S6-Workforce, Managers, Employees
There has recently been an upsurge in the amount of part-time workers at the workplace. Part time employment has spiked over the last couple of years owing largely to the stunted growth of the labor market and its slow recovery from the crisis the recent economic recessions had caused. Noneconomic factors that have contributed to the increase in ‘temporaries’ include family and personal obligations, education and training, child care needs, retirement and other factors. (Valleta,2013)
Now the question arises whether organizational culture plays an important role in an organization that comprises mostly of contingent employees. In my view, culture of an organization helps strengthen the workforce, regardless of the type of workers (part-time or full-time) working in it. The managers must stress on teamwork and work towards building a culture where everyone is part of a team, and there is cohesion among all departments and workers. (Besson, 2014) All part-time employees must be kept in the loop so that they are aware of what is going on in the company.
Moreover, it is the managers’ duty to motivate their staff to not only accept, but also embrace it. The phrase about change being the only constant fits perfectly in this scenario. Change is inevitable therefore; it is the top management’s job to ensure that workers are flexible and that training is provided to them regularly to widen their skill set. However, organizational change management is not a simple task but its implementation may cause numerous issues. Research indicates that change brings in the “10/80/10” rule where 10% of the employees will fully embrace the change, 80% will have mixed views, hence they are the fence-sitters and the remaining 10% will actively fight it. Employees have different perspectives and uncertainties concerning change, and they view it as a negative force. (Dutton, 2010)
Therefore, managers must work towards the successful implementation of change by communicating it to their staff and carrying it out in a planned and organized manner and never in a hurry. Planned change is always the best as it is carried out in a timely fashion and reduces the chance resistance by employees.
Change sometimes becomes a political issue in organizations because the change threatens the status quo. The people who currently gain from the status quo are resistant to change, and then use politics to protect their status.
References
Besson, T. (2014, September 5). Keys to a Great Corporate Culture: Improving Employee Engagement. Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.careercast.com/career-news/keys-great-corporate-culture-improving-employee-engagement
Dutton, K. (2010, January 1). Management Issues: 'Organizational Change Management' Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.emsvillage.com/articles/article.cfm?id=561
Valleta, R., & Bengali, L. (2013, August 26). Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2013/august/part-time-work-employment-increase-recession/
