As technology continues to alter the corporate landscape, every aspect of the corporate world is affected by change. In some cases, such as with the Millennial generation, it is the way in which technology changes people that forces the corporate world to evolve. Workforce management is a subject that always gets mentioned among the topics affected by the new wave of technological changes. The way in which a company handles its workforce and the manner in which the workforce approaches the tasks at hand are constantly affected by an evolving corporate world.
Educating Managers
Online education is playing an increasingly important role in educating future managers, and that has helped to shape the management degrees of the future. The growth of online education has spurred the creation of more specialized workforce management degrees that are being coveted by companies around the country. More management degrees are being augmented by psychology, technology and communications to help address the specialized needs of the younger workforce entering the corporate world. Online schools are better equipped to handle these changes, and that is why more managers are getting their educations online.
Work Environments
The younger generations that are raised by technology have communication needs that differ from previous generations. Open collaboration is something younger workers need, and that means redesigning work environments. The modern office does not have the room filled with cubicles that we have grown accustomed to. Instead, we have open work areas and common areas where people can gather to share ideas. Managers need to learn how to better facilitate the sharing of ideas in these new open work environments if they are going to maximize production.
Personal Communication
Younger workers were raised on technology that discouraged direct communication. Even people who are only feet away from each other will prefer to use text messages rather than talking or even using the phone. Managers who value open communication need to learn how to adjust to this change in thinking that is threatening to significantly diminish personal communication. It is easy for a worker to miss an important text, but face-to-face communication is still impossible to ignore.
Work Schedules
The idea that Millennials and younger generations do not want to work is incorrect. Older generations were conditioned by the way in which information was distributed to become comfortable with a daily work schedule. In the old days, workers read the morning paper before work and then watched the evening news when they got home. The hours in-between were reserved for work, and that was readily accepted by everyone. But now that information is readily available at all hours of the day, the modern worker does not innovate on a nine to five schedule. Managers need to learn how to adjust to how the modern worker treats a work schedule and find ways for workers to be as productive as possible.
The corporate manager’s job is getting increasingly more difficult as technology continues to change the corporate world. Readily available information and the ability to collaborate with a group at any time of the day have changed the way modern workers approach their jobs. Online education and an open mind are the two greatest tools that the modern corporate manager has in their quest to keep workers productive.
