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Project Selection and Competency Self-Assessment
Overview
Cultural exchanges in the work environment are complicated by their very nature. However, differences in race, ethnicity, class, gender, and religion can add to the complexity and further intensify even the most basic misunderstanding. In order for you to more fully comprehend this phenomenon, your first assignment (and the first of three for your course project) will begin in the context of the work place.
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the influence of culture on attitudes, values, perception, human behavior, and interpersonal relations.
Explain why an identified problem is relevant or important to fostering the understanding of diversity issues.
Competency 2: Analyze individual cultural competencies.
Identify individual cultural competencies.
Analyze one’s own cultural knowledge, awareness, sensitivity, and actions.
Competency 3: Analyze culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention strategies.
Describe the essential elements of a cultural conflict.
Competency 4: Apply theories, methods, and research in cross-cultural awareness.
Describe a project research question.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of the human services profession.
Communicate in a professional manner, using concise, well organized, and grammatically correct writing that incorporates appropriate APA style and conventions.
Assignment Instructions
Part 1
Describe a fictional or real-life, work related conflict that has arisen from, and is complicated by, cultural differences. This scenario will serve as the basis for your course project.
Write a two-page narrative detailing pertinent information about your scenario including:
A clear statement of the conflict and project research question.
A description of the essential elements of the conflict, including any relevant details leading up to the conflict.
A discussion of the cultural competencies of the participants.
A rationale for the relevance or importance of this scenario to foster the understanding of diversity issues.
Part 2
It is also important for you to be aware of your own cultural competencies or how well you are able to act with people from other cultures. At the end of this course, you will be asked to assess how participating in this course has contributed to your personal and professional growth. In order to do that, it is helpful to have a starting point for your reflection. Refer to the Sperry (2012) article on cultural competencies from this unit’s readings.
Continue your narrative and reflect on your cultural knowledge, awareness, sensitivity, and action—the four components of cultural competence outlined by Sperry. Be explicit in your reflection and assess your ability in each area as very high, high, average, low, or very low. This section should be one page.
When you have completed your description, submit your paper in the assignment area. Your instructor will provide you with feedback and give his or her approval for your selected topic.
Submission Requirements
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
Length: Three pages, double spaced.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
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Unit 4 Working With African Americans and Native Americans
Introduction
We now turn our attention to two specific minority groups: African Americans and Native Americans. While each group has different cultural values, histories, and needs, each group has experienced societal discrimination and oppression as evidenced by its struggles for human rights and equality.
African Americans and Native Americans have historically experienced slavery, lack of basic human rights and legal protection, misunderstanding, verbal and physical abuse, and even murder. While these groups now have state and federal legal protection, racism is still alive and well. Ask yourself the following questions: “If I were an African American or a Native American, how would I feel about the historical discrimination and violence inflicted upon my ethnic group? How would I feel about today’s experience with discrimination? How do these facts and ideas arise in the workplace?” These questions are important, because they allow us to consider how some people of color may culturally or individually internalize cultural oppression.
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In this unit, you will study the recent research on discrimination against African Americans and Native Americans and the cultural effects of the discrimination. Furthermore, we will consider family values, group cohesiveness, spirituality, acculturation conflicts, and the psychosocial and employment or career issues for each group. Culturally sensitive interactions and problem solving cannot be effectively implemented in the workplace until a manager, an employee, or a supervisor is aware of the various challenges and issues. Possessing this knowledge provides opportunities to treat others effectively.
You are encouraged to reflect on how your current theoretical and personal approach may influence your effectiveness in communicating with these groups.
Overview
There has been increasing tension between teachers of different races regarding how children are being disciplined the in African American households in their school district. Many Caucasian teachers (80% of the teacher population) believe that the methods of discipline are inappropriate, while African American teachers (a vast minority of teachers in the district) largely believe that the methods of punishment are appropriate for their culture.
You have been asked to provide cultural sensitivity training to teachers in the school district. The goal is to increase cultural and ethnic awareness for each of the teacher groups so they can foster a better understanding of one another’s point of view and deescalate the tension between the groups.
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the influence of culture on attitudes, values, perception, human behavior, and interpersonal relations.
Analyze how cultural customs can be interpreted or misinterpreted by other cultures.
Discuss common elements of cultural misunderstandings.
Competency 2: Analyze individual cultural competencies.
Identify types of information to gather from stakeholders for intervention planning.
Competency 3: Analyze culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention strategies.
Identify culturally sensitive intervention strategies.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of the human services profession.
Communicate in a professional manner, using scholarly resources that support the analysis through clear, concise, well organized, and grammatically correct writing that incorporates appropriate APA style and conventions.
Counseling Case Study
Assignment Instructions
Write an outline of a presentation (not a full presentation) to be given to the teachers that provides guidance on how to address the issue. The point of this outline is to detail how you would approach the task and to identify areas that need to be included when addressing this multicultural conflict.
Minimally you should:
Define the problem.
Identify types of information to gather from stakeholders for intervention planning.
Identify stakeholders with whom you would consult to further explore the issues.
State what you hope to learn from them.
Discuss cultural factors that need to be taken into consideration analyzing the issue.
Identify elements of this case study that are common to all cultural conflicts.
Analyze how cultural customs can be interpreted or misinterpreted by other cultures.
Identify culturally sensitive intervention strategies.
Discuss how you approach the issue and the teachers.
Recommend strategies to share with teachers on how to increase cultural understanding of the teachers on both sides of the issue.
You may also consider the following questions:
What are some of the things you need to consider when working with someone who is of a different ethnic or cultural group than you?
What stereotypes may be present that complicate the conflict?
What are the barriers to effective communication in this case?
Is it important to determine which side is right or wrong to solve this problem? Why or why not?
When you have completed the assignment, submit your paper in the assignment area. Then post it as an attachment following the instructions in this unit’s first discussion.
Note: You are strongly encouraged to complete and post your first draft of this outline to this discussion early in the week, to allow yourself sufficient time to exchange feedback.
Submission Requirements
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
Length: Two pages, double-spaced, outline.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
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Unit 5 Gender in the Workplace
Introduction
In this unit, we consider the experience of women. Regardless of their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, women continue to confront sexism, sexual harassment, and issues related to inequality. Even where there are laws against it, sexual discrimination and harassment continue to occur. Many women continue to receive lower salaries than men, experience greater psychosocial issues relative to the aging process, and disproportionately experience victimization and symptoms of depression.
For this unit, you are encouraged to examine both your assumptions and biases related to women and women’s experience of cultural oppression. You will examine identity issues and how women are affected by sexism and gender bias. We will explore why women struggle to establish a firm identity and claim their power in a male-dominated workplace.
Project Outline and Literature Review
Overview
Entering an academic conversation involves many steps. Two of the most fundamental of these steps involve reading material in the field and forming a perspective on what you have read. Academics demonstrate their perspective on the material in the field by composing a literature review.
The purpose of this assignment is to assist you in gathering pertinent research for your final project. Begin by developing an outline that presents categories such as the background, theory, and challenges of the cultural conflict that you identified for your research topic. Then complete a literature review for each category. In brief, a literature review covers multiple areas on the topic including:
Key concepts.
Existing theories.
What is known.
What is not well understood.
Why it is important to study this topic.
What research methods seem most appropriate.
A literature review traces the genealogy of a topic in the field; it notes the history of the topic and the notable perspectives of others in the field who have addressed the topic. The purpose of a literature review is to demonstrate that a writer has insightfully and critically surveyed relevant literature in order to convince a targeted audience that this topic is worth addressing. The literature review is not intended to report the literature, but instead to synthesize it.
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
Competency 2: Analyze individual cultural competencies.
Competency 3: Analyze culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention strategies.
Analyze findings on intervention strategies published by cultural and ethnic researchers.
Competency 4: Apply theories, methods, and research in cross-cultural awareness.
Interpret scholarly resources for cultural theories and practices relevant to the proposed topic.
Examine the research on challenges facing a population.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of the human services profession.
Communicate in a professional manner using scholarly resources that support the analysis through clear, concise, well organized, and grammatically correct writing that incorporates appropriate APA style and conventions.
Assignment Instructions
Complete a 3–5 page literature review that cites 8–10 recently published (within the last five years), peer-reviewed resources that inform your research topic. It will be helpful to consider making an outline for your final paper. The literature review should minimally include:
Restatement of the cultural conflict identified in your Unit 2 assignment.
Discussion of the population or populations.
Theories and research that explore the problem.
Challenges facing the population or populations.
Identification and analysis of personal competencies.
While you may find additional resources to use in your final submission, these sources should provide a conceptual framework of theories and strategies for your intervention.
Your literature review should cover the elements above and provide enough detail for your instructor to assess the relevance of your research and the application of the research to develop an evidence-based intervention plan for your project.
Submission Requirements
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
Length: 3–5 double-spaced, typed pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
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Riverbend City – A Case Study in Multicultural Empathy
Overview
If you have not already done so, view Riverbend City: Human Services Case Study Mission. In it, you will share the experiences of a Hmong family after their young child is injured during a train derailment in the fictional Riverbend City.
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the influence of culture on attitudes, values, perception, human behavior, and interpersonal relations.
Analyze the role culture plays in a conflict.
Competency 2: Analyze individual cultural competencies.
Explain the role of empathy in cultural competence.
Competency 3: Analyze culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention strategies.
Appraise culturally appropriate intervention strategies.
Competency 4: Apply theories, methods, and research in cross-cultural awareness.
Apply theories on empathy to the understanding of multicultural conflict resolution.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of the human services profession.
Communicate in a professional manner, using scholarly resources that support the analysis through clear, concise, well organized, and grammatically correct writing that incorporates appropriate APA style and conventions.
Assignment Instructions
For this assignment you will write a three-page paper exploring the critical issues raised during this cross-cultural interchange. Include at least five references from peer-reviewed sources that support your approaches and positions. The paper should consider the following:
Analyze the role culture plays in a conflict.
What problems and issues resulted from the cultural differences between key groups?
From the hospital’s point of view, what cultural traits made Lu Vang’s treatment more complex?
From the Vang family’s point of view, what cultural issues complicated their interactions with the medical staff?
Explain the role of empathy in cultural competence.
Discuss instances where the cultural misunderstanding could have been mitigated if people had been empathetic.
Appraise culturally appropriate intervention strategies.
What kind of cultural training could have enhanced the medical staff’s effectiveness in this situation?
Why is this training appropriate and what should it achieve?
Apply theories on empathy to the understanding of multicultural conflict resolution.
What theories on multiculturalism help our understanding of this case study?
Submission Requirements
Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting. Cite at least three references.
Length: Three double-spaced, typed pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.
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Unit 10 Course Project and Reflection : Introduction
During this course you have focused on topics that influence workplace effectiveness and communication. You examined issues in multiculturalism, including ethical and legal considerations and racial, ethnic, and cultural identity developmental models. You then applied them to the examinations of specific cultural groups such as African, Native, Asian, and Hispanic Americans and groups with the primary diversity characteristics of gender, age, sexual orientation, and disability. At the end of the course, you had the opportunity to study and apply theories about communication with diverse work groups and managing in a diverse workplace.
Exploring an Ethnic or Multicultural Challenge Assignment
Overview
As professionals who are seeking graduate education to enhance leadership ability, we are conscious of our responsibility to develop awareness and skills that will assist us in the world of work. We recognize that we participate in a large, multicultural workforce that demands a cultural understanding of our co-workers. Even if we are well intentioned, the potential for miscommunication and conflict always exists.
This final project is your opportunity to demonstrate the cultural competencies that you have developed in this course. In Unit 2, you identified an area of cultural conflict for your course project and addressed your current level of cultural competence. In Unit 5, you conducted a literature review to serve as a theoretical foundation on which to base conclusions for the course project.
In this final part of the project, you will further define key elements of the issue or issues. You will then apply theories on cultural awareness you have studied to analyze the issues defined in your problem statement to make intervention recommendations.
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
Competency 1: Analyze the influence of culture on attitudes, values, perception, human behavior, and interpersonal relations.
Examine the ethical considerations for an intervention.
Analyze how the intervention methodology might be interpreted by various stakeholders.
Competency 2: Analyze individual cultural competencies.
Analyze issues defined in a problem statement.
Competency 3: Analyze culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention strategies.
Analyze an appropriate intervention recommendation.
Competency 4: Apply theories, methods, and research in cross-cultural awareness.
Apply concepts, theories, and research on culture and ethnicity to a multicultural conflict.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of the human services profession.
Communicate in a professional manner, using concise, well organized, and grammatically correct writing that incorporates appropriate APA style and conventions.
Assignment Instructions
Your required readings, discussion questions, and assignments in this course have been preparing you for this final course project. Here is a roadmap that will help you organize and complete this unit.
Begin by rereading the first requirement in your Unit 2 assignment. Here is where you described a fictional or real-life, work-related conflict that was complicated by cultural differences. You were asked to discuss the cultural identity of the participants, provide a clear statement of the conflict and research question, add any relevant details leading up to the conflict, and share your rationale for the relevance of this scenario. This information needs to be clearly stated at the beginning of your final project, so the reader understands the scope of the problem and is engaged by the topic. Do not simply borrow your words verbatim from Unit 2. Instead, use economical language and synthesize ideas about the cultural problem that you are investigating.
Important: The second part of the Unit 2 assignment asked you to address your own cultural competencies. Do not include this information in your final project. Instead, use your self-assessment as a baseline when you reflect on your personal and professional growth in the Unit 10 discussions.
You may have constructed an outline for your paper when you were writing your Unit 5 literature review assignment. If so, consider any revisions you might want to make. If you have not yet made an outline, you are encouraged to do so, as it will keep you organized as you move forward.
Review your literature again. Consider what you have learned from the resources you found, and think about how you will apply it to your topic. Have you have found at least 10 current (written in the last five years) books or peer-reviewed journal articles? Weave your literature review into the various sections of your paper. Add to your references if you feel that you have a gap in the professional literature.
In this assignment you will:
Analyze issues defined in the problem statement.
Analyze an appropriate intervention recommendation.
What interventions strategies or theories are appropriate for the scenario? Analyze why they are appropriate.
Who should initiate and conduct the intervention?
What managerial skills and tools might be required?
Analyze how the intervention methodology might be interpreted by various stakeholders.
Examine the ethical considerations for an intervention.
Does the intervention ask stakeholders to adapt or change in some way? If so, are those changes ethical?
If they are not asked to adapt, what are the ethical implications of not doing so?
What personal biases or prejudices should you be aware of, as a person making the intervention recommendation?
Apply concepts, theories, and research on culture and ethnicity to a multicultural conflict.
Submit your final project into the assignment area.
Submission Requirements
Written communication: Paper should communicate professionally with writing that is clear, effective, and persuasive about ideas and positions presented in the paper. These ideas and positions must be relevant in the profession and discipline.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA Manual (6th edition) style and formatting.
Length: Paper should be at least 10 pages but no more than 14 pages, including the references but excluding the title page and the table of contents.
References: Paper should include a minimum of 10 references from peer-reviewed journal articles or books that have been written in the last five years.
Format: Paper should have a title page, a table of contents, the text, and references. References are listed on a separate page.
