Developing a Strategy to Lead Equality Diversity and Inclusion

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-19’s 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

· Scotland’s 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, Scotland’s 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 company’s 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 company’s 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

· Barnlund’s 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 organization’s 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 Scotland’s 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 Scotland’s 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 organizations work in remote working modes. Personalization and adaptation to new technologies have favorable outcomes for companies (Chen, 2022). Training and re-feeding of Transport Scotland’s 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 Scotland’s 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 company’s 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 Scotland’s 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 individual’s 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 a certain situation, either in times of crisis like the pandemic or an organizational change, depict how valuable the person could be for positively resonating with the company’s culture. It would boost his self-esteem, leading to job satisfaction and lower employee turnover.

The Big Five personality traits- extraversion, neuroticism, openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, and agreeableness, are significant indicators of how an individual personality would put creativity in team processes (Akmal, 2015). An individual with outgoing and social nature would be more suitable for being open to ideas and verbally expressive (Akmal, 2015). For example, conscientiousness is rooted in the responsibility-taking nature of a person so that he is reliable enough to be assigned a task for monitoring road traffic in severe weather conditions in Scotland. It is one of the other five elements that devise a holistic quotient for emotional intelligence, a vital attribute for team cohesiveness and collaboration. It is a sign of high-performing teams when people are given the freedom to speak and autonomy (Akmal, 2015).

Slide 7: Strategy of equality, diversity, and inclusion for cultural change in the organization

· Significance of leadership in accepting biases and differences (Colella-Graham, 2018)

· Involving diverse employees in higher management positions (Cox & Lancefield, 2021)

· Equal employment opportunities for ethnically diverse people and keeping an equal ratio of hired employees across every department (Cox & Lancefield, 2021)

Slide 8: Impact of leadership style on equality, diversity, and inclusion

· Social identity theory

· Role of inclusive leadership

As mentioned above, leadership plays a prime role in the infusion of diversity and inclusion. Also cited previously, inclusive leadership helps acknowledge and realize the potential of diverse employees necessary for an organization’s growth. Although social identity theory suggests that higher and conspicuous diversity differences would cause heterogeneity in teams and inclusivity would not be observed, this is where leadership comes to save (Ashikali et al., 2020). A push for diversity is only done with inclusive leadership, and Transport Scotland believes in “taking people along and embracing them”; otherwise, they would soon turn against you.

Task 2

Slide 1: Identification of Three Findings for Leading and Developing People

Keeping in line with the above-drafted diversity and inclusion strategy, inclusive leadership must focus on the survey findings like:

· 28% are “listened to when they are at work.”

· 20% feel valued by senior managers

· 83% say workload has increased in the past year

54% looking for alternate employment opportunities could be changed once Transport Scotland emphasizes employees’ concerns, and they should be listened to. Communication should be a two-way process where Transport Scotland should not be afraid to disclose good and bad news. The managers should be prepared to answer their questions as listening to the “reasoning behind their ideas input” would impact that employees are heard. It certainly involves transforming their opinions into the fulfillment of employees’ subjective needs and expectations for making something “productive” for the company (Kriz et al., 2021).

Feeling valued and respected by senior managers is one of the fundamental needs of employees. Employees who do not feel respected would never aim to function as per expectation, thus showing few signs of well-being and job satisfaction, hence, high turnover. Getting their due compensation is certainly a form of recognition and value that employees want; Transport Scotland should further emphasize social cues and building of work environment that validates their workers’ worth and accepts these dynamics openly (Rogers & Ashforth, 2014). Some elements that can facilitate ‘value’ are civility, trust, status in the form of admiration from others, and generalized and particularized respect (Rogers & Ashforth, 2014).

Workload increment could be why 90% say they are stressed at work, which individual and organizational interventions could solve. Workplace adjustments and conflict management approaches could be helpful for Transport Scotland (Bhui et al., 2016). Work-life balance and peer-support groups could assist in lowering the absenteeism rate, which is the first sign of workload stress and employees’ falling health (Bhui et al., 2016). Moreover, workload management could prove effective when the discrepancy between perceived workload is less than the employees’ technical skills to handle the actual workload (Inegbedion et al., 2020). Employees’ perception of the workload assigned to their colleagues and their role alignment should be re-considered as they predominantly affect their job satisfaction, hence, their ability to manage workload (Inegbedion et al., 2020).

Slide 2: Strategic Initiative to Improve One of the Findings

Although the current focus should be to improve one of the three sections mentioned in the previous section, the strategic action that would help improve all three areas gradually is strengthening “inclusive leadership.” Feeling valued is the current issue that needs to be handled strategically; however, it is expected that employees’ perception of being listened to and their daily workload will be resolved naturally once the third issue is managed carefully. Since Transport Scotland prioritizes diversity and inclusion and emphasizes creating an environment of inclusion of its people, inclusive leadership does the same. It has six key traits that the leader or manager of every department in Transport Scotland must seriously and vigorously pursue. The six traits are:

i. Cognizance: Leaders sometimes face unavoidable biases, like implicit stereotypes that a leader might have toward African Americans (Dillon & Bourke, 2016). However, what matters most of the leader’s acceptance that he might undergo a bias and must be able to self-regulate it. Making fair and merit-based decisions with a strict disregard for personal bias must positively impact outcomes and communication with fairness.

ii. Courage: The leader should have the courage to take risks, which in this case, is accepting biases. Imperfections should be recognized and openly accepted, so people do not shy away or feel embarrassed. Rather, they want to open up about their concerns to know they are heard, taken care of, and eventually feel valued.

iii. Commitment: This trait is an intrinsic motivator in itself for the employees since the leaders who are motivated for high diversity and inclusion are perceived positively by the employees. They would believe that fairness is a part of the leader’s personality that requires a fair combination of emotions and intelligence.

iv. Collaboration: Accepting diverse ideas and realizing the difference creates the beauty of team-building, which is the sum of several parts. This trait would help people feel valued in Transport Scotland, and a boost of sense of belonging would be witnessed.

v. Cultural intelligence: People from different cultural backgrounds have their own experiences and dissimilar ways of seeing things. The outlook toward the world and even the company’s problems would be diverse, which needs the leader to be culturally competent and intelligent.

vi. Curiosity: Leaders should be aware of the inputs and opinions employees put in as they believe they are listened to, favoring a high ratio of employee engagement and job commitment, hence, a higher employee value (Dillon & Bourke, 2016).

Slide 3: Draft Email

To: All staff

From: Company’s management

C.C.: All stakeholders

Subject: “You Said, We Listened”

Dear all,

We have received the survey results that aimed to know more about your perceptions of the company’s culture and management’s outlook. The survey results were mixed, which was interesting to notice. Sine Transport Scotland knows the value of its employees, it has realized that listening to our employees more and making them feel valued are some of the priorities the company should look forward to in its future strategic directions. We reckon the rest of the concerns pinpointed in the survey would all follow back in place as all the puzzle pieces do when a specific puzzle piece is put in place, perceiving it to be a central point.

Transport Scotland feels that ensuring its employees are heard is the primary priority that needs to be the central point of our future strategic position. The reason for writing this email is to have an open one-way conversation that would set the path for our two-way conversations in the future. Why we perceived it important as communication solves problems instantly rather than keeping it to ourselves, creating self-assumed misunderstandings and perceptions about the leader that might be the opposite. Diversity certainly has its advantages; still, it is impotent to interpret cultural differences that might create barriers to communication. Some employees might think that approaching high authority without notifying them or taking appointments might not be suitable. This email will break these assumptions and let you know that management doors are open to you anytime. You can send an email if you feel like talking; talking about an issue at the workplace, talking about the bad behavior of senior managers, talking about illicit actions of colleagues (for example, whistle-blowing), talking about your health and wellness issues, talking about family problems for which you might in need of leave, everything you want to talk about.

Transport Scotland believes that employee engagement, job commitment, job satisfaction, employee retention, and turnover are secondary issues since communication and employee value could solve all these issues in no time. These two 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. McKinsey’s research verified that companies that accepted racial and ethnic diversity as part of their organizational culture were 35% more likely to excel financially.