Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing)

BUSM4550 Innovation Management

Assessment 2: Group Project

Due Date: 23-05-2022

Tutor: Dr Faisal Wali

Group 7
Lachlan James Simmons s3841842
Maan Kiu Yip s3754495

Project Film YouTube hyperlink:

https://youtu.be/wDjMOfvjOzM
Executive summary
Australia consists of a highly diverse population which can be especially reflected in
the Medical industry; According to research, the Australian workforce consist of 52%
female, 17% below the age of 30, 7% identify as having one or more disabilities, 6%
identify as Bisexual, Trans, and/or Intersex and 2% identify as Aboriginal and/or
Torres Strait Islander. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2020). Among these
populations, the medical sector shows a significantly high diversity within its
workforce; with a combination of 586,000 women, 146,000 men, from different
cultural backgrounds and conditions distributed at different areas. However, diversity
and differences within a workplace is associated with negative effects such as poor
communication, low motivation, reduced teamwork, exclusion, conflicts and even
members leaving the organisation; so it is an issue in need to be addressed
effectively.
Targeting employees working under impacts of workplace diversity within the
medical industry; This report aims to create an effective solution for resolving the
discovered problems in 3 phases with the application of Design Thinking frameworks
and tools. By firstly defining the issues faced, we gain a deep understanding and
empathising of users’ pain points and needs with a personas. Then, divergent
thinking is carried out to derive potential solutions with a Value Proposition Canvas
generated. With the number of possibilities, one preferred solution is narrowed down
to and described for further development. Eventually, the first minimum viable
products are used to test our assumptions of the solution. It will be explained in detail
along with the metrics and ethical considerations discussed.

Executive summary 2
Introduction 4
Phase 1: 4
Problem - Workplace Diversity of medical industry in Australia 4
Negative Impacts of a diverse workforce 5
Pain Points to derive a solution for 8
Goals 9
Phase 2: 10
Preferred Solution 11
Phase 3: 13
Desirability Assumptions 14
Feasibility Assumptions 14
Viability Assumptions 15
Project film 15
Ethical considerations 15
Conclusion 15
References 17
Appendix 18
App Layout 18
Introduction
Australia has an inclusive culture, diversity is promoted within organisations across
all cities in each state of the country. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, the
workforce in Australia consist of 52% female, 17% below the age of 30, 7% identify
as having one or more disabilities, 6% identify as Bisexual, Trans, and/or Intersex
and 2% identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. As the population
continues to develop, the Australian medical sector has a significant growth in size
and diversity (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2020). It is highly diverse in gender,
cultural backgrounds and conditions. As teams are formed with individuals from
varied culture, gender, age, religion and perspectives; differences can lead to
reduced teamwork, poor communication, conflict and exclusion which has significant
impacts on the productivity of an organisation.
Therefore, in this report, issues of workforce diversity will be identified, explored and
emphasised with empathy mapping and personas. With the problems defined, a
preferred solution which is an app is derived after using a Value Proposition Canvas
to generate useful ideas. Targeting employees within the diverse workforce of the
Australian medical industry, the solution is developed further with a Build-Measure-
Learn table to validate assumptions for the chosen solution.

Phase 1:
Problem - Workplace Diversity of medical industry in Australia
Australia consists of a highly diverse population which can be especially reflected in
the Medical industry; According to research, Australia’s health workforce is large and
significantly diverse. In terms of demographics, there are 586,000 registered health
practitioners in Australia, with over 440,000 women and 146,000 men. They are
varied in age (from 20-34 years old to 45-54), background (International medical
graduates comprise over 39% of the Australian medical workforce and 46% of
general practitioners within rural and remote locations), and conditions (Including
individuals with disabilities or different sexual orientation). (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2020)

Workforce diversity refers to those different attributes characteristics employees

have that make them unique. These attributes can include gender, race, ethnicity,
religion, age, sexual orientation, physical abilities and ideologies. Workforce diversity
also includes individuals' perception, how they do things and the overall culture of an
organisation.
Negative Impacts of a diverse workforce
Negative impacts caused by diversity in workforces is an alarming issue in Australia.
As inclusion culture is promoted across Australian organisations, employees are
likely to be from different national origins, language and cultural backgrounds, age
groups, religion, gender identities, socioeconomic status, and family structures.
Unfortunately, diversity and differences within a team is highly associated with a list
of negative effects on a company; For example, poor communication, low motivation,
reduced teamwork, exclusion, conflicts and even members leaving the organisation;
so it is an issue in need to be addressed effectively.
Poor Communication
Poor communication results in slow work progress and negative corporate culture. It
occurs in diverse workplaces because different cultures have varied communication
styles. For example, Western cultures are direct and deliver obvious messages;
whereas in many Eastern cultures, messages tend to be presented discreetly.
Therefore, people from different cultures often cause misunderstanding and
confusion while exchanging information during face-to-face interactions and virtual
communication. In the medical workforce, it is important to ensure messages are
received properly in order to treat their clients correctly. It is revealed by research
into diversity and inclusion that 62% of working Australians admit to concealing part
of their identity from their colleagues at times or all the time due to ineffective
communication under a diverse environment. (Indeed, 2021) When a team lacks
decent communication, positive connection and commitment to the organisation and
the members within, it is difficult for them to fully understand tasks thus cooperating
together. If the situation continues, a culture of bad communication can form and
spread within the company, slowing the entire operation so it should be addressed
and improved.
Low Motivation
According to statistics revealed by research, 70% of surveyed employees within a
diverse workforce are disengaged. This is because the minority groups of employees
may feel isolated and unhappy within their workplace. On the basis of Maslow
Hierarchy of needs, employees’ needs are required to be fulfilled in order to carry out
certain performances. Love and belonging is categorised in the third level; which
means members need to feel a sense of connection and belonging to be satisfied.
Unfortunately, more than 30% of surveyed individuals from a cultural or ethnic
minority group think that they are treated unequally where they work. (Indeed, 2021)
This reduces the motivation of team members within the organisation; and their
demotivation and lack of enthusiasm actually costs the organisation money. It is
revealed that companies lose an average of $450 to $550 billion annually due to
unmotivated employees. (Ayu, 2014) Therefore, increasing enthusiasm and
encouraging employees is essential for positive motivation.
Reduced teamwork
Teamwork can be affected by the gaps of language, knowledge and perspectives
between members. Differences in languages and ways of thinking can cause social
segregation because of language barriers as well as hardships in comprehending or
agreeing to each others' opinions. Therefore, it often takes time for employees to
understand, accept and adapt to the differences of each other. Failure to get along or
balancing the abilities and capabilities of each member within a team makes task
allocation difficult, ideas are also hard to be integrated properly. So ensuring
acceptance, adaptiveness and balance is important for increasing teamwork
productivity.
Exclusion and Conflicts
Exclusion and conflicts happen mostly stem from a lack of respect or understanding
for another’s cultural or social differences. For example, a manager refuses to let
employees with religious observances take time off. These social misunderstanding
and religious discrimination can cause a conflict in the workforce and impact in a
negative corporate culture, and affecting the company's operation and teamwork.
According to Indeed’s research, only 66% of non-English speaking workers and 69%
of Indigenous Australians believe their employer would take action against
discrimination. (Indeed, 2021) This reflects the large number of workers feeling
insecure or excluded, which can cause conflicts and should be resolved quickly.

Figure 1: Empathy map

 Figure 2: Personas

In order to create the most appropriate solution, the above empathy map and
personas are generated from surveys and research discovered to critically identify
the Pain points and goals of the employees within a diverse workplace.
Pain Points to derive a solution for
Cultural differences and language barriers
Minority groups within an organisation often include populations from different
countries or cultural backgrounds. People who are unfamiliar with them may
misunderstand, disrespect or offend their feelings, thoughts and beliefs. As
complex vocabulary and concepts are involved in the medical industry, individuals
from foreign backgrounds tend to struggle more in fully understanding and adapting
to the way of thinking or doing things in Australia which can bring negative thoughts
and comments from colleagues.
Translation apps are often used amongst monitory groups with English as their
second language. Practising in real life is needed but they might be shy, worried
about making mistakes or lack effective help. Sometimes it is also challenging for
sensitive individuals to be questioned about cultural or second language aspects as
it may cause awkwardness or sound impolite when a message is misdelivered.
Bad communication
Due to diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, opinions and ways of thinking, it’s
likely for miscommunication to occur when messages are delivered
inappropriately; which can cause disconnection and reduced productivity within a
team.
In many cases, employees have different first languages which requires time for
them to get used to each other’s English level, pace and frequency of each other
when they communicate. Some individuals may feel “different” and troublesome
when they are unable to comprehend or struggling while others are coping well.
They try to blend in better by speaking more often, but extra assistance is felt
needed. For example, an app, help from professionals or practice from the are
considered more effective.
Lack of understanding and acceptance
Understanding and Acceptance requires effort to train and develop. Yet relevant
training is only provided in some organisations in Australia, many people lack
knowledge and embracement for minority groups or colleagues with differences.
Some people may feel excluded and isolated at work because they don’t form
many relationships within the workplace due to seldom interactions or conflicts.
Social media is commonly used amongst employees within organisations. Most of
them already know each other and have a certain relationship circle within the
environment. Whereas some other groups experience difficulties in “blending in” and
making friends. This is also related to their motivation and work progress because
their psychological needs have to be fulfilled for carrying out proper performance.
Training costs can be unaffordable
Counselling services and diversity related training can be expensive on the market.
It is inaccessible for partial individuals with a low to moderate income.
Goals
Common issues of a diverse workplace include problems in understanding and
language barriers, lack of willingness to work and missing belongingness. And
employees working under these conditions tend to have several objectives. For
example, being able to comprehend tasks better, achieve higher levels in language
and communication aspects, boost motivation and productivity, and make more
friends at work for positive relations.
Phase 2:

Figure 3: Value Proposition Canvas

With the information gathered in the Problem section of this report, a value
proposition map (Figure 2) is generated to summarise the real needs and wants of
employees within a diverse workforce. Aiming to solve the issues identified
previously, including lack of interaction and training, miscommunication, conflicts,
exclusion and reduced productivity; a few potential solutions are derived from the
“Problem Solutions” section of the figure, as follows.
● Language and Communication Training Programs
Targeting all employees within an organisation, free online diversity and inclusion
training as well as communication improvement programs can be conducted
regularly to address a range of issues, including unconscious bias, microaggressions
and cross-cultural communications. The training activities will encourage employees
to tolerate and accept differences, educating them on avoiding conflicts, embracing
diverse perspectives effectively.
● Assistance service
Free, short-term counselling services can be offered to help employees in need of
resolving diversity issues by developing tailored strategies to help enhance
confidence, motivation as well as mental wellbeing.
● Mentorship programs
Mentorship programs can be arranged and provided by pairing senior employees
with junior employees in need, by offering support and a listening ear, mentees can
learn new knowledge and skills through mentors' expertise, develop connection as
well as commitment, and feel included.
● Employee engagement outings and activities
According to research, over 55% of employees prefer a varied working atmosphere.
Therefore, ethnic events and well-planned diversity outings or activities ideas will
boost the growth of connections, team-spirit and help motivate employees.
(Unremot, 2020)
● A mobile phone app with multiple functions
Phone apps are commonly used nowadays. In fact, 79.60% of the Australian
population owns a smartphone, and over 60% of surveyed employees use apps for
work-related activities. Therefore, an app with multiple functions is considered highly
accessible and convenient for employees within a diverse workforce. The app's
functions include online training programs, assistance services, mentorship
arrangement feature and announcement of employees engagement activities, etc.

Preferred Solution
Multi-functioned mobile phone app
An app (named Include) is the preferred solution we have narrowed down to.
Because it is highly accessible to most employees within Australia, and has the
capability to consist of all functions including training, assistance, mentorship
programs as well as activities arrangement, which suitably solves all the Pain points
and potentially fulfil the goals identified in Phase 1.
Include will be installed by employees. By registering profiles under the
organisations' accounts respectively, their own communities are formed where
people from the same workplace can communicate and seek help at. The manager
will be in charge of main operations on the platform and handling administration.
There will be 6 main functions, offering various advantages for people working under
a diverse workforce; as follows.
1. News Feed
A Facebook-like News Feed page will be created to promote equality thus boosting
connections and relations within the organisation. Because every user is provided
the opportunity and right to publicly speak, regardless of their background or
condition. It also helps encourage shy or insecure individuals to take a step forward
as virtual communication causes less nervousness than verbal.
Employees will be able to upload images, videos or texts, make comments and
share others’ posts thus exchange and learn about lifestyles and opinions from
different perspectives. This will gain better understanding of differences of individuals
and promote connections as well as interactions, employees have more
opportunities to get along and enhance team-spirit.
2. Assistance Service
Counselling will be provided on Include by connecting employees straight to
professional counsellors for resolving conflicts and negative emotions. Direction,
mindfulness counselling and tailored strategies will be provided through live chat or
physical sessions that can be appointed on the app as well.
Employees who may be negatively impacted by diverse workforces can seek mental
recovery, strategic advice and encouragement through the service, free of cost to
improve in problem solving, motivation and confidence. By focusing on self well-
being, it is more likely for individuals to perform well during teamwork thus boosting
motivation.
3. Mentorship Program
Senior employees will be invited to become mentors. The name list of available
mentors will be updated on the app for booking regularly. A mentor session will be
successfully booked when the request is confirmed from both ends.
This way employees are able to find help easily on Include when they face
challenges. Medical related work involves complex concepts and processes; it is
hard for some people to memorise and comprehend all the instructions and
knowledge. By real-life teaching mentees through profession and expertise,
mentees are expected to successfully gain skills, knowledge and productivity
efficiently.
4. Employees Engagement Activities
Employees engagement activities will be announced in the Announcement page
within the app with images and details posted. Users are likely to be appealed as it
also has a simple sign up function and button to invite colleagues. This enhances
convenience thus increasing opportunities for employees to build relationships and
relax. As a result, they are encouraged to interact, make friends and practice in real
life communication.
5. Training Programs
Free online training of different topics will be provided within the app. Modules and
materials can be accessed by employees to learn and gain comprehension in
various aspects, including communication training, cultural awareness, sensitivity,
diversity as well as adaptiveness, for no cost.
This prevents the high cost of training on the market nowadays, providing employees
pathways to improve their mindset and communication skills in different aspects from
online courses so they can effectively communicate and perform better as a team. It
also helps employees in self-optimising, promote respect, understanding and
acceptance for diversity within the workforce, eliminate discrimition and conflicts by
appropriately educating employees.
6. Feedback and Surveys
Regular feedback and surveys will be posted on Include for employees to fill and
submit. The results conducted will be recorded in the system for the management
team to review and sort. Negative comments or unideal situations reported will be
carefully handled and reflected on. So the organisation can make continuous
improvements on the policies, activities and offerings according to the real opinions
 and results collected. This way, organisations can truly know what employees think
and need, thus carrying out the best way to ensure staffs’ satisfaction, motivation
and a positive corporate culture.

Phase 3:

Issues surrounding diversity in the workplace within the Australian medical industry
are in dire need of a solution. Simplifying ways for workers to excel in overcoming
language barriers, boosting motivation and productivity as well as creating positive
relations to join and create friendly communities within the workplace is what our
chosen MVP in this report sets out to do. To tackle these issues directly our group
has come up with the idea of creating an easily accessible and user-friendly app with
the sole purpose of reducing the impact of the negative workplace diversity issues.
Our first step in this experiment is using the BML table to evaluate our priorities
based on our potential user’s feedback and opinions, giving us a clear outline of the
features and designs we need to use to create the best experience. This will play a
major role in the trial stage of our application as it will help us expand and perfect the
useability for the final development and release of the application. Our application
will be named “Include”.

Figure 4: B-M-L Planning (Targeting main assumptions)

MVP Desirability Assumptions Experiments Metrics Yes No

Applications Apps useability and Demonstrations with potential Aesthetically pleasing

Functionality functions meets the users where a live feedback Required functions
and interface required users’ screen will be available to Easy to use and navigate
expectations record the users’ opinions

Mock-up A mock-up app for users to Demonstrate through video Feedback

Application Trial trial in the development tutorial on how the Positive and negative
stage application works and all the comments
functions it offers Suggestions for the final
release

MVP Feasibility Assumptions Experiments Metrics Yes No

Universal Does each user’s device Run a survey on potential Short survey asking for
Device have the required software users and buyers to gather the model of their phones
Compatibility and compatibility to run the insights on the devices they and the version of
application? operate software they currently run
 MVP Viability Assumptions Experiments Metrics Yes No

Crowdsourcing Users will want to buy the Pitch to potential users for Target number of
campaign application at a specific funding the development of investors contributing
price the application towards the funding
reached in a certain
amount of time

Desirability Assumptions
For our application we desire a clean well-rounded interface with all the necessary functions.
It is vital that we meet the required user expectations as they will be constantly using our
application to achieve their goals. We need our application to be easy to use and navigate
whilst being aesthetically pleasing, as well as offering all of the tools and functions needed to
help with the issues surrounding workplace diversity.

We intend to run an experimental video demonstrating how our application works, where we
will offer a trial application that will provide a live screen for our selected demo users to
provide feedback. This way we can gather our users' opinions and suggestions to gather
insight of the features we need to include within our final product release.

Feasibility Assumptions
Potential issues we may run into when creating an application are the various different types
of devices used by users. Therefore, our application will need to be supported by almost all
device software.

To gather data on our user’s device capabilities we will run a survey. This survey will be very
simple asking these two important questions:

1. What is the model of the device you are currently using?

2. What version of software do you currently use on your selected device?

This will give us the insight on what our applications software will need to be updated with,
so it can be accessed and used on all devices with minimal to no issues.

Viability Assumptions
Our application “Include” will be sold at a set price reasonably. Hence, we will need investors
to fund the development of our application. Through the use of social media marketing we
will be able to promote our product in the best way possible. Using all of our recorded data
we can pitch our product showing the potential it has and the demand for such an application
to potential investors.

To measure our progress, we will set a target for the number of investors we need along with
a certain timeframe in which we need them. By reaching our goals it will help Include enter
the market where workers suffering from diversity can finally get the help they desperately
need.
Project film
https://youtu.be/wDjMOfvjOzM

Ethical considerations
Cyber attacks can result in application downtime, theft of sensitive data and damage
to reputation. As Include requires registration of personal information and
organisation's data, their privacy may be infringed if cybercriminals do hack. (Ferretti
et al. 2021) Therefore, technical tools and services like Network Security and Cloud
Protection will be implemented to protect the app's system, identify potentially
malicious traffic, block or mitigate threats and securely store users' information.

Conclusion
In conclusion, this article summarises the negative impacts workplace diversity can
have in the medical industry. Different nationalities, language barriers, cultural
backgrounds, age groups, religions, gender identities, socioeconomic status and
family structure can lead to issues such as poor communication, low motivation,
reduced teamwork, exclusion and conflicts all in which can be harmful to an
organisation and its workers.
To address the issues with diversity and by putting ourselves in their shoes, we
propose an application with the following features to solve the problems that workers
in the medical industry face. Our solution includes an application that has the
capability to consist of all functions including training programs, assistance services,
mentorship programs as well as activities arrangement for users to build positive
relationships within the workplace.
Finally, this article helps to understand the users and market needs through build-
measure-learning planning (BML planning). According to our MVP’s test results from
gathering potential user insight to help improve the application useability and design,
gathering important data to help prevent issues such as device capabilities along
with pitching our solution to potential investors to help with the development of our
application named Include, we will deliver our product exceeding our customer
expectations.
Thus reducing the impact of negative issues surrounding workplace diversity and
helping medical workers promote positivity and achieving our goal to provide a highly
accessible application for the ones in need.
Appendix

App Layout
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2020). Inclusion and diversity in the Australian
Workforce. [online] Available at: https://www.abs.gov.au/about/abs-careers/inclusion-
and-diversity.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2020). Health workforce. [online]

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Available at:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/health-workforce.

Ayu, A. (2014). The Enormous Cost of Unhappy Employees. [online] Inc.com.

Available at: https://www.inc.com/ariana-ayu/the-enormous-cost-of-unhappy-
employees.html.

Chaffey, D. (2018). Mobile marketing statistics 2018. [online] Smart Insights.

Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-
analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/.

Ferretti, A, Hedrich, N, Lovey, T, Vayena, E & Schlagenhauf, P. (2021), ‘Mobile apps

for travel medicine and ethical considerations: A systematic review’, Travel Medicine
and Infectious Disease, vol. 43, p. 102143.

‌Indeed. (2021). Smoke and Mirrors: The state of diversity, inclusion and belonging in
Australian workplaces. [online] Available at:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b8bda3da9e028ef006ec817/t/
60ab15b7064ee75be01a3f8c/1621825063906/AU_DIB_Ebook.pdf.

Unremot, (2020). Diversity Activities: 10 EXCLUSIVE tips to make an INCLUSIVE

workplace. [online] Available at: https://unremot.com/blog/diversity-activities/.

Negin, J., Rozea, A., Cloyd, B. and Martiniuk, A.L. (2013). Foreign-born health
workers in Australia: an analysis of census data. Human Resources for Health,
[online] 11(1). doi:10.1186/1478-4491-11-69.

Team Commitment Form

Team Member’s Name Briefly explain your commitment Team member’s signature
to the group project
(max 50 words for a member)

Maan Kiu Yip Executive summary, Introduction,

Phase 1 and Phase 2, ethical
considerations and project film.

Lachlan Simmons Primary research, Phase 2 and Lachlan Simmons

Phase 3, BML planning and
conclusion.