General Trends in Global Work Context - Assignment Example

Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Globalization is a phenomenon that has led to the extension of human activities beyond political boundaries, leading to the migration of people from one country to the other. This happens as people search for employment opportunities, trade and essential services such as healthcare amongst other reasons. People live and work far from their home country, but with advancement in the transport industry, they can make regular visits depending on their ability to pay the cost of transport. Advancement in communication has facilitated the globalization of work (Palvia and Roche 2002 p 31). However, in the global work context, there are several groups of disadvantaged individuals such women, youth, older workers, religious or cultural minorities, working poor, individuals with a disability or illness, recent immigrants as well as those with English as a second language amongst others. This essay is a critical analysis of trends in the global workplace and the effect of these trends on particular groups. It includes a discussion and analysis of the general trends evident in the global work context. In considering these trends, the essay highlights the issues associated with the disadvantaged groups in regard to this new work context. It mainly focuses on the key trends/issues impacting on the world of work and organizations today as well as the religious and cultural minorities who are disadvantaged. The impacts of the trends/issues in the global work context have been discussed with respect to the religious and cultural minorities. General Trends in Global Work Context The global work place presents employment opportunities for qualified people to work in a flexible way whereby apart from moving from one place to the other and beyond political boundaries to work, employees can even be stationed at home and still perform the duties that their co-workers perform at the employer’s premises (Nolan, Goodstein, and Goodstein 2008 p 91). This has been enhanced by technological advancements especially the internet technology. It has facilitated communication which is essential in business as well as implementing programs abroad. The interactions that arise as a result of companies employing people from diverse cultural background has generated the need for employees to possess strong interpersonal skills as well as the ability to work with employees from different cultural settings. There is a rising trend for companies to decentralize their operations through the establishment of foreign subsidiaries. Once employed by a multinational company, a person can be sent to any of its foreign subsidiaries where he/she may encounter people from various countries globally (John 2001 p 89). The global work place has been under continuous change over the years in terms of labor. With the increasing globalization of industries, the movement of people across borders has risen. Experts in various fields are migrating from the industrialized economies to the developing countries to provide the rapidly growing economies that lack skilled workers. Under such circumstances, many companies are adopting flexible working conditions in order to retain experienced employees. Studies indicate that part time employees constitute more than 20% of the global labor force (Mishkin and Eakins 2003 p 43). With increasing competition as more organizations join the market, companies are being faced with issues regarding the skills that should the employees should possess in order for the organization to remain competitive in the market. They have to ensure that the recruitment process is right and that the organization is able to retain skilled employees. Promotion of organizational learning is a major issue that has taken the center stage in the world of work. This is important in ensuring that employees remain competitive. The training requirements for the employees must be identified in order to ensure that they acquire the right information that corresponds to the changes in the work place. Employee training and empowerment is necessitated by the trends in technological advancement. They have to be updated on emerging technologies (Felstead and Jewson 1999 p 67). There is also a trend in the world of work whereby workers are faced with challenges regarding their knowledge on production systems. People usually lose employment due to obsolescence of the equipment that was used initially for production. For example, in software development, there are variations in regard to the length of time that certain software remains useful. This depends on the rate of new software development. Companies usually go for the most recent ones in a bid to ensure that they take advantage of the slightest opportunity presented by the emerging technologies (Roche 2002 p 34). Under such situations, the employees are faced with the risk of losing their jobs if they are unable to cope with the emerging technology. They have to ensure that they constantly improve their skills in order to cope with the dynamic work environment. Training employees is appreciated by many employers. However, there usually lacks the time for training due to the fact that employees are usually engaged in the workplace most of their time apart from when they take a break. With increasing competition, organizations are focused on maximum production, which creates a gap in the skills of their employees especially when there is need for further training in regard to the new technologies. On the other hand the organizations that are willing to offer this training usually require that the employees get it during their free time especially on holidays as well as lunch time (Kim and Sung 2009 p 81). This results in rejection of the training by the employees and eventually fails to deliver the anticipated knowledge to them. This is a major issue that needs to be addressed by companies. Other issues affecting the world of work and organizations today include the management of human resources in order to maintain profitability. Organizations have to be effective in ensuring that the workforce does not lead to losses especially during this period when companies have been adversely affected by economic crisis. When there is need to downsize, companies are usually faced with difficulties of determining the employees who are to be retrenched and the ones to remain. Many companies had to cut down their cost of production as well as their overhead costs due to the global economic crisis (Bach 2005 p 98). The trends in globalization are also affecting the world of work through migration of employees as they look for better opportunities while on the other hand the labor force is constantly facing problems due to aging. The labor force of developed economies usually consists of aging populations. More people are migrating from less developed countries to fill this gap. Religious and Cultural Minorities There are certain groups of people that are disadvantaged in the world of work. As technological advancements continue to improve the productivity of organizations, these groups fail to benefit due to lack of certain characteristics that majority of the people possess. For example, there are people who are disadvantaged in the world of work for not belonging to the mainstream culture. This is the culture that many people would like to be associated with. It is a major issue affecting employees, especially the immigrant workers who are usually fewer than the natives. Culture usually tends to go together with religion (Beardwell and Claydon 2007 p 78). The religious and cultural minorities are discriminated against for example the religious holidays for the minorities are not observed, as well as their cultural practices which are ignored. They are compelled to observe the religious holidays and the cultural practices of the mainstream culture. Examples of the religious and cultural differences that affect employees and organizations globally are the Muslim and Christian religions. In many countries, one of them will either comprise the majority or the minority. In each case, the mainstream religion dominates and fails to recognize the other. In some countries, the minority cultures are not considered for employment. On the other hand, discrimination based on ethnicity, or race is pronounced especially between the whites and the non-whites. This presents major obstacles to the disadvantaged group of cultural minorities (Bratton and Gold 2007 p 23). In the work context, the religious and the cultural minorities may be mistreated in the work place by the hardliners in regard to religion and culture. Those who do not appreciate cultural diversity in the workplace are the suppressors of such minorities. They may even encounter violence from co-workers. This occurs regardless of the skills possessed by the employees. Many governments do not emphasize on protecting the disadvantaged through the law, which in many cases offers protection to the majority (Elvira and Dávila 2005 p 81). Even in the democratic processes, the religious and the cultural minorities are under represented and therefore they can not influence labor policies that affect their lives in the workplace. The trends and issues in the global work context have major impacts on the performance of individuals and the overall organizational productivity. For example, employees enjoy the flexibility that has been adopted by companies since they are able to maintain work-life balance. This is a factor that significantly upholds the worker’s productivity. Organizations are able to outsource experienced employees who are able to improve the organization’s competitiveness. Organizations have been compelled to continuously upgrade and improve worker’s performance through creating an enabling environment whereby they feel contented with their work (Johnson and Scholes 2006 p 56). Improvements such as flexible working whereby employees work at home are significant in retaining skilled employees since they can work and satisfy other desires in life. Companies have also changed their focus from production oriented to a human resource oriented approach whereby they ensure that they develop competence amongst employees through training and activities aimed at career development. However, the disadvantaged groups such as the religious and the cultural minorities remain sidelined in regard to career development and training. Discrimination on the basis of religion or culture adversely affects workers’ performance (Leopold et al 2005 p 45). Their productivity is lowered for the reason that they work in fear and therefore can not be contented with their work. This dissatisfaction significantly lowers the productivity of organizations. Technological advancement is another issue that has significantly affected the work environment. The disadvantaged groups may face discrimination when other workers in the mainstream culture are trained in order for them to remain updated in regard to the emerging technologies. In situations that lead to downsizing of the `workforce, the religious and cultural minorities are usually faced with the risk of being the first group to lose their job. They are also likely to be denied their rightful holidays, which is an issue that has adverse impacts on their ability to accomplish the organizational goals (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2006 p 60). Conclusion Globalization is a key factor that has led to changes in the world of work. It has led to a mixture of cultures in the work place. However, this is not appreciated in all work environments globally since some of the people are usually disadvantaged by not being part of the mainstream culture. This usually has adverse impacts on the productivity of employees and the ability of organizations to accomplish their objectives. Leadership is important in ensuring that the rights of every employee are protected. Leaders need to understand that in order to accomplish organizational goals, it is important to have a diversity of cultures in which case people are able to exchange ideas and experiences. In general, there are many issues affecting the world of work, but their impact can be solved through strong leadership that is able to uphold workers’ productivity through enhancing contentment amongst all employees. References 1. Bach, S. (2005). Managing Human Resources: personnel management in transition. 4th ed., Oxford: Blackwell. 2. Beardwell, J. and Claydon, T. (2007). 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