Manage workplace Diversity

Session 1

Diversity a valuable asset

Unit objective To develop skills and knowledge

required to provide effective leadership in a diverse workplace with customers and employees from a wide range of backgrounds.

Recommended Reading

K. Cole, 2005,Management theory & practice, Chapter 18

Define diversity

The many and varied ways in which we are different from one another.

Obvious diversity & vague variations

Cultures & sub cultures

ACTIVITY:How diverse is your workplace?

1 Colleagues name

2 Age

3 Gender

4 Cultural background

5 Religion

6 Family/relationship

7 One word to describe this person

8 How often do you communicate?

Expose and open your

ValuesBeliefsAssumptions

A snapshot Renaissance Sydney

Hotel1996Australia Cook Islands Bosnia Croatia Ireland

Germany Poland Serbia Vietnam a Sri Lanka Czech rep. Slovakia Turkey Bangladesh India Nepal Hong Kong Indonesia Japan Korea Malaysia Cambodia South Africa New Caledonia New Zealand Nuie Lebanon England Argentina Brazil Chile Columbia Mautirius Armenia El Salvador Peru Thailand Singapore Egypt Jordan Iraq Uruguay Canada Philippines Samoa Tonga

What is a group?

A group is a number of individuals who join

together.

What is a team?

Mutual influence

“A group is two or more persons who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each person influences and is influenced by each other person”

Shaw, 1976

Pseudo team Members who have been assigned to

work together and have no interest in doing so

Ineffective Team (a group) Assigned to work together and accept they have to

do so Members believe they will be evaluated and

rewarded on individual merits Work is structured so that joint work is very little Members interact to clarify how the work is done Seek information from each other but not motivated

to work together Some members rely on hard workers to cover for

them Conscientious workers feel exploited and do less

Building an effective team

Work together efficiently Reach enterprise goals Able to communicate effectively Understand others beliefs and values Able to solve problems Minimal supervision

Effective team Members commit to the

common purpose Members assigned to

work together and are happy to do so

Believe success depends on effort of all members

Clear operational goals two-way

communication distributed leadership

Decision making procedure

Able to challenge each others beliefs

Ability to resolve conflicts

All accountable for the work

Promote each others successes

Determine how effectively they worked together

High performance team Meets all of the aspects of the effective team

“Not only did we trust each other, not only did we respect each other, but we gave a damn about the rest of the people on this team. If we saw somebody vulnerable, we were there to help”

Katzenbach & Smith, 1993

Development, from a group to a team

1 Defining2 Conforming3 Recognising4 Rebelling and differentiating5 Commitment6 Functioning7 Terminating

Defining and structuring procedures

Members concerned with what is expected of them

Members concerned with goals Members want to know if they will

be accepted Members expect supervisor to

explain functions Members want to re-assured

Conforming to procedures and getting acquainted

Members follow prescribed procedures Become acquainted with one and

another Become familiar with procedures Learn strengths and weaknesses of

each other Depend on supervisor for direction and

clarification

Recognising mutuality and building trust

Members recognise interdependence and building trust

Sense of mutuality develops a sink of swim approach

Members take responsibility for each others performance

Trust is built through disclosing one’s thoughts, ideas, conclusions and feelings

Members respond with acceptance, support, reciprocation of disclosure

Rebelling and differentiating

Rebelling against supervisor and procedures

Differentiating themselves from each other through disagreements and conflicts

Challenges authority Some members become passive allowing

active members to do most of the work Some members become counter-

dependent working against the group

Committing to the group’s goals and procedures

Dependence moves form supervisor to group members

Becomes a members group. The word ‘ours’ is used

Motivation and commitment to procedures and accept responsibilities

Group members become concerned with each others welfare

Rely on trust and support of each other

Functioning maturely and productivity

Group identity emerges from maturity, autonomy and productivity

Members work together to achieve goals Deal with conflict in a productive manner Maintain relationships All the criteria for an ‘effective group’ are

met MANY GROUPS NEVER REACH THIS STAGE

Terminating

Group eventually endsMembers go their separate waysThe stronger the group the more emotional the departureMove on to new experiences

Share appropriate financial information with

colleagues in a timely manner

The Manager cannot do it all on his own no matter how committed he may be.

He must have the ability to communicate and consult with his department managers and to motivate each of them to take ownership of the activities of their department.

In order to succeed management should participate in problem solving whilst encouraging their staff to organise their resources to achieve the desired results.

In short, team building is a key to successteam building is a key to success and the use of interpersonal and negotiating skills is the main ingredient for developing an effective team

Team work For the team to be effective there must be:For the team to be effective there must be: Open discussionOpen discussion on all aspects of the business. Current financial reportsCurrent financial reports discussed during regular

management meetings. Problem solvingProblem solving sessions were necessary to arrive

at a suggested participative management solution. Implement corrective actionImplement corrective action as soon as possible. ReviewReview the situation to see if the solution was

effective. InformInform the team of positive results as well as the

negative ones. AcknowledgeAcknowledge individual achievements were

appropriate

Alternative view – The Elite You can’t create visionary ideas by You can’t create visionary ideas by

consensusconsensus

““The aim is to find the individualist The aim is to find the individualist with a sense of self-discipline rather with a sense of self-discipline rather than the man who is a good member than the man who is a good member of a team”of a team” SAS Spokesman

Sunday Times 30/3/03 p 41

Alternative view (2)

Everybody dies when 2 people are in Everybody dies when 2 people are in chargecharge (Air Force saying)

I don’t believe in consensus – I consult I don’t believe in consensus – I consult widely, listen to everyone, then the guy at widely, listen to everyone, then the guy at the top makes a decision and everyone the top makes a decision and everyone gets on boardgets on board. (Fortune 500 CEO)

Case study Form small diverse groups of 3-4 people,

build a team that reflects the diversity of the larger class group. Plan your approach to the Case Study due Friday 5/12.

Develop an ideal team for the organisation in the project