Chapter 4: Promoting Inclusive Culture

Chapter Objectives:
After the successful completion of this chapter, you will be able to:
 Define inclusive culture
Discus the dimensions of an inclusive culture
Evaluate policy related to an inclusive culture
Explain the process of building community for an inclusive culture
Discus approaches to establishing an inclusive culture
Discuss inclusive values
Explore and discuss indigenous inclusive values
Evaluate existing inclusive practices
4.1. Definition of Inclusive Culture
Inclusion is a sense of belonging, connection, and community at work.
•Inclusive organizations help people feel welcomed, known, valued and encouraged
to bring their whole, unique selves to work.
•Culture:- the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society.
•An inclusive culture involves the full and successful integration of diverse people
into a workplace or industry.
•They encompass both formal and informal policies and practices, and involve
several core values:
1.Representation:- the presence of people with disabilities across a range of employee
roles and leadership positions
2.Receptivity:- respect for differences in working styles and flexibility in
tailoring/modifying positions to the strengths and abilities of employees and
3. Fairness: equitable access to all resources, opportunities, networks, and decision-
making processes.
4.2. Dimensions of Inclusive culture
1.Universal Design:- construction of structures, spaces, services,
communications, and resources that are organically accessible to a range of
people with and without disabilities, without further need for modification or
accommodation.
2. Recruitment, Training, & Advancement Opportunities
A. Recruitment: effective recruitment of PWDs involves two components:
i.Accessible outreach and hiring practices:- making sure that outreach
materials, networking, recruitment sites, communications, and application
processes all include a range of accessible options, or are free of barriers that
might inhibit people with disabilities from participation
ii.Targeted recruitment of workers with disabilities:- targeted recruitment
enables employers to reach and interview qualified people with disabilities.
B.Training:- plays a dual role in the creation of inclusive workplace culture.
C.Advancement: targeted mentoring and coaching programs specifically
assist employees with disabilities.
3. Workplace Accommodations and Accessibility: Policy & Practice
•When assessing the effectiveness of existing accommodations policies,
employee experiences can be described based on two measures of equity.
i. the perception of procedural justice:- employees with disabilities perceive
the accommodations policy as fair, accessible, and functional.
ii.Interactional justice:- refers to the experience of feeling that the managers
or colleagues with whom one is interacting are behaving fairly, reasonably,
and respectfully.
4.3 Building inclusive community
An inclusive community:
•Does everything that it can to respect all its citizens, gives them full access
to resources, and promotes equal treatment and opportunity.
•Works to eliminate all forms of discrimination.
•Engages all its citizens in decision-making processes that affect their lives.
•Values diversity and response quickly to racist and other discriminating
incidents.
•An inclusive society aims at empowering and promoting the social,
economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability,
race, ethnicity, origin, religion, economic, or another status.
4.4 The importance of building an inclusive community
•It is important to consider the motivation behind an individual, a group, or a
community's desire to build an inclusive community because the motivation affects the
following:
1.Types and sequence of strategies selected: if there were a crisis, you might have to
start with a strategy that transforms the conflict.
2.Resources available: more resources could be mobilized if the motivation came from
a large institution or a local foundation.
3.Amount of support and obstruction: if the dominant group in the community is just
as motivated as any other group, there is likely to be more support. If, however, the
dominant group has no interest in changing the status quo, there are likely to be more
barriers.
4.Rate of progress: if the major leaders and groups support the effort, progress is
likely to be faster.
5.Expected outcomes: if the goal is to raise awareness, everyone involved is likely to
be satisfied if they learned new things about other groups. If the goal is to promote fair
treatment of every group, everyone involved is more likely to be satisfied with policy
4.5. Characteristics of an Inclusive Community
1.Integrative and cooperative:- bring people together and are places where
people and organizations work together.
2.Interactive:- have accessible community spaces and open public places as
well as groups and organizations that support social interaction and
community activity, including celebrating community life.
3.Invested:- are places where both the public and private sectors commit
resources for the social and economic health and well-being of the whole
community.
4.Diverse:- welcome and incorporate diverse people and cultures into the
structures, processes, and functions of daily community life.
5.Equitable:- make sure that everyone has the means to live in decent
conditions (income support, employment, good housing) and the opportunity
to develop one‘s capacities and to participate actively in community life.
6. Accessible and Sensitive:- readily available and accessible supports
and services for the social, health, and developmental needs of their
populations and provide such supports in culturally sensitive and
appropriate ways/essential services, etc.
7. Participatory:- encourage and support the involvement of all their
members in the planning and decision-making that affects
community conditions and development
8. Safe:- ensure both individual and broad community safety and
security so that no one feels at risk in their homes or moving around
the neighborhood and city.
4.6. Means of establishing an inclusive culture
There are four key inclusive leadership behaviors:
1.Empowerment: enable team members to grow and excel by
encouraging them to solve problems, come up with new ideas and
develop new skills.
2.Accountability: show confidence in team members by holding them
responsible for aspects of their performance that are within their control.
3.Courage: stand up for what you believe is right, even when it means
taking a risk.
4.Humility: admit mistakes, learn from criticism and different points of
view, and overcome your limitations by seeking contributions from
team members.
How is inclusive culture established? (5 ways establishing inclusive culture)
1.Consider what you want to achieve and what the benefits will be: the process involves
looking at your organization: its size, the type of work it does, where it is located, who it
employs, who uses its services, and what its goals are; and thinking about how it could become
more inclusive.
2.Undertake an inclusion review of your workplace:- when reviewing inclusion and equality in
your organization, you should consider the following areas:
i.The demographics of your organization and customer base:- age, gender, ethnic group, religion
or belief, sexual orientation, disability, etc.
ii.Your formal policies and procedures:- the formal policies and practices of your organization
thought about inclusion, human rights, and equality.
3. Decide where work is needed and create an action plan:- set out the key changes you would
like to make as a result of your review.
•Prioritize these changes to help you decide where to start.
i.Actively involve all employees
ii.Build a culture of inclusion and respect
• Take an inclusive approach to recruitment, promotion and development
4. Communicate the plan with staff and put the plan into action
i.Actively involve all groups of employees:- respect and opportunity for all, it is essential that
everyone in the organization, from senior management to the most junior staff, is engaged with
and involved in the process of creating this culture, and feels that their opinions and experiences
are valued.
ii.Participation and consultation:- staff and any unions or other employee representatives
should be consulted at different stages in the plan‘s implementation, in order to get their feedback
on the progress being made.
Ways of consulting and involving employees and their representatives
i.Staff surveys:- can be used to gather information on a range of subjects, including the make-up
of the workforce, responses and attitudes towards equality and human rights issues, and levels of
job satisfaction among employees.
ii.Focus groups:- provide more opportunities for in-depth consultation and debate with a smaller
number of employees.
iii. Engagement with employee networks and forums can utilize an important representative
voice of staff from minority groups and can provide useful input into policies and action plans.
5. Review, monitor and evaluate the plan’s impact and use what you find to plan future action
4.7. Ten Characteristics of an Inclusive Organization
1.It accepts diversity and inclusion as a way of life:- many cultures, traditions,
beliefs, languages, and lifestyles are prevalent in both the workforce as well as the
customer populations and are respected without judgment.
2.It evaluates individual and group performance on the basis of observable and
measurable behaviors and competencies:- employees have a clear understanding
of their roles and responsibilities.
3.It operates under transparent policies and procedures:- there are no hidden
rules of behavior that may be apparent to some groups and unknown to others.
4.It is consistent in its interactions with everyone:- there is no double standard.
Rules are applied appropriately and regularly throughout the institution.
5. It creates and maintains a learning culture:- mentoring programs are robust,
and include both formal and informal systems that meet the individual learning
needs of all employees
6. It has a comprehensive and easily accessible system of conflict resolution at all
levels:- it recognizes that conflict is inevitable in a complex multicultural
organization, and it has systems in place to address conflict in a non-
confrontational manner that respects the dignity and confidentiality of all parties.
7. It recognizes that it is part of the community that it serves:- an inclusive
organization is an active participant in community activities, and plays a vital
role in addressing its needs.
8. It lives its mission and core values:- people work for an organization because
they believe in its purpose and goals.
9. It values earned privilege over unearned privilege:- employees are recognized
for their actions and accomplishments, not simply because of their titles or
degrees.
10. It accepts and embraces change:- an inclusive organization recognizes that
current and past practices must constantly be reviewed and updated to meet the
changing demands and needs of the industry, workforce, and customers.
4.8. Inclusion Values
Inclusion is most importantly understood as putting inclusive values into
action.
Inclusion is a commitment to particular values which accounts for a wish
to overcome exclusion and promote participation.
The seven Pillars of Inclusion:
•Access:- access explores the importance of a welcoming environment and
the habits that create it.
•Attitude: attitude looks at how willing people are to embrace inclusion and
diversity and to take meaningful action.
•Choice:- choice is all about finding out what options people want and how
they want to get involved
•Partnership:-inclusive values are appreciating diversity, equality, and
equity, cooperativeness, participation, community, and sustainability are
examples of inclusive values that are fundamental for successful inclusive
education
5. Communication:- communication examines the way we let people know
about the options to get involved and about the culture.
6. Policy:- policy considers how an organization commits to and takes
responsibility for inclusion
7. Opportunity:- opportunity explores what options are available for people
from disadvantaged backgrounds.
4.9. Indigenous inclusive values and practices
•The term “indigenous” refers to a better understanding of, and respect for,
indigenous cultures and develops an enriched appreciation of the existing
cultural heritage.
•Indigenous ways of knowing were often discounted and discredited as non-
scientific because they were rooted in the story of the people, their language,
culture, art, mythology, and spirituality.
•Incorporating indigenous ways of learning into educational practices has the
potential to benefit both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners.
•The 21st-century skills needed in the modern curriculum include
collaboration, creativity, innovation, problem-solving, inquiry, multicultural
literacy, etc.
4.10. What is indigenous inclusion?
•Indigenous inclusion is an organizational state that is embraced
as a cultural norm, with enterprise-wide workplace strategies as
well as a culture that invites the full participation of indigenous
people in all aspects of business operations.
•It is where leadership and employees are welcoming of
indigenous people, their experience and outlooks, where
diversity is valued, the spirit of reconciliation has been
embraced and calls to action have been acted on in meaningful
ways.
4.11. Features of an indigenous inclusion:
1.Inclusion has been embraced as a core competency and embedded into
the organizational culture;
2.Companies share their organization‘s experience and achievements
with inclusion and explain how it has helped their performance;
3.Human rights and responsibilities are promoted and respected.
4.Employees are free of concerns related to basic equity issues;
5.Comprehensive Indigenous procurement, recruitment, and corporate
social responsibility strategies have been developed as part of an
enterprise-wide coordinated approach;
6.Indigenous people are employed and retained in all areas of the
organization including the senior leadership and executive positions;
A seven stage model to indigenous inclusion:
Stage 1 – Indifference Stage 3 – Image
Inclusion is not on the radar screen Inclusion as public relations
•Denial forms the basis of workplace diversity. •This company prizes HR – so long as it serves PR.
•Employee morale is never a priority. •What value exists in Indigenous employees – how can
•Discrimination and harassment go they be showcased/exhibited?
•Wholly reactive, but to the carrot rather than the stick.
unchallenged •External perceptions become the surest guide to
Indigenous inclusion.
Stage 2 – Intimidation
Inclusion as forced compliance Stage 4 – Initiation
•This company acts wholly from fear. Inclusion as a business imperative/authoritative
•The minimal legal requirement is the high •A change agent has been roused/provoked by the
bar. values of inclusion.
•All important actions are reactive rather than •That person presents other managers with a
proactive. business case for inclusion.
•Legal obligation becomes the surest or •A nucleus of manager demand drives executives to
inevitable guide to Indigenous inclusion. move the effort forward.
•The organization begins a self-assessment: how
can it become more inclusive?
Stage 5 – Incubation Inclusion nurtured as a core Stage 6 – Integration Inclusion as a catalyst
competency for growth
• The highest executives commit to the path of • The company’s goals are permanently
inclusion. integrated with its inclusion goals.
• Inclusion is regarded as a ‘core competency,
• Employees have high morale and
necessary for organizational growth.
• The business case for Indigenous inclusion is
show a high degree of engagement.
translated into policies and practices. • Long-term strategies drive internal
• The company organizes training and other and external Indigenous relations.
efforts to grow an inclusive culture. • The organization vigorously promotes
inclusion in other organizations.

Stage 7 – Inclusion is fully embraced as the cultural norm

•This highly productive workplace is dedicated to continuous improvement.
•The corporate culture is one of unflagging/continuous commitment to inclusion.
•This is the company of choice for the very best Indigenous talent
4.12. Types of indigenous inclusion policies
•Inclusive practice: is an approach to teaching that recognizes the
diversity of students, enabling all students to access course content, fully
participate in learning activities and demonstrate their knowledge and
strengths at assessment.
•Inclusive practice is about the attitudes, approaches strategies talent to
ensure that people are not excluded or isolated.
•Inclusive practice involves having an understanding of the impact that
discrimination, inequality, and social exclusion can have on an
individual.
4.13. Inclusive practices in education are based on seven principles:
1.Diversity enriches and strengthens all communities
2.All learners‘ different learning styles and achievements are equally
valued, respected, and celebrated by society
3.All learners are enabled to fulfill their potential by taking into account
individual requirements and needs
4.Support is guaranteed and fully resourced across the whole learning
experience
5.All learners need friendship and support from people of their own age
6.All children and young people are educated together as equals in their
local communities
7.Inclusive teaching strategies refer to any number of teaching
approaches that address the needs of students with a variety of
backgrounds, learning modalities, and abilities.
 Chapter summer questions
1. What does mean inclusive culture?
2. What are the dimensions of inclusive culture?
3. Explain the process of building community for an inclusive culture
4. What are the approaches to establishing inclusive culture?
5. What are the inclusive values?
6. What are the indigenous inclusive values
7. Evaluate existing inclusive practices in Ethiopia