Diversity and Cultural Awareness

Part 1

In every workplace, there is diversity, and differences can lead to stereotyping. Stereotyping is generalizing or putting labels on people. Stereotyping ignores individuality and can create tension or conflict in the workplace. Being positive about diversity and accepting differences enables a company to benefit from the knowledge, skills, and experience of all its workforce. Respect diversity of all kinds in your workplace. Keep an open mind and get to know your co-workers as individuals. Avoid making assumptions and stereotyping.

"Appreciate Diversity and Inclusion" is a timely course that will engage participants as they watch the Cutting Edge teamwork through their own issues of unconscious bias, micro-aggressions, and diversity issues. The course case study features Carol returning from vacation to find that her boss, Marcus, has hired two non-English speakers to develop diversity at work... but not everything goes to plan.

Diversity includes ethnicity, age, gender, and experience, as well as physical, mental, and emotional capabilities. Diversity is positive for company culture. Companies that encourage and appreciate diversity and inclusion have a wider range of skills and knowledge in their staff and appreciate benefits as a result. Employees from different backgrounds bring new ideas, new ways of thinking, and new ways of doing things. It is critical that we are all-inclusive. A diverse workforce benefits everyone.

Just about every organization is interested in diversity and has introduced policies and programs that support diversity. However, implementing real change and an inclusive culture often boils down to the individual, their values, and their perceptions of stereotypes. In this program, Psychologists Eve Ash and Peter Quarry investigate the individual's barriers to welcoming difference and, more importantly, how they can be overcome.

Prejudice refers to preconceived beliefs and uninformed opinions about other people. Prejudice leads us to generalize and to make usually negative judgments about others. Discrimination refers to actual behavior. Discrimination occurs when prejudice leads people to act negatively towards others and to treat them unfairly.

"Gender Inequality" is a course with a compelling message about the importance of addressing gender balance. Sadhana Smiles discusses with Eve Ash how it benefits businesses to ensure women are not under-represented at higher levels. Remuneration inequality must be rectified as it impacts lifestyle and has a flow-on effect. Once this course is completed, you will have learned how to switch the focus to gender balance and implement strategies in your workplace to ensure women are no longer under-represented at higher levels and remuneration equality is achieved. You will learn the skill of professional asking and strategies for gender equality and effectively working together.

In this "Global and Cultural Sensitivity" course, you learn that cultural awareness is more than how people look or good manners in business interactions. It means being sensitive to local customs, different company cultures, different traditions, and values. Cultural insensitivity can offend or alienate employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. Global cultural awareness and sensitivity are crucial in business and modern work life. Get this right, and you lay the foundations of successful working relationships. Get it wrong, and you can cause offense, lose trust, and jeopardize business relations.

The "Global and Cultural Sensitivity" course features a case study of a team having a cultural awareness meeting: Serena is horrified when she sees everyone wearing fancy dress costumes. She explains that this can cause offense. The team learns to be appropriate, observe, and follow local ways, never assuming you are superior. Serena advocates the importance of doing further research and not being insensitive or outspoken about other people's customs. Dion seeks tips from Tammy when doing business in China. They discuss problems with jargon and gestures. What may be acceptable in some cultures is bad manners elsewhere. This program contains 1 hour and 05 minutes of EDI Professionalism Content.