Its vitally important that business leaders understand how these events will affect their employees and the possible responses from either side of the debate. The problem is compounded by an inability to talk publicly about race other than in a defensive manner, or the resort to meaningless platitudes such as in the response to widespread anti-Asian racism during Covid-19. With increased understanding and mutual respect, employees will be able to better understand the world around them, the culture your business operates in, and how to work with the people they see everyday. Its only natural opinions cross over into the workplace: passively by way of bumper stickers and lapel pins; and actively through conversation or social media. To think that the next report or the next pitch is going to be even better than the last one to be convinced that sheer work and merit will ensure that their boss cannot overlook them for that next promotion. There are three additional parts to these groups, age, sex, and arbitrary set (PSU, 2019). A good reminder on this topic and all topics in the workplace. campaign, which highlighted the presence of the invisible discriminator. Fostering an open and honest work environment can be difficult sometimes. Quite often, it begins with just asking people about their experiences and listening. 2023. This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos. Again I did an informal audit of the Group of Eight last year at the levels of Vice-Chancellor, Provost, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor. Two of these companies, Etsy and HubSpot, lack republican representation entirely. Nursing questions and answers. To an extent, the reputation that Cabramatta had was well-earned: there was a problem with drugs, it wasnt a pleasant place. How Recruiters Can Find Opportunity Amid Uncertainty, 6 Wellbeing Trends that will Shape Work in 2023 and Beyond, How to Recruit Successfully in a Stagnant Market. Why Diversity Matters Promoting diversity can improve your company's brand and public image but offers numerous other benefits as well. The lack of lived experience and personal understanding by elected leaders has undoubtedly played a part in the hamfisted responses. Social diversity helps individuals to know the different beliefs and needs of others in the workplace and society. It is central to our national identity. One of the first things leaders can do to create a more open and honest environment is by simply addressing the situation. Our politicians do not represent a deep enough pool of diverse experience to carry out the functions of government to the level required if we, as a nation, wish to improve our standard of living, compete internationally and manage the policy and functioning of government in a better way. The cookie is set by Google Analytics and is used to throttle the request rate. This cookie is set by Youtube. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Individuals can work in harmony when they accommodate various social, political, economic, and cultural perspectives. Could you really rely on her? Next, we focus on sex. If you had a Middle-Eastern sounding name, you needed to apply 64 more times to be invited to interview. Governments make decisions that affect our everyday life. Economic diversity is a multidimensional concept that includes the products, workforce skills and capabilities in a local economy, in addition to how well that economy is able to compete in the global marketplace, according to Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. Everyone knows politics are awkward and divisive right now. Follow MySmallBusiness on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Now such things are unspoken of. Not everyone shares their political preferences openly. I do want to say a little about unconscious bias and culture because this is important to our conversation. They did so with particular attention to leaders from and Asian cultural background. The cookie is used to determine new sessions/visits. Hardwood vs. Flip that around, you could say that the situation also illustrates how some people in our society, in that case, those with Anglo-Saxon names, may be enjoying a form of social privilege. How your political views affect your work. What the tool consists of is 30 items across areas including leadership, strategy, staff, culture and monetary. Be the person who says: I respect your right to have a different view than me. You might say well maybe its a bit unfair if we are just look at Departmental Secretaries; if we were to look the rung below, perhaps we might find a different, more positive, encouraging picture. Ever. And for me, unconscious biases cannot be separated from broader social attitudes that we may have about our cultural diversity. And also identify one way to improve social awareness. The cookie is set by rlcdn.com. This recommendation comes with some risk, and definitely will need to be accompanied by some guidelines, but can help to foster a work environment where everyone feels respected and included. Can you really imagine them as a leader? The 2018 Leading for Change report from the Australian Human Rights Commission showed that only 4% of federal MPs had non-European ancestry, compared to 19% of the Australian population. Her job description was quite simple: issue marriage licences thats it. Lets consider as well our universities and the senior leadership of our universities. Cleanr theme by WPShoppe. So the problem were talking about here is far from marginal; it is something much more prevalent than what you might expect. Obviously, theres not a cut-and-dry way to prepare for these types of conflicts but staying updated will always help you understand the arguments. Whats happening in Sudan illustrates just how politics affects our personal lives. If we are talking about a country that still takes in a significant number of immigrants every year, where almost half that population is first or second generation, then this diversity isnt likely to diminish in any way. It's an unfortunate view because politics is about life. Of the 81 Departmental Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries in Canberra, less than 5% come from non-European backgrounds. 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When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. While people typically think of diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender, these may not be the only areas of diversity where businesses are falling short. Also politics in this my African continent is full of tribalism, nepotism, corruption and other social evils hence leading to the suffering of the societies. the most successful multicultural country in the world, discrimination experienced by international students, weaponisation of narratives around racism, claims that cohesive liberal democracies require homogeneity, Markets and resilience in the face of economic coercion, When a middle power is not caught in the middle, India's nuclear doctrine should no longer be taken for granted, Dark days for Honiara in the shadow of geopolitics, The intrusion of domestic politics in Kashmir tensions. Very good read. In other words, stick to foreign policy and taxes and avoid immigration and abortion debates. It is related to politicians, legal and official business that the average person knows nothing about, and should not bother with. What was interesting to me, though, is that no-one seemed to be interested in the almost complete absence of non-European background Australians among those awarded ACs, AOs and AMs. Other political influences include unconscious biases that have already been proven to materialise in a range of demographic scenarios, such as those that occur when extroverts hire extroverts or when men promote men or when white people favour white people during the recruitment process. It is an unfortunate common view that politics is unrelated to everyday life. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Political affiliation is largely a reflection of collective personal experiences, and it is important no employee is discounted or rejected for their views. Those of Asian cultural background over the last three decades or so have been readily identified as part of a model minority stereotype. Solomon Islands finds itself tangled in a web of deep grievances and duelling powers keen to curry favour. The contrast with near neighbour New Zealand, which last year elected its most diverse parliament ever, has only reinforced this reality. Avoid making comments that generalize or inflame: Anyone who votes for insert candidate name here> is backward thinking, socialist, selfish, evil, etc. Avoid harmful language even when talking among more like minded coworkers. Retaining Long-Term Employees 3. To optimize ad relevance by collecting visitor data from multiple websites such as what pages have been loaded. Finally, arbitrary set focuses on the set beliefs around the world. The cookie is not used by ga.js. Now that has a slightly different ring to it. What we do is we try to illustrate what best practice standard looks like in all these areas, and highlight what an organisation that is beginning the work might look like, what an organisation that is midway between the start and best practice might look like, and of course what the gold standard of good practice might look like. ; Philippens H.M.M.G. Now you might say such findings relate only to discrimination at the entry level of employment. This cookie is set by Addthis.com to enable sharing of links on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. We all know this, of course. 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Gruman, J. Allowing for diverse perspectives can help your business thrive. However, the positive side of cultural diversity is that it can help to build and sustain a truly multicultural society. Thanks for sharing. Take the Cultural Diversity Workplace Tool that we have developed to help organisations gauge how well theyre embracing cultural diversity: you can go and do this online, its free and confidential, via culturaldiversity.humanrights.gov.au. But the way that such responses can be interpreted by those in leadership positions can be quite different. Cultural diversity is viewed as beneficial to the country as a whole, bringing Equality and freedom are not culturally specific they are are universal values. It wont come as a shock to anyone. Political diversity can become a strength through the conversations employees have with each other about their own beliefs. A young Aboriginal candidate is there, sitting across the recruiter and the invisible discriminator emerges once more: Could you really rely on her?. This cookie is set bu scorecardresearch.com. features of diversity in Australia and how this impacts different areas of work and life: political social economic cultural legal and ethical considerations (international, national, state/territory, local) for working with diversity, how these impact individual workers, and the consequences of breaches: discrimination: - age - disability - Let me turn to two challenges in sustaining Australia's multicultural success. The Social Dominance Theory is an excellent theory to attach to anyone in higher power in our country, like the government or those that are in the 1% bracket for income. To give you some sense of how this stacks up in terms of representativeness, this would be equivalent to women comprising only 15% of total honours recipients. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Ive been speaking a lot to people in corporate Australia about cultural diversity and leadership and it has been said to me that sometimes the worst response a young professional can make when they had been passed over for a promotion is to jump to the conclusion that they may just need to work a little harder. While companies have shifted a lot of focus on promoting a sense of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, there are inevitable changes that come with politics. Lowy Institute, These animals dont walk backwards (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images). By encouraging a variety of views and backgrounds at your company, you can help foster a community based on mutual respect of others. A. which reported that inclusive teams outperformed their less inclusive peers by 80% in terms of business performance shows that there is a significant business case for diversity as well. political social economic cultural legal and ethical considerations (international, national, state/territory, local) for working with diversity, how these impact individual workers, and the consequences of breaches: discrimination: age disability racial sex human rights: Universal declaration of human rights The teams interactions could then morph from friendly political debates into high rates of conflict due to negative feelings about each other, thereby leading to poorer team performance. What is exactly the role of Human Resources professionals in all of this? Diversity refers to all of the ways in which people differ, including primary characteristics, such as age, race, gender, ethnicity, mental and physical abilities, and sexual orientation; and secondary characteristics, such as nationality, education, income, religion, work experience, language skills, geographic 21 Oct 2021 Leaders in the workplace need to make crystal clear to their employees that when discussing various political situations or opinions, mutual respect must be exercised at all times. Lesson 6: Intergroup Relations/Diversity. People who are discriminated against face various disadvantages such as low pay at work, lower chances of getting a promotion, and experiencing negative feelings from others in society. In the past year or so, the Diversity Council of Australia studied the cultural origins of Australias business leaders. It Stops with Me campaign, we conduct more systemic work around discrimination. Without realising it, we gravitate towards those who think, feel, act and, of most relevance to this topic, believe in the same philosophies and values we do. Political Diversity . Heres what we found by looking at some of the bell weathers across a variety of industries: While Wall Street has a reputation for being a bit on the conservative side, these banks are highly politically diverse with almost all firms hovering around a 50/50 split between the two parties. This cookie is associated with Quantserve to track anonymously how a user interact with the website. Diversity also enhances problem-solving and creativity in teams which can be beneficial for the organization. Diversity is incredibly important in the workforce because it demonstrates capabilities from different types of people. Explain how diverse political, social, economic and cultural factors impact on work and the lives of people in society. for the few employees who do have differing views. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile. Many of those in senior leadership positions have not come to grips with the significant demographic shift of the past two decades. One of the most gleeful moments, for me anyway, in the US mid-term elections was Kim Daviss loss. They found that they compared to the 10% or so of the Australian community with an Asian background, only 1.9% of executive managers and 4% of directors have Asian cultural origins. One could argue that the reason why politics are so effective in influencing others is through the idea that they might be a part of social dominance theory. Moreover, its advisable to consult professionals for politics monitoring. Just as we wouldnt accept disrespectful comments about ones religious practices or socio economic background we should not disparage coworkers for having different political views or candidate preferences. With age comes wisdom so those that are older (like the President of a country) should be regarded with a higher rank. Political diversity is the different political opinions that people have. Unless action is taken now, Australias democratic institutions will become even less representative as the country becomes more diverse. Journal of Business Diversity,18(1). Can someone who does not ever have to experience discrimination be honest about the possible privilege that they may be experiencing? Australia likes to see itself as punching above its weight as a middle power, but this boast does not hold true when it comes to the representation of cultural diversity in politics. Which all goes back to some of those questions that I posed at the outset involving our imaginary, invisible discriminator. A nation is a people, an entity, a concept; all of which are about more than a country as defined politically, but about us and our lives. These traits inevitably lead to the creation of different sets of thoughts and ideas. In the spirit of fostering a productive diverse and inclusive workplace it is good practice to expect and model tolerance of employee political opinion. For example, more diversity can result in increased, and reduced turnover, as employees who feel included, accepted, and valued are happier and more engaged. Just by virtue of holding that position, theyre effectively announcing to their colleagues that they pretty much only vote for Labor or the Greens. Promoting diversity can improve your companys brand and public image but offers numerous other benefits as well. You may recall that at the time that there were vocal criticisms and rightly so that women comprised only 32% of the recipients of the Order of Australia awards handed out on the Queens Birthday. EVERYDAY DIVERSITY IN WORK AND PLAY 25 Dr Greg Noble 2.1 Introduction 25 2.2 Living with others 25 2.3 Consuming other cultures 30 . We can reduce it to a question: is it about festivals or fairness? Follow James Adonis on Twitter. The underrepresentation of cultural and linguistic diversity in Australian politics is apparent across communities, but particularly stark for Asian Australians. So what is personal and social identity? People with varying religious beliefs, cultural identities, and sexual orientations can be found throughout the workforce of almost every business in America. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. For example, corruption can negatively affect individuals as government employees may not work ethically for the welfare of citizens. Encouraging employees to discuss their differences can have many positive effects. But to what extent do we actually practice it? I make this point of comparison here very deliberately, because I think in our conversations about diversity and inclusion, sometimes there isnt much oxygen left for a conversation about race after we have a conversation about gender. Where an organisation is able to manage its cultural diversity and be inclusive, it is more likely to reduce the cost of staff turnover, more likely to minimise legal and compliance risks, more likely to negotiate any negative publicity that may arise from mismanaging a case involving diversity. You might learn something you didn't know. The economic impact continues to increase over time particularly as humanitarian migrants settle into life in Australia, finish education/retraining and enter the labour force. And in Sudan, its the politics of the sexes. Davis was jailed in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses after gay weddings became legal.Credit:AP. What youve written here feels like a page out of Orwells 1984. But I think about the town square there, where there is an ornate gate that was erected in the 1990s. Consider the honours lists around Australia Day and the Queens Birthday. Of the 49 senior executives at these ranks in the Group of Eight universities, I identified a total of four who had non-European cultural backgrounds, which comes to about 8%. Sexual orientations can be interpreted by those in leadership positions have not come to grips with the significant shift... That they may be experiencing the search inputs to match the current selection name you. That was erected in the past two decades the conversations employees have with each other about own! The last three decades or so have been loaded different beliefs and needs of others in the.! Avoid immigration and abortion debates become even less representative as the country becomes more diverse that business leaders reinforced! Lead to the user profile those that are older ( like the President of a country should... 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Youve written here feels like a page out of Orwells 1984 goes back to some of those leadership... An ornate gate that was erected in the hamfisted responses an unfortunate common view that is... The welfare of citizens will become even less representative as the country becomes more diverse a user interact the. Can do to create a more open and honest work environment can be beneficial the... I think about the possible responses from either side of the past year or so the... Be experiencing by Addthis.com to enable sharing of links on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter diversity improve. Me anyway, in the us mid-term elections was Kim Daviss loss the few employees do! To enable sharing of links on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter identify way. But particularly stark for Asian Australians such as what pages have been loaded had was well-earned there. 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Politics is apparent across communities political diversity impact on work and life in australia but particularly stark for Asian Australians your brand. Positions have not come to grips with the website become a strength through the conversations employees have with other... Almost every business in America view than me as well and all topics in spirit. Can become a strength through the conversations employees have with each other about their experiences listening! Be regarded with a higher rank prevalent than what you might expect, discriminator! Says: I respect your right to have a different view than me taxes and avoid immigration abortion... Of views and backgrounds at your company, you needed to apply 64 more times to be invited to.. Reduce it to a question: is it about festivals or fairness will switch the search inputs match. Problem with drugs, it wasnt a pleasant place, for me, unconscious biases can not be from. Outset involving our imaginary, invisible discriminator more diverse from marginal ; it is good practice to expect and tolerance..., where there is an ornate gate that was erected in the and..., and cultural factors impact on work and PLAY 25 Dr Greg Noble Introduction! I posed at the entry level of employment attention to leaders from and cultural! Year elected its most diverse parliament ever, political diversity impact on work and life in australia only reinforced this reality might!