The Nature of Change in the Work Environment - Assignment Example

The Nature of Change in the Work Environment The dawn of the 21st century heralds a new era which is marked by greater flexibility and fluidity in the work environment. The 20th century was the time where there was immense competition in the local markets which were demarcated by geographical and political boundaries. However in the 21st century, the work environment has transformed into a globalized market wherein competitors can be located halfway across the world. Management guru Peter Drucker (1969) had once envisaged that drastic changes would completely overhaul the texture of organizations in the next fifty years, and his conjecture has come true. The 21st century organizations are sharply different from the modern industries of the 20th century, since the most coveted work-forces in the 21st century are the knowledge workers. The knowledge workers are described by Drucker to be the ones with a high degree of formal education and advanced skill sets acquired through specialized training. In today’s organizations, this change predicted by Peter Drucker is apparent. Hellriegel and Slocum (2010, p.407) has given an example of the knowledge management model by stating that knowledge management is an art of adding value or an art of creating value by methodologically utilizing the experience, judgment and know-how found in the organization or outside the organization. Hellriegel and Slocum (2010, p.407) further goes on to state that in the contemporary 21st century work environment, knowledge is fundamentally gathered and organized systematically and the gathering of knowledge greatly relies on information. Hence, IT or Information Technology is the foremost sphere in the work environment of the 21st century. In the 21st century, there have been numerous changes in the organizations also. Some of the sweeping changes include changes in structures, the work profiles of employees, the design of the work environment, the effects of globalization, cultural changes in work, ethics as well as ecological changes. Structure-wise, organizations are now predominantly functioning with multiple presences across political borders. The organizations now focus on an enterprise-wide model of production. IT on the other hand continues to have a major impact on business of all levels and the wave of globalization has further strengthened the impact of IT. Information Technology has the inherent quality of increasing the mobility of businesses and therefore organizations are increasingly going virtual with the help of customizations and wireless communication facilities provided by the IT industry. The employees are often having a virtual presence and the workplace design as well as nature of work is dramatically changing as well. The tasks are no longer being cut out for a specific employee; rather employees are sharing tasks which are assisting in the flexibility of tasks. Thomas Friedman (2005) believes that IT has improved the interactions between countries, businesses and continents. The fact that IT applications can be shared by employees’ located miles apart from each other, is a testimony to the success of IT in the present century workplace. Though IT definitely has had a positive impact on the work environment of today, it also has indirectly increased the rift between the developed economies and the weak economies of the world. For example, although two people belonging to disparate economic and cultural background can share an IT application, the sharing of that application doesn’t assure that their cultural and economic aspects are reconciled. But all in all, the change in the 21st century work environment has been positive to a great extent. Q.2 Discuss the typical reaction of employees to change. The typical reaction of employees to change is most definitely resistance. The employees always yearn for security and a job which gives them financial security as well as a guarantee of a safe future is the job most employees ideally want. The primary reason why employees resist change is that they feel that a sudden change would change the stability of their work environment and would also make their future insecure, from the perspective of their careers and also their salaries. According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2010), there are essentially six reasons for employees to resist change. Some of the individual factors which cause individual resistance include personality, individual perceptions as well as threats to his or her power. Firstly, Hellriegel and Slocum (2010, p.79) comments that employees have a tendency of staying away from situations which might apparently threaten them, since change always involves an element of the unknown. This perceptual shielding often makes them overlook the advantages of change. Secondly, the adjustment problems and very low self- esteem makes employees resists change. A person with a low esteem has a propensity of perceiving situations negatively. Thirdly, the employees tend to form a habit of working in the same job and this habit makes it tough for them to remain in their comfort zones where they can continue with a lifestyle which is safe and secure. Fourth, employees may be in a position where they can exercise a certain level of control over others and a change might make them lose their control, which makes them resist change. Fifth, they are basically apprehensive of the future and when a change is proposed, their apprehensions about their future become even more intensified. Lastly, Hellriegel and Slocum (2010, pp.503-504) believes that the employees become apprehensive of their economic stability and they fear the change would have an adverse effect on their incomes. Q3. Discuss your assessment of the ethical intensity of the changes made by Walsh and Mangel Hellriegel and Slocum (2010) detail six important factors which can help enumerate ethical intensity of the changes made by Walsh and Mangel. The six of them are the probability of effect, temporal immediacy, magnitude of consequences, social consensus, the concentration of effect and proximity. Walsh and Mangel had applied the six aforementioned ethical intensity factors in their conclusion. From the viewpoint of magnitude of consequences, the decision made a big impact on several employees of Scout Mortgage. Moreover, the decision made a great social impact which included proximity and social consensus, since there were a number of social ties within the company. Hellriegel and Slocum (2010, p.533) also remarked that the fact the families of employees were close friends and used to frequently socialize outside their work sphere was evident; and resultantly the emotional repercussions were great. Q.4 Describe the decision -making model or models that were used by Walsh and Mangel to dismiss employees and make the other changes. Walsh and Mangel had made a decision of changing their pay system to the workforce in the company who were salaried. Walsh and Mangel had also deliberately leaked the news of the change, so as to lessen the surprise of the employees. Laying-off the entire set of employees was obviously less damaging than the laying off of three support employees and five loan officers. There were a few important decision=making models which were used by Walsh and Mangel for making sweeping changes in the organization and dismissing employees. The dominant model which was used at the Scout Mortgage was the rational decision-making model. In this model, the ethical and moral dilemmas are completely ignored. The mean end is the factor which plays a crucial role in such a model. An alternative which would help Walsh and Mangel to increase the profits of the company was thus selected. Q5. Discuss the approach the change as illustrated in the case. Walsh and Mangel approached the change by deploying a few methods. Firstly, they tried to steer clear of lay offs by taking a measure which was not completely a lay off procedure. Secondly, they started to induct loan officers while retaking the staff members at the same time. Soon, they realized that this system was not as effective as they had initially thought, so they promptly changed the pay system to a salaried paid system. Next, they dismissed three support staff as well as five commissioned loan officers. They also made it clear that the mortgage officers would be rewarded with a $100 commission if they could successfully close a loan. Furthermore, they also create a website for giving customers an opportunity to compare mortgages. Next, the company promoted itself and its services with advertisement campaigns too. What’s more, Walsh and Mangel clearly set out their goal of getting licensed in all the fifty states. It is therefore clear that the changes at the Scout Mortgage has shown numerous dimensions of leadership and the Scout Mortgage case study has also revealed the complex and intricate decision making processes of organizations of the 21st century. References Drucker, P. (1969). The Age of Discontinuity. London, UK: Heinemann Friedman, T. (2005). The World is Flat2005: A brief History of the 21st Century. Union Square West, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J W, Jr. (2010). BUS520: Organizational Behavior. Custom edition (12th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Centrage Learning. Read More