Organizational Behaviour Issues Faced by Today$$s Manager

$1.$ Workforce diversity:

The manager needs to identify difficulties of working with people from different cultures.

Working with people from different genders, race and ethnicity, disabilities, different sexual orientation; people with different norms.

Workforce diversity increases with more focus on remote working $$ people don$$t necessarily have to relocate to become part of the workforce $($McKinsey report, $2020).$

The managers should respect diversity. They should make a mind shift from treating everyone the same to recognising differences and responding to those differences in a way that will ensure employee retention and greater productivity while at the same time not discriminating. An increasingly diverse workforce presents both opportunities and challenges for organisations.

Diversity can become a competitive advantage in the following ways:

$($i$)$ Diversity can become a competitive advantage by improving the decision making and team performance on various complex tasks.

$($ii$)$ A diverse workforce can be essential to provide better customer service in the global marketplace.

$($iii$)$ Workforce diversity brings new challenges with respect of communication, team dynamics and dysfunctional conflict.

$($iv$)$ Diversity, if properly managed, can increase creativity and innovation in organisations.

On the negative side: if diversity is not properly managed it can lead to higher employee turnover, more difficult communication and more interpersonal conflicts. It can create increase issues around workplace discrimination and harassment. One way to address this is for employers and managers to adjust to emerging workforce expectations and change their leadership approach from command$-$and$-$control style to empowerment; giving more freedom and power to the employees.

$($ii$)$ Changing Demographics of workforce:

The major challenge from the changing demographics of the workforce relates to the following:

$($a$)$ Dual Career Couples:

Organisations had been used to physical relocation of employees. Employees moving through organisational ranks to upper$-$level positions need experience in a variety of roles in different organisational units. Physical relocation had been used by organisations for developing talent among employees. However, dual career couples, where both the husband and wife have their own careers to consider, limit the individual flexibility in accepting such assignments. This hinders the organisational flexibility in acquiring and developing talent.

$($b$)$ Growing number of youngsters:

Another form of diversity comes from younger people entering the workforce. Generation$-$X employees are on an average about $2530$ years of age. These employees bring new ways of thinking about the world of work and preferred employment relationships. Younger employees tend to be ambitious, enthusiastic and innovative. Their personal needs must be handled with caution as their expectations differ from other $($older$)$ generations. They do not live to work but work to live; choosing a life that they want to have as opposed to merely working for a salary. They seek instant gratification and prefer different types of communication, e$.$g$.$ email or WhatsApp messages rather than face$-$to$-$face meetings.

$($c$)$ Gender factor:

Women$$s careers moved from nursing, teaching, administration to professions previously dominated by males, e$.$g$.$ lawyers, doctors and executives, civil services, engineering, information technology, even blue$-$collar jobs. On the other hand, more and more men are entering into professions previously dominated by women such as catering, nursing, cooking, fashion and textile designing. These developments have their own implications for human resource managers in organisations.

$2.$ Workplace Issues and Challenges:

Workplace issues and challenges also have behavioural implications.

Major issues are as follows:

$($i$)$ Employee Privacy:

Employers must be careful not to intrude into the private lives of the employees, especially during times working from home. Remote working can decrease boundaries of when employees are available for work$-$related issues $$ as they could be reached via social media $24/7.$ Managers need to be very sensitive to this issue since this trend creates resentment among employees, as well and is seen as an infringement of their privacy. Things such as random drug tests, checking the background of prospective employees, including the use of social media, and checks on internet surfing should be handled with caution.

$($ii$)$ Employee Rights:

A concern related to employee privacy is employee rights. In this context, controversies involve issues associated with job ownership and individual rights while at work. Issues have also surfaced regarding uniform dress codes, right to marry within the organisation etc. These issues tend to be controversial.

$($iii$)$ Changed Employee Expectations:

Employee expectations are also changing with change