The Hindu Business Line : Managing today's workplace

Over the last couple of decades, one cannot but have noticed a marked change in the lifestyles of youth, their earning power, tastes, buying patterns and workplace behaviour. Let's examine some of these trends and relate them to the challenges presented to the new manager of today.

Interpersonal business communication used to be mostly over the telephone for voice traffic and fax/telex for electronically transmitted written messages.

In sharp contrast, we now see a plethora of electronic tools that have invaded the marketplace — VoIP, chat, e-mail and SMS — none of which was prevalent then. What have these done to the young worker of today? Multiple options that make simultaneous demands on their attention in the workplace translates to more distractions, lower productivity and a greater challenge in separating personal from business communication. Many organisations have consequently had to restrict use of such communication channels during office hours.

Job satisfaction and security; these concepts too have undergone a sea change over the past decade . While there was a value attached to job security in the past , it was often at the cost of job satisfaction.

Now, with the booming economy and a human resource supply-constrained marketplace, jobs are aplenty for qualified people thereby increasing the choices available and attrition. Job security, if it is valued at all, has descended very low on the list of priorities of a young employee.

This has highlighted the need for HR departments of high-growth organisations to think of innovative ways of retaining their young workforce such as appointing a CFO (Chief Fun Officer), doing up office interiors, providing music, transportation and food as part of the compensation package. Despite all these factors, the resource pool continues to be fluid and average attrition levels uncomfortably high.

Workplace attire is another factor that has undergone a sharp change from the accepted standards of a couple of decades ago. With the emphasis shifting to keeping the young teams happy, companies have relaxed their relatively conservative dress code of yesteryear and allowed hitherto unheard of standards of clothing, including prominent jewellery, radical hairstyles and so on.

The workplace today, specifically in the IT/ITES industry, is moving closer to looking like a college campus in its informality.

Work ethics have lately become an important point of discussion and companies have had to publish elaborate documents describing what they mean by the internal code of ethics that all employees are expected to follow.

Often, compliance with this code of ethics is monitored by an external panel of distinguished individuals, so that "whistle blowers" may be protected in the interest of better corporate governance.

Policies covering appropriate behaviour at work are now routinely published and enforced across the workplace. The new manager is, thus, obliged to recognise these new dos and donts so as to be able to manage the team better.

Gender barriers are rapidly disappearing for growth in the hierarchy as compared to 20 years ago. This has generated a widespread feeling of gender equality in the workforce, thus enabling female managers to succeed just on their merit and not be handicapped by their gender.

Examples of female members of top management in several large industrial houses in India abound.

What does all this mean for the new manager of today?

Today's manager has to be nimble, agile and aware of his or her own native culture and its influence on contemporary business practices, so as to be able to provide leadership and guidance to the rest of the team. This calls for constant updating of the knowledge base with the latest trends in the market so as to explore the possibility of applying them in our local environment.

The cultural quotient is increasingly becoming important as a parameter of competitive advantage. Regardless of age, managerial success increasingly depends on how well the manager relates at a human level to the teams concerned and motivates them as a peer and friend rather than by the use of any explicit authority.

The old X style of management is almost extinct and has been replaced by the Y and Z styles in today's corporations.

Managers' success today, more than ever before, depends on the success of the teams they manage and how well they are able to motivate and enable them to give their best to the organisation.

It is an exciting time in India today, where managerial excellence is more important than ever to be able to harness the massive surge of energy of a young and restless workforce to benefit the company and the country at large.

(The writer is COO of Global Adjustments, the Chennai-headquartered cross-cultural training and services company. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Adjustments Services Pvt Ltd.)

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