It may also be appropriate to send each employee e-mail or post some memos around the office outlining the plan before they are to attend a staff meeting. This would give them a chance to think about which charity to support and also to come up with some questions for the meeting.
How would you take into account the social and cultural diversity of your workmates to communicate successfully with all of them?.
To communicate successfully with all of the other employees firstly you would have to listen to all of their ideas so that everyone feels as though they have contributed. As there are employees from a range of cultural and social backgrounds communication may be sometimes difficult. It would be a good idea to get to know these people a little better personally and make them involved in the project so as they do not feel at all prejudiced. This would also develop a certain degree of trust. I believe people from these type of backgrounds may be a little hesitant to put forward their thoughts so some encouragement would be an excellent option, if only to raise self esteem. I feel a different approach may be needed to establish a good communication process with these people compared to the Australian or English speaking employees.
How would you deal with workmates who were against the scheme and refused to contribute?.
As this situation would be seen as a change in the workplace some people will probably be against the idea. I feel that employees don't necessarily dislike change but rather dislike change when it is forced upon them. This situation could be avoided all together by giving everyone of the employees a chance give their own opinions on the charity scheme before it is actually put in place. This allows the employees to feel as though they have created the scheme and not many of them would resist a change that they have created themselves. Even if there were still a couple of employees who resisted they probably would not say anything about it.