...Knoll Workplace Research Five Trends that Are Dramatically Changing Work and the Workplace By Joe Aki Ouye, Ph.D. Co-Founder and Partner New Ways of Working, LLC The Changing Nature of Work My wife, a manager at Hewlett-Packard, usually has a two minute commute—a thirty foot walk from the kitchen up to her office. She goes “to the central office” about once every other week, more to keep in touch socially rather than to formally collaborate. Although she only meets face-to-face with her globally-based team members about once per year, she has an audio conference with them weekly. As HP’s work force grows and becomes more global, she is a highly sought after manager. She has learned how to work with her distributed team, setting clear directions, communicating often and clearly, and, most importantly, creating activities to engender team trust and cohesion. Most workers today do not work like my wife; most still commute to and from traditional, centralized offices and work with teams in close proximity. Nevertheless, more and more of us are—or will be—working in both non-traditional ways and places, ranging from relying on adaptable furniture and hoteling desks at the central office, to satellite offices, offshore offices, and telework from home. According to a recent benchmarking study by our research consortium, The New Ways of Working, many organizations are formalizing “Alternative Workplace” programs that combine nontraditional work practices, settings and locations.1...
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...Outsourcing Running a business requires many decisions to be made, one decision is whether a company should perform work internally or outsource job duties. Outsourcing is the technique used by companies to reduce cost by transferring portions of work to third party suppliers as opposed to performing the job internally. Outsourcing can be very beneficial in reducing cost, but there are also issues that surround outsourcing in general. In order to understand the benefits of outsourcing, one needs to fully comprehend the issues involved with outsourcing, the benefits that a company may experience from outsourcing, how to truly determine whether outsourcing a specific job is necessary or beneficial, and how outsourcing is relevant in today’s workplace. First, it is important to understand what outsourcing is. According to Robert Handfield (2006), outsourcing, which became a formally indentified business strategy in 1989, can be defined as “the strategic use of outside resources to perform activities traditionally handled by internal staff and resources” (para. 5). Outsourcing, sometimes referred to as facilities management, is the strategy that involves an organization to contract out certain aspects of a business to both specialized and efficient service providers. Handfield (2006 points out that subcontracting and outsourcing, although similar in nature, are different because outsourcing “involves substantial restructuring of particular business activities including, often,...
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...FIVE META-TRENDS THAT ARE CHANGING OUR WORLD* explored by David Pearce Snyder Consulting Futurist INTRODUCTION Last year, I received an e-mail from a long-time Australian client, requesting “five meta-trends that will have the largest impact on global human psychology.” The wording of the brief request gave the impression that they were ordering five off-the-shelf commodities which we could pull from stock and ship in seven days. Moreover, the term “meta-trend,” while increasingly in common use, lacks specificity as a contract deliverable. I asked them to describe what they meant by “meta-trend.” The client, The Meikle Files (www.meiklefiles.com.au), provides leadership development and career coaching for executives of multi-national firms. They replied that they were looking for “future trends that would most powerfully affect human consciousness and behavior around the world.” The Greek root “meta” clearly denotes a transformational or transcendent phenomenon, not simply a big, pervasive one. A Google search on “meta-trend” turned up a rich diversity of uses, almost all of which clearly involve convergent or catalytic change, as opposed to linear or sequential change. “The Oxford English Dictionary and Google,” I wrote back to the client, “agree that ‘meta-trend’ would most appropriately be defined as an evolutionary, system-wide development arising from the simultaneous occurrence of a number of individual demographic, economic and technologic trends.” “Each of your...
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...management trend, they can provide work environments that are open to creative thought, and embrace the concept that solutions to ongoing work-related problems are available inside each and every one of us. All we must do is tap into the knowledge base, which gives us the "ability to think critically and creatively, the ability to communicate ideas and concepts, and the ability to cooperate with other human beings in the process of inquiry and action (Navran Associates Newsletter 1993). A learning organization is one that seeks to create its own future; that assumes learning is an ongoing and creative process for its members; and one that develops, adapts, and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people, both inside and outside itself ( Navran Associates Newsletter 1993). What learning organizations do is set us free because employees no longer have to be passive players in the equation; they will learn to express ideas and challenge themselves to contribute to an improved work environment by participating in a paradigm shift from the traditional authoritarian workplace philosophy to one where the hierarchy is broken down, and human potential is heralded. Learning organizations foster an environment wherein people can "create the results they truly desire," and where they can learn to learn together for the betterment of the whole (Rheem 1995,10). Peter Senge is a leading writer in the area of learning organizations, whose seminal works The Fifth Discipline:...
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...organization. The primary goal for most companies is to be successful. Success is usually measured by the growth of a company or organization but how does a company reach growth? A companies’ success would be almost impossible without innovation. In addition to innovation it is also important for companies to recognize global trends when devising a strategy for innovation. This paper will discuss the global trends related to the Nayar article to create a more innovative organization as it relates to the five discovery skills. It will also discuss recommendations for improvement of the use of the discovery skills. Influence of Global Trends In the article “A Maverick CEO explains how he persuaded his team to look into the future”, Nayar was appointed president of the Delphi based IT services provider HCL technologies. When Nayar was appointed he knew that he had some challenges ahead of him. There were some challenges that the global economy was experiencing at that time and he had to find a way to make the company successful despite its adversities. Nayar noticed that its competitors were growing at 40% to 50% a year and the IT services industry was rapidly changing. Although HCL Technologies were growing at a rate of 30% they were still behind in the industry related to other organizations in the industry (Nayar, 2010). Technology was going through many changes also due to newly and highly valuable technologies that...
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...matter — for the public trust. For more information, please contact: Ethics Resource Center 2345 Crystal Drive, Suite 201 Arlington, VA 22202 USA Telephone: 703.647.2185 FAX: 703.647.2180 Website: http://www.ethics.org Email: ethics@ethics.org NBES Sponsors The 2011 National Business Ethics Survey® was conducted with the generous support of: Principal Sponsors Walmart Stores, Inc. Northrop Grumman Sponsors Altria Group, Inc. BP p.l.c. PricewaterhouseCoopers United Technologies Corporation Lockheed Martin Corporation Raytheon Company BAE Systems Southern Company Aetna SAIC NASDAQ OMX The 2011 NBES is the seventh in a series of reports that began in 1994, an ongoing research initiative of the Ethics Resource Center. All work in this effort...
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...Human Resource Management in Business Introduction Human Resources (HR) is concerned with the issues of managing people in the organisation.The Human Resources department is responsible for many people related issues in an organisation.Under the HR department’s remit are the following roles: • The process of recruiting suitable candidates for the organisation • Identifying and meeting the training needs of existing staff • Ensuring employee welfare and employee relations are positive • Ensure the working environment is safe for employees • Raising awareness of current workplace legislation The Human Resources Department also covers five key roles. • Executive role – in this role the HR department are viewed as the specialists in the areas that encompass Human Resources or people management. • Audit role – in this capacity the HR department will check other departments and the organisation as a whole to ensure all HR policies such as Health & Safety, Training, and Staff Appraisal etc. are being carried out in accordance with the company’s HR policy. • Facilitator role – in this role, the HR department help or facilitate other departments to achieve the goals or standards as laid out in the HR policies of the organisation. This will involve training being delivered for issues that arise in the areas relating to people management. • Consultancy role – the HR department will advise managers on how to tackle specific managing people issues professionally. • Service...
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...thousands of times a day throughout the country and is how some people “go” to work every day. Being able to work from home, hotel, or anywhere you can think of, is telecommuting or teleworking. Decades ago you might not have imagined anyone outside the sales staff being able to work from anywhere but the office building. However, with the advances made in technology, specifically that of the internet, people can potentially work from almost anywhere they might wish. The idea of working from home may be viewed as being fundamentally instinctive. William R. Mattox Jr., the vice president of the Family Research Council said, “technologies such as computers and fiber optics could create a ‘neo-agrarian technical revolution’ that would put workers back in their homes, as they were before the 19th century Industrial Revolution lured them away from their farms (Clark).” In essence, telecommuting can be viewed as a natural process by which we have functioned historically and are now in the process of reverting back to our natural ways. Advances in technology have closed the gaps between homes, offices, towns, cities, and continents by building electronic bridges using the information super highway to catapult society into the Information Age. The transition from office to home must be transparent to the customer (Business Plugs into Telecommuting: Bringing Work to People rather than People to Work) and can be completed by ensuring the individual has all the amenities of the...
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...importance of HR systems began to emerge. Both researchers and practitioners began to recognize the impact of aligning HR practices with organizational strategy. HR has now emerged as a strategic paradigm in which individual HR functions, such as recruitment, selection, training, compensation, and performance appraisal, are closely aligned with each other and also with the overall strategy of the organization. This new approach of managing human resources has introduced a more strategic role of HRM in an organization. Globalizations, technological advance, changes in the nature of work, changes in workforce demographics are the factors that demand more strategic role of HRM in management. In order to play a more strategic role as a HR manager you need to involve in many tasks like creating strategy execution role, creating formulation execution role, creating a strategic HRM system, creating high-performance-work system, translating strategy into HR policy & practice, and creating a HR scorecard process. 2. WHY AS A HR MANAGER YOU NEED TO PLAY A MORE STRATEGIC ROLE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION TODAY? 2.1 Globalization The term Globalization has invaded the mind of every successful businessman and the concept of Global Village is a common issue in the modern business world. What really the globalization is? The answer seems simple "if a firm...
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...The Nursing Shortage Donna Burgess-Bingen Oklahoma City University Abstract Nursing is a very important part of healthcare. What can be learned through the research on the shortage of nurses? There is not just a shortage of nurses, but a problem with retaining nurses after they have graduated from school. Furthermore, how does the shortage effect nursing education. The Nursing Shortage Nursing is a crucial part of healthcare. Historically, nurses were at the bedside and monitored patients on a twenty-four hour basis. Nurses would collaborate with all aspects of the healthcare world in order to provide quality and efficient patient care. Today, the nurse’s role is continually changing with increasing responsibilities made complicated with the ongoing introduction of new-age technology. With so many recent changes and advances realized, it is not hard to imagine the predicated changes that are in store for the nursing profession in future years. Many mechanisms will come into play in the molding of nursing in the future, but a significant key component that could essentially inhibit the growth in the future of nursing lies in the impending nursing shortage. Will we be ready for this? Currently, worldwide research is being conducted in an effort to evaluate the cause of this looming challenge that we are currently facing and are likely to face in the future. Research has shown that the solution to this prolonged shortage is problematic in the sense that there are many...
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...INTRODUCTION The business world is changing at bullet-train speed – technology, the global economy, increasing regulatory scrutiny, the looming talent crisis, the recognition that mental illness is dramatically affecting the workplace. All of these are having a huge impact on the HR profession. The c-level is finally starting to realize how important your role is. They want you to get out of the day-to-day administrivia - while still making sure everything is done perfectly, mind you. They want you to measurably contribute to the top-line and the bottom line, and help mitigate risk. There are ten major trends that you need to be aware of as your role evolves to meet these challenges. Let’s start with the most obvious. #1. The Changing Role of the HR Professional We need to put the “human” back into human resources. Employees are humans, not commodities, and HR departments have to start seeing them differently. With the current push towards strategies that engage employees, attract top talent, and contribute to the bottom line, this change is imperative. We need to stop whining about being at the table. These days, almost every book or article you read about the role of HR talks about HR needing to be ‘at the table’ or to be more strategic. It’s my observation that in almost every respected company, HR is at the table. So for most HR leaders, the question is not ‘how do you get to the table’. It is ‘now that you are at the table, how do you best contribute...
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...Continual employee training and learning is critical to the ability of organizations to adapt to an ever changing national and international business environment. What motivates employees to learn? Abraham Maslow has had a significant impact on motivation theory, humanistic psychology, and subsequently, adult learning in the workplace. This paper will discuss the development of Maslow's humanistic views and trace their impact on past trends in business training as well as the implications for current challenges that managers face in motivating employee learning in the workplace. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Continual employee training and learning is critical to the ability of organizations to adapt to an ever changing national and international business environment. What motivates employees to learn? Abraham Maslow has had a significant impact on motivation theory, humanistic psychology, and subsequently, adult learning in the workplace. This paper will discuss the development of Maslow's humanistic views and trace their impact on past trends in business training as well as the implications for current challenges that managers face in motivating employee learning in the workplace. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] You have requested "on-the-fly" machine translation of selected content from our databases. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Show full disclaimer Neither ProQuest nor its licensors make any representations...
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...impact that the older working population us having on the new HR industry? In my prior job and at my current job I have always supervised someone from the baby boomer generation and they have always proven to be a valuable asset to the agency. They show undeniable dedication and gratitude with everything they do. When I took my first job out of college I worked as a Project Director for the Community Action Agency in Athens, GA. I remember being excited to start my first job and how wonderful it was to officially be on my own. Well, my first day at work I noticed I was the youngest person there (24) everyone else was in their late 30s to early 60s. The next day upon doing my daily routine I noticed an elderly woman about 65, her name was Ms. Edna she was a volunteer who came to work with our agency via the Council on Aging (it was a grant program, I forget the name of the program but it put seniors citizens back to work at minimum wage) after meeting her I remember listen to people complain about how she could do nothing right, but at the same time I never noticed anyone trying to correct(train) her or for that fact show her how to do anything right. But at the point I heard others talk about her I thought about my mother and how I would not want her to be treated in such a condition just because people “thought she was incapable.” I think it is so important that we continue to fund programs and also allow our senior...
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... Anee Rork Team C University of Phoenix Managing Diversity Research Paper Proposal Workplaces today are become increasingly diverse with employees of different genders, races, cultures, ethnic origins, and lifestyles. There have been so many changes in the cultural make-up of organizations that it has become imperative for leaders and supervisors to understand cultural diversity and how it can affect their organization. By understanding how this diversity can affect their organization, leaders are taking steps to assure a conflict-free environment and promoting positive outcomes for the business, as well as its employees. “Diversity today is being viewed as a key means to strengthen the human capital of an organization and improve overall performance” (Bowes, 2007/2008). Studies have shown that diverse workforces can positively affect and strengthen the organization, but what can organizations do to assure this type of environment? What programs or tools do leaders need to implement when looking to improve their ability to manage this diversity? The main purpose of this research paper will be to explore what methods organizations and leaders can use to successfully manage increased cultural diversity within the workforce. This research will reflect not only why it is important for organizations to embrace the differences in a diverse workplace, but will discuss the consequences that may occur if they do not incorporate effective methods for addressing...
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