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BSBDIV501 Learner Guide V1.2 ACOT
BSBDIV501 Learner Guide V1.2 ACOT
Table of Contents
Activity 2A .......................................................................................................................................... 29
2.2 – Aim for diversity in selecting and recruiting staff ......................................................................... 30
Staff recruitment diversity practices.................................................................................................. 30
Recruitment processes....................................................................................................................... 31
Staff selection .................................................................................................................................... 31
Interviewing candidates ..................................................................................................................... 32
Activity 2B .......................................................................................................................................... 33
2.3 – Identify and address training needs to address issues of difference in the team ........................ 34
Participate in training......................................................................................................................... 34
Types of training ................................................................................................................................ 35
Equal opportunities............................................................................................................................ 35
Activity 2C .......................................................................................................................................... 37
2.4 – Manage tensions and encourage collaboration and respect between staff who struggle to work
effectively with difference ..................................................................................................................... 38
Keep interactions positive.................................................................................................................. 38
Effective management ....................................................................................................................... 39
Manage employee differences .......................................................................................................... 39
Unresolved issues .............................................................................................................................. 39
Activity 2D .......................................................................................................................................... 40
2.5 – Assist staff to see that working effectively with difference is a strength that can improve the
organisation’s products, services and customer relations .................................................................... 41
Promoting difference as a strength ................................................................................................... 41
The benefits of diversity in the workplace......................................................................................... 42
Activity 2E........................................................................................................................................... 43
2.6 – Manage allegations of harassment and address complaints according to established
organisational procedures ..................................................................................................................... 44
Managing allegations and complaints ............................................................................................... 44
The grievance procedure ................................................................................................................... 44
Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011 ...................................................................................................... 46
Defamation laws ................................................................................................................................ 46
Resolution of the grievance ............................................................................................................... 46
Activity 2F........................................................................................................................................... 48
3. Promote the benefits of diversity ................................................................................................ 49
3.1 – Promote the organisation’s workforce diversity in internal and external forums to enhance the
company’s image and reputation .......................................................................................................... 50
Unit of Competency
Application
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to manage diversity in the workplace. It covers
implementing the organisation’s diversity policy, fostering diversity within the work team and
promoting the benefits of a diverse workplace.
It applies to individuals who direct the work of others in teams of variable sizes. They may work with
staff from different cultures, races, religions, generations, or other forms of difference in any industry
context.
No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
Unit Sector
Performance Criteria
Element Performance Criteria
Elements describe the Performance criteria describe the performance needed to
essential outcomes. demonstrate achievement of the element.
2. Foster respect for 2.1 Address own prejudices and demonstrate respect for
diversity in the work difference in personal interactions
team 2.2 Aim for diversity in selecting and recruiting staff
2.3 Identify and address training needs to address issues of
difference in the team
2.4 Manage tensions and encourage collaboration and respect
between staff who struggle to work effectively with
difference
2.5 Assist staff to see that working effectively with difference is
a strength that can improve the organisation’s products,
services and customer relations
2.6 Manage allegations of harassment and address complaints
according to established organisational procedures
3. Promote the benefits 3.1 Promote the organisation’s workforce diversity in internal
of diversity and external forums to enhance the company’s image and
reputation
3.2 Capture ideas and information from the diversity in the
workforce to enhance products and services and contribute
to competitive advantage
3.3 Support organisational efforts to value diversity
Foundation Skills
This section describes language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills incorporated in the
performance criteria that are required for competent performance.
Reading 1.1, 1.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, ➢ Identifies, analyses and evaluates complex texts to
3.1, 3.2 determine particular diversity requirements
Writing 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.3, 2.5, ➢ Collates ideas and information from various sources
2.6, 3.1, 3.2 ➢ Prepares factual and informative documentation to suit
purpose and audience
➢ Records investigation findings according to organisational
and legislative requirements
Oral 1.3, 1.4, 2.3, 2.5, 3.1, ➢ Presents information and opinions using language and non-
communication 3.2 verbal features appropriate to audience
➢ Participates in discussions using listening and questioning
to elicit the views of others and to clarify or confirm
understanding
Navigate the 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 2.6 ➢ Takes full responsibility for following policies, procedures
world of work and legislative requirements
➢ Seeks to improve policies and procedures to better meet
organisational goals
Interact with 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.3-2.6, ➢ Selects, implements and seeks to improve protocols
others 3.2, 3.3 governing communications to clients and co-workers in a
range of work contexts
➢ Collaborates with others to achieve shared goals
➢ Interacts effectively with people from diverse backgrounds
➢ Manages conflict in the workplace through the recognition
of contributing factors and by implementing strategies to
resolve conflict
Get the work 1.2, 1.4, 2.2-2.6, 3.1- ➢ Accepts responsibility for planning and sequencing
done 3.3 complex tasks and workload, negotiating key aspects with
others
➢ Uses analytical skills to decide on appropriate application
of diversity policy in a range of complex situations
➢ Investigates new and innovative ideas as a means to
continuously improve work practices and processes
Assessment Requirements
Performance Evidence
Note: If a specific volume or frequency is not stated, then evidence must be provided at least once.
Knowledge Evidence
To complete the unit requirements safely and effectively, the individual must:
Assessment Conditions
Links
1.3. Institute actions to ensure that the diversity policy is understood and implemented by relevant
parties
1.4. Provide feedback and suggestions for improvement to ensure currency and efficacy of diversity
policy
Workplace policy
Each workplace will have policy and procedures to provide overall structure and guidance for
conducting all parts of its business. This will be developed to suit the type of work that is done and the
size of the organisation.
Policy provides the rules; it establishes correct conduct for legal compliance and for organisational
procedures. Without this, businesses would operate independently and without necessarily following
appropriate standards.
Policy will cover areas such as:
➢ Reporting requirements
➢ Work health and safety (WHS) or occupational health and safety (OHS)
➢ Staff conduct
➢ Workplace diversity.
➢ Gender
➢ Culture
➢ Ethnicity
➢ Religion
➢ Language
➢ Ability
➢ Education
➢ Background/origins
➢ Marital status
➢ Lifestyle choices
➢ Political beliefs.
➢ Personal beliefs
➢ Habits
Diversity policy is about accepting and embracing difference in others and the working methods that we
use. The world today is a much more accessible place; i.e. people travel more, they live and work in
countries they do not originally come from, and businesses need to operate more flexibly to compete
and be successful.
Advances in global communication have increased our ability to connect with other parts of the world.
Businesses operate in global markets and interact with a variety of customers/clients. This mix of
cultures and business markets has increased the need for diversity understanding and inclusion; it also
demands innovative approaches to how we conduct business.
It is important to recognise diversity and how it impacts your place of work; this includes your staff,
customers/clients and how your business needs to operate.
A critical review
Critically reviewing diversity policy will involve looking at all the details previously agreed and
documented. You will need to assess the merits of these and perform an analysis of what is working
well and where improvements could be made. It is important to understand whether changes in the
workplace have also resulted in the need for amendments or additional policy to be written and agreed.
Looking ahead at planned organisational operations and objectives will also help you to put diversity
policy in place to support your organisation’s business needs.
Your review may include consultations with your employer and/or senior management to determine
which (if any) improvements to diversity policy and work procedures should be made.
You will need to look at how changes can be made, the resources that may be required and the length
of time this will take. There may also be budgetary concerns and approvals may need to be sought.
Consultations will ensure that organisational approval and agreement is made; it will enable you to
obtain the appropriate support from other work areas.
Activity 1A
For example, in hospitality, staff will be working with a vast array of people who will visit and make use
of workplace facilities. If working in a hotel, staff will very much need to respond to the needs of guests
in an appropriate and considerate manner. As such, staff will need to be well trained in diversity as it
applies to the use of their interpersonal skills.
➢ Organisational philosophy/ethos.
It is helpful to research any appropriate national peak associations and agencies that are involved in
regulating your area of business; this will provide you with information on best practice, industry news
and developments, and legislative changes that may impact on how business is managed. They may also
have developed a code of practice to provide you with further guidance.
A code of practice or conduct can be developed by your own organisation for its staff; this differs from
policy in the sense that a code of practice can be written specifically as a guidance document in a format
that is easy for employees to use and refer to.
➢ Disability Discrimination Act 1992 protects individuals from discrimination based upon
their disability status and is particularly applicable to employment and education issues
but will also apply to your customers/clients, e.g. access to premises
➢ Racial Discrimination Act 1975 seeks to protect individuals from discrimination based
upon their race, ethnic origin and cultural differences in all environments
➢ Sex Discrimination Act 1984 promotes equality between the genders, especially in the
workplace; it seeks to prevent discrimination on matters such as recruitment, pay gaps,
promotions, family commitments and other gender-related employment issues
➢ Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 is overseen by the Australian Human
Rights Commission and is in place to handle and investigate complaints of
discrimination
➢ Fair Work Act 2009 provides requirements for business, including small businesses, on
equitable work practices that should be used with employees, such as unfair dismissal
laws, protections for employees and obligations of employers
➢ Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 promotes gender equality in the workplace and
the removal of barriers to equal participation at work by women.
Note: Victoria and Western Australia refer to work health and safety (WHS) as occupational health and
safety (OHS) in their own laws (the remaining states/territories practice a harmonised approach to
WHS).
Further information on Australian discrimination laws can be found at the Australian Human Rights
Commission’s website: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-good-business-
factsheets/quick-guide-australian-discrimination-laws (access date: 19.05.2016).
You will need to research and understand how Commonwealth laws, and the laws that exist in your
state/territory, may impact on your organisation and its diversity policy.
Activity 1B
1.3 – Institute actions to ensure that the diversity policy is understood and
implemented by relevant parties
By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:
➢ Discuss diversity and diversity policy with the relevant parties
Informing on policy
Actions to provide policy understanding to the different work
areas in your organisation will need to be planned and carried
out. Supervisors, managers and designated employees will
need to process this information, understand it, and know
how to implement this in work practices and to other
employees. This should be done confidentially to ensure staff
who will be implementing policy have time to understand and
prepare for this.
➢ Meetings to discuss how diversity policy should transpose to workplace practices and
procedures
Support includes:
➢ An open-door policy to discuss concerns and diversity issues
➢ Providing additional work support for employees, e.g. training on new diversity
policy/procedures
Each work area will need to know how this impacts on the work that they do. They should be given time
to absorb and understand this; time to incorporate any new processes and procedures with supervision
where it is needed. Work plans should provide a clear guide to implementing changes in the workplace.
Activity 1C
Introducing new procedures can cause initial teething problems, for example, employees may
instinctively revert back to previous methods, or new procedures that work on paper may require
additional refinement to work effectively in practice.
Providing feedback and suggestions to employees and work areas opens up a dialogue and encourages
employees to think further on new practices. It also allows employees to provide you with first-hand
experience and ensures that any issues are dealt with quickly.
For example, improvements for customers/clients with a disability to access premises may not be
known or well-advertised (i.e. customers/clients regularly ask this question). By feeding this back to the
appropriate staff, this provides an opportunity to discuss ways to promote or display this information. It
may be that this information is not clear on your organisation’s website or that additional signs are
needed on the premises.
➢ Email correspondence
➢ Telephone conversations
➢ Appraisals/performance reviews.
Providing Feedback
Feedback can provide another perspective to how employees and teams are working together; it
provides an insight into how effective new practices are or whether changes may be required.
Feedback provides:
➢ An insight into how actions are being
received
Making suggestions
Suggestions encourage a continual process of reviewing and improvement. Diversity requirements may
change over time, and new work experiences can highlight the need for further changes. Allowing an
organic approach to diversity initiatives enables currency to be maintained.
Activity 1D
2.3. Identify and address training needs to address issues of difference in the team
2.4. Manage tensions and encourage collaboration and respect between staff who struggle to work
effectively with difference
2.5. Assist staff to see that working effectively with difference is a strength that can improve the
organisation’s products, services and customer relations
➢ Develop mechanisms to address own actions in order to prevent prejudice and bias
Identifying prejudices
Prejudices are the viewpoints that we take without evidence of truth or appropriateness, it is the
prejudging of a situation or person and can be negative or positive in intent.
We tend to learn prejudices as we grow and experience life, some of which may dissipate or change
through a process of realisation and understanding. Others may become deeply embedded and difficult
to recognise and change.
Assessing prejudices will enable you to take a considered approach to your work and in personal
interactions. This allows for an unbiased and fair method of working, and enables you to demonstrate
respect and dignity to others.
It is beneficial to remember that we all experience life in different ways; this includes our origins and
backgrounds, our influences and opportunities. These differences provide us with our own unique
characteristics and abilities.
This impacts our values, motivations and how we respond in positive and negative ways. As such, it is
important to take time to get to know an individual before forming an objective opinion about them.
➢ Employees, including:
o junior staff
o temporary/casual staff
o part-time staff
➢ Customers/clients
➢ Suppliers.
Respecting differences
Demonstrating respect and dignity to others and their differences will encourage positive actions in
return. This can help promote appropriate behaviours in the workplace and assist in increased staff
morale and collegiality.
➢ Listening to others and encouraging freedom of speech, opinions, questions and ideas
from colleagues and employees
➢ Allowing employees who do not have English as a first language to take time when they
speak and when needing to understand work instructions
➢ Providing equal opportunities for all employees to participate, e.g. training and
workplace opportunities, and continuous improvement committees and practices
➢ Encouraging recognition and respect within employee interactions and work teams, as
well as from employees’ supervisors/managers.
Understanding how others may feel will assist you in employing inclusive practices. A workplace that is
divided by differences will contribute to poor work performance and staff retention. Employees may not
interact well with each other, causing difficulties and delays in work activities. This, in turn, can cause
customer/client dissatisfaction and result in a poor organisational profile.
Activity 2A
➢ Assess selection and interview processes to ensure diversity is welcomed and positively
included.
A diverse workforce that reflects your community and customers/clients promotes better
understanding and enables you to provide more effective services. Diversity is also beneficial for
businesses as well as employees. It provides a base for operations to be more innovative and responsive
to economic and customer/client needs within work activities.
Benefits include:
➢ Flexible approach to working hours and required skill levels, e.g. part-time workers who
can help during busy periods and staff who require evening or weekend hours to fit in
with other commitments
Employee skills
Skillsets will be varied and can cover a broad spectrum of work requirements. For example, older and
more experienced staff will have a better ability to resolve problems and be more confident with
handling responsibility, while junior staff with less personal responsibility in their home-life will have
more capacity to work unsociable hours, and can be potential candidates for future management
positions. Temporary and casual staff can be used to help out at seasonal times or for holiday cover.
Some employees will be looking to make careers, and others will want to fit work around family and/or
other commitments. Diversity in skills and employee differences will enable you to meet a variety of
workplace demands and allows scope for different kinds of work progression.
Recruitment processes
As mentioned in section 1.2 in this unit, legislation exists to protect individuals from discrimination, and
this should already be a part of your recruitment policy. Recruitment opportunities should be made
available to all diverse groups. It is illegal to discriminate against candidates due to a disability, unless
that disability prevents the individual from performing the job safely.
To ensure job adverts are seen by all diverse group members in your locality, you can use a variety of
methods to attract different individuals to respond. You should actively promote diversity in your
recruitment adverts and campaigns to show that you welcome and encourage diversity at work, e.g.
include information on your commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Staff selection
As part of your recruitment and selection, you may want to actively use non-discriminatory safeguards
to prevent favouring candidates over others. For example, you may wish to make candidates’ ages
anonymous during the selection process, or disregard their origins. If using a selection panel, this will
help provide focus on assessing skills and attributes for short-listing candidates and will enable decisions
to be based on equity and fairness.
➢ Return to work individuals (e.g. returning after maternity leave or after caring for a
family member)
➢ Cultural and ethnic minority groups
➢ Different religious groups
➢ Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals.
Interviewing candidates
When interviewing, the format of your interview should be
appropriate to the diversity of your candidates. The type of
questions that you ask and the structure of the interview
process should be inclusive and non-discriminatory.
It is important to place value and recognition on all candidates’ situations and level/type of education
when reviewing applications. Assessing the candidate’s abilities and experience to do the role at the
interview stage is of equal value.
Differences, such as socio-economic background, personality profile, geographic location, do not mean
that a candidate is not able to perform the job. Talking with and getting to understand the individual
will help you to determine if they are appropriate for the position you have on offer.
If a candidate has prior commitments and other personal responsibilities that they need to fulfil, these
should not be seen as a negative. If the position on offer demands full-time hours and the candidate is
only able to work part-time, it may be that another position on offer is more suitable, or that a job-
sharing option is possible.
Activity 2B
2.3 – Identify and address training needs to address issues of difference in the
team
By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:
➢ Recognise diversity training needs
Participate in training
It may be necessary for employees, to undergo training during different times of their employment.
Initial induction training is required when new employees join; this process informs the employee about
the organisation, the work role and how work should be conducted for the organisation (including
expected behaviours). Other training may be required at set intervals to assist employee performance
and career progression.
When explaining policy or informing on codes of conduct, training can help organisations to be clear on
what this actually means when carrying out working tasks and what is required by staff.
Diversity training
Supervisors and managers may require training in legislative requirements or for managing different
aspects of diversity in the workplace. Employees may require training to improve their understanding
and ability to integrate and work effectively with diverse groups.
o assertive behaviours
o grievance management
➢ For employees:
o human rights
o ethics
o cultural awareness
o anti-discrimination.
Types of training
Recognising which type of training may be required for the employees at your organisation is essential
for making successful adjustments to working policy and practices. This may be informal in nature, i.e.
information disseminated to staff by their managers, or more formal, i.e. employees attending an
external training provider or organising a specialist trainer to provide training to employees at your
work premises.
How your employees/work team(s) interact and understand diversity will influence the type of training
that is required. Ensuring that employees interact and work effectively together and with
customers/clients should be of prime importance. Assessing the differences that exist in your workplace
will provide you with an appropriate starting point.
➢ Team training
➢ Seminars
Equal opportunities
As briefly mentioned in section 1.2 of this unit, equal opportunity and anti-discrimination legislation
supports access to opportunities in the workplace. All employees should be given access to support and
training in order to properly equip them with the necessary tools and skills that they need to function
effectively.
Addressing any imbalance in skills and training will ensure your employees are able to work
appropriately. Training provides an opportunity for employees to learn and change their thinking; it also
supports employees to make positive changes.
Activity 2C
2.4 – Manage tensions and encourage collaboration and respect between staff
who struggle to work effectively with difference
By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:
➢ Identify where differences and tensions exist
Focus is placed on achieving results and answering the needs of customers and clients, without proper
management and supervision, work situations can become a source of frictions between employees and
in customer/client situations. For example, if an employee regularly avoids customer interactions
because they are uncomfortable with this or feel unequipped to deal with customer problems, this
places additional stresses on to other employees working alongside the individual.
To prevent frictions and employee conflicts, this situation should be managed appropriately, for
example, the employee in question could be given additional interpersonal skills training or be given
supervision until they are more experienced at customer interactions. When employees know that the
situation is being managed, it lessens their own workplace stresses and prevents workplace frictions
turning into conflicts.
➢ Poor communication
➢ Competing needs
➢ Cross-cultural issues
➢ Abuse of power
➢ Workplace bullying
➢ Poor management
➢ Customer dissatisfaction
➢ Gender issues
➢ Inter-generational issues.
Effective management
For supervisors and managers to effectively manage work teams, they will need to have an
understanding of the job roles under their supervision, i.e. the exact tasks, what is needed to do these
and how long these may take. They will also need to have an understanding of the employees in their
work teams.
Supervisors and managers should take time to work with their teams and collaborate on work matters
daily. Encouraging team discussions can help individuals to understand each other better; it gives a
chance for difficulties to be aired and opinions to be heard. Validating employee thoughts will also
provide an inclusive environment and establish connection between team members.
Ensure you provide adequate guidance and supervision to all team members when managing team
differences. You may want to partner team members together on certain tasks to build on mutual
respect or introduce a weekly meeting to discuss work issues. Assessing team dynamics is important to
prevent frictions from occurring. When frictions exist, taking prompt action to alleviate these will help
to maintain good team morale and work.
Some individuals may find it difficult to adjust to, or understand, differences in others; these individuals
should be given additional guidance and training to support team integration.
Unresolved issues
Issues that are unresolved can become serious and impact on individuals and/or your
organisation’s workplace. Frictions can turn into conflicts over time and may need
further management to address these. Some techniques are briefly mentioned here
(further information on conflicts and allegations of harassment can be seen in section
2.6 in this unit).
Dispute resolution
To resolve workplace disputes, the following processes may need to be used:
➢ Negotiation – discussing the issue with the parties involved to negotiate a mutually
acceptable agreement
➢ Conciliation – a voluntary process for the employer and employee to reach a resolution
after an unfair dismissal claim has been made, it seeks to avoid a formal hearing
Activity 2D
2.5 – Assist staff to see that working effectively with difference is a strength
that can improve the organisation’s products, services and customer relations
By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:
➢ Assess strengths that originate from staff differences
➢ Understand how identified strengths can benefit organisational products, services and
customer relations.
It provides the opportunity for learning within work teams, and it benefits the organisation’s operations
as a whole. If an employee has experience of working in another country, this may be beneficial to your
own business operations, for example, an increased understanding in cultural observances and a
different perspective on working methods.
➢ Work experience
➢ Life experience
➢ Understanding
➢ Cultural awareness
➢ Diversity appreciation
➢ Balance
➢ Socio-economic understanding
Products and services on offer can be changed to meet diverse customer/client needs, providing the
chance for employees to expand on work roles. For example, a holiday park that needs to provide
different attractions to successfully compete in the tourism market may develop new opportunities for
entertainment activities and services such as a spa facility.
By explaining how diversity can increase workplace flexibility, employees will be able to understand that
benefits can directly apply to them. Being flexible with workers can increase worker satisfaction and
morale, this prevents dissatisfaction and disagreements with diverse workforce members through a
happy working environment. This shows that there is room for diversity to work and interact positively
together.
➢ An adaptable workforce
Customer relations
Meeting diverse customer/client needs will improve your customer relations; your organisation will
appeal to diverse groups and can build a solid reputation for inclusion and tolerance. A diverse
workforce will have direct understanding of diverse group needs and will be better placed to provide an
all-round service and to be welcoming.
➢ Customer communications
Activity 2E
➢ Conflict management
Harassment
If employees experience harassment at work, this will need to be dealt with as a matter of urgency.
Harassment can include behaviours such as intimidation, persecution or coercion and can be extremely
detrimental to employee health and organisational morale. This should be eliminated at all costs and
the parties involved should be assisted through workplace disciplinary/grievance procedures.
A grievance procedure includes how and when actions need to be carried out and by whom. It is there
to help prevent situations from escalating into unresolved situations of conflict.
➢ Requesting formal feedback from the selection panel (in circumstances of selection
grievances)
➢ Encouraging employees to seek and discuss informal options for resolving the issue
Complaints or grievance procedures may be informal or formal, depending on the nature of the
complaint, who is involved and how serious this is. This should be fair to both/all parties and conducted
impartially. Informal procedures are focused on handling and resolving the matter directly with those
involved, without the need to obtain additional grievance mechanisms. This option is beneficial for
issues that are easily resolved, not of a serious nature, for work colleagues who are in regular contact
and want to sustain a working relationship and for individuals who do not want to take a formal option.
If formal procedures are used, this will need to be officially documented to make the complaint
accountable and on record. This option will be best for settling matters where no resolution has been
found, for serious/aggressive complaints and for those who are seeking to make a formal complaint.
The use of a third party for this process should also be made available to those involved, for providing
additional support.
➢ Providing relevant information and documents to the other person so that they can
understand the issues involved and how the dispute might be resolved
➢ Attempting to negotiate with the other person, with a view to resolving some or all of
the issues in dispute.”
Defamation laws
Defamation is when one party spreads false information about another party. This is usually done with
malicious intent, in order to ‘defame’ or damage the victim’s reputation. This can lead to serious
consequences, and the party that has been accused of a falsity can sue the other party. Suing can be a
costly route and could take some time to be resolved; it is also a complicated process, and it is not usual
for ordinary individuals to do this. Since January 2006 there now exist uniform defamation laws that
used throughout the states and territories of Australia.
Defamation can be very damaging for businesses and for their relationships; any action undertaken by a
business should be checked for truth and accuracy.
The resolution may result in disciplinary action, official warnings, a need for counselling, the issue of a
formal apology by one or both parties, further mediation, and, if required, re-crediting any leave taken
as a result of discrimination or harassment.
➢ Dismissal
➢ Demotion
➢ Probation
➢ Transfer to another
department/office.
Activity 2F
3.2. Capture ideas and information from the diversity in the workforce to enhance products and
services and contribute to competitive advantage
You should use internal and external forums to ensure your message is communicated to others in a
variety of ways. This enables your organisation to shape its business practices and provides an
opportunity to convey company philosophy that reflects a positive diversity message.
➢ Within the work premises, e.g. on notice boards or at staff events and meetings
➢ Via the internet (e.g. your website and with industry organisation websites)
➢ At networking opportunities
When promoting diversity, you will need to have a clear understanding of the objectives and the
achievements you would like to make. Your organisation will need to determine how it wants to
position itself within its business market, and how it wants to be perceived by others.
➢ Diversity in recruitment
Enhancing the organisation’s diversity image will attract a more diverse customer/client base and will
show that you are able to provide products and services that meet customer/client needs.
It will also be a place of work that actively encourages respect and inclusion, making this a happier and
more productive work environment. Staff will be more inclined to stay and will tell others the positive
attributes that exist within the organisation’s
diversity and inclusion practices.
Activity 3A
3.2 – Capture ideas and information from the diversity in the workforce to
enhance products and services and contribute to competitive advantage
3.3 – Support organisational efforts to value diversity
By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:
➢ Organise and participate in workplace meetings and discussions
➢ Assess how improvements to products and services may be made after receiving ideas
and information from employees
Seeking opinions and information from both employees and your customers/clients will help improve
organisational understanding. Your customers/clients can provide you with a different perspective on
your organisation and on how products and services are being received.
You can:
➢ Discuss workplace ideas in employee meetings
Working within hospitality will mean that customer/client preferences will strongly influence your
business. Trends and habits change, and it is important to observe changes in the environment to
minimise negative impacts on your business.
Economic changes will be reliant upon other influences such as global economy and changes in
business, and these are more difficult to negate. Customer/client spending will be affected and ensuring
you pick up a market share of this will be dependent on how you interact with customers/clients and
the products and services you offer. Listening to customers/clients will help you to meet these needs.
Valuing diversity
To help your organisation show its value in diversity, you can engage in activities to communicate this.
Your organisation can work with the community in support of diversity, e.g. providing catering or
entertainment for community events, this will help raise your organisation’s profile on diversity. Your
organisation can also be an advocate for diversity on a larger scale by working with other organisations
that champion this. Getting involved in industry activities and events can also help ensure that you
remain current in your diversity practices and approaches.
Use of a positive diversity statement on organisational literature or website can reinforce your
organisation’s positive diversity beliefs. This can also help attract diverse candidates in recruitment.
➢ Workplace collegiality
➢ Welcoming difference
➢ Diversification in business
Diversity strategies
Using strategies will help you to maintain the required focus with your organisation’s diversity needs.
This focus will ensure that actions are formulated and carried out appropriately, and to plan.
Strategies can be used to ensure that employees and work teams are managed effectively; they can also
be used to help guide your business ideas and actions (or objectives).
Strategies for diversity understanding and respect in the work team may include:
➢ Partnering employees from different diverse groups together in work tasks
➢ Encouraging staff to discuss diversity issues/matters with you (and in confidence) and
in team meetings
➢ Diversity training
Activity 3B
Summative Assessments
At the end of your Learner Workbook, you will find the Summative Assessments.
This includes:
➢ Skills assessment
➢ Knowledge assessment
➢ Performance assessment.
This holistically assesses your understanding and application of the skills, knowledge and performance
requirements for this unit. Once this is completed, you will have finished this unit and be ready to move
onto the next one – well done!