Reference no: EM133662098

Provide leadership in the supervision of diverse work teams

ASSESSMENT TASK 1: KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS

QUESTIONS

Provide answers to all of the questions below:

1. List four facts about cultural diversity in Australia. Two of the facts should be historic and two should be current.

2. Explain the importance of an inclusive work environment.

3. Explain the concept of cultural identify and how it can affect interactions with others.

4. Explain the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Australians.

5. List four tips that can be used to overcome language barriers i.e., effective cross-cultural communication.

6. List three negative impacts of a dominant culture at work.

7. Complete the following table comparing Indigenous Australians to other Australians.
A common custom associated with Indigenous Australians.
A common custom associated with other Australians.
An example of a language of an Indigenous Australian.
An example of another language that can be spoken by an Australian.
An environment in which an Indigenous Australian may feel comfortable.
An environment in which other Australians may feel comfortable.

8. List three conditions/requirements that may be included in an employment contract/agreement.

9. List three mentoring methods/strategies.

10. List three practices that should be followed by a supervisor and that would meet ethical requirements/code of conduct requirements.

11. Explain why it is important to maintain confidentiality as a supervisor.

12. Explain the role of a performance review in developing skills, providing support and career opportunities.

13. List three ways that can be used to maintain positive working relationships within a team.

14. List three factors that can assist with positive team dynamics.

15. List three ways that a team leader can prevent workplace bullying.

ASSESSMENT TASK 2: PROJECT PORTFOLIO

ACTIVITIES
Complete the following activities:
1. Carefully read the following:
This assessment task requires you to provide leadership in the supervision of diverse work teams on two occasions. You can complete Activity Step 2 based on the information in the Simulation Pack or based on your workplace role. If you are completing this based on your workplace role, you must be able to access a range of information and documentation including the scope of your role and the team you manage, as well as workplace policies and procedures that are relevant to the supervision of diverse work teams, for example, those addressing behaviour expected, diversity, and conflict management. Activity Steps 4 and 5 are to be completed by all students based on the Simulation Pack.
Vocational education and training is all about gaining and developing practical skills that are industry relevant and that can help you to succeed in your chosen career. For this reason, basing your project on real relationships with classmates or work colleagues will mean that you are applying your knowledge and skills in a relevant, practical and meaningful way!
You will be collecting evidence for this unit in a Project Portfolio. The steps you need to take are outlined below. Before you begin, complete page 4 of your Project Portfolio.
2. Preparation.
You are required to prepare to provide leadership in the supervision of diverse teams. This can be based on your own workplace role or the information in the Simulation Pack. You are required to document your role as team leader. This involves addressing all the questions in Section 1 of your Simulation Pack including:
• Confirming your role as a team leader.
• Identifying the policies and procedures (including performance management) and other documentation that apply to providing leadership in the supervision of diverse work teams.
• Determining a range of requirements as relevant to supervising diverse work teams including:
o Scope and boundaries of the supervisory role, including realistic expectations and conditions.
o Benefits of diverse work teams and their support requirements
o Benefits of mentoring in terms of the role of a team leader supervising diverse teams, as well as how a mentoring arrangement should operate.
o Cultural factors that impact on diverse work teams.
o The impact of potential conflict on work teams.
o Diversity strategies that support the recruitment and selection of staff.

Work on Section 1 of your Project Portfolio.
When you have completed the steps above, you are required to develop a presentation about diversity to present to your team and management. This will draw on work that you have completed so far, and the presentation will be one of the occasions in which you will demonstrate that you can provide leadership in the supervision of diverse teams.
You are required to develop a diversity presentation that can be provided to a team (your assessor and fellow students). Your presentation is to address:
• An overview of the role of a team leader in providing leadership in the supervision of diverse work teams as per the preparation work you completed.
• Benefits of diverse work teams - outline at least four.
• Unconscious bias, examples and the impact of unconscious bias.
• The importance of practising diversity in terms of avoiding allegations/complaints relating to harassment, discrimination and bullying.
• Examples of work practices that acknowledge diversity - at least three.
• The importance of demonstrating empathy, respect, and collaboration and strategies to achieve this.
• Diversity strategies that can be used for recruitment and selection - include at least two.
• Examples of networks that team members can draw on to assist with diversity issues.
Prepare your presentation in a format of your choice such as. PowerPoint for use in the next session. Your presentation will be for approximately 15 minutes and your assessor will advise you of the date and time.
Please note that at the presentation you will need to show that you can clearly and distinctively articulate diversity requirements and responsibilities and using language that your audience can understand. You must also be able to demonstrate that you can apply performance expectations as per the Code of Conduct. Choose at least two behaviours from your Code of Conduct and demonstrate these during your presentation. Make a note of these in your Portfolio so that your assessor can check that you have applied these.
After your presentation you are required to conduct a reflective practice activity with the team. The reflective practice activity should focus on allowing team members to reflect on what they do well in terms of diversity and what they feel are challenges. You should develop a series of simple questions that will promote discussion.
At the end of the meeting provide each team member with a personal development plan template and ask them to complete it and send it back to you within a specified time period. Review the personal development plans and then provide feedback in the form of an email to each team member.

3. Presentation.
You are now to provide your presentation to your team as per the instructions above.
During your presentation, your assessor will be looking to see that you have provided leadership in the supervision of diverse work teams.
Your assessor will also confirm that you:
• clearly and distinctively articulated diversity requirements and responsibilities and using language that your audience can understand.
• Applied at least two behaviours from the reflective activity.
Remember to provide your team with the personal development plan templates and ask them to complete them so that you can review and provide feedback. Give a timeline for completion.

This can either be viewed in person by your assessor or you may like to video record the session for your assessor to watch later. Your assessor can provide you with more details at this step. Make sure you follow the instructions above and meet the timeframes allocated by your assessor.
4. Case study.
By completing this activity step and the one following, you will demonstrate that you can provide leadership to diverse teams on another occasion. You are to complete this step regardless of whether you are completing the project in your RTO or based on your workplace.
Review the situation in your Simulation Pack (information required to complete Section 2 of the Portfolio) and assume that as per workplace policy you are to report to management on the situation. Remember to also review the conflict resolution policy and code of conduct to inform your report.
You are required to report on the situation by answering all of the questions in your Portfolio that will address:
• Exploring and reporting on the conflict, including assessing whether harassment, bullying and discrimination has occurred.
• Identifying cultural differences that has led to this situation.
• Using networks as a way of seeking advice
• Providing feedback on what you consider is an appropriate solution to the conflict issue.
You will also explore values and beliefs around conflict in this section and how this might impact on a decision.
Work on Section 2 of your Portfolio.
5. Mentoring.
Assume that it has been decided that the best way to resolve the situation above is by you providing mentoring to the team member in question. You are required to draft two emails. One to the mentor you have deemed will be most appropriate to take on the mentoring role. In your email you are to negotiate expectations for and conditions of the mentoring agreement. In the email to the team member, you are to discuss the benefits of mentoring and outline the arrangements that will be put in place.
Once you have completed this section you are also then to assume that a period of time has passed, and you are now in a position to provide feedback on the arrangement. Review the information in your Simulation Pack and draft a feedback email to the team member in question.
The final part of your assessment requires you to share your ideas and suggestions for addressing challenges and barriers as relevant to supporting diverse work teams.
Complete Section 2 of your Portfolio.

SECTION 1: PREPARATION

Complete this section based on the Simulation Pack or your own workplace.

Provide a summary of your role and responsibilities as a leader of diverse work teams. This should be in your own words and reflect the position description, as well as company objectives.

List policies and procedures as relevant to providing leadership to diverse work teams. Briefly describe the purpose of each one.

The list of policies and procedures should also refer to the Code of Conduct and summarise key performance expectations (essentially the organisation's cultural values) as per this Code.

Provide an outline of the scope and boundaries of the supervisor's role regarding employing and supervising diverse work teams.

Outline three benefits of diverse work teams.

Outline three possible support mechanisms that diverse work teams may need to perform at their best.
List three benefits of mentoring.

Outline inclusions in a typical mentoring agreement to ensure that relationships and conditions are clearly specified.
Discuss how cultural factors can impact a team. Consider both positive and negative impacts.

Give examples of cultural factors to illustrate your answer. In your answer include an example of a network that could help you and your team to understand cultural factors and to apply suitable strategies to address these.

Discuss how conflict or potential conflict can impact a team. Give examples of conflict situations to illustrate your answer. In your answer include an example of a network that could help you and your team to with conflict and to apply suitable strategies to address this.
Outline two examples of strategies that can be used to gain diversity in recruiting and selecting staff.

As per the instructions in assessment activity step 2.2 you are to develop a presentation to provide to your team. Include the title of your presentation here and attach it to your Portfolio.

Also include here:
• notes on the two behaviours that you have chosen a Code of Conduct to demonstrate these during your presentation
• questions that you will ask your team so as to conduct the reflective activity. Prepare at least three questions.
As per the instruction in assessment activity 2.2, you are to complete a reflective practice activity. Develop a personal development plan template that your team members can use. Include the title of your document here and attach it to your Portfolio.
Complete this section following your team presentation:

As per the instructions in assessment activity step 2.2 you conducted a reflective activity with your team. Attach completed personal development plans using the template from the Simulation Pack. In the sections below draft an email to each team member providing constructive feedback on their personal development plan. Add rows as needed depending on the number of team members at your presentation.
Team member 1 email
Team member 2 email
Team member 3 email

SECTION 2: CASE STUDY AND MENTORING

Complete this section based on activity step 5=4 and use the information in your Simulation Pack (Part A) to develop the answers below.

Conflict
Provide a summary of the conflict that has occurred. Discuss whether you believe that the conflict situation involves harassment, bullying or discrimination and explain the reason for your answer.

Cultural differences
Discuss the cultural differences that resulted in the conflict situation.

Networks
Identify at least two networks you could use to assist you with resolving the conflict i.e., information/advice sources.
Explain how the networks have enabled you to resolve the issue above.

Solution
Provide feedback on what you consider is an appropriate solution.
You should identify at least three possible solutions and ensure that you response shows what you consider is your preferred responses.

Problem solving

Regarding the above activity, identify your own values and principles around conflict. Write down at least two values/principle that you have.

Consider different values/principles that another person may have around conflict and that contrast with yours. Write these down.

Explain how these contrasting points of view/beliefs/assumption could impact on a decision on conflict.

Complete this section based on activity step 5 and use the information in your Simulation Pack (Part B) to develop the answers below:

Mentor
Develop an email to the person that you have identified as most suitable for the role (the mentor).

In the email outline the benefits of mentoring.

Assume that the mentor may need to be persuaded to take on the role so negotiate expectations and conditions of the mentoring agreement in a way that you believe that the person will be willing to take on the role. Your email should also address the changes in behaviour and outcomes that are required.

Mentoree
Develop an email to the team member that needs mentoring. Discuss the benefits of mentoring and provide an outline of the arrangements that will be put in place for the mentoring role. Your email should also address the changes in behaviour and outcomes that required.

Complete this section using the information required to complete Section 2 of the Project Portfolio (Part B).
Mentoring arrangement feedback

Draft an email to the mentoree including your feedback as to how the arrangement is going based on the progress report provided by the mentor.

In your email, ensure you address the personal and workplace barriers that you believe have been overcome/still need to be overcome to ensure positive working relationships.

Reflection
As a final part of this assessment task, you are to share your ideas on the challenges and barriers there are to supporting diverse work teams, as well as your ideas on how these can be overcome to improve individual and organisational outcomes.

Discuss at least two challenges/barriers and two ideas to address these.