Work Effectively with Diversity: A Comprehensive Report

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Work effectively with diversity

Table of Contents
PART A Questions......................................................................................................................................4
PART B Case Study..................................................................................................................................10
Part C.........................................................................................................................................................13
References:................................................................................................................................................15

PART A Questions
1. In a diverse workplace, it is important to respect individual differences in colleagues,
clients and customers. A lack of cross-cultural understanding between people from
different cultural backgrounds can lead to conflict. List three (3) reasons conflict might
arise.
 Values: Every individual possess different values according to their faith, beliefs which
differentiate them from other and that’s the reason which creates conflict between team
members.
 Ethnicity: Workplace has different set of people which has diverse opinion, culture
traditions which show that people have different set of working patterns and other things
which is major cause of conflict.
 Gender Discrimination: Every organisation has workers who are pursuing business
activities by employing male and female but there are people who discriminate and
cannot stand to do activities with them which in return causes conflict between people
and which affect their performance (Nelson and Wolf, 2012).
2. When working with a diverse staff, list at least four (4) verbal and non-verbal factors
you need to take into account that could negatively affect communication?
Verbal factors:
 Interpersonal Communication: Body language tends to communicate the message
very easily as it helps in forming the eye contact properly and as it well known your
“first impression is your last impression” it holds huge importance and leads to
create great impact in both ways negative and as well as positive too.
 Public Communication: In this communication individual tends to addresses large
number of people which has high amount of severity which can cause negative
impact as a wrong figure of speech and word have huge amount negative impact in
terms of communication (Tatli and Özbilgin, 2012).

Non-verbal factors
 Facial Expressions: Human face has numerous expressions which tends to convey
thousand emotions without even opening the mouth where things go wrong and have
negative influence on other people.
 Eye Contact: The visual sense depicts the way and helps in making eye contact to
convey the message or information in proper manner. It has consequence’s sometimes
people have different set of understanding which create negative impact on the other
person.
3.In at least three (3) lines, explain what positive actions you can take to ensure that your
messages are understood.
I will make sure communication and other meetings should take place face to face instead of
emails and other modes which can create hinders or the situation of mis communication. I will
organise meeting in a way which covers all the issues of every person and generate maximum
returns (Janssens and Zanoni, 2014).
4. List the benefits Workplace Diversity brings to the economy and society in terms of:
• Workforce development: Diverse workplace leads to the growth and development as it
include numerous talents and apparently it shows the involvement of everyone such as
LGBTQ community which promotes the development.
• Australia's place in the global economy: The economy of Australia is majorly have
dominance of service sector which is comprises of 61.1% GDP and allows the employment
to immigrants which tends to contribute in Australian society.
• Innovation: Diverse workforce leads to creation of innovation and creativity as people
from different background and beliefs come together and generate new ideas.
• Social justice: Diversity tends to remove the difficulties which arises due to gender, age,
race, religion, culture etc. it tends to provide peace and prosperity for everyone.

5. Describe at least three (3) codes of conduct that an organisation might include in relation
to diversity and discrimination in the workplace.
 Establishing the Equality Act: The Act provides the proper information in terms with
the workplace provides benefits to every employee and respect each other’s beliefs,
culture etc.
 Harassment and Discrimination: Formation of policies which are in accordance with
the Harassment and discrimination as it is human tendency people tend to differentiate
people as everyone belongs from different culture and possess different values.
 Confidentiality: The code of conduct specifies confidentiality rules and which should be
understood by the employee and there is no sharing of information to outsiders (Singh
and Selvarajan,2013).
6. Log onto the Queensland Legislation website (www.legislation.qld.gov.au) and search for
the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act 1991. You will find this in Acts, SL as in force,
under the letter A.
a) Explain the main purpose of this Act (Part 1)
The main purpose of the Act is to promote equality of opportunity to everyone by
providing them from any sort of discrimination in every area of their living such as
education, work place and accommodation services.
b) List the prohibited grounds for discrimination under the Act (Part 2).
The Act prohibits the discrimination on the basis of various aspects such as sex, pregnancy,
age, parental status, religious belief, political activity, trade union activity, gender identity.
c) List the areas that a person must not discriminate about in the work area (Part 4).
 The person must not discriminate on the variation of the terms of work.
 There should be no denial or limited access to opportunities in relation with the
promotion, transfer, training or other benefit which can be attain by the worker.
 By treating any worker in unfavourable manner in any way which is related to his
working (Steele and Derven,2015).

7. For the workplace situations below, list the considerations you would make to ensure a
positive outcomes:
a) You have been asked to perform a workplace induction for a new employee who is
blind in one eye, and has partial vision in the other.
Blind people have special ability they recognize things very easily with the sense of touch
they remember. I have provide every information which is in accordance with the
induction process and make them familiar with the things by taking them to places in the
organisation which helps the person to have better understanding towards the same (Ogbo
and Ukpere,2014).
b) You are selling a plasma TV to a Japanese customer who has limited English.
I have taken the help of Google and learnt few words which will help me in providing the
specification of TV. I have cooperated with him according to his English and tried to
provide everything related which will help in generating the sale of Plasma TV.
c) You are working at a supermarket and have been asked to show a new employee the
back stockroom and to explain the process of re-stocking shelves. The new
employee is a 65-year old female.
Firstly, I will try to initiate the communication to make her comfortable in the workplace
environment so that she does not have any sort of difficulty in the supermarket
operations. I was showing her the supermarket and at the same time letting her know
about the restocking of shelves differently the common title is stock clerk. They put
merchandise on the shelves from changing out sales tags.
8. For the 3 workplace situations in question 7 answer the following. Whether it is a language
difficulty, a cultural difference, or both
1. The best approach/ method/ style of communication (i.e. verbal or written, formal
or casual, one-on-one or in a group, body language, speech, demeanour, etc).

In accordance with the above situation the best approach is body language as this is the one
thing which depicts the information in proper format and also helps in maintaining strong
relation with other person.
2. One potential barrier to communication.
The potential barrier of communication understands the language of other people which
creates the situation of lack of communication and tends to create impact in the life process and
in other matters.
3. One potential verbal or non-verbal mistake that may be considered insensitive,
insulting, confusing or humorous.
Body language and facial expressions are two crucial things which can be considered as
the confusing or insulting as it sometimes gives wrong perception in other people’s mind.
9. Considering that a physical work environment may not always be designed with cultural
diversity in mind, what changes/ additions might be needed to provide a culturally
appropriate and sensitive workspace in the following scenarios?
a) If there are physically disabled employees? (For example, in a wheelchair, visually and
hearing-impaired)
There should be no discrimination among employees and company should promote equality and
diversity and should be open to employee regardless of considering their disabilities and provide
them equal opportunities to grow (Hudson,2017). The company should promote their talent and
provide them resources and training which will provide benefit to the employee and as well as to
the company.
b) If there are Muslim employees?
Company has numerous employees one should not be discriminated on the basis of religion. The
Muslim employee deserves the same amount of respect, opportunities same as the Hindu,
Christian or any other religion people etc. If discriminating activities found in the organisations
there are certain set of penalties and straight away termination for those who have used the
approach of discrimination.
c) If there are employees who can’t read English?

No one has born to speak fluent English one has learnt, so if employees are having difficulties in
reading English people should coordinate help them in or else provide them the understanding
about that project. The company has also organised training and development which helps in
overcoming these problems and at the same time contributes in growth and development of the
employee (Hofhuis and Otten, 2015).

PART B Case Study
1. Read the case study at the end of this assessment on Tarmac – Competitive advantage
through diversity and answer the following questions:
a) How does Tarmac embrace the differences that they have in their organisation?
Tarmac has embraced the differences by taking the strategy of inclusion into consideration
which implies creating the work culture that values the difference among people. It has put
emphasis on devaluing the individuality of staff. They have made the work culture is tolerant in
nature and at the same time it provide opportunity to recognise these differences. It also has
provided every member opportunity of use their personal strengths in every way possible.
b) What stereotypes does Tarmac have to deal with and how do they do this?
Tarmac has developed the stereotypes in the form of older male employee which are not taking
part in following the strategy of inclusion. Strategy of inclusion has removed every stereotype
and promoted the equality, captured less amount of differences in regards with gender, religion
etc. Tarmac has decided to achieve the changes by providing them training towards the same.
The senior management of the company is focused on supporting the Diversity and Inclusion and
at the same providing them valuable guidance and resources (Ferdman, and Sagiv,2012).
c) How does diversity and inclusion fit in with Tarmac’s mission ‘To deliver the highest
value from our resources for our customers, communities, employees and investors.’?
The mission of the Tarmac holds the huge importance and holds vital part in this strategy. It is
focused on keeping staff members encouraged and motivated which helps in attaining maximum
productivity as employees are the stepping stones towards success. Tarmac has focused on
generating “feel good factor” among employees which helps the in gaining confidence to
generate maximum business and value every customer. Tarmac has focused on adding value to
business and profitability which helps in securing investors and in this way there mission is
successful. It is also focused on diverse workforce who is best and showcases the Tarmac which
in return helps in gaining contracts and approvals regarding the investment purposes and
considered beneficial for the company.
d) Explain what are the benefits of Tarmac’s strategy of diversity?
The benefits of Tarmac’s strategy of diversity are as follows:

 Reduce costs: Tarmac value every employee for who they are ands at the same time
focus on increasing motivation and enlightening retention. Through these it helps in
reducing costs and focus on increasing quality and they are always open for new
experiences and ideas which helps in driving maximum customer satisfaction and also
helps in building creative culture (Ferdman, 2014).
 Assets Management: Diversity has the power which helps in building new network of
communication and their working culture has built good profile among local people. The
diversity in workplace leads to the generation of different contracts and other investment
opportunities.
 Employee Engagement: Tarmac tends to employs those people which have high level
of diversity in the workforce. It is focused on motivating the talent from diversified
culture and tradition and also provide them proper amount of training and development
which helps in achieving goals and objectives.
 Market development: Tarmac has attained the trust and confidence of their consumers
by working in the diverse workforce which requires building relations which are based
upon the diverse customer in existing and new markets which tends to provide huge
benefits.
e) Provide an example of how diversity is put into practice at Tarmac’s.
The diversity brings various people from different backgrounds. Here’s an situation which have
taken place at Tarmac is as follows:
For example: An employee who belongs from the family background of construction industry
and the area of specialisation was procurement. He joined Tarmac secured the place in Tarmac’s
Manager’s Foundation development Programme and acts as the lead of staff. Tarmac mostly has
male employees which have changed in coming years women also got the opportunity towards
the same. Mandy who belongs from the construction background become the Human resource
project manager which shows the diversity in the process (Bieschke and Mintz,2012).
f) Identify eight (8) major groups within the Tarmac workgroup?
The 8 major groups which are in the Tarmac workgroup are as follows:
1. Sales department.

2. IT/Support management.
3. HR Projects and improvement.
4. Procurement.
5. Sustainability.
6. PR and Marketing.
7. Mechanical Engineering.
8. Contract Management.

Part C
1. Create a Diversity Policy for Imagine Education including the following policy points.
At the beginning of the policy include an introduction about the purpose of the policy and
at least two (2) objectives that they hope to achieve with this policy. Include a minimum of
two (2) policies for each policy point.
a) Gender equity
b) Work/life balance
c) Age balance
d) Cultural diversity
e) People with disability
The Imagine education is focused on creating the diversity policy and the main purpose of the
policy is to provide diversity and equality to all those who are employed regardless of their
gender, race, ethics, disability , social class, culture, religion, sexuality, nationality, origin and
marital status. The diversity policy of the Imagine education opposes all these forms of unlawful
and unfair form of discrimination.
The main objectives of diversity policy depend upon the staffing and handling proficiency no
matter what background individual possess (Bezrukova and Spell,2012).
 It focuses on providing equal opportunities which are depended upon the qualities and
measures the objectives which are in accordance with the gender diversity.
 It is also focused on retaining the communications which includes diversity and other
initiatives towards the same.
Gender equity
 Diversity policy promotes gender equality and provides numerous opportunities to the
employees towards the growth and development.