Pressure for More Sustainable Work Styles and Organization - Essay Example

Project Management The current situation One of the managers at Hewlett-Packard usually takes two minute to walk from the kitchen to their office. The managers usually go to the center of the office once every week. This is mainly for them to keep in touch with the staffs in the company. The managers rarely meet with the global team face to face but always have a weekly audio conference with the team. However, unlike the managers, most of the workers still to and from traditionally, centralized office, and work in proximity with the team. Most the office work is done manually and most of the companies are situated in one country. The company is composed of elderly workers who are of more experience as compared to the young employees. Most of the companies of today do not are emitting a lot of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The companies are totally doing most of the projects by themselves and this has been costly. In the coming five years, various issues will change. This will range from adaptable hoteling to furniture desks at the central office to offshore offices, satellite and telework from home. The recent researches are formalizing an alternative workplace program that combines non-traditional work setting, location, and practices. The study has also shown that the adaptation of these programs is on the rise and some and showing sign of not letting up. These trends include the persuasive leadership and the presence of enabling social collaborating tools and technology. In addition the demand for more work flexibility, the coming shortage of knowledge workers, pressure from more work style and sustainable organization. The five listed trends do not affect the workplace directly but affect the way the staffs work. The workplace is not only about legal estate and furnishing but also about how people are managed and work. Furthermore, it is also about the technology that allows efficiency in working and how the employees are organized in the workplace. Demand for More Work Flexibility The organizations currently enjoy choosing quality workers from a variety of workers (Lavigna & Hays, 2004). However in the coming years, the same organization will have to compete for the same workers. Most of the organization will need to focus on to retain employees that are valued. Furthermore, the organization will have to be more sensitive to the potential employees and the performance of the existing employees (Kalleberg, 2003). EVIDENCE ONE The recent research carried out in the United Kingdom shows that workers want more flexibility and autonomy (Fagan, 2001). Based on the intensive interview thought business leaders, leaders, and the general public found that workers are in need of the experience of work that are line with their values. They dont want a workplace that tries to define them, but a workplace forged in their image identity. The workers want an organization that awards them a greater say and on how things are run and one that can let go (Paul Miller, Paul Skidmore, 2004). EVIDENCE TWO The study, by consultancy firm, established that, even though, most of the workers still prefer the amount they are to be paid, work flexibility is a very important factor that needs to be considered. In a compensation survey of 1,400 CFOs in 2009, 46% of the people interviewed said that the telecommunication is the second in attracting top talents because of its good salary. On the same interview, 33% said that telecommunication was the top draw (Doloitte, 2009). These results are also confirmed by the finding of Orange Future Enterprise Coalition which is a forum of research that is sponsored by Telecommunication Company. It found that 50% of the workers considered work flexibility as the most important factor for the employees next job move. They further found that organizations will have to use less traditional ways and more flexibility to attract retain and attract best talents (Orange Future Enterprise Coalition ,2007). CONCLUSION In the coming five years, workers will give the first opportunity to jobs that give them flexibility to locate their working hours and location. In some countries like Grate Britain, most employers are legally required to offer flexible hours to select employees. The employees to be offered with flexible hours are those with young children or elderly care responsibilities. This flexibility will likely be common in most of the knowledge workers by the year 2020 in Great Britain. Pressure for More Sustainable Work Styles and Organization (environmental) As employees, government and consumers are always determined to discourage environmentally unsustainable work practice and wasteful. Furthermore, the companies will have to think again about the sustainability of where and how their workers work (COST, 2009). EVIDENCE ONE An issue is arising that will erupt and will force the corporate to focus on environmental sustainability (Sarkis, 2001). The arising issue is being caused by the dramatic increase of regulation on climatic change and the heightened. The media attention has been heightened by the leading publication such as News Week, Economist, and the Wall Street Journal. The organization will face very strict legislation that will limit greenhouse gas emission in the future. Furthermore, organizations will be under pressure by the purchase of environmental, social and ethical products and the investment in companies that are socially responsible (Hart, 1997). EVIDENCE TWO In Great Britain before the Great Recession, ethical consumerism was on the rise at a compound rate of nineteen percent per year, which was about three times faster than the economy. The faster growing groups of socially inverters which are responsible seek out social businesses and enterprises and organization that generate social. Most of the corporation has shown some concern about sustainability by reducing greenhouse gasses emission and energy consumption. These efforts have been through improving revised product design, building efficiency, and operational managements, reuse, and recycling (Guardian, 2015). CONCLUSION If the companies are to abide by the future restriction, they have to review and re-think when, where and how their employees work. For example, an employee working from a satellite office close to his home and the employee works three days per week and is sharing a desk with four others. This employee is reducing his or her personal greenhouse gas emission of his or her personal workplace footprint by eighty percent. Furthermore, he or she is reducing his or her emission from commuting by 60%. The given saving is only possible if an employee agrees to share his or her working place with others (E. Kitou and Al Horvath). The Coming Shortage of Skilled Workers (skills and knowledge of staffs) There is a likelihood of few skilled workers in the coming five years. The main problem about this situation is that there will be very few young people to replace those who are retiring. This is because the companies are finding it hard to go the experience in the company. Furthermore, the old are finding it hard retire because they have not saved enough money. EVIDENCE ONE There may be 14.6 million new nonfarm payroll opportunity created between 2008 and 2018. Referring to the projected growth in population and the current force of labor rate of participation, assuming no major changes in immigration, the supply of new workforce will be low. This is to mean that, there will be only 9.1 million additional workers to fill the left positions. The event taking into consideration the multiple job holders, the total number [of positions that could be filled with the recent labor force rate of participation is 9.6 million, Leaving anywhere from 5.7 million potential job vacant (Bluestone and Melnik, 2010). EVIDENCE TWO The second evidence is that there will be a higher percentage of older workers who are much healthier than the previous generation. There health may be as a result of various reasons which includes wanting more, keeping busy, and this will motivate them to continue working. The share of older workers in the in percentage term for the next several years has been provided by the Bureau of Labor statistic. It as follows; there will be a decrease of the workers age from 16 to 24 years from 14.3 percent to 12.7 percent in 2018. The main working group of the age 25 and five years is likely to decline from 67.7 to 63.5 by 2018. Workers of the age 55 and above are expected to increase from 18.1 percent to 23.9 percent of labor force at the same period of years (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010). CONCLUSION To present organization are paying more attention to the older age due to various reasons. According to the research by the Canadians, there are various advantages of having older workers. The old age workers dont job hop as much, have more positive work value, are more dedicated to their work, and really miss work. Furthermore, older workers perform as young workers, although just like anyone else their work suffers from job stress. Persuasive Leadership (nature of projects and project management) This is the ability of a leader to move the people from the position they are currently holding to the new position. This leadership type requires the leader to frame ideas, solution and approaches. This should be done in ways that appeal to a diverse group of people with basic human emotion. Furthermore based on what is considered to be El skills that stipulate that a project manager must be in a position to effectively manage the conflict that may come up. This is while employing some practical solutions in management, during the life cycle of the project. EVIDENCE There exist four steps to successful persuasion. The First Step understands the audience and the main decision makers. These are the organizations network of influence and the stakeholders and identifying their interest and how they view alternatives. The second is establishing credibility. The third is that the leaders must be able to connect with the audience and demonstrate both emotional and intellectual commitment to their position. The fourth is the reinforcement of the person position with compelling evidence and vivid language (Krakoff 2010). Project managers are regularly facing the challenge of managing staff members that they do not directly interact with. This is to mean that for a project to be successful there is need of the project manager to persuade and influence team members and stakeholders at multiple levels. CONCLUSION: Over the next five years, the industry of project management will have to be more collaborative. Furthermore, it will be extending beyond peers and across the functional team and merging into international business partnerships. The future of this type of management will need the project managers to become more diverse. This will entail them to be more to be more conversant with nanotechnology and virtual communication. The manager of a project will become more global centric. This will need them to be efficient to sway stakeholders that are in diverse parts of the world and not just their immediate. Because of that it will be essential for the project manager to develop her or his persuasive skills to engage those people who are outside of the local business partnership. The Presence of Social Collaborating Tools and Enabling Technology (Technology) The use of technological tools for storing, communication, and managing shared data for distributed work is something that most people are conversant with. What is latest is the expansion of these technological tools to cheaper and more ubiquitous devices. For the interaction and the access of the work materials throughout the day, a person only needs a smart phone or any other wired device that can access the internet. EVIDENCE ONE David Coleman, who is a consultant with Collaborative Strategies, says that the technological tools are being consolidated. The technological tools are being consolidated into easy to use the platform of collaboration. These tools help workers to collaborate asynchronously to respond to message threads and check in and document changes as permitted by their calendar. This is becoming very important as teams become more distributed across various time zones as well as workers who are busy juggling various project and various teams. And now simultaneous with others tools are being added: audio and video conferencing, instant messaging and data sharing. In addition availability status, presence detection, knowledge capture and reputation are also added. The collaborative technologies are reaching the level of fidelity, easy to use and ubiquity as they combine asynchronous and synchronous tools. The collaboration tools consolidate and merge to fewer, coverage to the standard platform and stronger (David Coleman, 2006). CONCLUSION While the technologies for collaborative are for exchanging formal knowledge, they dont help a person to get to know the colleague on a personal basis. In other words, the dialog that used to take place around the water cooler of the company. The social media technologies are going to help fill these gaps: the Internet-based applications that build on the technological and ideological foundation of web 2.0 that allow the exchange and creation of user-generated content. Bibliography BARRY BLUESTONE AND MARK MELNIK, (2010) After the Recovery: Help Needed: The Coming Labor Shortage and How People in Encore Careers Can Help Solve it. Northeastern University. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS,(2010) Occupational Outlook Handbook. Web < http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.html.> accessed April 12, 2015. COMPUTERS, SOCIETY AND TECHNOLOGY, (COST), (2009). Foresight 2030: Harnessing the Digital Revolution. DAVID COLEMAN, (2006).Virtual Team Spaces, New Ways of Working Research Report. 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