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Management
, Ninth Edition
Robert Kreitner, Arizona State University
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| | Chapter Summaries
Chapter 3:
The Changing Environment of Management
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Seven major changes reshaping the workplace at the beginning of the twenty-first century are (1) the virtual organization with greater reliance on computer networks, (2) the just-in-time workforce with more part-timers, (3) the ascendancy of knowledge workers as we pursue lifelong learning in the information age, (4) computerized coaching and electronic monitoring with enhanced learning and decision making, as well as privacy concerns, (5) the growth of worker diversity in an evolving multicultural and multilingual workforce, (6) the aging workforce with a greater appreciation of older workers and less emphasis on early retirement, and (7) the birth of the dynamic workforce with an emphasis on innovation and adaptability.
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Demographically, the U.S. workforce is becoming larger, older, more culturally diverse, and increasingly female. Remedial education programs are needed to improve the quality of the U.S. workforce. Researchers have disproved persistent myths that older workers are less productive and more accident-prone than younger coworkers. A new social contract between employers and employees is taking shape because the tradition of lifetime employment with a single organization is giving way to shorter-term relationships of convenience and mutual benefit.
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The persistence of opportunity and income inequalities (and the so-called glass ceiling) among women and minorities is a strong stimulus for change. With part-timers playing a greater role in the U.S. workforce, there is genuine concern about creating a disadvantaged underclass of employees. Managing-diversity programs attempt to go a step beyond equal employment opportunity. The new goal is to tap every employees full potential in todays diverse workforce.
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Because of government regulations and sociopolitical demands from a growing list of special-interest groups, managers are becoming increasingly politicized. More and more believe that if they are going to be affected by political forces, they should be more active politically. Some organizations rely on issues management to systematically identify, evaluate, and respond to important social and political issues. Managers can respond politically in three ways: by being reactive, neutral, or proactive. Four political strategies that managers have found useful for pursuing active or reactive political goals are campaign financing, lobbying, coalition building, and indirect lobbying. In a number of recent court cases managers have been held personally accountable for the misdeeds of their organizations. Alternative dispute resolution tactics such as arbitration and mediation can help trim managements huge litigation bill.
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Managers can make timely decisions about inventory, borrowing, hiring, and capital spending during somewhat unpredictable business cycles by taking a consensus approach to economic forecasts. Business is urged to compete actively and creatively in the emerging global economy. By influencing jobs, prices, quality standards, and wages, the global economy affects virtually everyone.
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Including conceptualization, product technology, and production technology, a healthy innovation process is vital to technological development. Innovation lags must be shortened. An organizational climate that fosters intrapreneurship can help. An intrapreneur is an employee who champions an idea or innovation by pushing it through the organization.
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