Strategic HRM and the New Organizational Language - Term Paper Example

the likely result of the shift economically from the industrial focus to service industries whereby companies became reliant on knowledge workers to know and do specific deliverables rather than simply do the task given them. The new language is indicative of the new economy, new workers, or knowledge workers whose work is primarily intellectual, intangible and involves the workers’ use of judgment and decision making (Drucker, 1993; Drucker, 1999; Noe et al., 2003).
Terms such as intellectual capital and empowerment have become part of our society and workplace and managers depend on these knowledge workers as never before. The worker is to be personally and totally responsible in how they carry out their tasks and duties.  A brief background and review of theorists and eras open this report. This leads to a section on a comparison of the traditional language and the new language, followed by a section on the way this language affects how the employee sees their job, colleagues, the organization, and other things. Finally, there will be a conclusion. By knowing and being comfortable using this newest organizational language, the organization will be able to maximize results while the employee will have the best chance of fulfilling what they may be looking for in working for the organization (Hatch, 2006; Noe et al., 2003).
Changes in the economy have brought about a change in organizations, and thus the language of organizations. Key statistics and data show the median age of the workforce currently is 40 (employees are aging out of the workforce); close to 40 percent of new job applicants will lack the reading, writing, and math skills when applying for a job they are seeking; skill demands have changed; the economy is primarily focused on service industries rather than manufacturing; knowledge is much more valuable and is considered an asset; population growth is slowing in some areas; and the growth of the use of technology is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. Statistically, those with the most education will have the best chance of having greater job opportunities (Noe et al., 2003). As the focus in the industry has shifted towards service industries such as financial services, health care, information systems, and communications, the value for intellectual capital has increased. Workers gained a new name called knowledge workers (Drucker, 1993) and became the owners of the knowledge they had created. Terms such as empowerment, which means, “giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions” began to be used as a means to show the knowledge worker their experience and education was valued and they were free to leverage that knowledge for their own betterment as well as the betterment of the organization (Noe et al., 2003, p. 17).
At the same time, psychological contracts have changed. A psychological contract is an unsaid expectation the worker has from the company about what the worker will get from the company and what they will give the company in return (Noe et al., 2003).