Managing Cultural Diversity in Organizations of Australia

This presentation discusses the role and extent of diversity in Australia, factors affecting diversity, impacts of diversity in Australian workplaces, benefits and disadvantages of diversity, diversity training concept, and strategies used by managers to manage diversity.

S T U D E N T D E TA I L S :
Managing cultural diversity in
Organizations of Australia

Presentation Outline
What is Diversity
The role and extent of diversity in Australia
Factors which effect diversity
The impacts of diversity in the Australian
workplaces
The benefits of diversity
The disadvantages of diversity
Diversity training concept
Strategies used by managers to manage
diversity
Conclusion

What is Diversity
Diversity is refers as experiences and
characteristics which define all of us as an
individual (Shen, et al., 2009).
Diversity can be of race, gender, ethnicity, age,
disability, sexual orientation and religion.
A Diverse organization aims to build a complete
culture which uses and values the talents of entire
employees

Diversity in Australia
21% Australians born in more than 200 countries:
 10% population is from English-speaking nations
 11% population is from non-English speaking nations
Major 10 novel migrant source nations:
 United Kingdom, China, India, Philippines,
Afghanistan, South Africa, Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia,
and Iran
Rest emerging Australian communities:
 Sudan, Congo, Burma, Thailand, Bhutan, Burundi,
Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia

Role of Diversity in Australian
organizations
Availability of wider range of skilled
workforce
Recognition of a broader and interesting
history
Increased understanding and abilities
Increased creativity and innovation
Global exposure in all fields (Forbes, 2017).

Factors which affect diversity
Different aspects of workplace’s strategies,
human resource practice and culture.
Size of the organization
Type of the organization
Age of the organization
Community diversity surrounding the selected
organization

Positive Impacts of Diversity
Greater diverse groups will show greater
creativity and innovation
Diverse groups will provide better range of
perspectives (Forbes, 2017).
Diverse groups will provide high quality
solutions
In business units, diversity increases
constructive group processes which gives
better performance
Diversity is directly connected with enhanced
market share, sales revenue, customers
numbers and profits

Disadvantages of Diversity
Diverse groups are less integrated and possess
high level of dissatisfaction
An increased level of dissatisfaction escalates
miscommunication in a group
Diversity generates conflicts, lowers adhesiveness,
increases employee turnover, absenteeism and
lowers performance quality (Shen, et al., 2009).

Diversity Training Concept
An Organization can focus on diversity in the
workplace through emphasizing selection,
recruitment, retention and training (Forbes,
2017).
A Diversity training in a workplace has
following aims:
Improving awareness about diversity
problems
Through effective management, reducing
biases and stereotypes
Modifying behaviours to effectively manage a
diverse workforce

Strategies could be used by the managers in Australian
workforce
Critically understanding diversity
management
An effective diversity training
Considering business cases cultural diversity
management
Cross cultural communication (Shen, et al.,
2009).
Managing culturally diverse professional
teams
Developing resources and support for
culturally diversity management
Factoring cultural diversity while planning

Strategies could be used by the managers in Australian
workforce contd.
Practicing mentorship for encouraging
retention and emphasizing on long career goals.
Creating learning and development programme
focused on maintaining relationships among
workforce
Scheduling activities apart from work which
encourage fun interactions and communication
Getting employees' active participation while
hiring new talents and asking for employee
referrals (Shen, et al., 2009).

Future recommendations for Australian managers
They should provide diversity training to
employees
They should develop organization policies
aligned with government laws based on equal
employment opportunities
They should celebrate all important events at
workplace
They should establish proper decorum for
disabled or transgendered employees
They should treat each employee as an individual
human being (Forbes, 2017).

Summary
In Australia, the strategies which managers
can apply to effectively manage diversity in
organizations have been discussed and they
include:
Avoiding workplace biasness
Prioritize effective communication
Motivate employees for working in diverse
groups
Carry an open-mind approach

References
Shen, J., Chanda, A., D'netto, B. and Monga,
M., 2009. Managing diversity through human
resource management: An international
perspective and conceptual framework. The
International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 20(2), pp.235-251.
Forbes, 2017. 11 Strategies For Achieving A
More Diverse And Productive Work
Environment. [Online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescou
ncil/2017/01/20/11-strategies-for-achieving-a-m
ore-diverse-and-productive-work-environment/
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