Importance of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

This article discusses the importance of cultural diversity in the workplace and how to implement it. It also provides insights on communication techniques to build a good relationship. The article includes scenarios and tasks related to mental health, community counseling, and service provider discrimination. It also includes a presentation planning sheet and a meeting agenda list. Subject: Mental Health, Course Code: NA, Course Name: NA, College/University: NA.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH
Mental Health
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Part 1a..............................................................................................................................................3
Part 1b..............................................................................................................................................4
Part 2................................................................................................................................................5
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................6
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................7
Task 5...............................................................................................................................................8
Task 6.............................................................................................................................................11
Task 7.............................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................17

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Part 1a
According to the given scenario, Bahar and Jasmine are completely new in Australia and
they have started their work in Australia. Hence, the mentor of Bahar and Jasmine need to
prepare a framework for their work with detailed information. Therefore, the mentor needs to
reveal the organizational goals to the newly recruited employees. By using open meeting, email
and presentation the mentor will be able to ensure the effective communication with Bahar and
Jasmine. For the supervisor of these newly recruited employees’ needs to give a good induction.
However, a good induction is crucial for the new employees as it will help them to understand
their job role and the organizational goals, rule, and regulations (Ulmer et al. 2017).
The supervisor needs to create a positive atmosphere during the induction. Then they
need to address the job profile clearly along with increasing the comfort level of the candidates.
Therefore, the supervisor needs to give a clear introduction to the organizational policies, values
and job specification information. The supervisor needs to use the open discussion to collect
feedback from the candidates as the communication technique. Therefore, by using active
listening and asking questions will be helpful for the supervisor to make a clear communication
with the newly recruited candidates. On the other hand, working in a buddy system will be an
effective approach of the supervisor to ensure that their staffs feel welcome. Such working
system leads the staffs to cope up with the challenges in their workplace with the help of senior
(Haynes et al. 2017).

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Part 1b
As per the given scenario, Bahar and Jasmine did not communicate properly with their
team members. This is a great concern for their mentor. In order to get the bottom of this
problem, the mentor needs to make an effective communication with the newly recruited
employees. However, effective communication is helpful to identify any problem between the
employees (Bolton et al. 2017). During this critical situation, the mentor needs to make a
collaborative work between the old and new employees. Such collaboration can be done by
establishing interpersonal communication between the employees. Therefore, the mentor can
praise the work of new candidates which will involve them more in the workplace. In order to
improve the communication between the old and new employees, the mentor needs to carry out
a face to face communication with the individuals. Therefore, by conducting a meeting the
mentor can share information regarding the organizational goals and objectives with each
employee.
This will improve the relationship between the old and new employees in the workplace.
By establishing a positive work culture the supervisor can reduce the conflicts between the
employees (Currie et al. 2017). In the given scenario, the mentor needs to reduce the conflict
between their new employees and the old employees. On the other hand, by developing a strong
communication channel and implementing team building activities the mentor will be able to
reduce the conflicts and the changing attitude of other employees. The mentor needs to help
Bahar and Jasmine to build a positive work relationship with the old employees in the team.

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Part 2
I have been working in a healthcare sector for last 5 years. However, I have faced an
ethical dilemma while treating the patients. Once I have faced a patient who has dementia and
hearing impairment as a result, she did not want to take medicine properly. If I want to force him
he became angry and tried to harm her. This situation was very challenging to me as a care
provider I need to give her medicine properly and as a human being, I need to respect her human
right. This situation led me to face an ethical dilemma as I had to take care of her health and her
wish, which was difficult for me.
Based on this situation, I had taken a training program about how to treat the dementia
patients. This allowed me to treat this patient properly. I tried to communicate with her politely
and give her medicine by not affecting her human right. During this situation, I have learned that
effective communication is a major component of any work as it allows the worker to resolve
any conflict between the employees as well as clients. This situation includes ethical values as by
keeping the right of the patients and giving her proper care I was able to deal with the ethical
dilemma that was occurred to me. On the other hand, there was a legal boundary about the
dissemination of patient's information. Thus, I was not able to share the patient's information
with others to get help as it would create non-compliance with the legal requirement (Data
Protection Act). I have used non-verbal communication technique with the patient to address the
issues as she was not capable to understand the verbal communication due to her hearing
impairment. Such non-verbal communication technique helped me to understand her needs,
which was necessary to treat this patient properly.

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Task 3
As per the given scenario, the community counsellor is working with an aboriginal client
who is just released from the prison. In order to build a good rapport with this client, the
community counsellor needs to establish an interpersonal relationship with the client at the first
visit. This can be done by using an effective communication. However, the counsellor needs to
get a clear idea about the importance of the family in the life of such client. For this purpose the
counsellor needs to contact with the family members of such prisoner as getting support from the
family will help this person to get a good life. Therefore, the client is an aboriginal thus; to work
with him the counsellor has to understand the aboriginal culture. To make a good interaction
with the people understanding the culture of an individual is crucial (Delerue and Sicotte 2017).
Hence, by understanding the value, belief, and ethics of the aboriginal client the
counsellor can get an idea of the aboriginal client. However, implementation of both verbal and
non-verbal communication is effective to develop a good communication with the clients
(Missaoui 2015). To deal with this aboriginal client the community counsellor can use face to
face interaction as the verbal communication tool and sign language as the non-verbal
communication tool. On the other hand, it is crucial for the counsellor to show a positive attitude
to the client and avoid any questions regarding his past life that may affect his cultural value and
belief. However, the client had a great addiction to alcohol, as a result, he was accused for
domestic violence and legal objection took place against him. Thus, it is important for the
counsellor to avoid cultural discrimination with the clients by adjusting his attitude and thinking
style and giving value to the client. On the other hand, the counsellor needs to consider Anti-
discrimination Law, Equality Act, and Human Right Act while working with the aboriginal
client. This will allow the counsellor to respect the cultural value of such aboriginal client.

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Task 4
As per the given scenario, it has been found that Rachel has a mental disorder and she
belongs from non-English speaking background. She is still unemployed and detached from her
family. For service provider discrimination, may takes place while working with Rachel as she is
a mental patient and shows rude behavior. Therefore, she is not native to the care provider,
which leads the care provider to discriminate this patient. In order to reduce this challenge, the
service provider needs to give equal right to Rachel during her treatment. Therefore, by using
clear interaction the service provider will be able to understand the specific needs of such patient.
This will allow the service providers to support such patient. Legal and ethical considerations are
mandatory while working with a patient (Ferrell 2016). According to the given scenario,
Rachel’s mental condition was not stable and came from Non-English Background. Thus,
discrimination took place with her in the community centre. In order to reduce such
discrimination Anti-discrimination Law, Human Right Act, Vulnerable Group Act, and Equality
Act need to be considered as such Acts will help the service providers to reduce inequality with
Rachel.
Equality should be maintained in the workplace to reduce discrimination. In the given
scenario, many staffs of community Centre ignored Rachel to support her. In this situation, the
support worker who is working with Rachel can share information with other staffs by revealing
the current condition of Rachel. This information sharing will help the other staffs to understand
the support needs of Rachel, which will generate sympathy for Rachel. Use of therapeutic
communication will be helpful for the service provider to discuss the issues of Rachel with her.
Therapeutic communication technique is a process, which builds an interpersonal relationship
between the nurse and the patients (Schwind et al. 2016). As per the given scenario, Rachel has

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been suffering from mental disorder hence; she needs a good interpersonal relationship with her
care giver. This will help her to express her needs. This relationship can be established by
therapeutic communication technique, which allows the service providers to identify the issues
of Rachel. In order to work with Rachel establishment of a positive working culture is crucial.
The working culture should be free from cultural discrimination. Therefore, the community staffs
are required to respect all languages and cultures while supporting the patients. Cultural
diversification is necessary for the community centre to support the patients who come from
different backgrounds. In the context of Rachel, a positive work culture will help her to improve
her current condition as it will keep her right and give value to her wish.
Task 5
Presentation Planning Sheet Student
Name____________________

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Presentation Title:
Importance of diversity in the workplace
Purpose of the presentation:
The purpose of the presentation is to reveal the workplace policies, festival and legislation that are
used to bring cultural diversity in the workplace. Therefore, the role of HR in bringing cultural
diversity in the workplace is also outlined in this presentation.
Desired outcomes of the presentation:
The expected outcome of the presentation is to create awareness among the employees to understand
the importance of cultural diversity in the workplace.
Research sources Presentation
Content
Resources/Aids
 Mundy, D., 2015. From principle to policy to
practice? Diversity as a driver of multicultural,
stakeholder engagement in public relations.
Public Relations Journal, 9(1), pp.1-20.
From this article,
the importance of
multicultural
policy has been
Presentation

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 Lawcouncil.asn.au. 2018. Anti-discrimination
laws. [online] Available at:
https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/policy-agenda/hu
man-rights/anti-discrimination-laws [Accessed 6
Apr. 2018].
 Legislation.gov.au. 2018. Australian Human
Rights Commission Act 1986. [online] Available
at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00
143 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2018].
understood. This
policy is useful to
establish a
collaborative
work between the
employees
This legislation
focuses on the
anti-
discrimination
practice, which
reduces the
racism from
workplace
This resource
highlights the
maintenance of
human right in
the workplace.

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This is crucial to
bring the cultural
diversity
Task 6
Agenda list of people who will be invited in a meeting
 CEO
 General Manager
 Assistant Manager
 HR
 Ten employees of human resource management department
Sample information of the meeting

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Figure 1: Factsheet to increase awareness regarding the importance of cultural diversity in
the workplace
Minutes of meeting
 Discussion about the importance of cultural diversity
 Introduction of the legal obligation that will be charged against the employees who are
not following cultural diversity in the workplace
 Discussion of the policies of cultural diversity
Reflection on own performance
I have used active listening technique during the meeting and have outlined the major
goals of meeting properly. I have set a clear meeting goal and communicated this goal with all

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candidates. This will give a clear idea to all participants about the purpose of the meetings and
the participants get interest in the meeting. I have established an interpersonal communication
with the team members, which helped to understand the viewpoint of each candidate. This is
effective for me to reduce the workplace conflict. From this current meeting, I have understood
that cultural diversity is crucial for every workplace. Without cultural diversity the collaborative
work is not possible and effective team cannot be developed. Hence, the improvement can be
done by implementing equality act and multicultural policy in the workplace. On the other hand,
poor communication level between the employees can be improved as it is essential to bring
cultural diversity in the workplace. Therefore, motivation is required as it will allow the
employees to show respect every culture and religion.
Task 7
Use of communication to build a relationship
Verbal, non-verbal, active listening, collecting feedback and avoid information overload
is the major communication techniques that are used in the workplace to build a good
relationship. However, verbal communication has a great advantage to establish a good
interpersonal relationship in the workplace. Verbal communication includes meeting, conference,
and face to face interaction. Verbal communication is a more convenient process as it allows
the individuals to convey the matter easily (Bosma et al. 2016). Verbal communication maintains
the clarity of the messages that are delivered. However, by using conference and face to face
interaction perspective of an individual can be understood. On the other hand, the major if the
messages are not conveyed properly in verbal communication then the interaction is interrupted.

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This is a major drawback of verbal communication technique. Therefore, often irrelevant
information can creep during the verbal discussion.
Deep conversation often creates misunderstanding between the individuals. Non-verbal
communication complements verbal messages, which is easy to understand. Therefore,
information can be presented easily through non-verbal communication. Written communication
is one type of non-verbal communication, which is legally valid than verbal communication
(Binder 2016). As for example, by using website, report, presentation, and email non-verbal
communication are done. Moreover, use of body language and sign language is another kind of
non-verbal communication, which helps the individuals to build an effective relationship with
disabled persons in the workplace. One of the major disadvantages of non-verbal communication
is the distortion of messages. Often individuals are not able to understand the body languages of
other. Therefore, a long conversation is not possible through non-verbal communication. Error
occurs while using email as the media of non-verbal communication.
Active listening is a good communication technique that is used in workplace. This help
the listener to show respect to speaker and understand the information clearly that is delivering
from the speaker (Weger et al. 2016). However, active listening does not support genuine
empathy during the communication. This is a major drawback of this technique. Feedback
collection is also an effective communication process to understand the perspectives of others.
Apart from this, use of digital communication technique by using internet and social media
develops a big platform of communication, which creates communication with a large population
within a short time. However, breach of the confidentiality of shared information is a major
loophole of digital communication technique.

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Implementation of active listening strategy is helpful to reduce the conflict from
workplace. This strategy helps the individuals to understand the information that is delivered by
the speaker. On the other hand, use of open door strategy is an effective strategy to mitigate the
conflicts that occur due to miscommunication in a workplace (Weger et al. 2016). Open door
strategy empowers the staffs to express their concern to managers regarding any work-related
issue. However, an open door strategy reduces the miscommunication between the employees as
they are able to reveal the things which are not visible to the management.
Ethical communication practice refers to the maintenance of transparency in the
communication process (Pearson 2016). For a business, it is crucial to follow a transparent
communication with their stakeholders. Ethics should be maintained during the interpersonal
communication and digital communication. To establish and effective communication in a
workplace Communication Privacy Act and Data Protection Act should be considered.
However, Communication Privacy Act helps the employees to review the electronic
communication process by keeping privacy. On the other hand, Data Protection Act allows the
employees to maintain the confidentiality during the information sharing in the workplace. Any
breach of confidentiality during the data sharing may create a legal obligation.
Cross-cultural communication is a process through which individuals from different
cultural backgrounds interact with each other (Kinloch and Metge 2014). However, people from
different cultural backgrounds have different ways of communication and different languages.
Through cross-cultural communication process, the individuals from different cultural
backgrounds are able to establish a good relationship with each other. Use of active listening
strategy and showing respect to differences are effective cross-cultural communication strategies.
By using these strategies individual of one cultural background can understand the message of

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other individuals belongs from different cultural backgrounds. On the other hand, people can
show respect to different languages in the work place by using cross-cultural strategy, which is
effective to build a good interpersonal relationship in the workplace.

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International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 4(4), p.392.

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