Communication and Training of Human Spirit - Assignment Example

Running head: Cross Cultural Issues, Communication Plan Cross Cultural Issues Plan for Communication and Training Plan for Communication and Training “Diversity is about empowering people and promoting the human spirit” (Clark, 2007, pg 97). It is about understanding, evaluating, and making the most of the individual differences found in each and every person (Clark, 2007, pg.2). To allow an organization to be the best in today’s competitive world, they must use the differences found in individuals. Those differences may come from color of skin or the language they speak. It may include how fast they learn, how they learn, whether they are introverted or extroverted, controlling, or submissive, or conservative (Clark, 2007). An organization will need dreamers, doers, strategizers, organizers and team builders just to mention a few. This is a subject that will create major impact for leveraging the best of the employees present for the best results for the company. To allow for this kind of organization to occur, the organization as a whole must receive training on diversity and the hiring principles that will help us to make that happen. We will present a plan, here on how best to accomplish this change. To begin, there must be an established approach to the problem of education of something as new and different as diversity education. We will confront the data, share it broadly, and use it to define as precisely as possible where our greatest energy will need to be applied. We will share case studies and refine the information from them through discussion in the groups where they are applied. We will engage everyone by listening to them throughout all discussions, to better understand what their learning needs are. Our measureable objectives which are listed on the teaching plan at the follow of this document will be shared with the learners and actions will follow. We will survey all those involved in the education prior to the training and then again after the training to assure that there is a better understanding of cross cultural issues and the importance of those to the company in general. Once the education is carried out per the education plan following this document, we will continually reeducate to assure that this is a process that continues to work throughout the system. We will also assure that any new employees go through the whole training as part of their orientation to the company. We believe like so many companies that have leveraged diversity for the betterment of the company that the senior management team must be on board first. Research shows that this is a process that must be driven from the top down and so the education for the process should start there. We believe that this is an important aspect of business today and that assuring diversity understanding throughout the leadership team will allow that team to leverage the process for the good of the company. This training will be perpetual. We will do the initial training and then repeat this training with updates once yearly. We will do a management orientation section for any newly hired management. We will then determine a guiding coalition. This will need to be a multidisciplinary committee whose job it is to light the fire. This committee should consist of the Chiefs of service, Directors of service, and service managers. It should also include any informal leaders that the company is well aware of. This team is chosen for several reasons. According to Kotter, (2007, pg96), poor change communication happens when senior management does not develop the strategy needed and take ownership or champion a change. The leadership must become passionate and be able to project that passion to others. Keep it simple seems to be the best recommendation for this kind of subject. Diversity is a complicated issue. Keeping it simple will not be easy. This will need to be the team’s most immediate task. They will want to bring in staff members that involved in housekeeping on up to managers to get their ideas on how best to make this information understandable to their groups. Each of these groups will need to designate a champion at that time to help take the information back. Our suggestion is to start this process right away. These initial meetings should be completed in one week’s time with the finished education plan attached. Senior management ---this team will need to take back to all department meetings they attend and board meetings, the strategic plan and the support for this project. They will need to champion the change, to assure that they are “walking the walk”. Department heads will need to assure that all departments attend in-services on this subject and again champion the change. There is a normal human need for resistance to change (Kotter, 1996, pg 96) and the coalition will need to assure that the management team is not resisting. The managers will bring the information to the staff level and they will need to have information on the best way to present this information for staff use. They will need to assure some kind of reward system that will help their staff keep moving forward. Rewards will be given for the best improvements between departments every payday. We already provide cookies for employees as they pick up their checks, we will also provide rewards for improvement at these group meetings as well as at staff meetings. We will determine the improvements through employee surveys and customer satisfaction scores. There is a need to assure that this change is in front of the employees at all times. That will include the use of posters and the use of the bulletin boars. There will be flyers in their paychecks and posters in the elevators. It will be talked about at every meeting throughout the organization, every time they meet. Statistics will be kept as we begin the change process and throughout the process, thus allowing the continual ability to check on progress. In conclusion, diversity is one of those subjects that are difficult to understand. We must rely on others to help us with that understanding. It is also a very important subject that will help leverage the diversity of the companies employees not only for the Good of the employees but the good of the company. We have presented a table of the work that will need to be done to allow this change to happen. I must also be noted that keeping the change in process will take much checking as it is always easy to slide back. Training Plan How we will train When training will occur Where training will occur Training times Resources to be applied Develop the Guiding Coalition—Webinar presentation, guided discussion Training will occur immediately. First meeting to be December 14, 2009 The Administrative Board meeting room has been scheduled with Webinar available We will present the training on Dec 14 and Dec 16 at 2 pm The training will take approximately two hours. The Webinar will cost approximately $4,800 for the whole senior team, presented twice. Department head meetings This meeting will be held on December 18. The previous webinar will be presented and a discussion by senior management of their committment to the process will be presented. We will use the large hospital classroom for this training as there is the ability to use webinar there. This training will take about 2 hours and we do want an administrative presentation for the kickoff so we will provide a 20 minute break at the 1 hour mark and provide drinks and a snack The largest cost here, of course, is the expense of halting the work of the director and management level employees for this education. We believe, however, that it will be well worth the time . Staff Meetings This training will need to begin right after the first of the year as time is running short for this year. Our plan is to have this training occur on January 6th, 12th, 14th, and 16th, 2010. We will use the large training classroom for this training. We will not use the webinar; instead we will use speakers from the guiding coalition. We will schedule this meeting several times during each day providing for the ability to switch off staff and allow work coverage. We will also tape this training for future use. These meetings will take approximately 1 hour per meeting The cost will not be significant in this case. The total cost in time of course and the provision of a small notebook of information for each employee New Hires This training will be part of every new hire orientation The above tape will be a required viewing of all new hires This will take approximately 1 hour of each new orientation time. The cost is minimal and the pay back is tremendous as we continue our quest to educate on cultural diversity Updates This training will be updated once a year with new standard of practice information The updated information will be presented as part of our yearly employee updates, starting with the guiding coalition and new changes Each updated group will take approximately one hour to update. References Clark, D. (2007). The Challenge, Why Must We Embrace Diversity? (Pg 2) Retrieved Oct. 10. http://www.nwlink.com/-donclark/leader/diverse.html. Kotter, J (1996). Leading change. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press. Pg 96 Read More