Challenges for a manager in a new economy
Introduction
There is more and more “new economy” and companies coming up, it brings more and more challenges to the managers. Although there are different types of managers, general mangers, functional mangers, line managers, staff managers and project mangers, but, to make the economy or own company developing is the same and the most important target for every manager. Managers are always playing the leader of an economy; they are all facing the same challenges, in most of it, learn how to build the internal capability to meet increasingly demanding customers and to balance long-term and short-term requirements, are the two significant challenges. Managers are always ready to make decisions about it.
But there are still something more are challenging them. Diversity is one of the challenges that a manager should organize, it is a reality in labor markets and customer markets today. Technology and external environment are two other important sources for the development. To have high technology in an economy will speed up the production and easily make things organized. Any economy are relies on the environment, the external environment are link to every part of the management. A manager is not just should know what the background of the company is, but also should to know lots of social source, to make this new economy balanced in both short and long term to make money. “So a manager is someone who gets thins done with the aid of other people” said Rosemary Stewart (1967).
Diversity
Managers in many countries work in a context in which the workforce is becoming increasingly diverse. (David Boddy, p15) Diversity, of course, it become one of the most important and significant source of the new economy for a manager. It gives every employers opportunity in an organization to learn from each other, to co-operative in a group work.
Gender and ethnic origin are two dimensions of diversity, it also including disability, age and sexual orientation. There are much argument about it, managing a diverse workforce proactively is likely to bring business benefit, in that it may lead to:
l Greater access to a wider range of individual strengths, experiences and perspectives
l A greater understanding of the diverse group of potential and existing customers represented within a workforce.
l Better communication with this diverse group of potential and existing customers. (Anderson and Metcalf, 2003, p.1x)
Gender
From the research, it shows that in UK 58% of women was employment in 1984, while it has risen over 70% in 2003. However, they do not have equal access to all occupations. For instance, women are much more likely than men to work as nurses or librarians. But men are more likely to be doctors, judges. Research shows that women provided 89% of nurses, but only 3% of driver.
When gender in management, Roseer (1997) found that male managers tended to adopt what he termed transactional style, (David Boddy, p27) they give rewards for things done well, they are very different from women. Women mostly, don’t like to make orders or command people; they generally try to make their staff feel good about themselves. Because of this different ability between man and women, a manager should distribute a right place to every of them in the new economy, to make sure every work done in a most right way.
Technology
As the economy come into 21st century, to have high technology becomes a big part of a new company for a manager. It is clear that technology has and will continue to play a significant role in driving economic growth.
Computer and communication
Today, in most or all of the economy, more than half of the job were be done by technology equipment, computer, for example, since the day it has been created, it is surely to be one of the most important part in the technology, for a manager, using the computer can even control staff, for instance, a network computer system, which linking all of branches to the manager, many benefits are expectable and achievable (Boddy and Gunson, 1996). Telephone, it is not only use for speech communication, but also to pass data and picture between fixed computers and between them and various mobile communication devices (Cairncross, 2001).
Using technology contributes even more than that to a new economy and also to a manager, appears of the internet, brings more benefits. It is a web of thousands of computer networks linked together by telephone lines through which data can be carried. Managers should always organize a website for their economy to support business processes, communications and transactions. For example, selling product, service over the internet such like internet banking, and using the internet to get the information about the market situation.
There are more other technology, such like television, intranets and extranets; they are all keep giving benefits to the entire managers in an economy. New technology, new economy, always be, because a manager should always know and to make sure what’s new.
External environment
All of the managing and organization are effecting by the external environment too. it include the general and competitive environments. The general environment includes economic, political, social and technological factors that generally affect all organizations; the competitive environment is the industry-specific environment comprising the organization’s customers, suppliers and competitors (David Boddy, p82,3). But both of them are important for a manager to organize the economy.
Competitive environment
Competitive Environment is an environmental, health and safety (EHS) management consulting firm incorporated in Arizona serving clients domestically and internationally since 1995. Competitive Environment provides corporations with the programs and tools needed to make them more competitive and effective (http://www.competitive-e.com/ accessed 26/02/06).
Porter (1980a, 1985) provided that there are five forces affecting the ability of new firm in industry.
1. Buyers'/customers' power Suppliers' power
2. Rivalry among competitors
3. Threat of new entrants
4. Threat of substitute products
5. Suppliers' power
The more powerful these forces in an industry, the lower its profit potential. The strength of each force differs by industry and changes over time. So an industry manager will always follow the five forces to make more profits.
General environment
General environment in a management are relate on the PESTEL analysis, which stand for political economic, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal. For example, pollution are become a more serious problem in natural environment factor, most of the factories are providing, if in a new industry economy, a manager should organize a method to reduce the pollution to minimum. There are more natural resources are affecting an economy, including minerals, agricultural land and the prevailing climate. A manager must know well on every part of these five factors, because the PESTEL is not just to produce a list of factors that might affect organizational performance, but also to help managers identify those forces which are the most important for the management and the developing of the economy.
Conclusion
In general, there are many challenges for a manager, both for a new economy or a old one, but managers, who are the leader of it should think about not only the sources provided above, but also must know others, including globalization, long-short term orientation, customer orientation, ethics/social responsibility, brain drain, culture. All of those factors are the sources which an economy needs to develop and make profits. Also, managers should have ability to make decisions, it is a process of identifying problems and opportunities and resolving them, in some of the management, decision making is the most difficult part for a manager, it challenges the manager a lot. But personally, to make a good decision is always a manager’s ability.
So to be a good manager in a new economy needs a lot of experience and need to know the sources outside.
Reference
Books:
1. Boddy, D, 2005, Management, Third edition.
2. Jones-Evans, D&Klofsten, M, Technology, Innovation and Enterprise, The European Experience.
3. Anthony M. Pagano and JoAnn Verdin, The External Environment of Business: Political, Economic, Social and Regulatory, Copyright 1995, 1997.
Others:
1. http://www.gippsland.monash.edu.au/research/irs/publish/egoscolloquium2002.doc
2. www.tempe.gov/diversity/Diversity%20Section%20408.pdf
3. http://www.house.gov/adamsmith/issues/technology.html
4. http://econ.lse.ac.uk/~dquah/p/0010mlynch-tex.pdf
5. http://www.strategy4u.com/assessment_tools/info.php?s=2
6. www.competitive-e.com
7. http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN9810244479&id=n8Bjvk9TyycC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=Technology+management+book&sig=AfNIiIS-dmzOCbJm2nclXJ2Yvuk