Employee and Societal Responsibilities of Todays Manager - Example

Employee and Societal Responsibilities of Today’s Manager Name of student: Institution: Employee and Societal Responsibilities of Today’s Manager Introduction Human resource management has changed due to the changing perceptions among the public. It has forced organisations to change their management culture. The current manager needs to diversify his or her responsibilities to incorporate organisation employees and society (James & Preuss, 2009). Companies and organisations have different methods of monitoring social demands. On the other hand, the management has social responsibilities that it must uphold trough properly organised mechanisms or strategies. This paper seeks to find out how mining industry today strives to monitor its social demands and manages social demand mechanism. It is necessary to point out that most of the articles used in this piece of work cite the need to bridge the gap among organisation hierarchy in ensuring social responsibilities. Most relevant is the Collective Social Responsibility (CSR) model that international organisations are using. In a nut shell, the research paper digs into today’s managers and how they incorporate both social demand and responsibilities using appropriate mechanisms. Management Using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) This has been a developing concept in management for the past few years. Based on this mechanism, companies see the need of taking whole responsibility or corporate responsibility in meeting social demands and obligations (James & Preuss, 2009). Current industries are moving towards cleaner production. This means that industrial activities must be environmentally friendly. Industry involves stakeholders. In the mining industry, clients, employees, general public and authorities are the main stakeholders. In all industrial activities, all these elements are social responsibilities of the management. Therefore, the management can use social responsibility concept to meet the demands off all the groups. The current management faces challenges because the world is moving towards responsible leadership. It means the organisation must account for every action it undertakes. Briefly, (Valiente, Ayerbe & Figueras, 2012) defines CSR as good social behaviour in relation to the society, environment and economy. In this model, managers have a significant say in the way the industry relates with other social aspects. Managers must ensure a comprehensive framework that ensures least environmental pollution, and the stakeholders get their equal shares in accordance to their contribution. The current management has become easy due to technology. In monitoring social demands, companies can utilise current technology. Latest developments in technology make it possible to relate the similar situations or case studies in the same industries. Many academic researchers exist on industries on how they can manage both social and managerial responsibilities. It is the duty of dedicated managers to find this information that can have positive impacts on their managerial activities. These researches also provide mechanisms for social responsibility. For instance, a company can engage the stakeholders in open forums with the aim of knowing their demands. Collective responsibility means that all stakeholders have parts to play in ensuring that industries are moving towards cleaner products. Most industries have adopted this initiative due to global warming concerns. Global warming and climate change are collective responsibilities because it affects everyone. The managers must put incentives that incorporate everyone towards ensuring cleaner productions. For instance, the industry can take part in designing rules and regulations by making their suggestions. On the other hand, the management can also put in measures to educate the general public. It is the management that understand the industry and its effects and social well-being of the surrounding community lies in its hands. This means that industrial effluents should be well taken of: public benefits like water and employment opportunities made available. All of these goals of the organisation can only be met if the managers understand the CSR model or theory. Bridging Hierarchy Gaps Gaps in the management mean hierarchies that exist. For organisations to realise social responsibility as one of their visions, it must bridge the gaps (Ardichvili et al, 2012). Today’s middle managers have always expressed their concerns about employment effects of internal hierarchy and structures. For instance, many managers cite employee stakeholder relationship. The way employees interact with this group influences activities of the industry. Miners are labourers who work to ensure that the management fulfils its goals. One of the goals is reaching out to the society and having a positive impact on them. For the industry achieve this, employees must be motivated to work. This only takes place if internal relations are favourable for work. Boundaries and chains of command must be clear to them. It requires a good work of the personnel management to ensure employees do not feel intimidated or demoralised with unhealthy relations in the company. Studies on the human resource development have important implications on the mining industry. For instance, the existence of gaps requires management to put in place training interventions that incorporate needs assessment (Ardichvili et al, 2012). This helps in distinguishing employees perceptions. Internal interviews helps the management to know employee views on particular issues in t he indu stry. The general manager, with the help of human resource manager, can design questionnaires to collect employee views. At the end of interviews, the management will be able to know discrepancies and devise ways of adjusting to them. Interviews also give a clear picture of the effectiveness of organisation culture. Online interviews can speed this activity and enable swift response arising situations. Eventually, the management can choose among many interventions. The reasons behind organisation problems originate from organisation culture. Organisation culture influences actions of top management and can result in disconnect from its goals. In the mining industry, for example, has a tradition of poor remuneration. The miners get paid peanuts though they do a lot of work. This culture has always resulted in labour unrest witnessed in most parts of the world. Inadequate remuneration demoralises workers rendering them to become unwilling in upholding a company’s social responsibilities. However, it is important to know organisation culture assessment procedures (Valiente, Ayerbe & Figueras, 2012). To determine cultural patterns, Organisation Development personnel should conduct qualitative assessments on groups, individuals as well as direct observations. These are essential in detecting problems and finding solutions. Dedication and wisdom help managers to identify traditional cultures that are outdated. New Managers Embrace Triple Bottom Line Approach Triple bottom line approach in management involves the concept of sustainability (Valiente, Ayerbe & Figueras, 2012). It means that mining industries must ensure environmental, political and social responsibilities. The managers can use this as a mechanism in ensuring employees and societal responsibilities. Cleaner production as a new initiative in environmental management obliges managers to be responsible on their industrial effects as part of the triple bottom line approach. In this approach, environmental activities must be socially friendly and meet societal expectations. It is the duty of the manager to uphold it as a milestone towards fulfilling his or her promise to the society. Environment is also part of the society. The manager must ensure that it lowers environmental waste impact, and the plant treats wastes before discharge. This is only possible through the collective responsibility model that requires the industry to incorporate its employees and all the stakeholders. The major responsibility of today’s managers is ensuring sustainability. International Scenario of CSR When tsunami hit china, United Nations Development Program and the Coca-Cola worked rehabilitated sanitation systems and water in affected areas. The managers of these two organisations partnered to ensure reconstruction efforts aimed at sustainability. This helped to salvage the situation in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The Coca Cola Company with its bottling partners harnessed the business research logistic to meet local community needs. These managers acted swiftly to utilise management mechanisms in meeting the needs of the victims. In this example, it is evident that managers should embrace international relations or human resource development in their managerial frameworks. Employees should be trained to meet international standards and encouraged to embrace collective responsibility. When Tsunami occurred, it took efforts of good disaster managers to reconstruct the areas. A mining industry that is prone to disaster and the manager can emulate this good example of collective responsibility. Components of CSR The first component is environmental protection (Valiente, Ayerbe & Figueras, 2012). In the mining industry, the manager must ensure that the company strives to reduce its environmental effects and conserve natural resources. On the other hand, human rights protection is a vital component of this model. Activities in the mining plant should not lower the dignity of employees. The managers’ focus should be on developing workplaces that are discriminative and employees act with codes of professionalism. On the other hand, the workplace should enable them balance between life and work. Health is a social element. The workplace should be safe and invest heavily in the society’s health promotion. The fourth element of CSR is education development. Industries must work with public sectors or civil-society in providing quality education as a social responsibility. Finally, Human relief is the main concern of humanitarian bodies. Companies can cooperate with these bodies when they disasters strikes. How Companies Monitor Their Social Demands The modern manager has a huge task of knowing employees and public expectations. This needs efficient information collection mechanism or effective communication. Information should flow smoothly from top to bottom management only if the manager commits himself or herself in ensuring that clear communication channels exist. Communication helps monitoring employees and defines responsibilities of all stakeholders. The other tool of monitoring employee responsibility is through transparent reward system (James & Preuss, 2009). Workers must get rewards equivalent to works they do. However, extra reward from the manager motivates workers and becomes a ticket towards developing socially responsible employees. Good reward system also means that relevant authorities will not have problems with relevant authorities concerning the legal considerations In summary, the today’s manager has a lot of responsibility compared to the traditional personnel managers. The report discusses components of CSR and how recent managerial systems are embracing it to ensure both stakeholder and employee responsibility. It is also evident that gaps in organisations influence internal operations of the company. However, accountability of the company begins at its internal management level. This paper has also used the example of the mining industry that has a high influence on society. Industries are moving towards cleaner production, a concept that applies the triple bottom line approach of sustainable development. Most important is how the industry collects information from its employees, its relations to the public as well as the transition from old cultures to new flexible cultures. References Ardichvili, A., Jondle, D. & Kawske, B. (2012). Minding the gap: exploring differences in perceptions of ethical business cultures among executives, mid-level managers and non-managers. Human Resource Development International, 15(3), 337-352. James A. H. S & Preuss, L. (2009). Society is out there, organisation is in here: on the other perceptions of corporate social responsibility held by different managerial groups. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(1), 381-393. Valiente, J. M. A., Ayerbe, C. G & Figueras, M. S. (2012). Social responsibility practices and evaluation of corporate social performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 35, 25-38. Read More