Australian Multiculturalism for a New Century: Towards Inclusiveness

3 Australian Multiculturalism: The Next Steps (continued)

3.2 Diversity dividends (continued)

Apart from the benefits flowing from the cultural background and skills of numerous countries that are now well represented in Australian society, diversity brings a dividend in its own right through its ability to challenge conventional wisdom and to stimulate creativity and innovation.

Countries and organisations that are substantially monocultural, while very successful in the short term due to teamwork and discipline, eventually get into difficulty through stagnation and unwillingness to change.

They suffer from 'group think’ which discourages questioning of entrenched thinking and practices.

Diversity, whatever its source, introduces new perspectives which challenge conventional wisdom and highlight strengths and weaknesses that might have been invisible from the single previous monocultural perspective.

Most important of all, diversity stimulates creativity which is often the unexpected result of people daring to be different.

Such creativity, and the innovation it produces are becoming essential to the survival of countries and organisations in the Information Age with the breathtaking pace of change and with wealth being created by new ideas and intellectual capital.

The dominance of the United States of America, a nation with massive and increasing cultural diversity, in the new information industries is no co-incidence.

While Australia, because of its size, cannot achieve similar dominance across the board, our cultural diversity can make us very successful, particularly in niche market segments.

When one considers the benefits of diversity and its abundant availability in Australia, its limited usage highlights that it is still a highly under-utilised asset.

One would have expected now that our diversity would see significant representation at all levels in all sectors – yet this is not so, particularly at senior levels of business and government.

Advisory bodies, boards, executive management teams and ministries, whether in the private, public or community sector, are generally not sufficiently representative of the cultural diversity of the communities they are meant to lead, to manage, to serve, to sell to, to buy from and to work with.

While it is true that some of these changes take time and some of Australia’s current diversity is less than two generations old, the Council is strongly of the view that we need to take more care of what is a very precious asset.

We also need to do so with some urgency, otherwise we are denying ourselves the immediate benefits of our diversity and, with the rest of the world not standing idly by, many opportunities, if not grasped immediately, may be lost for ever.

Acceleration of the use of our culturally diverse people will not occur if it is left entirely to market forces. A more proactive approach is necessary.

This should be considered not only for equity reasons, but because it makes good business sense. It should not mean the denial of merit but rather the expansion of merit criteria to include the value of diversity.

This is based on the principle that diverse boards, advisory bodies, workforces, public and private sector management teams, law enforcement agencies, Parliaments and governments are all likely to be more successful than ones where all members look and think the same.

The Council urges all organisations to seek diversity at all levels to better represent the community or clientele they serve.

It is also important that arts activities, advertising and other marketing promotions, and the media generally, similarly reflect Australia’s diversity.

The Council recommends that the Australian Government in particular, but other levels of government as well, provide leadership by example in this important area by increasing diversity, particularly on advisory bodies and boards, management and workforces involved in the delivery of services and community contact.

The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs maintains a database, called Select,* of highly qualified Australians from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including indigenous people, whose expertise makes them suitable for possible appointment to boards, councils, committees and other advisory bodies. Select was developed primarily for Commonwealth Government departments and agencies, but has the potential to be used more widely.

* Further information about accessing Select, or nominating for inclusion on the register, can be obtained from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, or through this website. (PDF file, 28KB PDF file)

The management of cultural diversity

The benefits of cultural diversity will not be fully realised without effective proactive management. This needs to address two dimensions of productive diversity, one that maximises its potential benefits and another that minimises its potential disadvantages.

Maximising the benefits

That Australia’s cultural and linguistic diversity can provide a competitive advantage for Australian businesses was recognised in the report Enterprising Nation: Renewing Australia’s Managers to Meet the Challenges of the Asia-Pacific Century (AGPS, 1995) by the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills, chaired by Mr David Karpin.

It endorsed the need to focus the training of Australian managers and on harnessing and capitalising on the talents of diversity. It pointed out that by exploiting the existing and potential networks of Australians from culturally diverse backgrounds, Australian businesses will provide access to new markets and ideas for the development of internationally successful products.

This has also been recognised for some time under the Commonwealth’s Productive Diversity agenda which has been used to promote the economic benefits that can be obtained by the effective utilisation and management of culturally diverse workforces and the skilful targeting of culturally diverse marketplaces.

Including people of all backgrounds in the advisory and decision-making processes which shape services makes good business sense because it helps service deliverers to develop a better appreciation of their customers’ needs and the way to continuously improve their products and services.

This gives them a legitimate expectation of deriving a social and an economic dividend.

The Council notes that research undertaken in 1998 by the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs indicated that while there has been considerable progress in the development and promotion of productive diversity, significant opportunities remain.

For instance, the 1998 research indicates that there are over sixty tertiary courses or modules devoted to cultural diversity education. A 1994 survey found no such courses in existence.

On the other hand, the findings suggest that there are still some gaps in the present courses and there are significant opportunities for the business education sector to work cooperatively to advance cultural diversity education, including through partnerships with the business community.

Further, the research indicates that although the business community generally agrees that Australia benefits from its multicultural workforce, less than half of individual companies surveyed have a policy on managing diversity.

This deficiency needs to be addressed among small and medium enterprises as well as in the big business sector.

The Council recommends that future multicultural policy give high priority to initiatives in education and training that promote productive diversity principles and develop the skills needed to maximise the diversity dividend.

This could be done in the first instance in business education and training in both the university and TAFE sectors and, where applicable, through partnerships between business educators and the business community.

These principles and skills could also be given priority through the activities of relevant Commonwealth funding agencies and through direct advocacy with business.

Enhancing diversity planning

The other dimension of productive diversity is in the removal of disadvantage in order to enable Australia’s diverse citizens, particularly those whose first language is not English or who obtained their skills and qualifications overseas, to participate in Australian society and the economy at the level of their potential.

Action by Government, industry, professional associations and unions to invest in programs to meet the challenges of diversity in the workforce and the economy makes good business sense.

Productivity, worker creativity, work safety and efficiency all stand to benefit from initiatives such as English language training, overseas skills recognition and interpreter and translation services.

Recognition of overseas skills and qualifications Skills and qualifications assessment in Australia is a complex matter with no one body being responsible for the assessment of all levels of skills in all occupations. The National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition (NOOSR), which was established in 1989 as part of the National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia, is the Commonwealth’s authority for assessing educational, professional and technical qualifications and skills gained overseas. NOOSR is part of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Trades Recognition Australia, within the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business, is responsible for the assessment of trade and related qualifications and skills. Recognition of overseas skills and qualifications is a vital part of the settlement process and, for the individual, the ultimate proof that their overseas skills and qualifications have been recognised is when they gain employment in a job for which they were originally trained overseas. The fact that many migrants are not working in such jobs is a hidden economic cost for Australia and the Council would support any initiative to assist with utilising these skills more fully.

While significant progress has been made through these initiatives, there is scope for considerably more.

The Council sees great merit in enhancing diversity planning in all sectors of the community and welcomes recent initiatives by the Commonwealth to do so.

This includes the 1996 decision requiring Commonwealth departments and agencies to develop service charters and the 1998 decision requiring them to develop workplace diversity programs.

These initiatives, both of which have direct links with the Charter of Public Service in a Culturally Diverse Society, help to ensure that cultural diversity issues are linked with other human diversity issues and managed as core, rather than peripheral aspects of departmental planning and processes.

The Charter, which was developed cooperatively by the Commonwealth, States and Territories, insists that everyone is entitled to expect equality of treatment and opportunity to contribute to the social, political and economic life of Australia unimpeded by barriers of race, culture, religion, language, gender or place of birth.

The Charter has direct relevance to the private sector as well.

The Australian Public Service (APS) has a very diverse workforce and the Council is pleased to note that this is recognised in the Public Service Bill 1997 at Section 10, which defines the values which provide the philosophical underpinnings for the Bill.

The Council commends the Government for promulgating these APS values in the new Public Service Regulations in early 1998.

The Council notes, however, that these values acknowledge that APS employees have diverse backgrounds, but do not specifically acknowledge that the Commonwealth Government’s clients also have diverse backgrounds.

The Council considers that adding such an acknowledgment to the APS values would make the Australian Public Service an exemplar of best practice in managing human diversity (not just cultural diversity) in both its workforce and clients.

It would also provide an ideal legislative basis for the Client Service Charters that all departments are required to have.

The Council therefore recommends that the APS values be modified to acknowledge that the Commonwealth Government’s clients have diverse backgrounds which need to be addressed in the development and delivery of services to them.

The Council further recommends that private and community sector organisations consider how the APS values and the principles of the Charter of Public Service in a Culturally Diverse Society might be relevant to their diversity management and planning processes, and develop similar charters appropriate to their specific environment and the needs of their constituents, customers and employees.

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