Case Study- Leading Diverse Workforces- Transport Scotland

Part A: Developing a Strategy to Lead Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Task 1

Slide 1: Critical evaluation of the organizational issues

Covid-19s impact in the form of working from home

I.T. facilities try to provide the best possible services for distortion-free connection between the leaders and the employees

Scotlands weather

Transport Scotland faces some organizational issues, the first and foremost being the advent of Covid-19. Since Covid-19 has impacted the entire U.K., even the globe, Transport Scotland has to shift to work-from-home (WFH) mode for its employees health and safety concerns. Moreover, I.T. facilities struggled to provide the best I.T. services so that employees could remain in contact with each other and their workflow was not interrupted. Also, Scotlands weather has been challenging, and monitoring the road and transport from home in alignment with the Scottish weather that sometimes includes storms is a big obstacle.

Slide 2: Critical evaluation of the organizational issues

The current financial situation of the company and Scottish as well as the national government for funding

Changes in the political world

The companys financial situation needs to be strong to run things smoothly, which is currently not the case. This could be probably due to the Covid-19 hit that severely impacted the processes worldwide. Re-kicking the Scottish economy for which government funding plays an integral part in staying ahead in the future. Most of the organizational staff comes from political backgrounds or political influence in one way or another. It means that whenever there is a change in political staff, the local counselors that become part of the organization need to be trained or re-fed (not re-educate) about the companys policies, how things work, and the deployed procedures. Time consumption is one of the greater downfalls in this aspect since the re-election brings new staff after every four to five years, which forces the organization to train new members again.

Slide 3: How issues could be resolved

Barnlunds transactional model of communication for resolving WFH issues with the transfusion of communication at every level

Crisis communication for addressing I.T.s challenges

Catering to weather issues with cooperative learning and cross-functional communication and collaboration

Employees of Transport Scotland should be able to communicate with all managers at all hierarchical levels and workers of even low hierarchies so that senders and receivers of information obtain communication messages simultaneously (Bragg et al., 2021). With a seamless communication pattern, the organizations employees would feel included, and instant feedback based on this model would help make improvements instantly. Even more, the model facilitates two-way communication and nonverbal cues like facial expressions in face-to-face meetings on Zoom, which would add meaning to the conversations, especially when it is gaining input from all employees.

Crisis communication could be valuable for addressing I.T.s challenges in keeping undistorted communication. The protocols and the use of technology to respond during a crisis like Covid-19, a major threat to the sustainability of Transport Scotland, had to be handled shrewdly. Crisis management needs communication that inculcates a systematic response strategy (Macnamara, 2021). The traditional process of response strategy involves stages like denial, diminish, rebuilding, and bolstering (Macnamara, 2021). I.T. could start from the diminished stage, where minimizing the expected damage with a rebuild of accepting the responsibility of providing unhindered I.T. services for catering to intense communication for internal and external needs should be prioritized. Bolstering would be done when the same process is explained to the stakeholders through bolstering so that value is communicated equally across all.

The cross-departmental approach must be adopted to address the extreme weather changes in Scotland. Cross-functional teams from every department can come together for cooperative learning in which controlled supervision and knowledge sharing can help mitigate the effects of severe weather on Scotlands transport system (Gillies, 2016). A collective learning process occurs with individual knowledge acquisition and intrinsic personal growth- natural motivation to excel in groups for gaining recognition; hence, positive outcomes are witnessed for controlling weather updates. Cross-functional collaboration would help remove barriers and bring professional and social commonalities of diverse people together when individual inputs would show favorable outcomes in weather management (Pimenta et al., 2014).

Slide 4: How issues could be resolved

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) for fiat currency like that used in Scotland, UK

Addressing the new political employees training demands with A.I. tools with a more personalized approach

The issues of government funding for the Scottish government and improving Transport Scotlands financial situation could be solved with modern monetary theory. The theory states that a sovereign state can print its money in the quantities needed to keep the inflation rate low (Lockert, 2022). Since during and after Covid-19, the financial situation of Transport Scotland was tough, the Scottish central bank can intervene to produce money and fund for the organization.

The continuous upskilling of political colleagues that would come from political backgrounds could be induced by artificial intelligence (A.I.) tools (Chen, 2022). The changing business world and practices have transformed the way orgaizations work in remote working modes. Personalization and adaptation to new technologies have favorable outcomes for companies (Chen, 2022). Training and re-feeding of Transport Scotlands policies after every four to five years could be taken care of by AI-virtual tools. They would handle the time-consuming training process now and then with systematic expertise dissemination to the newcomers.

Slide 5: Critical discussion of why equality, diversity, and inclusion are important

Importance of diversity in terms of knowledge-sharing, flexibility, and innovativeness

Mor Barak and her model of inclusion-exclusion

Transport Scotlands diversity and inclusion strategies include the formation of organizational culture where every person from any hierarchical level has the right to speak, Breakfast Get Together, a monthly informal get together

The importance of diversity cannot be overstated due to its innovative, flexible, and highly knowledge-sharing nature. Diverse employees at all hierarchical levels of Transport Scotland would bring variation to problem-solving, adding to the companys fortification and responsiveness in tough times (Ashikali et al., 2020). Diversity offers more favorable results when working in teams since various perspectives allow ideas to flow, boosting the decision-making process and team performance.

According to Mor Barak, the employees perception of inclusion in an organization depends on the degree to which they feel included and how they are made feel included in the decision-making stages of the firm (Shore et al., 2011). Organizational culture determines the main elements that promote diversity, which directly and positively impact job satisfaction, employee commitment and motivation, employee well-being, and task/ team performance. The same stands true with Transport Scotlands employees, where leaders stay in touch with the employees, even if it is during times of change. Obtaining their point of view at any cost is a norm, not only for problem-solving but also for knowledge gaining, which is an essential part of embracing differences and diverse personalities. Employees from every level are invited to put forward their views. A monthly get-together is conducted informally to share views, merely shedding light on how things should be, how improvements could be made, or even if it simply knows how the employees feel about the company. Directors and mainline employees had a virtual breakfast get-together in times of Covid-19 for a high inclusion where everybody was encouraged to speak their hearts out.

Slide 6: Importance of individual and team as the enabler of performance

Diverse personalities and their individualities create meaningful whole for team performance, ultimately, organizational success

An individuals way of reacting to a crisis or change situation in an organization determines his emotional intelligence and problem-solving approach

Big Five Personality traits and their value for team cohesiveness, collaboration, and organizational success

Working with diverse employees means they have their individual cultural and ethnic traits embedded in their personalities. Their individualities come together in their distinct human behaviors that value teamwork and organizational performance. The individual and unique ways of reacting to...…elements are the presumed keys to high involvement for which employee well-being and inclusivity are guaranteed. Trusting our people and taking them along in company decisions is the best motivation a company could give its workers. Transport Scotland wants to infuse the same culture with strong, inclusive leadership so that not only do diverse ideas flow in and out, but also leaders would get to know new things that they might not be informed about. Diverse cultured people would have diverse opinions coming from their backgrounds that would help in opening new horizons for the management in unbelievably innovative ways.

We are sure that the concerns about increased workload will be minimized once you put your trust in the senior management as we want to work together towards a collaborative work culture. The workload would automatically be reduced once you know management is here to listen to your problems.

From now on, let us make it a norm to send emails once a week to your senior managers of respective departments. The email could include positive and negative experiences you had in the week or even if you did not have anything negative. This way, we would know that we can listen to you and whether things are working. The emails would be read till the end, word by word, with a certain response. From now on, we will initiate two-way communication with a drive for inclusivity.

Regards

Part B: Personal and Professional Account

Task 3

In line with the above-discussed diversity and inclusion clauses, I aim to keep up with one of the professional areas mentioned in the CMI Code of Conduct and Practice, which is respecting the people with whom I would work in my future profession (Chartered Management Institute, 2018). I feel this is the most important area of the managerial profession since managing people has become the epitome of operating successfully in globalization. People worldwide work remotely and collaboratively across geographical regions where leaders are highly responsible for making them feel comfortable. Once the employees are empowered, they can have one of the finest roots of success, which is only possible if their diverse backgrounds are welcomed wholeheartedly. McKinseys research verified that companies that accepted racial and ethnic diversity as part of their organizational culture were 35% more likely to excel financially.

In comparison, gender diversity contributed to the same success 15% more (Lynch, 2021). Employees feel respected and acknowledged once they know the company cannot thrive without their involvement. Therefore, organizational best practices are in dire need f diversity and inclusion, for which I think respecting people would be a vital part that I want to focus.

Preventing employees from workplace harassment and understanding their concerns so that their physical and psychological health are prioritized are key in-depth issues firms are highlighting more in contemporary times. Companies cannot succeed merely with numbers, stats, and upward profitability graphs. Rather, firms have realized that next-level leadership inputs rea required for managing people effectively that would automatically show results. Valuing employee contributions and enhancing their viewpoints is the soul of fair employee recognition, regardless of sex, race, age, or racial discrimination. I feel that showing respect for each employees efforts to keep the company running should be approved as monetary compensations are far behind these days as the work motivators compared with intrinsic motivators like respecting employees.

I would want the same recognition I should provide to my subordinates. Companies today cannot survive without diversity and inclusion, thus, further giving weightage to this professional area. It surely sheds light on how tough the job of human resource managers would be in people management since professional growth and upskilling only comes from respecting your workers, treating them fairly, recognizing their achievement based on standards, and staying in touch with them, with respectful communication either face-to-face or virtually. I plan to infuse these strategies in my future career as a diverse workforce tends to solve problems…