dignity but also impacts people with mental health disorder negatively. It is the mental health
care jokes that further perpetuate the stigma and the stereotypes for the people having mental
health illness. In this case, all the jokes cracked might not be directed towards the employee
living on antidepressants, but he might have delusional thoughts that his peers are mistreating
him.
The strategies that can be used to stop such bad behaviours are-
 The organizational rules and the norms regarding workplace etiquettes should be revised
and should be given in written from to all the employees such as not using discriminatory
words or using humor against sensitive issues.
 Meetings can be conducted by the managers to educate the employees about the disability
rights and ways to help the coworkers having mental health problems. The HR managers
can arrange for counseling the employees to educate the employees about how abusive
jokes can hurt personal feelings of certain employees, without disclosing the name or
confidential information about the employee. It is necessary for the normal people to
understand that just because they are privileged enough, does not give them any inherent
rights to hurt anybody’s feelings. There are so many people actually thriving with such
problems and are actively trying their best to get off it.
 I is necessary to arrange for workshops at the workplace to educate the employees about
the different mental health disorders. Education can only help to remove stigmatization
and prejudices. People should be educated that missing out medications can be a life and
death situation for people with mental health disorders or those with bipolar disorders are
also human beings and any jokes about medications can cause these people to feel shame,
embarrassment and guilt while talking about medications or mental illness.
Scenario 3
In the lunchroom at your workplace, a colleague is reading the paper. After reading an article
about increases in funding for health and housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people, they make a comment about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people ‘expecting
Government handouts’ and say that they ‘should stop living in the past’. The person always
prefaces these comments with “I’m not racist, but…”
You know that this is an opinion that this person has expressed before and that it seems to be
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CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people
Case Study v1.1 (2018/01/19)
deeply ingrained. Nobody else seems to mind this behaviour, and you are also aware that a
number of other colleagues also think this way to some degree even if they do not come out
and say it very often. Sometimes, the lunchroom discussions get quite heated, with people
using derogatory terms when making comments about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people.
You are working in a situation where you and your colleagues are frequently dealing with
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Indeed, there are some Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people working with you. You notice that another colleague, whom you know to
be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, becomes upset and leaves the room.
• How does this impact the way you carry out your work, both in working with your
colleagues and in dealing with your customers? Have any laws been broken?
• What are some of the issues affecting this situation, and what are you able to tell the non-
indigenous workers about issues affecting Indigenous Australians?
• How would you respond to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person who left?
 Discriminatory behaviors against the Aboriginal may loosen the trust between the co-
workers in a multicultural workplace, which might certainly affect the workflow and may
lead to difficulty while working with the aboriginal clients. This is because, it is the
aboriginal workers that can help us to deal with the aboriginal clients by informing us about
their choices, modes of communications and more.
The Racial discrimination act that aims to stop any discrimination against the Aboriginals at
workplace including racist comments and inequality has been breached in this case.
 Some of the issues affecting this situation is that most of the colleagues in the lunchroom
possess the same thought although they do not express them, this led to the condition that
when the person was making derogatory comments, none of the colleagues actually
stopped him, which displays lack of cultural sensitiveness.
Any co-worker should be aware of the different types of the cultural differences that might
affect a workplace. It is necessary to educate the employees about the rules and the regulations
of a multicultural workplace like this. It is necessary to develop the sense of cultural sensitivity
among the workers, to educate them about the past history of colonisation of the aboriginals
and how the history still brings them discrimination in the field of employment and education.
People should be aware of the inappropriate terminologies used in relation to the Aboriginal
people.
 I would certainly assure him that such conditions will not arise at the workplace and that
the organization will take care of educating his co-workers in order to make them culturally
awareness. It is also necessary to educate about the various litigations that can arise
against them in charge of giving racist comments. I will also make this colleague understand
that conflicts of interest is natural in a multicultural workplace, but that should not affect
the work culture of the organization.
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CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people
Case Study v1.1 (2018/01/19)
Quality outcomes
Ensure the following for your submission:
i) It is grammatically correct.
ii) It is error-free.
iii) It is written in simple English.
iv) It comprises of an average of 15 words for each sentence.
v) There are separate paragraphs for each new content/topic or discussions. Include
references to relevant legislation, which must be defined.
Attach any models, tools, or resources that could be used in an organisation to improve the case
study situations presented.
Tip: Read all text aloud in order to identify any gaps and correct them. Ask another person to
proof read your work in order to check for accuracy before you submit.
A minimum of 1,000 words is required (attachments are not to be included in word count).
Writing strategies and actions for future improvements
A case study is designed for you to demonstrate your skills in reading, accurately interpreting
and providing workable responses and strategies.
Check that your responses provide:
1. Identification and clarification of the key issues. Discuss and provide some suggestions as
to what has caused these.
2. Key facts and information that is relevant and demonstrates your ability to provide
solutions.
3. Templates and resources that could assist managers in the future when managing their
teams.
4. Recommendations, both short term and long term, to improve the current situation.
Also ensure the appropriate use of headings and formats so as to reflect a professional
presentation.
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