Assessment Summary (Completed by Assessor) s1

Trainee Assessment

Cultural communication strategies

Cultural communication strategies (US 11099 v5) Trainee Assessment © Careerforce – Issue 2.0 – January 2017 13

Assessment summary (completed by assessor)

Trainee’s performance summary

Unit standard results

I have assessed the trainee and confirm that the requirements have been met to demonstrate competency in:

Trainee information

Before you start

·  The assessor/observer will talk about what you need to do.

·  You may have been observed doing some of these tasks already, or there may be workplace documents you have completed, such as a workplace incident report, which documents what you have done at work.

·  You may bring evidence of what you have done already, such as your induction training log, or proof of competency from a course you have completed, eg a marked assessment or project. This may be recorded as evidence.

·  You will need to communicate in a culturally diverse situation.

As you go

·  Follow the instructions for each task.

·  For knowledge assessment questions you can choose to write your answers or your assessor may record your verbal answers for you.

·  Your assessor or observer will use the observation form in this Trainee Assessment when they observe your work. Sometimes they may ask you to do a specific task or ask a question about what you are doing.

·  If you need help with this assessment, please contact your assessor.

When you finish

·  Make sure you have completed any parts where the assessor/observer has said you need to do more work.

Appeals

If you wish to appeal against the assessment result or process, talk to your assessor.

If you are still not satisfied, you can appeal to Careerforce by completing the assessment result appeal form. You can find this form online at www.careerforce.org.nz/contact/forms

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Definitions

The word trainee in this assessment refers to you, the person being assessed. Other terms that may be used are student, candidate or employee.

An organisation’s policies and procedures are the policies and procedures of the employer and include ethical codes, standards and other organisational requirements.

A workplace assessor or assessor is the person who will assess you.

An observer is someone who understands the assessment, works closely with you and can confirm that you have performed the task competently.

The terms verifier and verification may be used in some assessments instead of observer or observation.

Cultural diversity refers to differences between groups of people who share beliefs, values, and norms as a result of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, special needs, and religion.

Task 1: Cultural communication preferences

1  Describe two communication preferences for three different cultural groups.

Identify three cultural groups that are based upon age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, special needs, or religion (preferably cultural groups that are present in your workplace).

For each of these three cultural groups, describe two communication preferences, and how they impact on communication in the workplace. Communication preferences can be:

·  verbal, such as word choice and/or language used, titles and greetings, willingness to express opinions, dealing with conflict or something else.

·  non-verbal, such as use of silence, physical contact, gestures, eye contact, proximity, timing, physical appearance, environment cues or something else.

In Task 2 you will need to develop three strategies to improve cross-cultural communication, so where possible use some real situations from your workplace or life.

Example answer.

Cultural group Samoan

Communication preference 1

People who have been raised in a traditional Samoan context (and many NZ born Samoan people who have been raised according to Samoan custom, as well as people from other Pacific Islands backgrounds) consider that direct eye contact can mean disrespect, particularly when communicating with people in authority. They may prefer to avoid direct eye contact.

Describe how communication preference 1 impacts on communication in the workplace.

This can impact on communication in the workplace in at least two ways.

First, avoidance of direct eye contact may be interpreted by people raised in a Pākehā culture as being evasive, or untruthful. Secondly, if a Pākehā staff member (for example) makes direct eye contact with a Samoan person who culturally prefers less direct eye contact when communicating, it may seem rude and confrontational.

2  Describe how communication preferences impact on two workplace practices.

Identify and discuss how culturally diverse communication preferences can impact on two workplace practices. Workplace practices may include preference for working in a group, selection of leaders, relationships with superiors, composition of work teams, rostering, participation at meetings or something else from your workplace.

Example answer.

Workplace practice: Relationships with superiors.

Communication preference: Willingness to express opinions.

Describe how this communication preference may impact on workplace practice.

This communication preference may impact upon relationships with superiors (and participation in meetings as well). People who have been raised in a traditional Pacific Islands context (and many NZ born Pacific people) may not be accustomed to, or feel comfortable with, debating ideas with people who are in a leadership role.

The leader of a team or group may believe that lack of debate means agreement, whereas a team member from a Pacific Islands culture may completely disagree, but feel reluctant or unable to express an opinion contrary to that of the team leader.

3  Identify two items of relevant legislation and two organisational regulations or policies in your workplace that relate to cultural diversity and briefly explain their impact on communication.

Legislation referred to includes: State Sector Act 1988 and Human Rights Act 1993. If the State Sector Act 1988 is not relevant to your workplace, please make a note of that fact, and instead cover a different but relevant item of legislation (eg the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994, reprinted 2016).

Example answer.

Organisational regulations or policy Māori represented on staff selection panels

Briefly explain the impact on communication in the workplace.

We have an organisational policy of always ensuring that all prospective employees (Māori and non-Māori) have communication skills that are in line with our organisation’s policies and requirements for communicating in a culturally diverse way. For example, they should know how to communicate in a culturally diverse way when opening a meeting with a Karakia.

When the assessor agrees that you have completed this task successfully, they will sign it off on the assessment summary page at the front of this assessment.

Task 2: Communication strategies

For this task, you are required to develop and use three strategies to enhance cross-cultural communication for the impacts you have identified in Task 1. This could be with co-workers, colleagues, team members, visitors, customers or clients, or people you deal with outside your organisation. The people need to be culturally different to you.

You are then required to evaluate the three strategies in terms of their effectiveness in improving cross-cultural communication in the workplace.

Please write down a bit about the person you communicated with, the situation, your strategies and evaluate them, answering the questions on the following form.

Your observer will watch you communicating and will complete the observation form. They may ask questions about what you are doing or what you have done previously. They may have recently seen you do one or more of these tasks. If so, they can record on the form evidence previously seen, heard, documented or filed.

Read the observation form to make sure you cover all requirements and know how your performance will be assessed.

Sample answer for one strategy.

Strategy 1: Use of greetings and phrases from other cultures

I met with Doris (Māori female) who is new to our organisation. She had identified in induction that she speaks Māori as her main language on the marae and that English was her second language. My strategy was to learn how to greet Doris in Māori. I chose this strategy firstly as a sign of respect, secondly to add warmth and welcoming to the situation, and thirdly to help break down the impact of any language barriers that may exist.

The fact that I did this encouraged Doris to speak freely, which is what I had hoped would happen. She had a few questions about how we operate and she felt at ease to ask these questions. I also picked up that Doris preferred to have a conversation face-to-face rather than on email due to English being her second language.

Evaluation: I evaluated the strategy as effective because it encouraged two-way cross-cultural communication between me and Doris and she asked questions. I had expected this to work,and it worked better than I thought as I also picked up on her preference for face-to-face conversations which avoided possible difficulties in communication with Doris.

Observation

If you are an observer, please give your details as the assessor may wish to contact you.

When the assessor agrees that you have completed this task successfully, they will sign it off on the assessment summary page at the front of this assessment.

Cultural communication strategies (US 11099 v5) Trainee Assessment © Careerforce – Issue 2.0 – January 2017 13