Assessment 2: Group Report (35%) Due Date: Week 8 Word Count: 1800– 2000 words Working in groups of 2-3,you are required to formulate a diversity and inclusion plan for a nongovernment organisation....

Diversity and Inclusion        2
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Company Brief    3
Reason for Investing in Diversity and Inclusion    3
Key Groups    5
Barriers    6
Personal Bias    6
Communication Gap    7
Language Barrier    7
Diverse Traditions and Customs    7
Strategies    8
Policies    8
Workplace Culture    8
Address Communication Gap    8
Address Traditions    9
Anti-Bullying    9
Objectives, Responsibilities, Timeline and Resources    9
Conclusion    10
Appendix    11
References    12
Introduction
    Diversity and inclusion are two very important terms that should be treated with utmost reverence by the business world. Maintenance of strategies which encourage diversity and inclusion are extremely important for the purpose of managing and encouraging a strong and motivated workforce. In an organisation, which does not understand the importance of diversity and inclusion, it is extremely difficult for the employees belonging to diverse sects of the society to function and work in a unified and harmonious manner. It is also important to maintain diversity and inclusion in order to create a good reputation in the business market forte.
Company Brief
Telstra is a non-governmental organisation, which is privately owned by business personnel. It is a business company which primarily deals with the issues of network. Although the company has a rich background of operating harmoniously with employees hailing from different parts of the world, it is important to understand the significance of a diversity and inclusion plan (Telstra, 2021).
Reason for Investing in Diversity and Inclusion
    The terms diversity and inclusion are not merely words that ought to be placed on the company documents associated with the policies and procedures of an organisation. The importance of diversity and inclusion surpasses the written records of the company policies. At the very outset, it is important to invest in a diverse talent pool in respect to recruiting employees and employers. This is because, according to Higgins and Beeram (2021), people from diverse cultures and ethnicities are expected to have different perspectives towards the world as well as towards business. As a result of this, different innovative ideas can be thought of with regard to improvement in terms of business matters. The diverse talent pool of employees and employers will be capable of providing extremely thoughtful ideas in order to improve business. Inclusion of people who differently abled can also be important in such situations. They can give their personal perspective towards the different aspects of networking, as in Telstra.
    Different perspectives and diverse thought processes can ensure better communication with a wide range of customers. For instance, Telstra is dealing with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customer. In this case, it is difficult for any Australian or an employee of another country to properly interact with them. According to Shore et al. (2018), difficult or improper interactions can result in dissatisfaction in the aboriginal customer. As a result of which, the organisation will lose a potential customer, who could serve as a source of revenue. Therefore, problems like these will not only reflect badly on the reputation of the organisation but also result in poor sales. In order to avoid such situations of dissatisfied customers, it is only fruitful to invest in diversity and inclusion plan. The diversity and inclusion in the workforce of Telstra will help increase the revenue gained by the organisation to a great extent. In addition to that, it will also result in the establishment of happy and satisfied customer base who will recommend the company to others. This will result in an overall, all-encompassing profit for business organisations, such as Telstra.
    Investing in diversity and inclusion also reflects the fact that companies such as Telstra are ready to deal with numerous innovations. According to Ng and Sears (2020), business organisations tend to be restrictive in terms of diversity and inclusion policies. However, if Telstra moves beyond its comfort zone of recruiting only white Australians in the company and including people with different ethnicities, as well as skin colours and racial backgrounds, then it can prove that the organisation is ready to innovate. For instance, when the organisation decides to recruit a person with a certain kind of disability, then it is innovating to a great extent. The newly recruited individual would be able to give his/her perspective regarding the chosen business area, thereby increasing the sales and overall revenue of the organisation.
    Investing in inclusion and diversity is also a highly probable manner of increasing the rate of employee retention in the organisation. Therefore, if Telstra decides to create a comprehensive diversity and inclusion strategy plan, then the rate of employee turnover will reduce to a great extent. It will also create strong professional ties among all the employees and employers of the organisation. In addition to that, the entire workforce of Telstra will be motivated to work by giving their full potential to the organisation. This will inevitably reflect on the success rate of Telstra. According to Zurba et al. (2019), the organisation will operate as a closely knit family which is capable of respecting and understanding the core values and traditions of another employee.
Key Groups
    The key groups that ought to be focused in respect to...