LEADERS - ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Managers in today's organizations face a rapidly changing and often unpredictable environment. Large-scale corporate restructuring, layoffs (or "downsizing"), and mergers and acquisitions mean that today's manager must identify new ways to produce more with fewer workers and fewer organizational layers. Attempts to create more profitable, "lean and mean" organizations have resulted in an unexpected byproduct: a sharp decline in perceptions of loyalty between the employee and the organization. As a consequence, today's managers are challenged to motivate employees who may feel less commitment to their organizations than was previously the norm.The processes and technologies used to accomplish work are also changing, requiring managers to change with them. Total Quality Management, for example, emphasizes employee involvement. It also requires managers to assist workers in learning how to take responsibility for their work, and it requires mangers to view workers from a new perspective, that of partners in the decision-making process rather than subordinates. In addition, the introduction of ever-changing technologies has influenced the speed at which information is available and the way in which employees work together. Wa
This presents a perfect time for creating an empowering environment to stimulate peak performance of all employees. In order to produce more output with a smaller workforce, managers are now turning to their employees for ideas on how to improve worker productivity and performance. Since the September 11, 2001, government agencies and managers have begun to re-examine their information policies, FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) procedures, and access -- both electronic and physical -- to a wide range of government documents. Many government agencies and managers have responded to this increased scrutiny by withdrawing information from Web sites, destroying information located in depository libraries, and making access more difficult (electronically and physically) to certain types of information. Empowerment is what happens in an environment that nurtures and fosters growth and results. The terrorist attacks have forced us to pay greater attention to the kind and quantity of information released to the public. On the other hand, failure to effectively manage a diverse workforce can lead to high turnover of valuable employees, unproductive conflicts, communication breakdowns, and expensive legal action. Much of the improvements in the area are the result of work teams, which have been rapidly forming in many of the better companies. This growing diversity in the workforce, if properly managed, can improve creativity and decision making as well as make the organization more responsive to a wider variety of customers. Now is the time when people must do more with fewer resources. Companies using self-manage teams have found that they increase productivity, quality, customer service and flexability, allow for the streamlining of functions, and produce higher worker commitment. Although some organizations have successfully used team models for organizing work for more than twenty-five years, the surge in the number of American organizations now using teams has been relatively recent. Change seems to be the only constant in most organizations today. Today's manager face increased pressure to improve performance within their organizations. Some examples of this information are chemical, nuclear, and/or biological information and personal information.
Common topics in this essay:
Information Act,
Quality Management,
,
empowering environment,
agencies managers,
government agencies managers,
today's manager,
government agencies,
wide range,
information policies,
issues terms,
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Acceptance Essays
