Challenges And Solutions For Managing Employee Behavior In Organizations

Diversified workforce

Employees are an important asset in any organization. Therefore, it is important to ensure that employee behavior is effectively managed to ensure successful operations. Explain the challenges that managers are likely to face in the process of managing employee behavior. Suggest any five solutions to the challenges you have identified.

The current business scenario for the organizations is posing number of opportunities as well as challenges. This is due to the reason that in the current business scenario, organizations are having the opportunity for catering to the global market and more diverse customer segments. On the other hand, one of the major challenges for the contemporary business organizations are managing the frequent change in the external environment and managing the change in approach of employee management (Alfes et al. 2013). In the current time, managing the employees is one of the major areas of concentration for the business organizations. This is due to the reason that employees are the major asset for any business organizations and they are also one of the major sources of competitive advantages.

In the employee management process, behavior of employees is one of the major criterions that should be effectively managed by the business organizations. This is due to the reason that employee behavior determines the effectiveness of the organization and their internal management in dealing with the organizational challenges (Mone and London 2018). Determining the employee behavior also helps the business organizations in maintaining the level of customer satisfaction. However, there are number of the challenges that may get faced by the managers in managing the employee behavior.

This essay will discuss about the probable challenges that may get faced by the managers in managing the employee behavior along with discussing the recommended steps in overcoming them

One of the major challenges that may get faced by the managers in managing the employee behavior is meeting the diverse requirements of the diversified workforce. In the current business state of affairs, majority of the contemporary business organizations are having diverse workforce with having the employee from different cultural and social backgrounds. Thus, the more diverse will be the backgrounds of the employees, the more different and varied will be their approaches in the organizations (Rajput et al. 2013). In this case, managers will face the issue of determining the varied employee behaviors and managing them accordingly. In managing the employee behavior, the major objective of the managers is to maintain the organizational standards. However, in the case of having diversified workforce, they will face the challenge of determining and changing the employee behavior in to a singular approach.

Changing market trend and approach

In addition, it is also to be noted that different cultures and social norms are having different set of behaviors. Thus, employees from different cultural and social groups will different set of behaviors as positive way of dealing. However, the particular approach of a section of the workforce may not get matched with that of another section (Hewins-Maroney and Williams 2013). This will lead to the emergence of conflict and it will become further challenging for the managers to manage the employee behavior.

Employee behavior is important for the business organizations due to the reason that it determines the organizational effectiveness in dealing with different external factors especially with the customers. However, in the current time, market trend and preferences are changing much rapidly and thus it is becoming difficult for the managers to change the approach of the employee behavior frequently. There are number of authors who have given the opinion that employee behavior of the business organizations will only be considered as effective when it will help in meeting the market demand effectively along with enhancing the level of customer satisfaction (Panda 2013). Thus, the more rapid is the change in the market trend and preference pattern, the more will be the difficulty and challenges for the managers to change the approach of the employee behavior.

Another major challenge for the managers in managing the employee behavior is the origination of conflict between them and the employees. This is also a probable challenge due to the reason that managers may have different set of approach and views from that of the employees (Boddy 2014). In this case, managers will face the issue or challenge to change the existing employee behavior and will lead to the emergence of resistance from the side of the employees. On the other hand, this may also be the case where employees are not feeling comfortable with the approach of the manager and they are also not agreeing with that of their managers. In this case, it will be difficult for the managers to manage the employees and change their existing behavior accordingly.

There are different types of employees present in the business organizations and thus there will be both positive and negative set of employees. Managers will face the challenge of managing the negative set of employees in relation to the employee behavior (Henly and Lambert 2014). This is due to the reason that, negative set of employees tend to resists for any change in the organizations and they are also difficult to be managed by the managers. Thus, it will also be challenge for the managers to manage the employee behavior in the organizations.

Conflict between the managers and the employees

Though managers are responsible to manage the employee behavior but not all the factors can be managed by them. However, on the other hand, employee behavior is being determined by number of different factors that cannot be managed by the managers. For instance, employee behavior may get negative if they are not given and offered favorable financial benefits or if the employees are not being given proper working environment (Ko and Hur 2014). Thus, in all these cases, managers will find it difficult and challenging in managing the employee behavior by meeting all their diverse requirements.

The above sections discussed about number of challenges that can be faced by the managers in managing the employee behavior. Thus, it is important to have some effective recommended steps that will help in overcoming these challenges. The following sections will discuss about a few recommended steps.

The most basic and effective measure to overcome the challenge of gap between the managers and the employees is having effective communication process. It is the responsibility of the managers to initiate the process of two ways communication in the organization and involve the employees also in the process (Husain 2013). Involvement of the employees will ensure that their opinions and feedback can also be gained, which will further help the managers to manage them accordingly. Thus, the more effective will be the communication process between the managers and the employees, the more effectively and efficiently managers will be able to gain the insights from the employees. Effective communication process will also help the managers to overcome the challenge of diversified workforce (Voinea et al. 2015). This is due to the reason that effective communication process will help to enhance the relationship between the employees from different social and cultural groups.

As discussed earlier that some employees will be negative towards every organizational change process and they are also difficult to handle. The most effective strategy that will help in overcoming this challenge is hiring the right employees for the right place and job (Lamba and Choudhary 2013). It is recommended that managers should be careful in the time of recruitment and selection and the candidates with having positive attitude and behavior should only be selected. This will help to mitigate the discussed challenges in the long term.

In order to effectively manage the employee behavior, it is also important to first measure the managerial behaviors. This is due to the reason that behaviors of the managers will determine the behaviors of the employees (Kim et al. 2013). Thus, managers should ensure that they are maintaining positive behaviors and attitudes with their employees. This will further motivate the employees to adhere to the organizational standards.

Negative set of employees

It is also recommended that employees should be empowered enough in their respective jobs roles. This is due to the reason that in the current scenario, employees have to take decisions in the ground level in accordance to the customer needs and requirements (Men and Stacks 2013). Thus, it is also the responsibility of the managers to empower the employees in order to provide them the freedoms to take decisions independently. This will also help to improve the employee behavior.

It is also recommended that employees should be given proper training periodically. This will enable them to be updated in accordance to the current market trend and needs. The more trained and equipped will be the employees, the more they will possess positive behavior in the organization and with the external stakeholders (Jehanzeb and Bashir 2013).

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that improving the employee behavior is having number of challenges for the managers. However, it is also important in order to maintain the organizational competitiveness in the market. This essay discussed about some of the major challenges that to be faced by the managers in managing the employee behaviors. On the other hand, this essay also discussed about a few recommended steps that will further help the managers to overcome the identified challenges. It is expected that effective implementation of the discussed strategies will help to enhance the employee behavior in the long term.

References

Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351.

Boddy, C.R., 2014. Corporate psychopaths, conflict, employee affective well-being and counterproductive work behaviour. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(1), pp.107-121.

Henly, J.R. and Lambert, S.J., 2014. Unpredictable work timing in retail jobs: Implications for employee work–life conflict. ILR Review, 67(3), pp.986-1016.

Hewins-Maroney, B. and Williams, E., 2013. The role of public administrators in responding to changing workforce demographics: Global challenges to preparing a diverse workforce. Public Administration Quarterly, pp.456-490.

Husain, Z., 2013. Effective communication brings successful organizational change. The Business & Management Review, 3(2), p.43.

Jehanzeb, K. and Bashir, N.A., 2013. Training and development program and its benefits to employee and organization: A conceptual study. European Journal of business and management, 5(2).

Kim, S., Egan, T.M., Kim, W. and Kim, J., 2013. The impact of managerial coaching behavior on employee work-related reactions. Journal of Business and Psychology, 28(3), pp.315-330.

Ko, J. and Hur, S., 2014. The impacts of employee benefits, procedural justice, and managerial trustworthiness on work attitudes: Integrated understanding based on social exchange theory. Public Administration Review, 74(2), pp.176-187.

Lamba, S. and Choudhary, N., 2013. Impact of HRM practices on organizational commitment of employees. International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, 2(4), pp.407-423.

Men, L.R. and Stacks, D.W., 2013. The impact of leadership style and employee empowerment on perceived organizational reputation. Journal of Communication Management, 17(2), pp.171-192.

Mone, E.M. and London, M., 2018. Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.

Panda, S., 2013. Managing cultural diversity-strategies for organizational success. Journal of Contemporary Research in Management, 5(3).

Rajput, N., Marwah, P., Balli, R. and Gupta, M., 2013. Managing multigenerational workforce: Challenge for millennium managers. International Journal of Marketing and Technology, 3(2), p.132.

Voinea, D.V., Busu, O.V., Opran, E.R. and Vladutescu, S., 2015. Embarrassments in managerial communication. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 11