BSBDIV501 & SITXCCS008: Diversity & Customer Service Case Analysis

This case study provides an analysis of workplace diversity and customer service, addressing key areas such as diversity policy implementation, fostering respect within teams, and promoting the benefits of a diverse workforce. It examines legal compliance, potential problems in supporting diversity, and the importance of training programs to mitigate conflicts and enhance collaboration. The study also covers the management of harassment allegations and the promotion of diversity in both internal and external communications. The solution emphasizes the importance of feedback, communication, and continuous improvement in customer service practices, highlighting how a well-managed diverse workforce can improve organizational outcomes. Desklib offers similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Case study analysis and question and answers on workplace diversity and customer service
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Part A
1. Fact sheet
Diversity- conglomeration of employees from different socio-cultural backgrounds
Methods of providing feedback:
 Uploading the feedback forms on the website
 Consulting the experts and consultants
 Organizing discussions and open forums
1.2 Application of diversity policy
The policy aims to meet the key requirements towards managing the workplace
diversity within the Commission. As a matter of specification, the policy is adopted for
maintaining the workplace ethics. The policy proves helpful for the managers in terms of
respecting the workplace culture. One of the main uses of the policy is to remove the
employment related biasness, which are encountered by the minority or the community

2
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
people (Hsiao, Auld and Ma 2015). This policy assists the managers to provide innovative
services to the clients for gaining their trust, loyalty and dependence. This way they intend to
create a conducive workplace environment. Training and development programs are
introduced for the employees in order to enhance their awareness towards enhancing the
workplace diversity. Clarity needs to be maintained in describing all of these aspects in the
induction process. This clarity enhances the grasping power of the learners.
Tracking the performance would help the new employees to ensure that their
contribution proves effective in assisting the company to achieve competitive advantage. This
can also be done through the means of feedbacks and suggestions. As the employee is new
into the workplace conditions, the senior and the experienced staffs need to assist them. This
is in terms of enabling them to adjust within the workplace environment.
2. Legal compliances of Flight Centre group
Equality is one of an important attribute in the process of recruitment and selection.
Herein lays the appropriateness of the Equality Act (2010), which needs to be followed by the
companies and organizations. This is in terms of providing equal opportunities to all of the
desirable candidates looking for better and prospective job opportunities (Guchait, Madera
and Dawson 2016). Human Rights Commission needs to be consulted for ensuring that the
recruitment and selection is executed efficiently and effectively. This is vital in terms of
catering to the candidates, who have faced injustice from the clients. Anti-Discrimination Act
is also important in terms of preventing the instances of discrimination, harassments and
conflicts at the time of recruiting the rightful candidates.
Rehabilitation of the Offenders Act (1974) also needs to be adhered for ensuring
proper placement of the employees, who have been offended in some way. This would be an
innovation in terms of making the employees understand the significance of maintaining the

3
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
workplace diversity. Complying with the standards and protocols of the act is crucial in terms
of achieving positive outcomes (Thuesen 2017). Herein lays the appropriateness of
Disclosure and Barring Service, which consists the formal criminal records. One of the other
dimensions in this is consulting the Human Rights Convention. Strategic approach would be
appropriate in this direction because of the systematic execution of the activities.
One of the main aims of the personnel, in terms of respecting the workplace diversity,
is to take suggestions from the clients and the customers. This would result in the
achievement of positive outcomes. The employees need to be provided with enough choice,
so that they can feel assured about the protection of their individual rights. Adequacy in the
execution of the task would make the candidates assured of the quality services, which are
offered by the companies and organizations (Ali, Metz and Kulik 2015).
In terms of recruitment and selection, equality is of utmost importance. This is in
terms of preventing the instances of conflicts, harassments and discriminations, which
contradicts the aspect of diversity.
Potential problems in supporting a diverse workforce
The team members differ in their thoughts, opinions and viewpoints. This
differentiation results in the achievement of differing and contradicting suggestions towards
completion of the business activities. Differing working styles compels the team leaders to
face difficulties in terms of handing over the reports to the managers. This inability generates
tensions and fears of getting scolding from the managers within the team leaders. These
thoughts adversely affect the psyche of the team leaders, deviating their focus from the
allocated duties and responsibilities (Farrell 2016). This is a crisis period, which stalls the
productivity.

4
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Along with this, the staffs encounter the issue of language barrier. This issue expands
the distance between the staffs and the customers. The managers face difficulties while
allocating the jobs to the employees from different backgrounds. This needs allotting an
interpretor for conveying the message of the managers to the employees.
3. Training program
The employees employed in the organization are different in their thoughts, opinions
and viewpoints. This results in difference of opinion within the team members, adversely
affecting the productivity. The managers need to be conscious about these differences and
attempt to mitigate them. For this, meetings, conferences and discussion forums prove
effective in terms of identifying the differences, which exists within the team. Most of the
employees hesitate to speak out the issues, which they encounter in the execution of the
allocated activities. For them, private counselling sessions prove helpful. These sessions
forms a platform for those employees to raise their voice against the issues (Meyers and
Vallas 2016). Privacy of the employees need to be maintained for assuring them that their
individual sentiments would be protected. This assurance is vital in terms of gaining the trust,
dependence and loyalty from the clients and the customers.
Based on the responses of the team members, the managers need to organize
training programs for gaining awareness about the differences, which exists within the team.
Assigning challenging and enduring tasks to the team members would help the team leaders
to find out the exact nature of differences. Feedback and suggestions can be taken from the
team members regarding dealing with the differences efficiently and effectively. Evaluation
through the consideration of templates and checklists would help the team leaders in gaining
an insight into the extent through which the differences can be resolved (Rock and Grant
2016). Sending drafts about the progress update to the Board of Directors would broaden the

5
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
perspectives of the team leaders. Meetings would act as a platform for suggesting additional
ways and means through which the differences can be mitigated. Involvement of the externals
in the meetings would result in the achievement of positive outcomes.
Notice
This is to inform all the new joinees that a training session would be organized, where your
preconceived skills, knowledge and expertise would be enhanced. The session would be presided by
the manager, who is a hard core believer of Catholicism. Along with this, there would be a supervisor,
who needs to be credited for maintaining the balance between the personal and professional life. One
of the most striking facts is the presence of four consultants, who belong to Turkish, American, New
Zealand and Indian culture. The senior and the experienced staffs would be involved for
disseminating the essential information to the new joinees.
Planning is required for providing the training efficiently and effectively. Inclusion of
budget in the planning helps in gaining insight into the expenses in terms of arranging the
venue, accommodation, refreshments, tests and fees of the teachers among others.
Communication
Feedback and suggestions from the clients and the customers enhances the awareness
of the policymakers about the effectiveness of the policy. Uploading the feedback forms on
the website helps the policymakers to reach to a large number of audiences. Specifically, it
helps in increasing the trafficking of the audience towards the service, which is important for
gaining their trust, loyalty and dependence (Roberson, Holmes and Perry 2017). Consulting
the experts and consultants can prove beneficial for achieving potential suggestions about the
effectiveness of the policy. Implementing the policy is one of the best means for gaining the
approaches of the customers. This would provide opportunity to the policymakers to make

6
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
innovations within the workplace services. Maintaining the traditionalism in the process of
bringing innovation possesses flexibility towards achieving large scale customer satisfaction.
In such a scenario, systematic approach is crucial in terms of restoring the lost
balance. One of the major steps is training, which makes the employees acquainted with the
harmful consequences of possessing differing opinions. Countering this, the team members
would possess differing opinions, as they belong to different socio-cultural background.
Training is the means, which makes the employees acquainted with the workplace
environment. Training results in the assemblage of the different corporate minds, which can
be unified through the lessons on culture and diversity. Within this, group discussions prove
beneficial in terms of enhancing the adjusting skills among the team members (David 2015).
Group work generates collaborative feeling among the members of the team, which is
extremely helpful for the team leaders. This is in terms of extracting the required labours
from the employees.
Maintaining frequency in the training programs helps in mitigating the differences,
which exists in the teams. However, the grasping power of the employees needs to be
remembered. Conscious approach in this direction leads to the achievement of positive
outcomes. On the contrary, if the courses are haphazardly delivered to the employees, there
would be negative results, which would stall the productivity. These aspects contradict the
aspect of “teamwork”, nullifying the true purpose of training (Janssens and Zanoni 2014).
Group activity needs to be adequately placed within the planning for the training programs.
Adequate planning for group work would generate collaboration among the team members.
The team leaders can pay individual attention towards reducing the differences of the
team members. This would broaden their perspective and enhance the decision-making skills.

7
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
4. refer to the attached PPT
5. Within a workplace, employees belong to different socio-cultural backgrounds. This tends
to generate conflicts between the staffs, which stalls the productivity. Along with this, it also
contradicts the aspect of collaborative working, which is needed for completing the tasks
within the stipulated deadline. However, conflicts are inevitable in terms of the workplace
conditions. For example, the opinions of consultant and the supervisor would vary in terms of
fulfilling the training needs of the employees. This is in terms of the customs, traditions and
the culture, which they belief.
Management of harassment allegations according to organizational procedures
Addressing the allegations is beneficial in terms of upgrading the workplace practices
and policies. Exposing conscious approach towards the allegations generates the feeling of
respect for the services of the organization in the minds of the clients. Along with this, it also
mitigates the chances of receiving complaints from the external agencies. One of an
important benefit is that it saves the cost of legal actions (McKay and Avery 2015). Mention
can be made of the Anti-Discrimination Laws, under which the organization possesses the
responsibility of taking steps to restore the lost justice of the victim. Reasonable precautions
and due excise diligence needs to be considered for preventing further discriminations and
harassments in the workplace.
Presence of the complaint handling procedure is crucial for ensuring that the
complaints are tackled judiciously and rationally. The essential attributes of this procedure
are fair, confidential, transparent, accessible and efficient. Of these, accessible is the most
vital, as it provides equal opportunity to the employees in terms of restoring their lost respect
(Vassou, Zopiatis and Theocharous 2017). The compliant procedure is handled through an
integrated process. The first step is the initial contact point, which results in the establishment

8
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
of contact between the victim and the Human Rights Commission. This acts as a counselling
session for both of them, where the victim can speak out their minds in terms of the issues,
which they have faced during the execution of the allocated tasks and responsibilities.
In some of the cases, there is early resolution, as the intensity of the case is not so
much. However, if the case consists of the self-respect of the employees, it needs to be
handled tactfully and rationally. Upon receiving the complaint, meetings are organized
among the Board of Directors and the managers to discuss the intensity of the issue (Sania,
Kalpina and Javed 2015). After this, the victims are called for taking their verdict. If they
have not yet filed a complaint, they are adviced to claim a suit for the case. This is according
to the legal procedures, which helps in averting the instances of harassments, discriminations
and conflicts.

9
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
References
Ali, M., Metz, I. and Kulik, C.T., 2015. The impact of work–family programs on the
relationship between gender diversity and performance. Human Resource
Management, 54(4), pp.553-576.
Bal, P.M. and Boehm, S.A., 2017. How do i-deals influence client satisfaction? The role of
exhaustion, collective commitment, and age diversity. Journal of Management,
p.0149206317710722.
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
David, H., 2015. Why are there still so many jobs? The history and future of workplace
automation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(3), pp.3-30.
Davis, P.J., Frolova, Y. and Callahan, W., 2016. Workplace diversity management in
Australia: what do managers think and what are organisations doing?. Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion: An International Journal, 35(2), pp.81-98.
Farrell, M., 2016. Collegiality in the Workplace. Journal of Library Administration, 56(2),
pp.171-179.
Guchait, P., Madera, J. and Dawson, M., 2016. Learning in the service environment: the
influence of diversity climate. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 26(4), pp.448-470.
Guillaume, Y.R., Dawson, J.F., Otaye‐Ebede, L., Woods, S.A. and West, M.A., 2017.
Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of
workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), pp.276-303.

10
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Hajro, A., Gibson, C.B. and Pudelko, M., 2017. Knowledge exchange processes in
multicultural teams: Linking organizational diversity climates to teams’
effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 60(1), pp.345-372.
Hays-Thomas, R., 2016. Managing Workplace Diversity and Inclusion: A Psychological
Perspective. Taylor & Francis.
Hsiao, A., Auld, C. and Ma, E., 2015. Perceived organizational diversity and employee
behavior. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 48, pp.102-112.
Humanrights.gov.au (2018). Good practices for internal complaint. Available at:
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-good-business-factsheets/good-
practice-guidelines-internal-complaint [Accessed on 10th July 2018]
Huong, L., Zheng, C. and Fujimoto, Y., 2016. Inclusion, organisational justice and employee
well-being. International Journal of Manpower, 37(6), pp.945-964.
Janssens, M. and Zanoni, P., 2014. Alternative diversity management: Organizational
practices fostering ethnic equality at work. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 30(3),
pp.317-331.
Lam, C.F. and Mayer, D.M., 2014. When do employees speak up for their customers? A
model of voice in a customer service context. Personnel Psychology, 67(3), pp.637-666.
Leslie, L.M., 2017. A status-based multilevel model of ethnic diversity and work unit
performance. Journal of Management, 43(2), pp.426-454.
Lu, C.M., Chen, S.J., Huang, P.C. and Chien, J.C., 2015. Effect of diversity on human
resource management and organizational performance. Journal of Business Research, 68(4),
pp.857-861.

11
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Manoharan, A. and Singal, M., 2017. A systematic literature review of research on diversity
and diversity management in the hospitality literature. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 66, pp.77-91.
McKay, P.F. and Avery, D.R., 2015. Diversity climate in organizations: Current wisdom and
domains of uncertainty. In Research in personnel and human resources management(pp.
191-233). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Meyers, J.S. and Vallas, S.P., 2016. Diversity regimes in worker cooperatives: workplace
inequality under conditions of worker control. The Sociological Quarterly, 57(1), pp.98-128.
Roberson, Q., Holmes IV, O. and Perry, J.L., 2017. Transforming research on diversity and
firm performance: A dynamic capabilities perspective. Academy of Management
Annals, 11(1), pp.189-216.
Rock, D. and Grant, H., 2016. Why diverse teams are smarter. Harvard Business
Review, 4(4), pp.2-5.