COMMGMT 2500 Organisational Behaviour | The Working Environment

This assessment uses the instability in working situations and changes to the working environment as the basis for reviewing and presenting a topic on Organisational behaviour (OB). Changes in the workplace, including automation, have made work harder and more competitive. 

The assignment is individual. 

It requires that you write a critical report as follows: What changes have occurred in the workplace recently, what is the impact of these on the manager and on staff, what are you think are important in today’s OB environment, what do you predict will happen in the workplace in the next 10-15 years (relate these changes to things 2 of the topics learned in OB such as motivation, job satisfaction, decision-making, equity, engagement or any other topic from OB that we have or will study)?

The evolution in technology, Changes in employment arrangements among other factors have brought many changes in the modern organizations, unlike traditionally where employees were required to be physically present at the organization’s premises to carry out their duties and responsibilities, the introduction of home working concept has greatly revolutionized how modern organizations operate. These changes have also been brought about by changes in technology which have seen the introduction of modern more efficient technologies (Chelladurai and Kerwin,2017). For global organizations, meetings can be held virtually through teleconferencing or Skype hence reducing the need for people to travel and minimizing travel expenses. This report explores the changes in the modern workplace and their impact on the management and the em

What changes have occurred in the workplace recently,

Emphasis on work-life balance

With the increasing competition in organizations, the pressure on employees has increased necessitating them to work even after working hours to meet personal and organizational targets. Such pressure that requires employees to work even after working hours has been perceived as negatively affecting the productivity and morale of employees (Kapoor, and Solomon,2011). Modern employees and employees have however become more concerned with work-life balance. It has been argued that work-life balance is the most important aspect that employees look when applying for a job (Fairclough, 2013). Millennials have become more concerned with jobs that allow them time for personal commitments. Some organizations seeking to recruit the best talents have also shifted their focus to offering flexibility and work-life balance for their employees. Under this new arrangement employees can now work from home or choose their working hours.

Increased collaboration

Unlike previously when the management of an organization viewed employees as people to be used in achieving organizational goals, modern organization have changed their perceptions towards employees by viewing them as equal partners. It is common for employees and the management to work on a single project aimed at meeting organizational goals (Bidwell et al., 2013).A project manager may for example need the input of several other players such as the accountant, clients’ editors among others before implementing a certain project. This collaboration is facilitated by the availability of multiple communication channels.

What is the impact of these on the manager and on staff?

Impact of work-life balance on manager and staff

Employees who are able to balance between their work and life commitments are perhaps the happiest lot. Previously employees worked so much that sometimes they had little or no time to be with their families or engage in other activities. The flexible working arrangement means that they can attend to both personal and work commitments. The impact of this is high morale which translates to high productivity (Collings, Wood and Szamosi,2018). With flexible working terms also, employees tend to become committed to their employer hence the rate of employee turnover is reduced employee. This flexibility also reduces the rates of absenteeism. For managers, it can be such a hectic task dealing with employees lacking the self-drive. Work-life balance simplifies the work of managers as they work with employees who are highly motivated and committed to their organization (Frese, 2018). Reduced absenteeism also reduced the stresses that managers have to deal with in the workplace as a consequence of unmet targets.

Future workplace trends

High Employee turnover caused by lack of Job satisfaction

It is expected that employees in years to come will have their focus centered on finding new experiences in form of new positions in new organizations or countries, promotions or transfer from one industry to another (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow,2016). Unlike modern day employees who can stay with one employer for a lifetime, this will be difficult to achieve in the future as employees seek these new experiences. As a result of this organizations are likely to experience high employee turnover with some even switching their careers in less than one year. Apart from seeking new experiences, employee turnover will also come as a result of burnout. With new technological inventions and the availability of new technologies employees will tend to remain connected even after working hours. They will, therefore, experience the pressure of responding to emails and calls which is likely to lead to burnout.

Retaining and up-skilling employees

It is expected that in the years to come organizations will face an acute shortage of personnel to fill certain positions such as data analysts and programming experts. The advancement in technologies is anticipated to require more such experts. As a result of shortages in these new skills, which will keep escalating, organizations are likely to up-skill their current employees for them to take over the new roles (Bailey et al., 2018). This means that future organizations will have employees who can perform multiple roles in various departments. Organizations are also likely to look out for employees who possess special skills that cannot be acquired through training.

More use of artificial intelligence

As a result of artificial intelligence, it is forecasted that some or all human role will be taken over by machines and robots. This is likely to have a huge impact on employee motivation as the remaining employees will not be guaranteed of retaining their jobs (Bratton and Gold 2017). With almost all industries adopting the use of Artificial intelligence it is expected that these will become part and parcel of organizations in the future. Currently, some organizations are already using chatbots to interact with clients in textual and auditory formats. More of such inventions are expected to characterize future organizations with some relying on such technologies entirely.

References

Bidwell, M., Briscoe, F., Fernandez-Mateo, I., and Sterling, A., 2013. The employment relationship and inequality: How and why changes in employment practices are reshaping rewards in organizations. Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), pp.61-121.

Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Chelladurai, P. and Kerwin, S., 2017. Human resource management in sport and recreation. Human Kinetics.

Collings, D.G., Wood, G.T. and Szamosi, L.T., 2018. Human resource management: A critical approach. In Human Resource Management (pp. 1-23). Routledge.

Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C. and Garavan, T., 2018. Strategic human resource management. Oxford University Press.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.

Fairclough, N., 2013. Technologisation of discourse. Texts and practices (pp. 80-92). Routledge.

Frese, M., 2018. The word is out: We need an active performance concept for modern workplaces. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), pp.67-69.

Kapoor, C. and Solomon, N., 2011. Understanding and managing generational differences in the workplace. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 3(4), pp.308-318.

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.