GSD3DAW Self-Reflective Essay

Self-reflective essay highlights main points based on my understanding and experience on various area of the course “Diversity at work: Access, Equity and Policy.”  I have had a large circle of diverse friends and experience in my life which help me to understand this course in much better way. Diversity in workforce refers to having two or more different characteristic being present among employees (Cho, Kim and Mor Barak, 2017). Learning diversity in work is basically an ongoing process that increases the scope and thinking of the mindsets of the people. Being as a student in this course, I have learned various new things that I never would thought before in terms of privilege, identity politics, power, hierarchy, race, intersectionality and stereotypes etc. During this course, I came across a domain in which I learned diverse roles and responsibilities of employees in the workplace, how diversity in work can play a key role in the workplace environment and why it is so necessary for the personal growth and development in the workplace. In this course, I came to know that diversity in the work group is a part of organizational life (Van Knippenberg, Haslam and Platow, 2007). A comprehensive body of research on the effects of diversity at work on both individual level and group level shows that diversity can be correlated with a variety of positive and negative outcomes (Van Knippenberg et al., 2007). Several researches and researchers have backed this statement and give various evidences in this regard. 

Moreover, I have learned different aspects of the diversity at work in this course. It generally refers to differences of age, gender, race, religion, culture and power etc. People from different background and domains working in an organization creates diversity in the workplace. I believe that many organizations encourage diversity in the workplace because it increases competitiveness and growth. Since many organisations have a clear purpose they like to pursue and at the same time adapt to new changes depending on the obstacles they may face. After going through all the different topics of the course that were addressed in the class, I believe that these all topics have their importance and significance in the diverse world community. Diversity is a concept that consider multiple minds to work in a single workplace and produce outstanding results. 

Before getting enrolment in this course, I assumed that this course will only deals with certain areas and concepts of workplace diversity. However, I was not expecting that this course will add knowledge in multiple areas related to the workplace diversity environment. This course helps me to understand that encouraging equality and diversity within the workforce is one of the policies and procedures for promoting an open-mindedness and global culture in the business. It not only improves the business sense of the people working in the diverse workplace but it also tends to fully understand the diverse nature of employees’ behaviour and leadership role. Hence, diversity in work teams create the ability to be more creative and adaptable, to seek decisions of better quality, and to achieve high collective results than homogeneous teams, it seems beneficial to aim for greater diversity in the work group (Ellemers and Rink, 2016).

Previously, I did not think about “diversity at work” in such a way. I was really amazed to know about the importance of diversity from the perspective of workplace setting. Based on the class lectures and readings, I will be reflecting on the importance of diversity in workplace, what I learned new about it, why I believe it’s really important for me to continue learning about this and how it will help me to perform in the diverse work environment. During course, I learned a lot more than I had ever learned before regarding the concept of diversity. During this course, I met with diverse culture people and visit various workplaces that help me to boost my understanding and knowledge regarding the diverse nature of work environment.

In addition, my own experience helps me to understand the concepts and challenges involves that shape debates around the policy making. Based on the last assignment in which there is an analysis on policy making and the chosen topic was “Indigenous procurement policy”. I already have certain amount of knowledge regarding the indigenous people that they are marginal in number in Australia but lack few details and in-depth knowledge regarding their rights and responsibilities related to their work lives. The Indigenous procurement policy deals with the economic growth and development of indigenous business sector through various channels i.e. contracts and subcontracts. The ultimate goal of this policy encourages the indigenous people to work in better manner. In this modern time period, where every country is working to boost their economy, there is also need to promote the indigenous economy in order to creates independence among the indigenous communities. During the policing making phase, I discovered that in order to completely apply the concept of self-determination and gain economic independence, the indigenous people are working hard to set up their businesses so that their contribution to economy can be comprehended (PwC, 2018).  However, I have learned that there is an assumption in the policy that if the Indigenous businesses will grow due to getting more contracts, then these businesses will employ Indigenous workers that will reduce the unemployment rate of Indigenous Australians. It also clearly visible from the policy document that by strengthening Indigenous business sector, it will create financial independence and create the various opportunities for Indigenous people of Australia which is a very healthy sign of growth.

Moreover, this course is not that much difficult to undertake because I have an experience and background of having friends from diverse field and domain which help me to understand this course in much better way. It is always helpful to have some knowledge in advance regarding any upcoming course and project. During this course, I came to know that diversity is very beneficial for organizational expansion because people from different geography, domain and culture creates an environment of competitiveness in the workplace. There are various theories that address the importance and significance of the diversity at work and also explain policy implications based on these design theories. However, there were certain new concepts that need proper elaboration and understanding such as heteronormativity, essentialism, logocentrism, intersectionality and praxis etc. In my opinion, this is an interesting course to enroll in because this course covers various areas of social and professional life. I surely recommend this course in my friend circle because it opens my mind and help me to believe in diversity and overcome various doubts that I previously encounter with. 

Furthermore, the knowledge of various concepts of diversity in workplace help me a lot in my future career life. If ever I encounter in a situation where there is a need to tackle with the diverse nature of people in the workplace, I am not familiar with; I will use my past knowledge on diversity at work and ask him or her questions to learn more about them. A diverse collection of skills and experiences that I learn and develop during this course will help me to understand the nature and behaviour of people of the diverse work environment. Moreover, there are multiple layers of dimensions of diversity at work such as there may be gender based diversity, power-based diversity and racism-based diversity etc. so, in the world of diversity, the knowledge regarding all these concepts will help me to perform well and achieve better results. I believe that the greatest way of performing outstanding is to first gain and collect knowledge and then implement that collected knowledge in the right manner.

Based on this course, there are several crucial topics and concepts that help me to understand other people in much better way. The concepts of privilege, racism, patriarchy and stereotype help me to understand the behaviour and attitudes of the other people in much better way because these concepts elaborate various characteristics that exist in different people of same domain or workplace. This course basically addresses the area of diversity at work in such a way that it feels very comfortable for people to communicate and share ideas and experiences with each other in diverse work environment effectively. Through the course, it is mentioned on various point that diversity at work will inspire employees to work out of their comfort zone and perform to their highest level. This will create positive impact of diversity on the organizational performance (Richard, Roh and Pieper, 2013).

In the last, I would like to conclude on a positive thought that during this course so far, I believe my understanding and knowledge has increased constantly by learning new concepts and thing with which I was not familiar with. With this course, I believe I have strong possibility to be able to work with diverse workforce in future in much better way. This course will definitely help me in multiple domains of life ranges from having diverse culture friends to the diversity at workplace. With experience and knowledge, the chances of getting adjust and work in much productive manner will be high. I hope and pray that with time, I will gain more experience of dealing with diversity at work and will contribute in the various policy making areas.