Comprehensive Workplace Diversity Plan for MKA Shipping

This report outlines a workplace diversity plan designed for MKA Shipping, aiming to foster a productive and sustainable workforce through inclusivity. The plan, grounded in legal frameworks like the Sex Discrimination Act and Racial Discrimination Act, emphasizes creating a respectful environment, attracting diverse talent, promoting diversity awareness, and ensuring accessibility. Strategies include open communication, building positive working relationships, and fair recruitment practices. The report details five types of differences (gender, color, language, nationality, and age) and four key aspects of diversity within Australian society. It also identifies barriers to inclusivity, such as informal mentoring and negative attitudes, and proposes solutions, including training and promoting respect. The plan's evaluation involves assessing recruitment composition, employee feedback, and addressing challenges, with the goal of ensuring equitable treatment and preventing discrimination within MKA Shipping. The report also highlights the importance of the plan for legal compliance, resource allocation, and employee engagement.

1Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Workplace Diversity
Institution’s Name:
Student’s Name:

2Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Task 1
The purpose of this plan is to ensure that there is a productive and sustainable
workforce that improves decision making and result oriented. Diversity is a term that
used to refer to gender, language, age, disability, cultural background and race. This
plan will be grounded on the legal structures that promote diversity in workplace
including Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Work
Health and Safety 2011, Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, Public Service Act
1999, Fair Work Act 2009 and Work Place Gender Equality Act 2012 (Australian
Bureau of Statistics, 2013). The first step at MKA Shipping is to strengthen a
respectful and inclusive work environment and culture as provided by Racial
Discrimination Act where every person regardless of their racial background should
be treated fairly. Therefore the plan will focus on supporting every employee and
respect for people with disability, and respect for both young and old employees. The
second step is to improve the ability to attract and retain people of diverse
background. The Fair Work Act 2009 provides for inclusivity in the workplace by
ensuring that anybody can work in Australia. This act advocates for hiring and
recruitment of employees based on merits but on their backgrounds. Therefore,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander should be given equal opportunities at work.
The third strategy in this plan is to improve the understanding of workplace
diversity issues while increasing analysis and utilization of workplace diversity.
Understandably, employees are the number one perpetrators of discrimination in the
workplace and as a means of reducing this, there is need to promote diversity

3Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
awareness among them. This strategy will be aimed at collecting information and data
from employees at MKA Shipping concerning the workplace environment while
recording cases of discrimination if any. The fourth strategy will be to ensure
accessibility of people with disability, and culturally and linguistic diverse
background. This strategy aims at ensuring that any person can access the workplace
by eliminating potential barriers. As such, the plan will be grounded on the
Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities article 31.1 which requires
respect and inclusion of people with disability in the workplace (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2013). Generally, the plan will prevent and discourage any form of
discrimination at MKA Shipping and follow the Australian Human Rights
Commission policy of treating everyone fairly regardless of color, sex, nationality or
any other social aspect. This plan will therefore create a conducive working
environment for everyone.
Task 2
In the implementation of the above work diversity plan, the following will be
taken into consideration. Communication plays an important role in promoting human
interactions in an organization. In order to ensure there is diversity at MKA Shipping,
every employee must be made to understand what diversity is, the importance of
diversity and why everyone should be respected. Holding open meetings will be an
effective way of letting everyone communicate their passion and how they feel
towards other people. Emailing and newsletters will also be used as a way of
promoting diversity in the workplace. Building positive working relationship among
the employees will be another way of ensuring loyalty and cohesive working in the

4Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
MKA Shipping. This will help in maximizing employment outcomes for any person
who may have been otherwise being left out of the workplace. This can be achieved
through fair and inclusive recruitment where everyone will be in the company out of
merit and thus everyone will be expected to be equal in the eyes of another. The
culture of respect will be prioritized by promoting respect to people with disability,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, people whose first language is not English,
young people below 25 years and women should also be respected since they have for
long being victims of discrimination.
A plan such as the diversity workplace plan cannot be effective and useful if there
are no means of evaluating the same. Evaluation of the plan will begin by looking at
the composition of the recruits at MKA Shipping and those who have been hired. As
such, there should be a fair representation of people based on race, color and even
gender. Following the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, the plan will ensure that there is
equitable access for employment for everyone (Armstrong et al., 2010). The same
should be reflected in the promotion of individuals in the heads of departments and
other areas within the MKA Shipping organization. However, getting feedback from
the employees will be an effective way of determining the level of workplace
diversity in the organization. There will be a form with various questions that they
will be required to answer such as: Are you comfortable with the treatment received
from the company, Have you been abused or discriminated in any way within the
organization. In order to improve the working environment at MKA Shipping, the
employees will be required to give recommendations and what the company should
do to improve working relationship among the employees.

5Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Task 3
Five type of differences at MKA Shipping are gender, color, language, nationality and
age disparity.
Task 4
Aspects of diversity within the Australian society are cultural backgrounds, sexual
orientation, religious beliefs, race and social-class.
Task 5
The four items are: Racial Discrimination Act 1975 which prevents discrimination
against race or color. Sex Discrimination Act 1984 which ensures that both males and
females should be offered equal opportunities in the workplace. Disability
Discrimination Act 1992, provides that people with disability can also be recruited
and they are respected in the workplace (Williams, 2013). Workplace Gender
Equality Act 2012 ensures that youths, men and women have equal employment
opportunities.
Task 6
The four examples are: Recruiting employees based on merits and not on racial or
cultural backgrounds. Second is by promoting employees based on their performance.
Third is by encouraging use of different languages as a way of appreciating other
people and lastly by creating mentorship programs regardless of their sex, race or age.

6Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Task 7
Barriers of inclusivity MKA Shipping are: Informal mentoring where the leaders
promote lack of trust and incapability among employees. This can be resolved by
having the right leaders at the top management. Second is by negative attitude which
leads to stereotypes and prejudice. Harvey & Allard (2015) argue that this can be
resolved by promoting respect for people of different races, gender and other
differences. Third is the lack of employee involvement and this brings differences in
the workplace and it can be resolved by teaching co-workers to work alongside one
another. Lastly, is language and cultural differences and this can be resolved by using
a universal language (Charlesworth & Macdonald, 2014). Lack of funding can also
lead to layoffs and loss of employees and this can be resolved by investing heavily in
the MKA Shipping.
Task 8
The actions include: Letting them speak the language they know best in the short
term, organizing teachers and trainers to improve their language, encouraging them
to read books and English related articles and lastly by encouraging other employees
to help them speak English and help the visually impaired accordingly(Nadir,
YURTOĞLU, 2018).
Task 9
i. In order to understand the different natures of diversity that exist in the workplace
and know where to start when addressing the issue.

7Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
ii. In order to estimate the amount of resources that can be used in the workplace to
promote diversity.
iii. So as to get a platform over which employees can be encouraged to embrace
diversity in the workplace.
iv. To ensure that the organization remains within the law and that it prevents any
lawsuits against diversity issues (Bleijenbergh, Peters & Poutsma, 2010).
v. To identify loopholes and areas that should be focused on.
Task 10
i. So as to ensure that every diversity issue is addressed and that employees are
aware of the punishments any case they discriminate against their fellow employees.
ii. This will help in ensuring that diversity achieves its goal; the goals of working
towards the same target and improve the performance and hence production of
the organization
iii. This ensures that every employee is provided with the policies and the plans so
that they can understand what is required of them. The plan dictates the
responsibilities of each employee and that they are adequate resources to
achieve the same (McMahon, 2010).
iv. This helps in evaluating the workplace diversity plan in the organization
thereby addressing any problem that may exist within the organization.
Task 11
i. This ensure that the plan is implemented professionally and avoid mistakes that
may hinder the implementation of the same.
ii. This ensure that every employee is involved in the journey of embracing
diversity in the workplace and that they all embrace the culture of diversity.

8Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
iii. To ensure that the process of workplace diversity gets the funding that requires
such as recruiting people from different background and production of
newsletters that promote diversity.
iv. To understand why diversity is important such as bringing in new ideas and
face in the organization. Wangombe et al. (2013) asserts that training will also
help in teaching employees on how they can cohesively stay with their
colleagues through respect, honesty and love.
v. Ensures that every employee is safe and they have been protected from such
issues as discrimination among others.
Task 12
i. This will ensure that the organization is getting the right and correct information
and that reflects the true nature of the workplace. For instance employees will
be the most appropriate on this since they will give their first-hand information
on whether they have been discriminated.
ii. To ensure that the workplace is in the course of achieving its impacts and that
there are positive impacts of the action which have been taken (Greene &
Kirton, 2015).
iii. To ensure that challenges faced during the implementation of the plan are
addressed effectively.

9Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
References
Armstrong, C., Flood, P. C., Guthrie, J. P., Liu, W., MacCurtain, S., & Mkamwa, T.
(2010). The impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance:
Beyond high performance work systems. Human Resource Management, 49(6),
977-998.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013). Workplace Diversity Action Plan 2013-2017.
Building a respectful and inclusive workplace.
Bleijenbergh, I., Peters, P., & Poutsma, E. (2010). Diversity management beyond the
business case. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 29(5),
413-421.
Charlesworth, S., & Macdonald, F. (2014). Women, work and industrial relations in
Australia in 2013. Workplace Diversity Action Plan. 56(3), 381-396. http%3a%2f
%2fwww.historystudies.net%2fdergi%2f%2fbirinci-dunya-savasinda-bir-asayis-
sorunu-sebinkarahisar-ermeni-isyani20181092a4a8f.pdf
Chrobot-Mason, D., & Aramovich, N. P. (2013). The psychological benefits of
creating an affirming climate for workplace diversity. Group & Organization
Management, 38(6), 659-689.
Greene, A. M., & Kirton, G. (2015). The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical
approach. Routledge.
Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. (2015). Understanding and managing diversity:
Readings, cases, and exercises. Pearson.

10Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Kim, H. K., Lee, U. H., & Kim, Y. H. (2015). The effect of workplace diversity
management in a highly male-dominated culture. Career Development
International, 20(3), 259-272.
McMahon, A. M. (2010). Does workplace diversity matter? A survey of empirical
studies on diversity and firm performance, 2000-09. Journal of Diversity
Management, 5(2), 37-48.
Nadir, YURTOĞLU, (2018). History Studies International Journal of History. Vol.10,
pp. 241-264. http%3a%2f%2fwww.historystudies.net%2fdergi%2f%2fbirinci-
dunya-savasinda-bir-asayis-sorunu-sebinkarahisar-ermeni-
isyani20181092a4a8f.pdf
Wangombe, J. G., Wambui, T. W., Muthura, M. W., Kamau, A. W., & Jackson, S. M.
(2013). Managing Workplace Diversity: A Kenyan Pespective.
Williams, C. (2013). Principles of management. South-Western Cengage Learning