Diploma of Practice Management: Personal Reflection on Perspectives and Biases

This article discusses personal reflection on perspectives and biases in Diploma of Practice Management course. It covers topics such as cultural awareness, diversity, inclusiveness, and communication techniques. The article also provides definitions of terms related to cultural competence and safety.

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DIPLOMA OF PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
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PART A
Personal Reflection on Perspectives and Biases
My perspective and bias on the Australian indigenous people is failing to know reasons
why they have full financial support from the government on various amenities such health and
education yet they don’t want to seize the opportunity to learn how to read and write like Cowan:
who speak broken English and cannot write.
Actions to help in Creation Self-Awareness
Avoiding generalization will be my first action on creating social self-awareness to
enable me serves people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Cultural stereotypes are common in
every group of people, but I will have to remember that not everyone in such group has the same
behavior and thoughts as felt by others. I will stop from making generalization on such
unfortunate indigenous people as some of them do not even take alcohol or smoke cigarette,
hence I will treat each equally.
My second action will to practice individualism with such unfortunate people such as the
indigenous Australians and make friend with one of them. The continuous socialization will help
me understand why they require benefits and support that I don’t have to look after. Finally, I
will concentrate on facts rather than gut feelings like the one shown by Serena; this will help me
determine situations and address them correctly with humility.
Question 2: Areas to improve Self-Awareness
The two areas that will help me improve my self-awareness are the attitude and values
that will ultimately impact my organization behavior. Improving on attitude will help me to

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handle Cowan with respect and humility, for example, while helping him to fill the questions on
the patient sheet; I will read the questions in a low tone, unlike Serena who the voice was loud
that made Cowan feel uncomfortable in the office. Secondly, determining the values will help me
appreciate the other people’s values as much as we don’t get equal benefits from the government.
For example, I will make Cowan understand that how important are the information.
Question 3: Cultural Reflection
My culture insists on humility among people. All irrespective of the age and power are
required to be humble to one another; therefore communication is always mutual, every person’s
opinion respected. During the conversation, one is expected to keep quiet and listen, after that
answer or seek clarification.
The cultural humility adopted, aids me in performing my everyday duty as a social and
medical officer. The main aim of a medical practitioner is to bring a client out of the problem;
therefore communication strategy is important to make the sick realize my commitment to
helping them. Through the communication, I am capable of being in their shoes and have the
same feelings.
Question 4: Australian Diverse Communities
Australia is a multicultural country with about 270 ancestries and speaking over 200
languages such as indigenous, English, Italian, Arabic, Vietnamese and among others. The
strong diversity has attracted millions of people across the world into the country: with more
than 76% having ancestry belonging, 3% being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and 26%
being international immigrants. However, before 1945 some races such Aboriginal were
considered more inferior than others that led to the inadequate supply of basic amenities in such

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areas (Ghosh 2018, p.19). This changed after the passage of the Racial and discrimination Act in
1945 that have tried to eradicate discriminatory behaviors among Australians. Currently, about
80% of Australian’s immigrants feel strong belonging to the country. Australia is composed of
52% of Christians with a different denomination such as Anglican, Catholic, Uniting Church,
Eastern Orthodox, About 8,100 Australians practice Traditional Aboriginal religions and 30% of
Australians practice no religion.
The mixture of diverse culture from all over the world have shaped the Australian
culture, for example about a decade ago, it was difficult to find a black African heritage in
Adelaide, unlike now that there is numerous Sudanese community. The religion is also shaping
as considerable percentage 3% and 2 % of Australian are practicing Buddhism and Hinduism
(Kamp et al 2017, p.69). Tourism has changed the wrong initial perception of the suburbs areas
such as those lived by Aboriginal have been turned into tourist centers that have changed their
socio-economic life.
Question 5: Characteristics
Diversified Culture Characterized by eradication of cultural heritage and adoption of new
values from other ethnic groups.
Diversified
Disability
Characterized by the improved accessibility of basic health amenities.
Diversified spiritual
belief
characterized by the encroachment of new denominations such as
Buddhism.
Diversified gender Characterized by transitioning from one gender to another, by allowing

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other genders to perform unconventional tasks.
Diversified sexual
orientation
Characterized by an increase of sexual attraction among same-sex gender
group.
Diversified Intersex Characterized by an increase in the rate of sexual partners among people.
Diversified
generational
Characterized by improvement or reduction of generational passage
groups in a community.
Question 6: Impacts of Social, Political, and Cultural Diversity at work and Life
Social diversity helps in bringing together all the people from different social classes to
live and work in harmony. For example, the diversity allows effective communication between a
casual worker and a manager from different ethnic groups. The political diversity has ensured the
accommodation and appointment of the less unfortunate people to various political or managerial
positions to foster the interest of the unfortunate. The cultural diversity in work helps the staffs to
share ideas and skills of doing a particular task, hence enhance the global cultural experience.
Question 7: Impact Of Western Culture, Systems, And Structures on Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander People and Their Engagement With Health Services

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The western culture, system, and structure have positively impacted the lives of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander us most of them embraces the hospital delivery program,
unlike their old ways that delivery was performed through the midwife at home(Ulloa,Kacperski
& Sancho 2016,p.18). It is observable that most of them have realized the effect of drugs and
alcohol abuse hence the help in reducing the spread by most of them aiding the anti-drug
campaign programs.
Question 8: Legal and Ethical considerations on Discrimination and Human Rights at
Work
Australian Racial Discrimination Act requires that all the ethnic groups considered with
equity, therefore, the act impacts Serena’s work by ensuring that she cease from making negative
social remarks such as Cowan’s people being an alcoholic who doesn’t work. The human rights
also require fair treatment irrespective of the social class, therefore ethically Serena after
realizing the Cowan was unable to read and write would have considered his emotions and read
the questions in a low tone to avoid embarrassing Cowan. The breaches of these legal and ethical
requirements are job dismissal and service of jail term.
PART B: Responding to Diversity
Question 1: Phone call script

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Serena: Hallo, this Serena from Cashore Medical Practice.
Access line Operator: Yes how may I help you?
Serena: Am calling to inquire some information about one of your own called Cowan who has
poor communication ability.
Access line Operator: What do you want to know?
Serena: I want to get all the information to fill in his Patient information sheet.
Seeking an interpreter in this situation will not be relevant since the broken English
spoken by Cowan is enough for Serena to receive and interpret the intentions and meaning of the
message. Additionally, some of the information she seeks from the access line, Cowan is capable
of supplying.
Question 2: Positive Response
Cowan: “I hope this is enough,” he says unconfidently.
Serena: “Excuse me, sir! You have not filled all the questions” she asks with a concerned voice
Cowan: “my English is not very good,” cowans says.
Cowan: “I speak broken English, but dunno know how to write well,”
Serena: “It is okay sir, I will assist you to answer them, you tell me the answer, and I will write”
Serena answers with humility stretching her arm for Cowan to join her.
Question 3: Work Professionalism

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To help Cowan effectively engage with the health services at CareShore Medical
Practice, I will first determine the level and understand the nature of his socio-economic status,
to provide me a basis for conversion (Lee et al 2017,p.15). During the conversation, I will build
his confidence, trust, change the beliefs on the program offered, and help him in any way
possible to attain the set goals through a constant engagement plan.
Question 4: Cultural Concepts
The management of CareShore Medical should organize training and seminar to educate
staffs of the different aspects of cultures and the importance of embracing and celebrating the
cultural diversity to serve all people equally without bias (Mathews, Mahata & Sherrell 2018,
p131). During the training, the employees should be able to have tips on how to be culturally
safe. The management should also help the staffs such as Serena in understanding the vision,
mission, and objective of the organization; which is service to all and additionally should
conduct a social and cultural audit to determine the level of cultural competence and safety.
PART C: Communicating with Diverse People
Question 1: Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Techniques
To maintain trust and confidence with Amarina, I will give her positive feedback
regarding her concerns being attended by a male doctor. I will ensure that she understands the
secretive doctors ‘code of conduct and show her the examination room and the types of
equipment used that will keep her secrecy. During the talking, I will also give her physical space
to make an uninfluenced decision or is she has adequate time to wait as I organize for a female
doctor to come and attend to her. During the conversation, I will put a facial expression to shows

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surety of my words, but I don’t maintain constant eye contact with her as that is considered to be
disrespect.
Question 2: Problem Resolution Sensitivity
The critical issue that will create misunderstanding between Amarina and Serena is when
they start to converse as Serena will talk with a negative attitude that has been built in the past
(Sousa & Gonçalvesab 2017,p.112) .To help both of them, I will tell them the importance of
respect to one another irrespective of the cultural background. To achieve this, all of them must
know one another history and understand what created such attitudes, after which they will have
a mutual conversation.
PART D
Term Definition
Attitude A settled way of thinking or feeling about something
Bias A prejudice
Cultural awareness Becoming aware of the cultural differences that exist,
appreciating and having an understanding of those differences and
accepting them
Cultural competence Sensitivity to the similarities and differences that exist between
different cultures and using this to effectively communicate with
others
Cultural perspective The way that individuals are shaped by their environments as well
as social and cultural factors (including nationality, race and

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gender)
Cultural safety An outcome of health practice and education that enables safe
service to be defined by those who receive the service.
Culture Characteristics of a group of people thought to have common
ancestry who share a distinctive culture (including nationality,
tribe, religion, language, culture, traditions)
Diversity A range of different things, variety, assortment
Ethnicity A settled way of thinking or feeling about something
Inclusiveness Encompassing everything concerned
Race A large group of people distinguished from others on the basis of
common physical characteristics (such as skin color)
Social awareness To be conscious or aware of the problems within a community
References

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Ghosh, R 2018, 'Multiculturalism in a Comparative Perspective: Australia, Canada and
India', Canadian Ethnic Studies, 50, [1] pp. 15-36, Academic Search Premier,
EBSCOhost, viewed 21 April 2018
Kamp , A, Alam, O, Blair, K, & Dunn, K 2017, 'Australians' Views on Cultural
Diversity, Nation and Migration, 2015-16', Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An
Interdisciplinary Journal, 9, 3, pp. 61-83, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost,
viewed 21 April 2018
Lee, R, Bamford, C, Poole, M, McLellan, E, Robinson, L, & Exley, C 2017, 'End of life
care for people with dementia: The views of health professionals, social care service
managers and frontline staff on key requirements for good practice', Plos ONE, 12, 6, pp.
1-19, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 April 2018.
Matthews, J, Mehta Barden, S, & Sherrell, R 2018, 'Examining the Relationships
Between Multicultural Counseling Competence, Multicultural Self-Efficacy, and Ethnic
Identity Development of Practicing Counselors', Journal Of Mental Health Counseling,
40, 2, pp. 129-141, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 April 2018.
Sousa, C, & Gonçalvesab, G 2017, 'Expatriates and Non-Expatriates: Effects of Cultural
Intelligence and Multicultural Personality on Passion for Work and Satisfaction With
Life', Psychological Thought, 10, 1, pp. 90-108, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost,
viewed 21 April 2018.
Ulloa, R, Kacperski, C, & Sancho, F 2016, 'Institutions and Cultural Diversity: Effects of
Democratic and Propaganda Processes on Local Convergence and Global Diversity', Plos
ONE, 11, 4, pp. 1-26, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 April 2018.

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