Prof. Joel Hayward’s website archive

Joel Hayward, ZDaF, BA, MA Hons, PhD, FRSA, FRHistS

Dr Hayward and Issues, B

"Culturally insensitive"? Hardly!

Extracts from passages penned by me and published in my co-authored book:

Born to Lead? Portraits of New Zealand Commanders

by Glyn Harper and Joel Hayward

(Exisle Publishing, 2003) ISBN: 0-908988-33-8

The Dedication that I wrote for the book and my co-author approved sums us my feelings, surely agreeable to all Kiwis:

"New Zealanders have shed much blood and many tears for the cause of peace. Written with the freedom they helped secure, this book pays tribute to the commanders who led our men and women in the quest for peace."

On pages 232-234 I state that the New Zealand Defence Force must remain highly sensitive to issues of race, culture, gender and sexual orientation. I write, for example:

"Harassment must not be tolerated, and commanders must remain mindful of equal opportunities. They must also demand and use discipline to enforce a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, homophobia and harassment. They should remove all objectionable behaviour, even that associated with humour, from their own conduct, and make their expectations clear to all subordinates. … Whether a candidate can do a job efficiently and effectively is, and must remain, the determining factor. Their sex — and sexual preference, for that matter — must not intrude into the decision-making.

"Commanders will need to recognize that the NZDF is as multicultural as wider New Zealand society, with a strong Maori participation, and [they must] remain sensitive to the ethnic dynamics of regional situations …

"Sensitivity, tolerance and inclusiveness must become integral to every commander's behaviour and leadership style, and the norm at all levels of his or her unit, right down to the private soldier or other service equivalent."