CLIMATE CHANGE: CHANGING AND MANAGING WORKPLACE ATTITUDES
INTRODUCTION
In today’s current workplace environment, there is a huge blend of personalities as organizations or companies employ individuals from different cultural backgrounds (Robbins & Judge, 2010). This means that there is bound to be conflicts of interests due to different preferences. It is important for managers of such organizations and companies to make an effort in creating a conducive environment where all these individuals can blend in and be able to work together as a team (Clark, 2007). It is also important for management to be aware of the rapid changes taking place as a result of modern technology and find ways of adapting to them.
One of the main tasks that managers of companies or organizations currently have is effective management of change within the organization (Kelli, Marya, Allen & Karl, 2002). When changes are bound to occur, majority of employees do not respond as per the expectations of the management. A number of reasons have been associated as to why some individuals may refuse to accept organizational changes for instance feeling of insecurity as one may already be used to the idea of working on a specific task that is familiar for a long period of time (Lips- Wiersma & Hall, 2007). Others may fear losing their jobs permanently as they may not have anything else to fall back to.
This research paper wishes to explore climatic changes in regards to changing and managing workplace attitudes. It will concentrate on two peer reviewed articles and critic them to investigate the aforementioned topic.
RESEARCH
Kelli, A. Green, Mayra Lopez, Allen Wysocki and Karl Kepner. (2002). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. University of Oklahoma.
This is an article generally discussing the issue of diversity in the workplace and how management of organizations adapts to these cultural changes, making the effort to create a conducive working environment for each individual. The authors of the articles introduce the current issue of diverse backgrounds, beliefs and cultures due to increasing globalization and how this has created competitive nature in majority of organizations (McGuire, By & Hutchings, 2007).
The article has also looked at different perspectives as concerns diversity in the workplace for instance the issue of women participating in the workforce as well as organizational restructuring (Kelli, et al., 2002). There are a number of challenges as well as benefits associated with diversity in the workplace that result in a few changes being made in the organization. These too are discussed in the article though not in an elaborative manner. However, the authors have made an effort of discussing different required tools for managing diversity within the workplace as well as how workplace attitudes can be controlled (McGuire, et al., 2007). A few recommendations as to how best manage diversity are also provided.
Lips-Wiersma, M. and Hall, D. T. (2007). Organizational Career Development is not Dead: A Case Study on Managing the New Career during Organizational Change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28. Pp. 771 – 796.
In this article, the authors discuss issues as concerns careers, employee development and career management within an organization. Due to modern advancement in technology, majority of organization prefer that new recruits possess certain abilities in order to contribute to the achievement of the organizational objectives (Lips- Wiersma & Hall, 2007). Therefore, managers ensure that organizational career management processes that focus on mutual responsibility of both workers and employers are carried out (Clark, 2007).
The article begins by introducing causes of confusion in employee career development due to changes in the nature of work within an organization. It then proceeds to discuss career management and the different types of career management which are organizational and individual career managements (Lips- Wiersma & Hall, 2007). Employees are currently required to do more with less in an effort to keep up with rapid changes taking place in the business world, as well as to be able to keep up with competition. This can prove quite tasking for most of employees. A few benefits of employee career development and recommendations are also provided as to how management can encourage employee career development within an organization for the achievement of organizational goals.
LITERATURE
From what has been observed so far, it is important for organizations to create or establish conducive organizational climate for the achievement of laid down future goals of the organization. Climate, in a business context, can be defined as patterns of feelings, attitudes and behavior that are recurring and characterize life in an organization (Robbins & Judge, 2010). Cultures of an organization are those assumptions, beliefs and values that are deeply rooted by employers and employees. Organizational climate can therefore be defined as that process of quantifying the culture of an organization (Kelli, et al., 2002).
The kind of climate set within an organization determines the organization’s success and managers should make an effort to promote and establish employee-centered as well as positive climate (Clark, 2007). Given organizations or companies where diversity of workers exist, it is crucial that existing views and practices be changed regularly in order to ensure comfort and satisfaction of workers. Top management can learn to overcome any ingrained attitudes through acquiring knowledge as to how a diversity initiative is different from federal mandate, how managers can handle any opposition that may arise and why it is that some employees object to the concept of diversity and change (Kelli, et al., 2002).
Business environment has recently produced changes in the workplace more frequently as was the case in the past. This has led to numerous organizational changes and employees experiencing these changes at a personal level have often felt fearful and threatened (Clark, 2007). When individuals within an organization are informed that the old ways they are used to can no longer be applicable as they are no longer bearing any fruit, they tend to perceive this as though they are no longer valued. It is therefore important for the senior management to communicate these changes beforehand and to convince their workers that change is important for the survival and growth in today’s global economy (Lips-Wiersma & Hall, 2007).
How Authors collected and analyzed their data to answer the objectives
Looking at the aforementioned two articles discussing different categories of climate change within the workplace, the authors of these articles have made an effort to cover these issues though in a brief manner, as it is the case in the first article. The authors also made the effort of looking at benefits and challenges faced due to change within the organization (Lips- Wiersma & Hall, 2007).
The main objective of the first article was to investigate effective management of diverse workforce populations within the workplace as well as effective strategies to be employed to ensure a conducive environment is established. On the other hand, the second article’s main objective was to investigate career management within the organization and how employees react to this process (Robbins & Judge, 2010).
Three or Four research objectives
The purpose of the research topic is to find out new information as regards to changing and managing workplace attitudes brought about by a variety of reasons such as discussed on the articles. The research paper also intends to gain more knowledge as to how employees develop attitudes towards different organizational changes that may be employed by the organization’s management (Kelli, et al., 2002). This is particularly applicable in organizations that employ fewer women workers who may face discrimination or stereotyping from their fellow male colleagues. In addition, it is important to investigate different theories and implementations in regards to changing and managing workplace attitude and how effective it is by finding proof of its use and effectiveness.
Overall approach
The overall approach that would be employed for this particular research on climate change in regards to changing and managing workplace attitudes is to find out how organizations are laying down strategies that are meant to be effective in regards to dealing with different employee attitudes as a result of organizational changes (Kelli, et al., 2002). Workplace diversity management and handling of workplace attitudes due to workplace climate changes should be perceived as an active happening that involves coordination and supervision of diverse differences within an organization (Clark, 2007).
Another approach that would be effective in this research is that of conducting interviews and collecting data through questionnaires to acquire information as to how different employees feel towards organizational changes in various departments depending on the organization (McGuire, et al., 2007). It has been observed that emotions are one of the key factors as far as organizational decision-making is concerned as it provokes individuals to take actions in regards to a specific situation within the organization. In the second article, emotions are involved in situations where employees have to change career and either be promoted or demoted within the organization, leading to confusion and depression amongst these workers (Lips-Wiersma & Hall, 2007). It is therefore crucial that recommendations or suggestions be made as to how best establish a conducive environment in terms of changing and managing workplace attitudes to ensure organizational objectives are achieved in the end.
CONCLUSION
Workplace attitude is perceived and defined by satisfaction of work, state of readiness from the employees as well as traditional statements as is in the case where organizations employ individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. It is therefore important for change and management of workplace attitude to take place in ensuring a balance within the workplace as well as enhancement of better working environment.
REFERENCES
Clark, M. (2007). Where to From Here? Evaluating Employability during Career Transition. Journal of Management & Organization, 13. Pp. 196 – 211.
Kelli, A. Green, Mayra Lopez, Allen Wysocki and Karl Kepner. (2002). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools. Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. University of Florida.
Lips-Wiersma, M. and Hall, D. T. (2007). Organizational Career Development is not Dead: A Case Study on Managing the New Career during Organizational Change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28. Pp. 771 – 796.
McGuire, D., By, R. T., and Hutchings, K.,(2007) Towards a model of human resource solutions for achieving intergenerational interaction in organisations, Journal of European Industrial Training, Volume 31, No. 8, pp 592 – 608
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A., (2010). Essentials of Organizational Behaviour. 10th edition. New Jersey. USA: Prentice Hall.
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