Challenges Facing the Management in the Contemporary Organisations - Essay Example

Introduction

This study examines the reflexivity of managers in the contemporary organisation. Every manager plays key roles in any organisation which include planning, staffing, organising, directing and controlling organisations resources to achieve the organisation’s goals and objectives. In the contemporary world, there is too much expectation from managers because their performance is determined by what they achieve within the confines of the existing laws (Blowfield 2013, p.7). Contemporary organisations are characterised by increasing customer expectations, complex organisational structures and scope of operations and the increasing internal and external forces. The stakeholder theory holds managers accountable to the stakeholders. Therefore, managers must enhance their efficiency and effectiveness to maximise stakeholders’ wealth by identifying and satisfying customer needs while avoiding waste (Lev 2013, p.6). The pursuit of efficiency and waste reduction has pushed the managers beyond the limit of what is acceptable and legal (Jones 2015, p.55). The study examines various contemporary issues in management and how managers have demonstrated reflexivity in dealing with those issues. Reflexivity in management is critical in the contemporary organisations because it enable managers to deal with emerging issues and achieve the conflicting management goals.

In management, reflexivity focuses on how individual attitudes, values, relationships, interests, and beliefs influence the managerial functions within a contemporary organisation. Type Z model organisation is a characteristic of the contemporary model of management which is a hybrid model of management developed from a combination of various management models (Vrontis & Thrassou 2013, P.143). This model encourages managers to use different management approaches to achieve their management goals (Murray, Poole & Jones 2006, p.56). The success of the modern organisations hinges on the management decisions to incorporate change, manage diversity, enhance global competitiveness, embrace innovation and act ethically (Vrontis & Thrassou 2013, 256). The employees are highly educated and technologically advanced. Therefore, organisations should endeavour to train and retain those workers.

Managerial reflexivity involves designing strategies to criticise our attitudes, behaviour, functions, morals, assumptions, behavioural actions and prejudices employed aid them understand their multifaceted roles towards others (Murray, Poole & Jones 2006, p.63). Although the complexity of the contemporary organisations has created various challenges to the managers, the reflexivity offers them the opportunity for achieving global competitiveness efficiently and effectively.

Traditional management styles were based on stakeholders’ theory that emphasises on managers to make decisions with a goal of maximising the wealth of stakeholders. Pursuance of stakeholders’ theory results in a conflict because managers have to compromise the welfare of other stakeholders to achieve expectations of the shareholders (Lev 2013, p.123). However, in the contemporary organisations management is based on stakeholder’s theory whereby the managers strive to strike a balance between the interests of all stakeholders. For instance, organisations are offering customised products to enhance customer satisfaction (Topolosky 2014, p.42). Also, the managers are interested in employees’ motivation with a goal of enhancing organisational productivity (Boone & Kurtz 2011, p.457). Furthermore, organisations want to be ethical and engage in corporate social responsibility as a way of winning community acceptance and trust. Moreover, organisations are more environmental conscious than ever before because they want to avoid friction with environmental management authority by being environmentally sustainable. Despite the various emerging issues, managers have to be reflexive to maintain the cost as low as possible and maximise stakeholders’ benefits. Although these goals are conflicting engaging reflexivity can achieve great returns.

Globalisation

Globalisation is a much characteristic of contemporary organisations. Globalisation has eliminated the physical cross-border barriers and has turned the “world into a global village.” Today there is much diffusion of global culture and increased movement of goods and people across the globe (Jones 2015, p.59). There is an integration of domestic economies into a global economy through migration, trade, the flow of technology, capital flows and foreign direct investment (FDI).

Businesses have a wide choice to make in a globalised economy. They can look for cheap sources of components, outsource products and services; they can market their products to global consumers through mainstream marketing channels and online, etc. (Boone & Kurtz 2011, p.354). Companies such as Google and Microsoft are regarded as global companies because they have operations across the globe. Today organisations are looking for talented workers in a global market to enhance their performance (Alvesson 2012, p.51). Therefore, globalisation provides the organisation with unlimited opportunities to enhance performance and competitiveness.However, globalisation is an issue that requires specialised managerial knowledge and some degree of reflexivity for effective management of the organisation. Issues such as global financial crisis, international terrorism, diverse laws and inflation are real challenges the contemporary managers are facing in their duties (Lev 2013, p.168). Managers are not only supposed to take opportunities available globally but should focus on mitigating global challenges.

Business Amorality

According to Hamilton, Mitchell and Mangan (2014, p. 11), corruption in business is a serious issue that managers of contemporary organisations have to contend. Although this vice is rampant in finance sectors such as banking, finance trust and insurance industry, the same problem transcends into the real economy including manufacturing sector. Organisations and individuals have paid huge fines and other convicted of crimes involved stealing organisations investors resources. Amorality undermines the managers’ goals of achieving efficiency and effectiveness in recognising and providing customer satisfaction (Hamilton, Mitchell & Mangan 2014, p. 12). However, it is the managers’ responsibility to ensure organisations achieve these goals by avoiding waste if the organisations have to survive in the contemporary society.

The managers have a duty to push the boundaries of what is suitable and lawful in the quest for efficiency and waste prevention (Alvesson 2012, p.106). It is apparent that some business intentionally or unknowingly engages in illegal activities in pursuit of survival and lasting prosperity while others strive to achieve excellence and sustainability by operating within the legal constraints (DuBrin 2013, p.143). Evidently, some businesses spend huge chunks of money in building a business culture that ensures all business activities are legal and orthodox.

Management of Workforce Diversity

The contemporary managers have embraced diversity in the workforce due to pressure from globalisation. By diversity, we mean the composition of organisation’s workforce is inclusive of people with different demographic characteristics (Alvesson 2012, p. 126). There are workers of all ages, gender, ethnic background, races, etc. Staffing is one of the managerial functions in any organisation (Boone & Kurtz 2011 p. 257). Therefore, managers have to hire, train, retain and motivate employees to enhance organisation’s competitiveness in a global economy.

However, management of diverse workforce is a great challenge to the managers and may result in crisis if not effectively managed. Employing satisfaction is crucial because it keeps the workers morale high and this can generate multiple returns for the organisation according to McGregor’s Theory X and Y of labour motivation (Wong 2011, p.73). Satisfied employees are more productive, results in low employees’ turnover, reduced absenteeism, enhanced teamwork, etc. than unsatisfied employees (Topolosky 2014, p.2). The diverse workers have different expectations and goals that require different managerial strategies.

According to ZENNIE (2014), Google Inc is the leading global company in employees’ satisfaction. The company has over 55,000 employees across the globe. The Google managers are reflexive in their offers to the employees who have resulted in high efficiency and better performance. For instance, the company gives its employees 20% of their working time to engage in individual projects they think can add value to the organisation (DuBrin 2013, p.187). Also, unlike in most the other organisations, Google has no dressing code so employees feel free to associate with the organisation in a natural. The organisation offers other benefits including free meals, free transport services; prolong paid maternal leaves of 18 weeks and many other employee benefits (ZENNIE, 2014). This reflexivity by Google managers has made the organisation the most preferred place to work by global workers (DuBrin 2013, p.188). Consequently, the lean management culture has enabled Google Inc attract the most talented and experienced workforce and become the most innovative and effective organisation across the globe.

The UK population has many people from diverse cultural background. Asian or Asian British accounts for over 50% while Black or Black British account for 25%. Also, 48% of the UK labours force while 3.5 million workforces are composed of persons with disability (University of Edinburgh, 2016). The recent trend indicates that more than ever before, the UK is receiving several immigrants. Also, the human right pressure prohibits employers from discriminating the workers on the basis of their culture, ethnicity, gender, physical disability, etc. This is complicating the managers’ decisions when it comes to hiring workers (Blowfield 2013 p.26). However, to overcome these challenges managers have to follow the state's regulations and employment laws to ensure their staffs includes persons from a diverse background.

Innovation and Change

The business world is extremely dynamic. The business environment is changing so rapidly that organisations must develop a culture of change to remain relevant (Bold, 2015). Failure to adopt change will make the business lose its competitiveness in the global economy. They must change their traditional way of doing things by adopting new technology or innovative approach to getting things done.

Mark & Spencer Company can be used as a good example of a company that experienced pressure for change and reflexivity of the management led to the implementation of required changes. According to Mackinnon (2007), the CEO of Mark & Spencer in 2007 reviewed the pressure his organisation was going through that prompted him to focus on change areas. The CEO made several observations of the things that were not working well in the organisations. For instance, there was the inefficient management of inventory, lack of accountability by the senior managers regarding the decisions they made and the customers they lost to the competitors (Forbes, 2013). These observations called for immediate implementation of change in the organisation. However, instead of going the traditional way of inviting a team of consultants the review the organisation performance and recommend change, the CEO reflexively worked for change with the help of his core team the people he trusted and had worked with (Mackinnon, 2007). With the help of his team, they introduced a mantra or a hedgehog concept of change that was simple and easy to communicate to get things done as required. The mantra required improvements to be made on the products, stores and services as a guiding vision. The employees followed the CEOs vision and the company’s situation improved.

Furthermore, the world is exploding with information. Employees and managers have virtually all the information they need. The information is accessible anywhere anytime through Internet-enabled devices such as tablets, iPad, Smartphone, Laptops, etc. (Babic, 2013). This availability of information has immensely contributed to the growth and expansion of businesses. Also, it is an advantage to the businesses when customers gain access to the products and services offered by the organisations without too much hustle and almost cost free.

However, the availability of too much information is also a great challenge to the organisation managers because it is exposing them too much to the competitors. It is no longer easy to protect core secrets of the organisations from competitors (Wong 2011 p. 78). Furthermore, employees may waste much of their time reading personal messages on the internet thus contributing to organisations underperformance. Another challenge is the threat of cyber attack and loss of personal privacy (BELB, 2010). Therefore, it is evident that managers have an extra role to play to ensure the organisation is utilising the available information to enhance its performance and global competitiveness. For instance, organisations are protecting the information by restricting the number of people who can have access to confidential information.

Organisational Ethics

Ethics refers to an acceptable code of conducts or doing things in an acceptable way in the society. In the contemporary society consumers, policy makers and the general public are interested in the way businesses carry out their activities (Boone & Kurtz 2011, p.34). Business ethics is influencing customer decisions as more consumers focus on the companies that have incorporated ethical principles in their business Blowfield, 2013 p.29). As earlier mentioned in this document the business managers are at the crossroad because they want to increase efficiency and effectiveness to maximise profit. However, they have to work within the confines of the law and morality.

Managers are under pressure to ensure organisations are recognised as being ethical and making a profit. Being unethical can expose the organisation to the risk of legal penalties and consumer boycott (Staliński 2012, p.34). The mention of Enron reminds one of the consequences of unethical business conducts. Enron was once a glamorous natural gas pipeline company before its sudden collapse in 2001. The unethical conducts at Enron led to the incarceration of 16 former executives of the company because of their business malpractices supported by bankers and advisors (Boone & Kurtz 2011). The reminder of this episode has revolutionised the way managers perceive business ethics and how they conduct their business activities.

The Ford Motor Company Ltd is among the leading companies in ethical behaviour (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel 2014, p. 40). This demonstrates that being ethical is rewarding for the organisations and managers who have realised the importance of good business practices will do all it takes to appear as an ethical business. However, being ethical involves deliberate commitments and strategic approach by the managers. The management of the UK-based automobile company has demonstrated reflexivity in their commitments towards good corporate citizenship (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel 2014, p. 41). For instance, the company offers its employees good working environment, fuel efficient cars and have embarked on transparency as their good practices.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is something every contemporary organisation has a greatly concerned it because it is transforming the business environment and practices for better or worse (Boone & Kurtz 2011, p38). It is a business practice aimed at maintaining a balance between the economy and the environment. Organisations are becoming socially responsible for their activities by complying with environmental laws and assisting the community to solve social issues (Vrontis & Thrassou 2013, P.232). Evidently, businesses have some negative consequences on the environment and the community. Therefore, their engagement in corporate social responsibilities is a way of reducing the adversaries.

The managers of the contemporary organisations are reflexively engaging in corporate social activities to create a mutual coexistence with the community. An example is the Ford Motor Company Ltd produces innovative cars using Eco technologies using EcoBoost petrol engines to cut down the consumption of fuel and emissions of carbon dioxides gas (Lamb et al., 2014). They have also engaged in programmes aimed at ensuring sustainability and recycling of the vehicles to protect the environment.

Business Management and Ownership

The managers of multinational corporations are experiencing challenges of establishing their share of ownership in subsidiary businesses established in foreign countries. Organisations are acquiring complicated structure of ownership after mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investments, etc. (Lamb et al., 2014, p. 41). The problem is even more complicated in family-owned businesses during an exchange of ownership by different generations. This happens because everyone wants to be the head of the business or want a certain number of shares and so on. Some organisations such as the Dayton-Hudson Corporation have successfully solved the issues by hiring external managers to replace family managers (Levinson, 2016). Conducting through management appraisal can also help in determining the suitable managers to succeed the outgoing managers.

Conclusion

The managers are torn between achieving organisational efficiency and creating a public image. This is because the law sometimes limits the opportunities that a business can exploit and pursue “the right path” could result in additional cost to the organisations. The growing complexity of organisations, globalisation, changing technology, workforce diversity, business ethics, corporate social responsibility and the issue of ownership are some of the main challenges inherent in the contemporary business environment. The managerial reflexivity is critical in a globalised economy if the organisation has to attain a balance between satisfying stakeholders and doing the right thing. For instance, effective management of diversity in workforce helps organisations to acquire new talents and avoid conflicts with labour organisations. Reflexivity can enable the manager to ensure effective recruitment process that embraces workforce diversity and obtain efficient workers. Managers’ reflexivity is the main solution to various challenges facing the management in the contemporary organisations.

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