By Andrale Jean-Louis
Management
Piles of documents, records of routine dealing statistics, watching over the firm’s employees, maintaining the routine cycle, trying best not to give a chance to the seniors to complain and if it is business than trying hard to raise the finance or set a track that is being demanded for the rest of the staff for organizational benefits, is a summed up formula of management. It is about carrying a series of tasks to reach a specific objective.
Change
Indeed! Management is about accomplishing tasks, but is this enough to sustain the business? Or does this ensure the lifetime guarantee of the managerial skills? Definitely not. The solution or I must say the solutions don’t lie in a single statement but a series of events, research of decades, several conducted experiments and much more which lead to the accomplishment of tasks. The strategies which before were found to accomplish the tasks today require innovation for tomorrow.
Changing Face of Management
Companies face changes every day, there would be a chaos if companies make changes without careful planning. Management change should be well structured in order to achieve goals and missions. The functions planning, organizing, coordinating, staffing and controlling have been expanded in meaning so as to encompass the change.
Initiating evolution has higher possibilities if the companies consider change as a constant opportunity and the implication of the change of any company or organization lies with the change in the management. Various time phases have gone through some minute and some immense changes in management networks which transformed the traditional methods or diluted them into modern and better strategies.
Industrial Age and Change of Workers
Industrial-age organizations or firms were the formal hierarchies which assigned various tasks to the employees. The power basically used to reside in the hands of the managers through which they used to govern the overall procedures of the organization and its employees by controlling, planning and organizing their specific tasks. This is what actually made management a restricting function. Later on, in the era from 1910 to 1950, it was found that to manage the tasks and in order to have a broad approach to get things under control for client’s satisfaction and business sustainability, changing employees after a fixed duration was a solution.
Cultural Code Switching
Afterward, a more balanced approach came into view after a brief study conducted by gathering information from experts of cross- cultural communication and information networks.
Code-switching between cultures was determined by an effective skill to work with the foreign employees. Definitely, each continent or state has its own peculiarities and adjustment of one for a whole lot is better than expecting the whole lot to change for the sake of one individual. So, managers are expected to change their strategy according to the mindset of their employees and get used to their trends, only then they can communicate in the language of their employees and make them abide by the management strategies. International experience in working is important which managers can achieve only if they appreciate diversity and have specific cultural intelligence.
Traditional Models of Hierarchy and Innovation
Later on, with the emergence of technology, few organizations became more focused towards the innovation of the set-up which could nurture and then conceive the decision-making programs. An example of which is the often use of mainframe computers in the banking departments which are used by managers. However, several organizations still employ the traditional models of hierarchy, organizational structure, strategies, planning and organization control schemes because the present stage management is more focused on getting things accomplished where past experiments act as directives for today and the innovative setup approach is still in progress for the future.
Motivation and Health of Employees
The ways of past are not enough to carry out the management programs of the present. So, it needs to and has so far evolved to motivate its employees.
Firstly, the managers today are more into adopting the top down strategies for objective setting, then the management looks forward to measure and control whatever is being done and whatever needs to be done in order to provide corresponding incentives for good or bad performance and lastly those monetary incentives motivate the employees.
Nowadays, the work-life balance, environmental factors and socializing with the employees has become a keen demand for the business. With daily challenges ahead, realizing and praising the employees for their extraordinary traits is a remarkable step of managers in the present situations. Past business affairs mostly demanded employees to oversee compliance, now the focus is towards their motivation so that they may oversee performance and the future will emphasize more on the employers’ potential and their approach towards innovation.
With motivation, carrying out health programs is another major step which managers are taking for their employees’ needs which have made the companies profitable in the long term. According to the United States Department of Labor’s OHSA, companies which implement the health management practices, reduced employee injuries, and illnesses by almost 20 to 40% and the productivity increased to almost 13%. Moreover, carrying out employee fitness programs is another step taken by most of the companies of the present age.
Good VS Bad
Good
The good thing about the changing face of management is that now the technology has opened gateways to a broader analysis of the work which enhances the objectives of any company. Moreover, with technology in hand, through the innovation of smartphones, automated devices, and other technologies, the manual load has decreased to a great extent due to which the managers can watch over their employees’ performances. Various applications have been introduced in the markets which promise efficiency.
In addition to this, organizations need more effective results than burdening their employees with an unnecessary workload which was opposite in the past. So, this is another beneficial side of the changing face of management. Now, the managers are more expected to be vigilant in their field that is they have to introduce such policies which can balance the tract and the employees on it. The instructions of the manager play a vital role and if those are good enough then it can propel the organization to great heights.
Since past was more into changing the employees after a certain time period which never really made the workers realize their capabilities. However, with the change in the management, the workers are not only apprised of intelligence but their traits are also admired which ensures efficiency within the organization. Also, it doesn’t put the health or esteem of the employees at risk. With the balance in professional and personal lives, employees have a sense of relief and are not engaged in the fear of being completely work addicts. Though in countries like the US, holidays are a rare event throughout the year but the light work environment and suitable work hours leave room for the individuals to experience life outside the office.
Bad
In the past, the changes occurred at a slower pace and it took years to them to change their modules in order to comply with the changing readiness. Moreover, management restriction in industrial age was like more energy with fewer results. The authoritarian approach made the manager and employee relation into a dominion and submissive one.
However, since the changes used to occur at a slower pace in the past so the handling crisis was relatively simpler as compared to the present where introducing new strategies is a big deal. Though we are blessed with the technology but despite our technical approach, lack of time is a major issue so dealing with problems in minimal time is tough. For those who think that technology is meant to come up with the perfect consequences then no this is not the case every time. With smartphones in hands, it is a rare event to avoid the pop-up notification menu while working. Researchers found that interior distractions have higher possibilities to happen and are stronger than the exterior ones and it takes almost 25 minutes to the person to focus back on his/ her objective.
Moreover, if a perfect strategy being introduced by the manager can become a reason of success for the organization, similarly a poor decision can collapse the organization as well if the flaw persists then it becomes hard to get rid of it.
With determination and other managerial skills, change readiness is now considered an asset in the management world. Though the past management was not that popular but one thing is for sure that the experiments done in the past have led to the accomplishments of the present which can ensure the innovation for the future. A frequent ideas’ generating mind is important for the revival of the success of any company and this is not possible if the manager doesn’t have experience of adjusting to frequently new work setups. Only then he can make his employees live in the change.
Creating a friendly environment, recognizing the extraordinary instincts of one’s co-workers and the ones working under and then praising them for that, ensures efficiency among them. On the opposite side, the over controlling atmosphere is more liable to fade the competitive struggle among the workers. In addition to this, if we want to make good surpass the bad, it is best to form such units which are only given the responsibility to deal with the probabilities of risks in the present age and then overcome them so that managers won’t have to focus more on this problem, rather they can concentrate on the effective results and ensure new strategies in less time. Furthermore, interior distractions can be overcome if each individual tries to be more honest with his/ her working hours. Thus, proper modifications and right decisions can happen at the right time and lead to better prospects.
