Discrimination claims based on age, race, ethnicity, disability and sexual harassment are a major concern of MUSC, as well as in the nation. These forms of of discrimination can affect students, staff, as well as faculty and administrators. We have a legal and moral obligation to ensure that all employees and students are free from any form of discriminatory acts.
To this end, the Equal Employment/Affirmative Action (EEO/AA) is offering training session relative to these issues. Participants attending these programs will gain an understanding of the laws and how it applies to MUSC employees and students. Participants will also have the opportunity to apply knowledge with the relation to hands-on case studies.
Sign up for these classes by sending an email to email@example.com
that includes the name of the class and the date you wish to sign up for. There is no cost for these programs and seating is limited. Should you have any questions pertaining to these classes, please feel free to call this office at 843-792-1282.
Communication in the Workplace
This workshop deals with the topics of communication, harassment, and cultural competency in the work place. It is interactive and ranges from one hour to an hour and a half in length. A synopsis of the workshop follows:
Part 1 – Cognitive Component (15 minute video included)
In this phase, we talk about Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. With managers, sometimes we will pass out an EEO Handout. We usually mention what the definition of Affirmative Action is: “monitoring the community to ensure there are no artificial barriers to employment.” We stress that discrimination and harassment will not be tolerated but can be illegal as well. The videotape, Beyond Sexual Harassment takes advantage of various real time scenarios about the danger of illegal discrimination and harassment due to race, ethnicity, gender, disability, age, religion and retaliation. It tells the employees what they should do, what the organization should do, and the consequences thereof. It emphasizes that when employees (supervisors) observe discrimination in the workplace, they must STOP the harassment or discrimination, discipline the offenders, and ALWAYS document the offense. The videotape works well.
Part 2 – Interactive Phase
In this part we go over the definition of sexual harassment, talk about some real events, and discuss stereotyping and its effects. We then participate in several hands on exercises that emphasize team building and communication, including the "four lines through a box drill." The "six f" exercise, and a couple of more drills that stress the value of collaborative work, and why we see certain things because of cultural blinders that perhaps others cannot see. This is usually the fun part of workshop, and this part allows people to be more comfortable and to let down some guards that may impede learning.
Part 3 Affirmation and Cultural Competency Phase
30 minutes (18 minute video included)
This is the, "appeal to the heart" phase of the workshop. The video we use, Patient Diversity: Beyond The Vital Signs is perfect for our target audience, people that work in a health care environment, and the need to understand cultures that differ from our own. In the video, we witness the valiant, yet often flawed attempts of nurses, orderlies and doctors to find a course of treatment for patients whose cultural beliefs toward medicine they do not understand. This lack of understanding not only hampers communication, it delays proper treatment. This is the favorite part of the workshop for most participants. Employees rave about it. It gives us a chance to emphasize team building, our mission of education, research, and service and what it means to be an employee of MUSC.
Finally, we go over a couple of the key points of communication, harassment, and cultural competency for emphasis, one more quick interactive drill to see if anyone is listening, answer any questions, thank and dismiss the group.