Globalization

It is crucial for businesses to train employees on the importance of customer relationships and customer retention. The market will become even more competitive in the future of change management. Globalization is also becoming more important than ever as companies expand not only in America, but in numerous other countries. During this rapid expansion, there will be a growing demand for cultural and diversity awareness, which must be taught to every employee. Companies will need to know how to manage this change and understand their markets in order to be successful and to prevent culture conflicts and misunderstandings. Globalization will also increase diversity in the workforce, reinforcing the need for diversity training. 

The Union and Management

Recenty, I had a discussion with a customer, who is a retiree of Chrysler; he was talking about how his pension and benefits are going to be taken away or decreased to barely nothing. He stated how he was going to try to apply for Medicaid. The gentleman said if he would had joined the union and wasn’t management he would not have to deal with this issue. I asked him what he meant and he said that retirees of the union are still collecting full pensions and receiving healthcare and other benefits. I felt so bad for this guy. You would think after putting in so many years with a company that he wouldn’t be in the position he is now.

What do you think about this?

An Empowered Workforce

I feel an important factor to employee job satisfaction and to an empowered workforce is that the employee must feel they are working for a good company. Employees must also feel they have room for advancement within the company they are working for and managers have to be there to help them achieve their goals. It is important that employees have a sense of belonging at work and job satisfaction. Managers can assist with this by helping the employees plan steps to achieve their goals, and by pointing them in the right direction with their job performance. Managers need to keep their employees' cross-trained on a variety of different skills and abilities pertaining to their jobs. This will improve the employee's sense of significance and enhance their self-esteem at work. I feel that managers should share knowledge with their employees and provide ongoing training when applicable.

Employees need feedback and managers should provide performance feedback to their employees often. This will enhance job performance and self-esteem. I feel a lack of feedback may cause role ambiguity and job stress which could result in high rates of turnover.

Frederick Herzberg developed two sets of measurement for employee satisfaction which are the hygiene issues and motivators. Managers must take this theory into account when focusing on job satisfaction. Hygiene factors are known to dissatisfy employees and motivators are satisfiers. Motivator factors may be elements such as achievement, recognition, responsibility, and advancement. Hygiene issues may be the working conditions, relationships at work, salary, and supervision. Many of these issues can be controlled by a manager that is concerned with their employees' job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is created by the employee, the company as a whole, and the management team and is an on-going effort.

Managing Talent

This article had a lot of good information about how managers should be accountable for their employees and managing talent. As I was reading, it made me think about how I manage my staff, if I am managing effectively while engaging and developing my staff. The document was interesting because it discussed how managers should increase their employees responsibilities and look for new opportunities for them, as well. I feel that I am good in these areas because I am always keeping my staff up-to-date on how close we are in achieving our goals, how they are doing with meeting their expectations, and by having one-on-ones with them once a month. An example in the document stated that many managers meet with their employees once a year, during the performance review, and forget about them afterwards. That is not effective and is not what management is about. I think people get caught up in their own daily routines and forget about everything else that they should be doing.

Reference:

Beyond Talent Management: Managers as Talent Leaders. Retrieved August 9, 2007, from Paradigm Learning Website