Running head: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY 1 Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Executive Summary of Organizational Diversity Learner’s Name Capella University Organizational and System Management for Quality Outcomes Executive Summary of Organizational Diversity May, 2017 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY 2 Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY 3 Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Executive Summary of Organizational Diversity Over the last few decades, the composition of people in the United States has diversified significantly. In 2012, more than 37% of the American population comprised ethnic and racial minority groups. Therefore, it is important that nursing professionals take steps to develop cultural and linguistic competence to acknowledge and address the unique needs of this sizeable population. The connection between multiculturalism in nursing and health care delivery will be explored using the example of a teaching and multispecialty hospital in a major northeastern city in the United States. The city has undergone a considerable population shift in the past 10 years; in view of this population shift, senior leadership has requested a nurse leader to find out if the level of multiculturalism and diversity in the hospital reflects the city’s population and promotes good patient outcomes. Gaps between nursing practice and the hospital’s diversity policies will also be identified by the nurse leader, and organizational changes to improve nursing diversity will be recommended. The Impact of a Diverse Workforce on Patient Outcomes Diversity in a health care organization’s nursing workforce is expressed in two ways: (a) recruitment and retention of culturally diverse nursing professionals to reflect patient population in terms of race, gender, and ethnicity, and (b) development of cultural and linguistic competence in nursing professionals (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013). Cultural competence improves patient outcomes, especially among the underrepresented ethnic and racial groups, through culturally appropriate communication, integration of cultural beliefs into patient care, and expanded access to services that reduce health care disparities. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY 4 Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document are prohibited. Specific patient outcomes such as quality care and patient safety are significantly improved when nursing teams include multilingual nursing professionals capable of communicating with non-English speaking patients (Huber, 2017). By removing language barriers, nursing professionals are better able to understand and .

1. Running head: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF
ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY 1
Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of
this document are prohibited.
Executive Summary of Organizational Diversity
Learner’s Name
Capella University
Organizational and System Management for Quality Outcomes
Executive Summary of Organizational Diversity
May, 2017
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL
DIVERSITY 2
Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of
this document are prohibited.

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL
DIVERSITY 3
Copyright ©2017 Capella University. Copy and distribution of
this document are prohibited.
Executive Summary of Organizational Diversity
Over the last few decades, the composition of people in the
United States has diversified
significantly. In 2012, more than 37% of the American
population comprised ethnic and racial
minority groups. Therefore, it is important that nursing
professionals take steps to develop
cultural and linguistic competence to acknowledge and address
the unique needs of this sizeable
population.
The connection between multiculturalism in nursing and health
care delivery will be
explored using the example of a teaching and multispecialty
hospital in a major northeastern city
in the United States. The city has undergone a considerable
population shift in the past 10 years;
in view of this population shift, senior leadership has requested
a nurse leader to find out if the
level of multiculturalism and diversity in the hospital reflects

3. the city’s population and promotes
good patient outcomes. Gaps between nursing practice and the
hospital’s diversity policies will
also be identified by the nurse leader, and organizational
changes to improve nursing diversity
will be recommended.
The Impact of a Diverse Workforce on Patient Outcomes
Diversity in a health care organization’s nursing workforce is
expressed in two ways: (a)
recruitment and retention of culturally diverse nursing
professionals to reflect patient population
in terms of race, gender, and ethnicity, and (b) development of
cultural and linguistic competence
in nursing professionals (Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality, 2013). Cultural
competence improves patient outcomes, especially among the
underrepresented ethnic and racial
groups, through culturally appropriate communication,
integration of cultural beliefs into patient
care, and expanded access to services that reduce health care
disparities.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL

4. DIVERSITY 4
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this document are prohibited.
Specific patient outcomes such as quality care and patient safety
are significantly
improved when nursing teams include multilingual nursing
professionals capable of
communicating with non-English speaking patients (Huber,
2017). By removing language
barriers, nursing professionals are better able to understand and
record a patient’s medical history
and prevent medicine administration errors. Diverse patients
also feel empowered and will seek
medical treatment more often without getting intimidated or
disrespected. However, it is
important to understand how the hospital integrates concepts of
diversity and multiculturalism
into its practices before recommending any organizational
changes.
Integration of Multiculturalism and Diversity into
Organizational Practices
Health care organizations that do not follow systems theory tend
to blame bad patient
outcomes on nursing professionals at the front lines of care and

5. not on organizational factors
such as leadership (Munro & Hubbard, 2011). In the case of the
multispecialty hospital, the
absence of diversity in nursing leadership has affected the way
nursing professionals deliver
culturally competent care. While the hospital has taken efforts
to recruit and retain doctors from
diverse backgrounds, the same has not been done for nursing
professionals and nurse leaders.
Therefore, the selection process of nurse leaders should be
changed to better represent diverse
patient and Nursing Professional populations. For example, the
hospital should recruit more
culturally diverse nurse leaders who will be able to instill a
deeper understanding of culture in
the current nursing staff.. If health care organizations have a
diverse nursing workforce,
culturally competent leaders will be able to address the diverse
needs of nursing professionals
through staff management policies. Such leadership will also
expose structural or systemic gaps
in recruitment and retention policies that are not culturally
inclusive.

6. Comment [A1]: Delete “also”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL
DIVERSITY 5
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this document are prohibited.
Current Nursing Recruitment and Retention Policies in the
Hospital
The nurse leader’s findings suggested that current strategies
employed by the hospital
knowingly or unknowingly discriminate against minority
groups. They do not focus on making
the existing culturally respectful policies and facilities known
to potential students or new
nursing professionals. Similarly, retention policies that manage
resources and facilities for
nursing professionals show a lack of culturally appropriate staff
training programs, unavailability
of diverse nursing mentors for trainee nurses, absence of
facilities like prayer rooms for
ethnically diverse health care professionals and patients, and
inappropriate behavior and conflict
directed at nursing professionals from diverse and multicultural
backgrounds.

7. These gaps in staff management have lowered recruitment and
retention rates. Potential
ethnic and racial minority students also perceived this lack of
diversity as an absence of
opportunities for professional growth. These fallouts have
particularly affected how the hospital
provides best practices care to patients from ethnic and racial
minority groups. Because of the
various language and cultural barriers between nursing
professionals and patients, the latter often
felt that their beliefs were disrespected, and that it was difficult
to access certain health care
services (Huber, 2017; Banister & Winfrey, 2012; AACN,
2015). The following cultural
integration discussion including the nurse leader’s findings will
assist in understanding how
cultural competency should start at the organizational level.
Level of Cultural Integration in the Hospital and Its Importance
A study of the hospital revealed that Whites and Christians were
the racial and ethnic
majorities respectively. The number of male nursing
professionals was also considerably low in
comparison to female nursing professionals. Empowerment in

8. nursing depends on the absence of
discriminatory forces in race, gender, ethnicity, and economic
status. Organizational efforts to
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL
DIVERSITY 6
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give culturally diverse nursing professionals more autonomy
were short-lived as the changes did
not address systems factors (Rao, 2012; AACN, 2015; Huber,
2017). The organizational
hierarchy was also not culturally diverse as very few senior
leaders were from ethnic and racial
minorities. Nurse leaders and nursing professionals who aspired
to become senior leaders
perceived the existing hierarchical setup as culturally biased
and demotivating, especially during
promotion cycles.
Recommendations for Improving Multiculturalism in the
Hospital
The process of building cultural competence should be
continuous and specific to

9. different ethnic and racial groups. By using systems theory
perspectives, the organizational
structure and leadership style will become more responsive to
patients’ multicultural and diverse
needs. One method for bringing about sociocultural changes in
the hospital is the introduction of
guidelines that can serve as a resource for health care
organizations and nursing professionals in
cultural competence.
Ten guidelines were developed by a task force of the members
of the American Academy
of Nursing Expert Panel on Global Nursing and Health and
Transcultural Nursing Society
(Douglas et al., 2014). The guidelines were designed to be
adapted to any unique health care
delivery systems: (a) knowledge of cultures, (b) education and
training in culturally competent
care, (c) critical reflection, (d) cross-cultural communication,
(e) culturally competent practice,
(f) patient empowerment and advocacy, (g) cultural competence
in health care systems and
organizations, (h) cross-cultural leadership (i), multicultural
workforce, and (j) evidence-based
practice and research (Douglas et al., 2014). As the guidelines

10. are also influenced by systems
theory, nurse leaders and nursing professionals will be able to
apply them to current diversity
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL
DIVERSITY 7
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this document are prohibited.
issues. The nursing professionals will also be able to change the
way organizational systems
accept multiculturalism and diversity.
Approaches to change like the cultural competence guidelines
provide a structured
approach for nursing professionals to improve their skills,
knowledge, and attitudes. By
considering organizational and individual performance factors,
which are important concepts in
systems theory, multiculturalism and diversity will be
championed as priorities in quality and
safe patient care.
Conclusion
Health care organizations have realized the strong connection
between having culturally

11. competent nursing staff and positive patient outcomes. As a
result, they have begun special
programs and reforms to become culturally competent.
However, the changes to nursing
leadership and staff are not systemic because organizations do
not follow a structured and
evidence-based approach like systems theory and cultural
competence guidelines. Organizations
should also consider the different points of view because
problems in executing reforms in one
part of the organization can affect other parts as well. These
steps help nursing professionals
move beyond simply tolerating their diverse patients and
colleagues and develop an in-depth
understanding of multiculturalism and diversity. Such a
transition will definitely improve patient
outcomes in racially and ethnically diverse and disadvantaged
groups and make health care more
inclusive.
Comment [A2]: A paragraph should
be at least 3 sentences in length.

12. Comment [A3]: This paper was very
well written and scholarly. The
criterion in the scoring guide was
thoroughly addressed. I saw many
positive things while reading this
assessment – be assured this is a
wonderful document.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ORGANIZATIONAL
DIVERSITY 8
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this document are prohibited.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2013). What is
cultural and linguistic
competence? Retrieved from
https://ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/primary-
care/cultural-competence-mco/cultcompdef.html
Banister, G., & Winfrey, M. E. (2012). Enhancing diversity in
nursing: A partnership
approach. Journal of Nursing Administration, 42(3), 176–181.

13. https://dx.doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0b013e3182480a97
Huber, D. L. (2017). Leadership and nursing care management
(6th ed.). Philadelphia: W. B.
Saunders. http://dx.doi.org/10.7748/nm.21.6.13.s14
Munro, E., & Hubbard, A. (2011). A systems approach to
evaluating organisational change in
children's social care. British Journal of Social Work, 41(4),
726–743.
https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr074
Douglas, M. K., Callister, L. C., Hattar-Pollara, M., Lauderdale,
J., Pacquiao, D. F.,
Rosenkoetter, M. (2014). Guidelines for implementing
culturally competent nursing
care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25(2), 109–
121. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1043659614520998
Rao, A. (2012). The contemporary construction of nurse
empowerment. Journal of Nursing
Scholarship, 44(4), 396–402. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1547-
5069.2012.01473.x