Challenges and Opportunities for Managers - Essay Example

The employees of a company are its human capital which is the most valuable asset companies owned. Corporations delegate the responsibility of leading the workers to the managers. A manager is directly responsible for the performance of the company and its workers. It is imperative for managers to have good communication skills. Companies that are successful typically have open communication channels between the workers and the managers. Another factor that determines how well a company performs in the marketplace is the composition of its workforce.

Businesses that have a good crop of workers will outperform a company with subpar employees. The quality of the labor force influences on the performance of a company. Take for example two universities systems. One system is selective in its selection process of faculty member with a 90% doctorate rate among faculty members. This college pays its professor a median salary of $127,500. The second college does not emphasize college professors with doctorate studies. The average median salary at the second school was $65,000.

Due to the difference in the composition of college professors between the two schools the university with greater credentials provides a higher quality of education. The higher salary offered by the first school made it easier for them to recruit professors with better credentials. Money or economic considerations are the top motivating factor for employees (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn, 2003). Selecting employees that have poor skills or that are less qualified than other candidates hurts the corporation.

Managers are exposed to a higher workload because poor employees require a higher attention and supervision from the managers to ensure they perform at the highest possible level. Good employees on the other hand are typically self-motivated which saves managers time. The manager does not have to tell the good employee to do his job, since the good employee will do a good job without the need for supervision. Managers can benefit from having a staff of quality employees because this staff can produce more output than a staff of mediocre employees.

The company can achieve savings from the productive staff because fewer employees can produce the output of a higher total of unproductive employees. In a corporation such as Wal-Mart which employees over 2 million people a company can achieve millions of dollars in savings if the employees are able to produce at an adequate level. Management is adversely impacted by the recruitment of poor employees. They have to spend more money training these employees. The learning curve with these sub-par employees is much longer.

Four attributes of good employees are dependability, trustworthiness, manageability, and teamwork (Associatedcontent, 2011). Teamwork is extremely important because in today’s workplace the employees depend on the efforts of each other. Managers that have good relationships with the workers are able to motivate them to produce more. Even when a manager does not have the best troop of employees the manager must motivate the workers so that produce at their maximum capacity. “Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate non-performing individuals in important jobs” (Drucker, 2011).

Employees expect their managerial staff to be qualified and competent at their job. References Associatedcontent.com (2011). What Makes a Good Employee and Exemplary Employee? Retrieved March 3, 2011 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/176408/what_makes_a_good_employee_an_exemplary.html?cat=31 Drucker, P. (2011). Employee Quotes. March 3, 2011 from http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes/employee-quotes.htm Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R. (2003). Organizational Behavior (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.