Questions

1. The purpose of this plan is to ensure that there is a productive and sustainable workforce that improves decision making and result oriented. Diversity is a term that used to refer to gender, language, age, disability, cultural background and race. This plan will be grounded on the legal structures that promote diversity in workplace including Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Work Health and Safety 2011, Disability Discrimination Act of 1992, Public Service Act 1999, Fair Work Act 2009 and Work Place Gender Equality Act 2012 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). The first step at MKA Shipping is to strengthen a respectful and inclusive work environment and culture as provided by Racial Discrimination Act where every person regardless of their racial background should be treated fairly. Therefore the plan will focus on supporting every employee and respect for people with disability, and respect for both young and old employees. The second step is to improve the ability to attract and retain people of diverse background. The Fair Work Act 2009 provides for inclusivity in the workplace by ensuring that anybody can work in Australia. This act advocates for hiring and recruitment of employees based on merits but on their backgrounds. Therefore, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander should be given equal opportunities at work.

The third strategy in this plan is to improve the understanding of workplace diversity issues while increasing analysis and utilization of workplace diversity. Understandably, employees are the number one perpetrators of discrimination in the workplace and as a means of reducing this, there is need to promote diversity awareness among them. This strategy will be aimed at collecting information and data from employees at MKA Shipping concerning the workplace environment while recording cases of discrimination if any. The fourth strategy will be to ensure accessibility of people with disability, and culturally and linguistic diverse background. This strategy aims at ensuring that any person can access the workplace by eliminating potential barriers. As such, the plan will be grounded on the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities article 31.1 which requires respect and inclusion of people with disability in the workplace (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). Generally, the plan will prevent and discourage any form of discrimination at MKA Shipping and follow the Australian Human Rights Commission policy of treating everyone fairly regardless of color, sex, nationality or any other social aspect. This plan will therefore create a conducive working environment for everyone.

Answers

2. In the implementation of the above work diversity plan, the following will be taken into consideration. Communication plays an important role in promoting human interactions in an organization. In order to ensure there is diversity at MKA Shipping, every employee must be made to understand what diversity is, the importance of diversity and why everyone should be respected. Holding open meetings will be an effective way of letting everyone communicate their passion and how they feel towards other people. Emailing and newsletters will also be used as a way of promoting diversity in the workplace. Building positive working relationship among the employees will be another way of ensuring loyalty and cohesive working in the MKA Shipping. This will help in maximizing employment outcomes for any person who may have been otherwise being left out of the workplace. This can be achieved through fair and inclusive recruitment where everyone will be in the company out of merit and thus everyone will be expected to be equal in the eyes of another. The culture of  respect will be prioritized by promoting respect to people with disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, people whose first language is not English, young people below 25 years and women should also be respected since they have for long being victims of discrimination.

A plan such as the diversity workplace plan cannot be effective and useful if there are no means of evaluating the same. Evaluation of the plan will begin by looking at the composition of the recruits at MKA Shipping and those who have been hired. As such, there should be a fair representation of people based on race, color and even gender. Following the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, the plan will ensure that there is equitable access for employment for everyone (Armstrong et al., 2010). The same should be reflected in the promotion of individuals in the heads of departments and other areas within the MKA Shipping organization. However, getting feedback from the employees will be an effective way of determining the level of workplace diversity in the organization. There will be a form with various questions that they will be required to answer such as: Are you comfortable with the treatment received from the company, Have you been abused or discriminated in any way within the organization. In order to improve the working environment at MKA Shipping, the employees will be required to give recommendations and what the company should do to improve working relationship among the employees.

Workplace Diversity

3. Five type of differences at MKA Shipping are gender, color, language, nationality and age disparity.

4. Aspects of diversity within the Australian society are cultural backgrounds, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, race and social-class.

5. The four items are: Racial Discrimination Act 1975 which prevents discrimination against race or color. Sex Discrimination Act 1984 which ensures that both males and females should be offered equal opportunities in the workplace. Disability Discrimination Act 1992, provides that people with disability can also be recruited and they are respected in the workplace (Williams, 2013). Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 ensures that youths, men and women have equal employment opportunities.

6. The four examples are: Recruiting employees based on merits and not on racial or cultural backgrounds. Second is by promoting employees based on their performance. Third is by encouraging use of different languages as a way of appreciating other people and lastly by creating mentorship programs regardless of their sex, race or age.

7. Barriers of inclusivity MKA Shipping are: Informal mentoring where the leaders promote lack of trust and incapability among employees. This can be resolved by having the right leaders at the top management. Second is by negative attitude which leads to stereotypes and prejudice. Harvey & Allard (2015) argue that this can be resolved by promoting respect for people of different races, gender and other differences. Third is the lack of employee involvement and this brings differences in the workplace and it can be resolved by teaching co-workers to work alongside one another. Lastly, is language and cultural differences and this can be resolved by using a universal language (Charlesworth & Macdonald, 2014). Lack of funding can also lead to layoffs and loss of employees and this can be resolved by investing heavily in the MKA Shipping.

8. The actions include: Letting them speak the language they know best in the short term, organizing teachers and trainers to improve their language,  encouraging them  to read books and English related articles and lastly by encouraging other employees to help them speak English and help the visually impaired accordingly(Nadir, YURTO?LU, 2018).

9.

1. In order to understand the different natures of diversity that exist in the workplace and know where to start when addressing the issue.
2. In order to estimate the amount of resources that can be used in the workplace to promote diversity.
3. So as to get a platform over which employees can be encouraged to embrace diversity in the workplace.
4. To ensure that the organization remains within the law and that it prevents any lawsuits against diversity issues (Bleijenbergh, Peters & Poutsma, 2010).
5. To identify loopholes and areas that should be focused on.

10. So as to ensure that every diversity issue is addressed and that employees are

aware of the punishments any case they discriminate against their fellow employees.

1. This will help in ensuring that diversity achieves its goal; the goals of working towards the same target and improve the performance and hence production of the organization
2. This ensures that every employee is provided with the policies and the plans so that they can understand what is required of them. The plan dictates the responsibilities of each employee and that they are adequate resources to achieve the same (McMahon, 2010).
3. This helps in evaluating the workplace diversity plan in the organization thereby addressing any problem that may exist within the organization.

11. 

1. This ensure that the plan is implemented professionally and avoid mistakes that may hinder the implementation of the same.
2. This ensure that every employee is involved in the journey of embracing diversity in the workplace and that they all embrace the culture of diversity.
3. To ensure that the process of workplace diversity gets the funding that requires such as recruiting people from different background and production of newsletters that promote diversity.
4. To understand why diversity is important such as bringing in new ideas and face in the organization. Wangombe et al. (2013) asserts that training will also help in teaching employees on how they can cohesively stay with their colleagues through respect, honesty and love.
5. Ensures that every employee is safe and they have been protected from such issues as discrimination among others.

12. This will ensure that the organization is getting the right and correct information and that reflects the true nature of the workplace. For instance employees will be the most appropriate on this since they will give their first-hand information on whether they have been discriminated.

To ensure that the workplace is in the course of achieving its impacts and that there are positive impacts of the action which have been taken (Greene & Kirton, 2015).

To ensure that challenges faced during the implementation of the plan are addressed effectively.

References

Armstrong, C., Flood, P. C., Guthrie, J. P., Liu, W., MacCurtain, S., & Mkamwa, T. (2010). The impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance: Beyond high performance work systems. Human Resource Management, 49(6), 977-998.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013). Workplace Diversity Action Plan 2013-2017. Building a respectful and inclusive workplace.

Bleijenbergh, I., Peters, P., & Poutsma, E. (2010). Diversity management beyond the business case. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 29(5), 413-421.

Charlesworth, S., & Macdonald, F. (2014). Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2013. Workplace Diversity Action Plan. 56(3), 381-396. http%3a%2f%2fwww.historystudies.net%2fdergi%2f%2fbirinci-dunya-savasinda-bir-asayis-sorunu-sebinkarahisar-ermeni-isyani20181092a4a8f.pdf

Chrobot-Mason, D., & Aramovich, N. P. (2013). The psychological benefits of creating an affirming climate for workplace diversity. Group & Organization Management, 38(6), 659-689.

Greene, A. M., & Kirton, G. (2015). The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical approach. Routledge.

Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. (2015). Understanding and managing diversity: Readings, cases, and exercises. Pearson.

Kim, H. K., Lee, U. H., & Kim, Y. H. (2015). The effect of workplace diversity management in a highly male-dominated culture. Career Development International, 20(3), 259-272.

McMahon, A. M. (2010). Does workplace diversity matter? A survey of empirical studies on diversity and firm performance, 2000-09. Journal of Diversity Management, 5(2), 37-48.

Nadir, YURTO?LU, (2018). History Studies International Journal of History. Vol.10, pp. 241-264. http%3a%2f%2fwww.historystudies.net%2fdergi%2f%2fbirinci-dunya-savasinda-bir-asayis-sorunu-sebinkarahisar-ermeni-isyani20181092a4a8f.pdf

Wangombe, J. G., Wambui, T. W., Muthura, M. W., Kamau, A. W., & Jackson, S. M. (2013). Managing Workplace Diversity: A Kenyan Pespective.

Williams, C. (2013). Principles of management. South-Western Cengage Learning