|
Chapter 2 contents
|
2. Leading and Managing a Diverse Workforce
2.1 Overview
Many leadership and management practices are based on outdated
assumptions about the workforce and the role of managers. Two such
assumptions are that work groups are homogenous and structures
hierarchical, with the manager leading and staff following.
Successful managers need new skills to lead and manage diverse staff
and to create a culture which values diversity. You must reasonably
accommodate the special needs of some individuals and comply with
relevant University policy and legislative requirements.
While all staff have a responsibility for making the workplace
culturally inclusive, you have a crucial leadership role. Under
anti-discrimination legislation, the University can be liable if
you fail to take reasonable steps to accommodate diverse employees
and create an inclusive, safe work environment.
Your key areas of responsibility when leading and managing a diverse
workforce are covered in this chapter. The following strategies will
assist you to respond to the challenges of these responsibilities.
|
.
|
|
| . |
"The manager's responsibility is to actively assist staff in managing
their work and family needs, helping to find solutions that are fair
and equitable to everyone involved, whilst ensuring the work of the unit
continues. Managers' supportive attitudes towards work and family issues
can be of more importance than the range of conditions that are
formally available."
(Department of Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs, 1996:1)
|
|
2.2 Flexibility
You need to take a flexible approach to many aspects of employment
such as when you are
Staff may be asking you to take a flexible approach to help them
cope with a one-off planned or unplanned incident. They may need
to change their arrangements for a specific period of time or on
an ongoing basis. It may affect a work day, a work week, a work
cycle (ie four weeks for general staff), a semester or a year.
Your approach will depend on the type of flexibility sought and
the individual circumstances.
Obligations
Strategies
- Identify the staff member's rights and entitlements under
both QUT policy and legislation. These may include maternity,
parental and carer's leave entitlements under QUT policy or
reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities required
by the
Disability Discrimination Act.
- Carefully consider situations where you have discretion but which
are covered by anti-discrimination legislation. If someone requests
changes to work hours and arrangements to attend to family, cultural
or religious responsibilities, remember that parental status, religion
and race are grounds included in the Queensland
Anti-Discrimination Act. Give reasonable consideration to any
requests like these. If you can reasonably accommodate requests of
this nature, you should do so.
- Apply the concept of 'reasonableness'. To decide whether a
request is reasonable, think about the impact on the staff member
if the request is not granted. This will depend on the individual.
For example, don't assume that all staff with family responsibilities
will be affected in the same way by identical arrangements.
Consider the likely impact on the work area, productivity, other
staff and clients. Question whether any problems you can foresee
have been created by poor management. For example, staff in specialist
roles can become indispensable when a succession or back-filling plan
is not developed (that is, a deputy is not nominated or other staff
are not multi-skilled). If the potential problems are because of
inadequate management, this does not invalidate the request, and it
would be unreasonable to deny it. It is your responsibility to manage
flexibly.
If in doubt about what is 'reasonable', seek advice from the Equity
Section or Human Resources
Department.
- If a request isn't reasonable, discuss with the staff member
concerned alternatives which could meet both the staff member's and
the area's needs.
- Maximise your flexibility by
 |
planning for contingencies through multi-skilling and job
rotation
|
|
providing resources for temporary staff
|
|
planning ahead and avoiding last minute 'urgent' jobs
|
|
ensuring staff have sufficient time to complete large jobs. When
planning projects, factor in potential time loss due to absences.
|
- If you have a number of requests for flexibility, give priority to
those likely to be covered by anti-discrimination legislation, such as
requests based on the employee's parental status, family
responsibilities, disability, race, religion or culture.
- Accommodate diverse cultural, religious, and social practices
in the workplace. For example, work around the impact of Ramadan on
Muslim staff.
- Ensure staff working alternative arrangements such as flexible
hours, part-time and job-sharing are not disadvantaged. Provide
career development opportunities for all staff. Avoid scheduling
meetings, social activities and training opportunities at times which
make it difficult or impossible for people working non-traditional
hours or people with regular non-work commitments to attend.
|
.
|
|
| . |
"In an equity culture, diversity is seen as a strength; performance
rather than long hours is rewarded; standing up for yourself and others
is seen as healthy; everyone has access to information; communication
is open; and staff are treated with respect, trusted and assisted
to do their jobs."
(Department of Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs, 1995b)
|
| . |
Managers set the tone by their personal behaviour and communication
style. The way staff are managed affects whether diversity is valued.
(Kandola et al, 1994:10)
|
| . |
"Managers skilled at making people feel valued will know how to harness
potential whether they are dealing with a team of white males or one
that is more mixed in terms of gender, ethnicity etc."
(Kandola et al, 1994:156-157)
|
| . |
An inclusive culture is one in which people with fundamental differences
in values, preferred work styles, goal priorities and behavioural norms
can work together with maximum effectiveness.
(Burton, 1997a:2)
|
| . |
"Valuing diversity is an important part of team building, not just
ensuring the contribution of all involved, but also drawing on diversity
of points of view, styles of communication, ways of working, interests
and points of view as a resource - be these differences based on gender
or ethnicity or cultural aspirations; this makes for more effective
and more innovative teams than monocultural teams."
(HRandEOC, 1993d:vii)
|
| . |
"Managing a diverse workforce can often be a difficult task not
necessarily because of the real differences that exist between people
but because of those that we believe exist."
(Kondola et al, 1994:104)
|
|
2.3 Inclusive Workplace Culture
Strategies
- Ensure staff liaising with students have the appropriate knowledge
and skills to interact with a diverse student population (see Section
2.5 Cross-Cultural Communication).
- Don't make assumptions about the commitment and interest of staff,
for example by assuming older staff or staff seeking flexibility for
family responsibilities are not interested in career development opportunities.
- Publicly acknowledge success, especially contributions from general
staff in lower-classified positions and support roles and from staff
nearing retirement.
- Familiarise yourself with equity group issues so you can encourage
and support equity group staff, particularly when they are a minority
in the workplace. However, avoid patronising, over-supervising or
stereotyping equity group staff.
- Recognise that some people may be reticent about putting themselves
forward for staff development opportunities. Self-promotion is not
the norm in many cultures. Because someone is self-effacing does not
mean they lack ability. Identify and facilitate ability rather than
self-confidence or assertiveness.
- Model culturally sensitive behaviour. This will show that you are
committed to developing a culturally diverse and harmonious workplace.
- Use your workforce diversity as a valued resource. Allow the different
perspectives and life experiences of your staff to improve the quality
of your decisions.
- Take as professional an approach to managing people of diverse age,
gender, ethnicity, etc as you would to traditional management concerns
such as finance, marketing and industrial relations.
- Acknowledge the University's diversity by including a cross-representation
of staff on committees, working parties and project teams. Include
both men and women, equity group staff and staff at various classification
levels.
- Meet regularly with equity group staff and students to discuss their
concerns.
- Promote the University's
Code of Conduct and enforce its minimum standards of behaviour.
For example, intervene when you see or hear about bullying or other
poor behaviour.
- Apply the University's
policy on inclusive language and presentation and enforce the
policy amongst staff and students.
- Provide essential information, such as health and safety policies,
in formats other than print for staff and students with disabilities
and in other languages when required.
- Include information about disability access, child care and dietary
requirements in invitations to all functions, conferences and training
courses.
- Celebrate
cultural and religious festivals other than the Christian festivals
recognised through public holidays.
- Resource the faculty or divisional Equity Committee and promote
their activities.
2.4 Equity
Rights, Responsibilities and Principles
See Chapter 5. Discrimination, Harassment and Grievances (Section
5.2 Preventing Discrimination
and Harassment).
|
.
|
|
| . |
"We perceive the world through cultural filters and it is important
to realise that the fact people from other communities and cultures
may have different perspectives from our own on certain issues does not
necessarily mean they are wrong."
(Kandola et al, 1994:113)
|
|
2.5 Cross-Cultural Communication
Strategies
- Ensure all staff attend ongoing
cross-cultural communication training.
- Learn more about people from cultural backgrounds different to your
own. Usually, people will welcome the opportunity to talk about the
differences between their cultural background and work life.
- Be honest if there are things you find perplexing about the way
staff do things.
- Don't assume people who speak with a non-Australian accent have
English language difficulties or difficulties with written and oral
communication.
- Pronounce and spell everyone's names correctly.
2.6 Equitable
Organisational Change
Strategies
- Ensure all staff, including staff working alternative schedules,
are consulted on changes to work practices or hours. Accommodate the
needs of equity group staff. Under the
Enterprise Bargaining Agreement for General Staff, work hours
have been deregulated. Managers can now expand hours of operation
to include regular early mornings, evenings and weekends, if needed.
Changes to work hours can affect some staff, such as those with family
responsibilities, significantly. Unless their needs are considered,
some changes could constitute indirect discrimination.
- Use a variety of options if it is necessary to downsize. If you
decide not to renew fixed term contracts as a way of saving money,
you could be indirectly discriminating against women. This is because
women are mostly employed in short-term contract positions. A policy
of 'last on, first off' may also discriminate against women and other
equity group staff as they are more likely to be the new employees.
When restructuring, you should maintain or improve the existing ratio
of male to female staff.
- Ensure restructures do not affect equity group staff more negatively
than others. Use the restructure to maintain or improve career advancement
opportunities for all staff. A variety of work options and schedules
should be provided in the new structure to meet varying needs.
2.7 Equity
Performance Indicators
|
Performance Objective |
Performance Criteria |
|
QUT staff and students work and study in an inclusive environment
free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. |
| |
Staff and students are aware of their rights and responsibilities
in relation to equity policies, relevant legislation and the
Code of Conduct. |
| |
Students indicate that QUT provides a study environment free
from discrimination and harassment.
|
| |
Staff indicate that they find QUT a welcoming environment
with no cultural issues which need addressing. |
|
|
QUT's management practices support and encourage equity programs
and a diverse, inclusive environment. |
| |
Staff indicate, for example through employee opinion surveys
and the Quality Leadership Profile, that managers are actively
encouraging diversity and inclusivity. |
|
2.8 Further
Resources
Equity Section
Equity
Training and Development Program
Work and Family Guide
Working with Diversity Guide to Inclusive
Language and Presentation
Contact:
phone (07) 3864
2699
e-mail equityenq@qut.edu.au
www.equity.qut.edu.au
Human Resources
Department
Supervisor Training Programs
Enterprise
Bargaining Agreements
Contact:
phone (07) 3864
4104
www.hrd.qut.edu.au
International
Student Services
A variety of resources on cross-cultural issues are available e.g.
articles, books, videos
Contact:
phone (07) 3864
2019
www.issupport.qut.edu.au/
|
.
|
contents | foreword | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 appendices | A | B | C | D | E
© copyright 1999 | disclaimer | alternative formats | privacy
equity home | QUT home
equityenq@qut.edu.au
|
|
This page last updated January 8, 2004
|
