Analyzing Diversity Policies in Workplace Legislation

The assignment delves into the effects of critical legislations on workplace diversity. Students are tasked with analyzing how acts like the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, Gender Equality Act, Racial Discrimination Act, and Disability Discrimination Act contribute to fostering an inclusive environme...Read More

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Strategic Management and Leadership
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Part A: Research Project..................................................................................................................3
Question 1: Are all relevant key legislations included in the DET policy?.....................................3
Question 2: Identify where in the existing Policy the principles of diversity are evident...............3
Question 4: Review DET Annual Report for statistical data to identify trends for diversity and
EEO issues.......................................................................................................................................4
Question 5: Make recommendations for improvement for the policy.............................................5
Part B: Discuss four relevant legislations and their impact on diversity in workplace...................5
Reference List:.................................................................................................................................8

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Part A: Research Project
Question 1: Are all relevant key legislations included in the DET policy?
The Department of Education and Training has planned and implemented different
strategies to promote and maintain diversity in the workplace throughout Australia. In this
regard, the department has prepared strategies that include the Workforce Diversity Plan 2012-
2017, Aboriginal Human Resources Development Plan 2012-2017 and Strategic Human
Resources Plan 2012-2017. The Workforce Diversity Policy has been created to ensure a
workplace that encourages diversity in every aspect of life. It encompasses the students, parent
and community.
Some of the key legislations included in the DET Diversity Policy are:
 Community relations and Principles of Multiculturalism Act 2000
 NSW Disability Services Act 1993
 Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992
 NSW Carers (Recognition) Act 2010
 Teaching Service Act 1980
 Technical and Further Education Commission Act 1990
 NSW Public Sector Employment and Management Act 2002 and
 Education (School Administrative and Support Staff) Act 1987
It is evident from the above list of legislations that the department has more or less
included all the relevant legislations that are aimed at ensuring workforce diversity. However, a
close look into the policy reveals that little importance has been given to gender equality.

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Although the policy does mention equality on all levels including gender, it lacks prominence.
Gender discrimination is visible throughout the world across workplaces and the situation is no
different in Australia as well (Sugrue, 2014). Women with equal qualities and skills are not
appointed to higher ranks, be it in educational institutions or other organizations. Gender
equality becomes all the more important at basic educational level because that shapes and molds
the behavior and thinking of the students. An inclusion of the Gender Equality Act would have
provided a push to the workforces to work together towards the betterment of the Australian
society.
Question 2: Identify where in the existing Policy the principles of diversity are evident.
Diversity refers to the inclusion of people in a society from different cultural
backgrounds, gender, demography, ethnicity, region and religion. The current DET policy is
committed towards encouraging diversity in the workplace that mirrors the multiplicity of the
students, teachers, carers, parents and the community of NSW. The Workforce Diversity Plan
2012-2017 mentions the achievement of a workplace where each individual irrespective of his or
her culture, ethnicity, physical ability, community or religion, shall be valued and respected.
Respecting differences is one of the principles of diversity. Providing equal employment
opportunity to the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, differently able people, non-
English speaking people, women and younger people is included in the principles of WDP.
Equality in employment is also a part of the principles of diversity.
The Strategic Human Resources Plan 2102-2017, mentions that a higher and better
representation of Aboriginal people in the workplace will be an indicator of the achievement of
goals. This can be aligned to the principles of diversity especially in the Australian context

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wherein the Aboriginal people are given their rightful importance. In addition, the plan also aims
to have 50% representation of women in higher positions by the end of 2017 that would ensure a
successful implementation of the plan. Other indicators include 1.5% or higher presence of
people with disability in the workplace, 19% representation of non-English speaking people,
racially and ethnically distinct people and other minority groups.
The intention to prepare a separate plan for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people itself is evidence that supports the principles of diversity. The Aboriginal Human
Resources Development Plan 2012-2017 aims to provide equal opportunities to the people of the
deprived community to be a part of the workforce and achieve what they deserve. They will be
given equal training to refine their skills and a platform to highlight them as well.
Question 3: Are the strategies and measures of success in the implementation documents
relevant to the objectives in the policy?
The DET Diversity Policy mentions wide range of objectives that it aims to achieve in
the five years starting from 2012. The objectives include achieving skilled and diverse workforce
reflecting diversity of the students, a workplace that encourages comprehensive practices for the
profit of all employees, the education and other fields. In addition, providing better employment
and opportunities to the under-represented through particular initiatives and plans also constitute
the policy objectives. Other objectives are similar to the ones already mentioned. However, the
last objective mentions the achievement of awareness amongst employees about their rights and
duties in terms of equity, integrity and respect for diversity.
A comparison of these objectives to the strategies and measures of success outlined in the
three-implementation documents gives an insight into their relevancy. In the WDP 2012-2017,

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attracting and employing diverse workforce, developing and preserving the workforce and
making this a part of everyday business are the three main strategies that are supposed to help in
achieving the objectives.
The strategies mentioned in the Aboriginals Human Resources Development Plan 2012-
2017, like the WDP looks to enhance the participation of under-represented people with a special
focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These include, training the Aboriginal
people to help them improve their managerial and leadership abilities, taking assistance from
local communities to ensure better understanding and so on.
As already mentioned, the Strategic Human Resources Development Plan 2012-2017
aims to apply strategies that include recruitment of best quality staff in all parts of Australia,
partnering with local communities to empower under-represented individuals, devise innovative
ways to do business to ensure everyone has a chance to display their talent and thus.
The three-implementation documents mention the application of these strategies to
achieve success by the end of the five-year plan. The measures of success for each plan is
indicated by the achievement of a higher percentage of Aboriginal people in the workplace that
includes students and teachers as well; increased percentage of women in senior roles, better
representation of non-English speaking community , people from different race, ethnicity and
minority groups.
It is thus evident from the strategies and indicators of success that these can be related to
the objectives mentioned in the policy. However, it remains to be seen to what extent these will
be implemented and achieved.

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Question 4: Review DET Annual Report for statistical data to identify trends for diversity
and EEO issues
The 2016 Annual Report of the NSW Department of Education provides statistics and
information on the achievements and failures of the government to achieve its proposed
objectives. In regards to the Workforce Diversity Plan, the Annual Report suggested an upward
trend in the representation of women in educational institutions especially. According to the
report, compared to the 73.4% representation of women in workplaces in 2012, the year 2016
saw an increase of 4%. In the senior leadership roles, the representation of women in senior
leadership role exceeded the 50% benchmark by 1.1%. The benchmark of 2.6% representation of
Aboriginal people in the workplace set by NSW government also saw a rise with 3.7% total
representation in 2016. However, the stats showing representation of non-English speaking
people witnessed a decline compared to previous years and did not even get close to the 19%
benchmark set in the DET policy. With 3.2% representation of people with disability in 2016, the
trends suggest little deviation from previous years.
Going by these statistics of the Annual report, it is evident that not much has been
achieved yet as per the objectives and strategies of the Workforce Diversity Plan, the Aboriginal
Human Resources Development Plan and the overall Strategic Human Resources Plan 2012-
2017.
In terms of the Equal Employment Opportunity, the Annual Report statistics showed no
significant changes after the implementation of the DET Diversity Policy. Against the 100-
benchmark set under the DET policy for EEO groups representing women, Aboriginal people,
people with disability and non-English speaking people, only two groups saw a rise. People with
disability and non-English speaking people stats increased by just four to 104 in 2016.

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The EEO issues too did not demonstrate much improvement even after the
implementation of various plans. However, it must be stated that there is still time to review the
effectiveness of these plans and hopefully the results would be remarkable.
Question 5: Make recommendations for improvement for the policy
The DET Diversity Policy is a noble effort on the part of the NSW government and must
be appreciated. Nonetheless, the visible trends and results indicate that sterner policies are
required and better ways to implement are needed as well. Some recommendation can be made
to improve or better the policy that include:
 Focus on the gender issue more specifically by introducing stricter legislation on Gender
Equality
 Separate plan for non-English speaking population to ensure their equal representation
 Conducting awareness camps for people to train them regarding the policy
 Taking feedbacks from concerned people to include or reject any plan that suits the
policy
 Initiating the first step by setting, an example to promote objectives likes appointing
under-represented people to DET policy –making team
Håkansson and Isidorsson (2015) stated that before implementation of different diversity
acts and regulations the institutions should make effective promotional activities with the help of
which people in general can be aware of the acts and regulations.

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Part B: Discuss four relevant legislations and their impact on diversity in workplace
Equal employment opportunity act strictly prohibits the organizational experts in
maintaining discrimination at the workplace. This very specific act implies that people belonging
to various geographical areas and religious backgrounds are competent for being the part of this
institution like DET. Therefore, the administrative managers should never show their biased
attitude in proving the platform (Håkansson and Isidorsson 2015).
Gender Equality Act implies that both male and female should receive equal priority
from the organization. In order to get a chance to be a learner of DET female employees had to
face innumerable difficulties. As a result, the female learners would not get deprived of receiving
effective learning process from the institution such as Department of Education and Training
(Bjerkan, Nordtømme and Kummeneje 2013).
Racial Discrimination Act ensures that an institution should not show their reluctant
attitude in appointing an individual learning for the cause of racism. The purpose of an
educational institution should be focusing on the skill and talent of an individual. An individual
personality due to Aboriginal stature should never be ignored within a workplace.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 defines that no individual shall be
discriminated based on his or her physical, psychiatric, intellectual, learning or any other type of
disability. The act also involves discrimination based on any illness like HIV or such. This act
certainly has impact on workplace diversity, as it involves treatment of fellow colleagues as per
their disability. This act ensures that peoples in the workplace especially in educational
institutions respect the people with disability and allow them to grow together with others. The

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citizens of Australia must be made aware and trained in this regard so that the plans implemented
by the government yields positive results.

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Reference List:
Bjerkan, K.Y., Nordtømme, M.E. and Kummeneje, A.M., 2013. Transportation to
employment. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 15(4), pp.342-360.
Button, J.W., 2015. Black violence: Political impact of the 1960s riots. Princeton University
Press.
Håkansson, K. and Isidorsson, T., 2015. Temporary Agency Workers-Precarious Workers?:
Perceived Job Security and Employability for Temporary Agency Workers and Client
Organization Employees at a Swedish Manufacturing Plant. Nordic Journal of Working Life
Studies, 5(4), p.3.
Kurtulus, F.A. and Tomaskovic-Devey, D., 2012. Do female top managers help women to
advance? A panel study using EEO-1 records. The ANNALS of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, 639(1), pp.173-197.
Lee, S.Z., 2013. A Revolution at War with Itself-Preserving Employment Preferences from
Weber to Ricci. Yale LJ, 123, p.2964.
Miller, A.R. and Segal, C., 2014. Do female officers improve law enforcement quality? Effects
on crime reporting and domestic violence escalation.
Smith, J.J., 2014. Banning the Box but Keeping the Discrimination: Disparate Impact and
Employers' Overreliance on Criminal Background Checks. Harv. CR-CLL Rev., 49, p.197.
Sugrue, T.J., 2014. The origins of the urban crisis: Race and inequality in postwar Detroit.
Princeton University Press.