HRMG701 Diversity: Ideal Worker in Banking (New Zealand)

This research report investigates the characteristics of an 'ideal worker' within the banking sector, particularly focusing on the challenges women face in attaining senior positions in New Zealand. It begins by defining the occupation of a banking advisor, including entry requirements, necessary skills, job descriptions, and typical working conditions. The findings section identifies key traits of an ideal banking professional, such as strong organizational and communication skills, accuracy, analytical abilities, a charming personality, adaptability, leadership qualities, and unwavering ethics. The report further discusses the concepts of ideology (neoliberalism), power (socialism), and identity (gender representation) in relation to the banking profession. It explores the reasons for the existence of these ideal worker characteristics and examines who is included and excluded based on these criteria. The implications for individuals, organizations, and wider society are critically evaluated, with a focus on the benefits of gender equality in banking. The report concludes with recommendations for promoting diversity and inclusion in the banking workforce. Desklib provides access to similar reports and solved assignments for students.

Diversity at Work
Research Report

Table of Content
Introduction.........................................................................................................................................2
Occupation............................................................................................................................................3
Entry Requirements.........................................................................................................................3
Skills Required.................................................................................................................................3
Job Description.................................................................................................................................3
Working Hours, Pattern and the Environment..............................................................................4
Findings................................................................................................................................................4
Characteristics of Ideal worker in Banking Profession.................................................................4
Discussion............................................................................................................................................6
Reason for Existence of the Ideal Worker Characteristics................................................................7
People who are included and excluded..........................................................................................7
Implication for Organization, individuals and wider society........................................................7
Recommendation.................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................8
References............................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Human resources at the time of job interview often asks question such as “how would
you define an ideal person for the job”, by asking such question human resources aim to
understand the perception and understanding of the ideal worker from the candidate
(Acker, 2006). This further helps the human resources to identify if the person will be
the ideal worker for the particular job or not, it basically helps them in evaluating the
candidate. In order to identify the ideal worker one has to focus on the skills sets, job
knowledge, abilities of the person, motivation and his personal attributes. Ideal worker
depends from occupation to occupation, as some industries follows workforce diversity
and inclusion at work, while others do not (Acker, 2006).
The purpose of the assignment here is to understand the concept of Ideal working in the
occupation of banking advisor. The assignment will focus on three important aspects
which are brief understanding of the occupation, identifying the key characteristics of
an ideal worker in the Banking field and discussion around the concept of ideology,
power and identity. The research report will detail the characteristics of an ideal
worker In the Banking industry.

Occupation
Occupation should not be confused with job; an occupation can be seen as a type of
work, whereas job is a particular cluster of tasks in particular business organization.
I am working in ANZ bank, which is one of the largest banks in terms of market
capitalization in Australia. ANZ bank is the largest in New Zealand and employees over
50,000 people working across different locations. Since last year I have been working
with ANZ in the capacity of banking advisor, and I am really happy with my employer.
However, I have seen that in the banking sector, not a lot of women get the chance to
climb the ladder up and work in senior most position. There are only a handful of
women working in the top management or other senior positions (ANZ Australia,
2017). Some of the key highlights which define the occupation more clearly are:
Entry Requirements
It is required to have a relevant qualification in the banking field, or the minimum
graduation including Maths and English as important or main subjects. One has to clear
a series of selection tests in order to qualify for the role. There is an option to get into
the Bank by Apprenticeship Program (Handy & Rowlands, 2017).
Skills Required
Person should have an excellent personality and communication skills with fluency in
Maths. He should provide accuracy in his work and should pay attention to detail. The
confidence, faith and the belief to share hard selling financial products to the customers
(Fukuyama, 2017). And lastly, an overview of the banking products and services would
add to his present competencies.
Job Description
Processing payments, advances and Setting up and maintenance of customer accounts.
Ensuring Short and long term investment planning. Assisting customers with mortgage

and loan application. He also has to actively participate in the General administration
Activities (McDowell, 2017). Handling customer complaints and enquiries.
Working Hours, Pattern and the Environment
The standard opening hours for the ANZ bank starts from 9:30 in the morning to 4:30 in
the evening, and on Fridays, 9:30 till 5: 00 PM in the evening. Certain bank branches are
open until late hours during special occasion. The work of banking advisor is so much
detailed that never occurs a possibility that I have reached my home on time. We always
have to extend our working hours to finish up the work. The working environment is
collaborative and every person is working towards shared goals. There is most
definitely a lack of women colleagues in the banking sector. According to the statistics
there are only 9% of the working female population which is working in the banking
sector, this figure is quite low and has to be increased in the coming years (Nolan,
2018).
Findings
Characteristics of Ideal worker in Banking Profession
Banking Professionals have to do multiple tasks at one time along with plethora of
responsibility. The work responsibilities revolve around people’s money, thus a person
who does not have good organizational skills or does not have an organized mind will
be a liability for the Bank. Thus, it is very much needed for the worker to become ideal
worker (Runciman, Merry & Walton, 2017). Banking professionals have to deal with
hundreds of customers every day; they are meeting up directly with the end customers.
Thus, it becomes extremely important for the ideal worker to possess good
communication skills, so that he can effectively communicate with the
customers(Blackman, 2017).
Accuracy and efficiency are self- explanatory characteristics which are must and should
in the Banking Occupation. The professional here have to deal with customer’s money,
thus they have to be really accurate and efficient in whatever task they are doing at the
job (Brien, Thomas & Brown, 2017). In Banks, professionals have to engage in
predicting market and customer trends, event based fluctuation and other such

functions which require the worker to use his mathematical and analytical ability and
justice to his job (Demby, 2015).
In a customer facing job, it is very much important that the Banking professional has a
charming personality, is friendly, cooperative and is willing to go to the extra miles to
assist the customer. This characteristic has the ability to transform a worker into an
ideal worker (Enticott, 2018). Banking sector has transformed in the recent past due to
the incessant use of internet technology and the inherent need to serve the customers
with high level of satisfaction. Thus, the Banking professional have to be on their feet
every time, learn new things and assist the customers.
Not all managers are leaders; however leadership is extremely important in the most
challenging work environment. Thus, if a worker has leadership qualities and traits it
not only helps him personally, but also helps the entire organization and the customers
to work effectively towards the goals of the Bank. Honesty, Integrity and Ethics define
the essence of a person, and is most sought after characteristic in the Ideal worker. All
these characteristics are valued in every job; however while dealing with client’s money
and their data, honesty, integrity and ethics play a very important role (Nuthall & Old,
2017). As a starting point achieving gender equity in NZ will bring out significant gains
for the country, as women can be seen as the guarantors of the growth and this strong
force cannot be ignored. For the first time in the history, since quite some time, women
have been working alongside men and competing for their jobs. Ageing workforce,
declining birth rates, skill shortage and increased participation of women makes it
inevitable to include women in the banking profession. According to one of the research
conducted by Canadian think tank Catalyst, it was found that women is leadership or
board position have the capability of providing 26-60% higher return on the
investment(Kim, Lee & Jang, 2017). The New Zealand Census of Women’s participation
can be seen as:
Increase in participation of women in Professional life by 2-3% is a harbinger of
workforce diversity in New Zealand. Many senior level positions have been filled by
Women representation and this will take the count to 24%. It has been mandated since
2012 to create a listing of gender breakdown of senior management and directors in the
annual reports. The representation of women on the boards of prominent trading banks

has gone up and now it stands at 22.92%, which is comparable to the European Banks
(Obi, Leggett & Harris, 2017).
Holistically, in comparison to other OECD countries, New Zealand has a relatively higher
representation of women workers in occupation dominated by females. Research
suggests that almost 50% of the New Zealand works in occupation which has over 80%
female representation. These kinds of jobs are lower paid, and the need of the hour is to
increase the representation of women in senior leadership and decision making
positions(AM Bank, 2018).
Discussion
Every job has its own aspect which differs from every other job. In banking profession
the three major aspects can be seen as:
Ideology: Neoliberalism as a term got picked up in the early 20th century and has been
used for different economic and social ideas. In the present day the term neoliberalism
has been used by people who are extremely critical to the ideas of globalization and also
with those of trade unionists. In banking profession the ideal workers have the ideology
which is related to neoliberalism and they tend to favour the development happing in
and around the Banking industry. Additionally, this ideology helps in smoothening
relationship with the customers and creating an environment of sustained growth (Chai
& Dibbs, 2018).
Power: An ideal Banking Professional supports socialism, by virtue of his work and
concern towards the customers, the banking professional works to help the customers
and organization holistically. They give highest priority to the customers, as they are
handling the prized asset of customers, Money (McEwan et. al., 2017).
Identity: There are no two doubts that there is a less representation of women in
leadership, senior management in New Zealand banking sector. The ideal workers here
work hard to remove this problem in society which is based on different social
stratification. A lot of Banking Professional believe and pursue the concept of
intersectionality, which is dividing the society into various sectional groups (Lacey et.
al., 2017).

Reason for Existence of the Ideal Worker Characteristics
The reasoning for the existence of ideal characteristics exists to excel in the banking
profession, or any other profession as matter of fact. For instance, Banking professional
have a front end job and they have to interact with the customers, thus good
communication skills, presentable personality, friendliness are some of the ideal
characteristics for the banking profession. Similarly, Bankers have to deal with
customer data and their money and suggest them where to park their money, hence
high level of ethics, integrity and honesty are the characteristics of an ideal worker. It is
the persuasion and the helping characteristic of the ideal worker in banking profession
which makes them serve the customers effectively.
People who are included and excluded
A lot of people have been included based on the three aspects of ideology, power and
identity. In terms of representation of women as identity in the Banking occupation,
their representation was low in the start of the industry. But, due to various reforms,
inclusion at work, increasing education, women building their skills in leadership,
mathematical and analytical ability, and their representation is definitely on a rising
spree. The business environment in NZ is changing rapidly, and the efforts of the
government and the regulatory bodies will add more diversity element in the
workforce, thus increasing the representation of women in banking occupation.
Implication for Organization, individuals and wider society
The direct implication for the individuals here is that it most definitely empowers the
women, coming into the banking occupation. They will be encouraged and motivated by
their leaders which will certainly push them to go beyond their job role and contribute
with enhanced productivity. The gain of the organization is clear, the organization will
benefit due to the enhanced productivity of the workers, a new culture promoting
women in the Banking sector thus gaining a lot of support from the internal and
external stakeholders. The society will most definitely be the biggest beneficiary of
gender equality in the Banking sector, as it will not only bring out the women from low
paid jobs, but will also result in equal division and participation of genders in the
business organization. Additionally, inclusion at work which implies equal right and

opportunity to grow to all without any biasedness will further give motivation to the
employees.
Recommendation
One of the biggest reasons for lack of Women participation in the Banking occupation is
attributed to lack of skills in the female workforce. Thus, the banks in order to increase
the representation of women in banking occupation and utilize their present
competency, has to provide them with sufficient training hours. They have to create
training programs especially to increase the participation of women in banking
occupation.
Conclusion
The above report can be concluded by saying that Ideal characteristic of workers in
Banking domain are linked with Mathematical and analytical ability, leadership skills,
honesty and integrity, handling of customer data, client servicing and many more. In the
early days of banking domain, women were supressed and had a very little
representation, the need of the hour is to change this thinking and utilize the
characteristic of an ideal worker to perform at optimum level in the banking domain.
The concept of Neoliberalism, Intersectionabilty and capitalism are applied here which
will help in improving the number of women working in the Banking occupation.

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