Thursday, April 2, 2009

Today's Managerial Challenges

Todays's Managerial Challenges

Manager is NOT only for profit-making businesses. Manager is the specific and distinguishing organ of any and all organizations. Managers plays an important role in the organization towards a common goal or set of goal within the framework of structured relationship. Mintzberg approach highlighted on the three important managerial roles. The roles are interpersonal, informational and decisional.

Organizations around the globe are facing similar managerial challenges.

Attracting talent and retaining quality employees at all levels to meet the needs of
organization growth.

The big issue that the managers should be focusing more is on how to make the organization better to attract the right people, making sure to retain them and better developing those people to deliver on your business objectives and goals. One of the strategies is to market the brand to the employees. An organization’s employer brand and reputation go a long way in attracting people and this is particularly beneficial for many larger companies. Smaller companies, however, need to better communicate their culture, philosophy and vision to potential candidates through a strong employer brand. Potential employees make decisions about accepting positions with new companies based on more than just remuneration. The skills shortage has enabled candidates to be increasingly selective about their employment experiences. The ability to communicate your employer brand externally is vital to attract talented staff that also fit in with the company culture.

Managers should work harder on their employer brand and promote their image through public relations, advertising and word of mouth. If the employees love working for the company and buy into the company brand, they will be the best advertising. Regardless of the size of the organization, attracting and retaining the right staff is a major factor in the success and ability to grow. The skills shortage is also posing challenges for staff retention. Shortage of a position in the marketplace is the challenge for the company to keep hold of the intellect and talent that exists within the organization.

To retain good employees, the company must offer them more than decent wages and benefits. Employees need to be recognized for a job well done and remembered on special occasions, such as a work anniversary. When employees shows signs of readiness, entrust them with new tasks and greater responsibility to keep them challenged and engaged. To retain specialists, companies will need to tailor career tracks so that the company reward and fully utilized different types of employees with different interest and skills levels. Attracting and retaining talent demands that companies offer potential and current employees a value proposition that aligns closely with the desire of these groups as well as with the employer’s brand.

Companies should also ensure that they target their offering to meet the need and goals unique to different ethnic group and nationalities, women, and older workers. Companies need to broaden their talent pool by attracting and retaining diverse groups of employees.

Worker shortage

There is a growing shortage of qualified workers. The company currently faces with a severe shortage of resources. People are healthier longer and can work for more years. The company will not be able to marginalize older workers, but will instead have to train and support them. Many task will be shifted to automation, or will incorporate automation in new ways in order to increase the productivity challenge.

Developing a robust leadership pipeline.

One of the biggest potential threats to many corporations is a lack of a robust talent pool from which to select future leaders. To achieve this, a manager has to have special skills in understanding impersonal and group behaviour, establishing interactions and communication, and promoting cooperation. The quality of leadership determines the success or failure of an organizations. It is an essential component of organizational effectiveness. To be effective, a manager should have a good understanding of leadership, motivating factors, how people think and act, and should adopt a personal and active attitude towards designated goals. Leadership should be both effective and successful. While successful leadership draws a response from individuals or group members on the basis of rewards and punishments, effective leadership is based on mutual understanding and social exchange. An effective leader makes the individual or group members understand the problem and reasons for any actions or for changes needed in their own perceptual terms, and then makes a well reasoned decision.

Transferring key knowledge and relationships

Those who are dependant on the strength of knowledge, such as that embedded in customer relationships, a key to business success. One of the most effective ways is implementing a comprehensive system of job families across the company. Such as a system clusters employees whose skills and specific experience create opportunities for job exchanges across many levels. Companies should forecast, on a job family basis, how their current work will develop over the next 5, 10 and 15 years – taking into account expected recruitment, retirement and attrition.

To meet the globalization challenges

The companies must prepare their employees to cope with the complexities and accelerated speed of an increasingly global economy. This action is particularly important since some national education systems are failing to arm new workers with the skills that they will require to keep pace. In such an environment, companies will succeed or fail based on how well they link employee training to their business strategy. Overall, companies will need to boost significantly the number of on- the-job development programs such as job rotation. For maximum success, they will also need to couple these programs with counseling and coaching support.

Assist on employee satisfaction on balance lives, personal and professional growth

Employees today want more out of a job than a big salary. Workers expectations have shifted over the past few decades. Many workers would like to have time off and better working conditions. Workers under age 35 typically rate balance and flexibility as more important than their relationship with their bosses, and identify job challenge and promotion as reasons to stay with their employers. Employees want their organizations to demonstrate that their personal lives are a priority. Lack of opportunities to learn and grow often leads workers to move on to other employment.

To improve productivity and quality

Quality and productivity is very important to an organization. By using self-directed work teams, streamlining processes and implementing continuous improvement programs must be model of manufacturing efficiency. Quality program such as TQM and reengineering programs will require extensive employee involvement.

Managing work-life balance

Employees are increasingly selecting or rejecting job base on how well they can help the individuals achieve work-life balance or advance personal goals and values. In order to attract and retain highly talented individuals, companies therefore need to offer flexible work arrangement. They will also need to appeal employees’ growing desire to derive a sense of greater purpose from their work.

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