How can the organization that you profiled prepare itself to remain effective given the following circumstances?
-Climate change
-Economic downturn
-Technological disruption
-Changing workforce
-Leadership/organization scandal
You may pick any one of the scenarios and write a three-to-five-page paper that imagines how the organization might mitigate these challenges. Be sure to consider the role of change and leadership in the organization’s strategy to mitigate these scenarios and to define how the organizations might measure effectiveness. Your paper should include at least six references and build upon your profile assignment.
Changing Workforce
Effectiveness is important for any organization because it has to function under given resources and in case of failure to do so, can lead the organization towards failure. Leadership role in organizational effectiveness is very important because it gets things right if they are going wrong. There might be many circumstances under which an organization should ensure its effectiveness because the organization has to adapt itself. Therefore, an organization and its leadership should be ready to embrace change and leadership should play such a role that the effects of change in the environment on the organization are not negative. Changing workforce is one of the issues faced by today’s organizations, and leaders of the organization should be ready to address this issue because this change is associated with human resources, and it is different from the change in technology or any nonliving thing. An organization can prepare itself to remain effective if there is a workforce changing, by responding to changes and ensuring a high level of collaboration and participation in the workforce.
Changing Workforce
Organizations have been facing the challenge of changing their workforce, which is because of two reasons mainly. An organization may face diversity in the workforce, and these different backgrounds lead management and the leadership to experience changes in the practices. Secondly, an organization may face changing attitudes and behaviors of the changing workforce because of new trends that are being adopted by the workforce. An organization needs to be aware of both of these aspects simultaneously, so that changing the workforce may lead to effectiveness of the organization. Being effective asserts an organization to be relevant and focused on its goals, and it can be done if the workforce remains aligned with the goals of the organization (Dixon, 2017).
The workforce is changing because of the representation of different racial and lingual groups, and a leader has to make them a productive part of the organization. On the other hand, the workforce is also embracing new changes in its practices like they are diverse regarding attitudes and behavior too. Today, the workforce demands and expects greater and more control over their physical environment in the organization. They tend to use more technology, even if an organization is not a technology company. It means the workforce has embraced new attitudes and leadership of an organization should realize this change in workforce level and make suitable changes to remain organizationally effective (Colbert, Yee, & George, 2016).
How can Organization remain Effective under the Changing Workforce Issue?
An organization can remain effective under the changing workforce by increasing the level of collaboration and participation at the organizational level so that an organization can get all kinds of workforce aligned with its goals and objectives. Leadership skills matter a lot because leadership has to guide from two fronts to remain an organization effectively. First, the leadership should have the capabilities of leading from the front, and this means that it should bring breakthrough ideas and planning which keep the workforce satisfied with the capabilities of the leadership. In this regard, examples of Amazon and Facebook can be very appropriate whose leaders have led their organizations from the front, and they have satisfied diverse workforce. Second, the leadership has to provide freedom and room for mistakes to its employees so that they are not held accountable for any mistake they do. In the result, their changing workforce would bring change ideas which would keep the organization relevant to changing the environment. Then, changing the workforce would act as a mechanism to remain an organization effective (Heerwagen, Kelly, & Kampschroer, 2016).
Mitigating Challenges
However, challenges are always there because prejudice, discrimination, and pressure in the workforce may bring an unfriendly atmosphere and an organization cannot come up with the needs and expectations of every employee in the result of changing workforce. In this context, challenges are inevitable, and they can be solved by letting every employee have his say through proper channel or forum in the organization. Above, examples of Amazon and Facebook have been given, and there are numerous other examples where leadership has managed a diverse workforce and companies are also recording success stories. It is the responsibility of leadership to engage the workforce through engagement initiatives. Moreover, at the time of the interview, a profile should be maintained for each employee so that it can reflect an employee throughout his job duration. Understanding the orientations of changing workforce are vital for mitigating challenges (Myerson & Bichard, 2016).
Measurement of Effectiveness by Organization
Organizations to measure every activity otherwise; it is not effective to be involved in a specific activity or action. It is also noted here that an organization should measure the effects and outcomes of the changing workforce. Changing the workforce should add value to the organization as they are diverse, which helps to get diverse ideas and concepts. An organization may form teams and groups to let diverse workforce be one united and unified group. Goals and targets can be set for them, and then their results can be assessed and measured. In this way, the measurement of performance of employees can be done effectively.
Moreover, changing the workforce marks the characteristic of their tech-driven attitude. Today, organizations are going to be tech-driven increasingly, therefore; tech-driven attitude can help an organization. To measure the effectiveness of this aspect of the changing workforce, an organization may compare training needed by them. A tech-driven workforce needs less training and development in learning technology and the use of innovative ideas. Moreover, the human resource department can be assigned to this duty to assess employees, and evaluation programs by the department can be used to measure performance. If an action achieved what is intended from that action, then, it is effective (Bernstei & Martin-Caughey, 2017).
Role of Change and Leadership
In the above scenario, different aspects around the given scenario of changing workforce have been considered so that an organization can be made effective. In the whole discussion, the role of leadership and change is central. The environment and factors around the environment are changing, and it has been affecting the actions of an organization as well. It has to adapt in light of new changes and patterns. Change management initiatives are central, and leadership should have the capabilities and strength to manage change. It is, therefore, important for organizations to remain effective and they should be prepared for any scenario faced. Leadership should act and lead from the front to remain an organization successful (Greesonbach, 2018).
Conclusion
The paper concludes that organizations are facing change in recent times and changing the workforce is one of the main challenges that are forcing them to adapt to change. Leadership has to be concerned and well prepared to act accordingly. There are different reasons for workforce change, and they include diversity and changing attitudes and behavior. It is important to note these changing attributes of the workforce, and they should be made a meaningful part of the organization. In the result, an organization can remain effective and even in light of this change. Organizational effectiveness under changing environment is a challenge and leadership should take timely action in this regard. It is recommended to consider changing the workforce as an important scenario faced by any organization so that an organization can keep it successful on a long-term basis.
References
Bernstei, H., & Martin-Caughey, A. (2017). Changing Workforce Systems.
Colbert, A., Yee, N., & George, G. (2016). The digital workforce and the workplace of the future. Academy of Management Journal, 59(3), 731-739.
Dixon, N. M. (2017). The organizational learning cycle: How we can learn collectively (2 ed.). New York, New York: Routledge.
Greesonbach, S. (2018). Importance of Leadership in Changing Organizational Culture.
Heerwagen, J., Kelly, K., & Kampschroer, K. (2016). The Changing Nature of Organizations, Work, and Workplace.
Myerson, J., & Bichard, J.-A. (2016). New Demographics New Workspace: Office Design for the Changing Workforce. New York, New York: CRC Press.
+447462439809