MBA502: Design of a Professional Development Workshop on Diversity

This assignment presents a detailed professional development workshop designed to incorporate and value diversity in the workplace. The workshop, developed for an MBA502 course, spans a week and includes an introductory session, sensitivity training, team-building games, group discussions, cross-cultural learning, and a cultural intelligence test. The activities are designed to engage employees and enhance their understanding of diversity, promote respect for different perspectives, and improve communication and teamwork skills. The assignment considers potential barriers to success and emphasizes the importance of such workshops in creating a positive and productive work environment. The goal is to equip employees with the knowledge and skills to work effectively in a diverse environment, fostering a more inclusive and successful organization. The assignment also highlights the importance of emotional and cultural intelligence in leadership and workplace dynamics, ensuring that participants learn to understand and manage their own emotions and those of others, and navigate cross-cultural situations effectively.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
Part 1
Introduction
Professional development programs have become important in every organisation and
most of the organisations these days have been incorporating these programs. Organisations have
been conducting interactive workshops in order to help engage the employees actively in the
process of acquiring new information. These workshops help in allowing the employees to be
more productivity and prepare for positions in the organisations for more responsibility
(Westfahl and Wilkins 2017). However, organisations these days have been focusing on
embracing diversity in the workplace and are trying to encourage people to work in a coherent
manner which will pave way for a positive work environment as well as culture. This paper will
focus on preparing a professional development program that will help in incorporating and
valuing diversity in the workplace.
Discussion
In the age of globalization, diversity has become an important aspect as it helps in
increasing the productivity and creativity of an organisation, improves the language skills and the
relations of the community and also helps organisations garner a positive reputation in the
market. Han and Beyerlein (2016) state diversity in the workplace helps in creating coherent
teams and a workforce which is necessary for an organisation to succeed in the market. Thus, to
incorporate diversity in the workplace the following professional development workshop will be
conducted for a week to ensure the incorporation of diversity in the workplace and valuing
diversity.

2PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
Professional development workshop
Objective Activities Resource Time Outcome
Introdu
ctory
session
To
introduce
employees
to the
workshop
and to the
topic,
diversity
and its
importance
in the
workplace.
Professional
introduction
A room with basic
necessities like the
following:
 Projector
 Desk and
chair
 Fan
 Microphone
1 day Spread
awareness
about the
need for
diversity in
an
organisatio
n.
Sensitivi
ty
training
To make
the
employees
aware of
their goals
and their
prejudices
and help
 Psychothera
py
 Feedback
 Psychotherapist
 Laptop to fill up
feedback
2
days
Learn to
respect
other
people and
their
different
ideas and
perspective

3PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
them in
being
sensitive to
their
surroundin
gs and also
to the
dynamics
of a group
interaction
s
irrespective
of their
age,
gender,
ethnicity,
race and
many
more.
Game
play
To make
people
play games
that will
help them
in working
in a team.
Team building
games that will
help in energized
and fun learning
like the following:
 Talking in
circles
 Flip it over
and many more.
The necessary resources to
conduct the game and
room.
1 day This will
help the
employee
learn how
to work in
a team and
be
productive
and have
positive
relationship
with the
team

4PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
members.
Group
discussi
on
To help in
increasing
awareness
and
tolerance
for
complexity
and
ambiguity.
Talk about various
topics related to
diversity and make
sure that there are
people who have
been on this and
also man and make
sure that people
who have been in
the name of the
A room with basic
amenities like chair and a
table.
1 day Will help
in the
communica
tion skills,
engage
with the
employees
and help in
presenting
views in a
civilized
manner
respecting
each other.
Cross-
cultural
learning
To teach
the
employee
about
different
cultures
and respect
everyone
 Walk in
their shoes
 Language
of gestures
 Informal
communicat
ion
 Reflection
A room with chair and a
table.
1 day To create
mutual
respect for
each other
and
manage a
diverse
workplace.

5PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
despite of
the
difference
in culture
on the
observation
Cultural
intellige
nce test
To
evaluate
the thought
process of
the
employee
about
diversity in
the
workplace
Online or prepared
cultural
intelligence test
Rooms with chairs, tables
and a laptop 1 day
Help
students
understand
diversity,
its
importance
and work
in a diverse
environme
nt
effectively.
This professional development workshop is aimed at ensuring that the employees have
enough knowledge about diversity and the importance of it for the successful incorporation of
diversity in the workplace which will help the organisation in incorporating diversity in the
workplace successfully.
According to scholars, the introductory session is one of the vital aspects of a workshop
which helps in introducing the topic to the participants clearly but will also help in getting to
know other participants attending the workshop to create a positive learning atmosphere

6PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
(Mavriplis 2016). Thus, the introductory session aims on doing the same to ensure the employees
understand the importance of diversity in the workplace and what are the things that they are
going to do throughout the workshop. Then they are going to do the following activities that
have been mentioned in the plan of the workshop and each activity will be done in one day for
around 6 to 8 hours. This will help them in learning in details and also enjoy the activities to
make a positive learning process. All the activities that have been incorporated in the workshop
are interesting and will help in engaging all the employees in the workshop. Verne and Braaten
(2014) state boring activities automatically decrease the engagement level of participants in a
workshop which leads to the failure in accomplishing the aims and objectives of the workshop.
Thus, the activities that have been chosen for the plan are highly engaging.
However, there may be some potential barriers that can hinder the success of the
workshop like participants of the same ethnic group and no diversity among the participants, any
technical glitch in the laptop or the projector which can hinder the teaching and the operations of
the workshop. Nonetheless, the activities mentioned are ideal and will help the employees
attending this workshop learn the meaning and the importance of diversity in the workplace.
Conclusion
Professional development workshops are highly important in organisations these days.
The workshop here focuses on achieving diversity in the workplace for the fruitful productivity
of the organisation. The activities that have been selected are highly engaging and ensure that the
participants will learn about the diversity in a fun and engaging manner. The activities that have
been introduced and selected in the workshop are attractive and will encourage the participants

7PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
of the workshop to be invested in the workshop and learn everything successfully that will help
the company in successfully incorporating diversity in the workplace.

8PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
Part 2
The professional development workshop aims on incorporating diversity in the workplace
and thus wants to ensure the employees are well informed about diversity and its importance for
creating a positive work culture. The workshop I a one week workshop where every day there is
going to be an interesting activity which will not only help in understanding about diversity but
also ensure that the employees can work successfully in a diverse environment.
The introductory session will not only help in making sure that the participants get to
know about diversity but also get to know about the information about the following days of the
workshop and what they are going to do. The activities that have been mentioned in the
workshop are engaging and will encourage all the participants in the workshop participate. The
sensitivity training, cross-cultural learning, game play and group discussion will help the
employees who are the participants to respect different employees irrespective of any kind of
difference and acknowledge the different perspectives of the employees. This will help the
employees in working in coherent teams, divide their work, build a positive relationship with the
employees and also help in building a positive work environment and an organizational culture.
The workshop incorporates fun activities like game play and group discussions that will
encourage the employees to communicate with each other which will help them working in the
organisation especially within the teams. The cultural intelligence test and feedback will help
employees reflect on their thought process on diversity and make sure that after the workshop the
employees understand the importance of diversity and work with diverse people in the
organisation. With this workshop it can be hoped that the employees will be comfortable with
different employees coming from different cultural backgrounds and they will put in effort in

9PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
understanding each other and also work together as a team that will prove to be beneficial for the
organisation.

10PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOP
Reference
Han, S.J. and Beyerlein, M., 2016. Framing the effects of multinational cultural diversity on
virtual team processes. Small group research, 47(4), pp.351-383.
Mavriplis, C., 2016. The FORWARD to professorship workshop. In Forward to Professorship in
STEM (pp. 17-45). Academic Press.
Verne, G. and Braaten, I., 2014, October. Participation for the unengaged. In Proceedings of the
13th Participatory Design Conference: Short Papers, Industry Cases, Workshop Descriptions,
Doctoral Consortium papers, and Keynote abstracts-Volume 2 (pp. 1-4).
Westfahl, S.A. and Wilkins, D.B., 2017. The leadership imperative: a collaborative approach to
professional development in the global age of more for less. Stan. L. Rev., 69, p.1667.