The Ageing Workforce In Australia: A Wicked Problem

To what extent do you agree with this statement, and why? Draw on one of the following wicked problems to illustrate your answer:

Achieving energy security in Australian manufacturing Australia’s aging workforce

Discussion over current wicked problem or issue

Australia is suffering from a major problem regarding ageing work force which is affecting the economic stability of the country. The population of the country is getting older day by day and this has become a serious issue all over the country. This sustainability issue has become one of the wicked problems and it is becoming indeed difficult to solve. The assignment also discusses about how with the help of system thinking one can eliminate the present problem related to work ageing force of Australia, as it has become an issue which is degrading the economic condition of the country. The assignment also discuss about the achievement of the system thinking that is helping in developing problems related to sustainability. A detailed guideline has been provided in this assignment by which one can understand the problem its cause and its future consequences. At the end of this assignment the reader will be aware of one of the most critical issue of Australia regarding work ageing problem and will also be aware of the methods used by system thinking can eradicate the entire problem of the country.

Discussion over current wicked problem or issue

Every country has some issues related to their social, political etc. and these problems can be easily solved by changing the perception of both the government and the citizens. In Australia the problem is much weird and rather a critical one. A country which has 80% youngster will be more economically stronger than a country which has 80% of old age people. They cannot work for a long period of time due to their age. This is decreasing the labour force of Australia and the minimum labours cannot help in the growth of country’s economy. The ageing problem will affect all the sectors regarding health, and others. The companies cannot hire old people as they are not so much of agility not so much of stamina. The people for Australia are marrying in an older age and giving birth in old age (Mutale et al. 2016). They are producing few children in old age which is the reason for work force ageing. The employees face various challenges regarding this particular problem. It becomes difficult for the companies to fulfil their target in a limited amount of time. The company cannot put pressure on aged people as it will be of no use so for this reason the companies does not able hold a good market place. In some discussion it has been seen that many critics says that it’s a privilege for young employees to work with old age people as they are working with experienced people and they will be able to learn things from them. But the majority consider it as a problem. Though, it is true that with the increase of aged people it is a kind of threat to then country.

It is true that ageing has become a threat for the country because the aged people are different from the youth and the existing institutions cannot fulfil the demands of the old people specially who are not physically fit. In the recent years it has been seen that the ageing has increased much in the country and stability has been destroyed. Any company has its goals and objectives and it is the responsibility of the company and its owner to fulfil its achievement. The labourer or the workers of the company play a very significant role to help the company achieve its goal and if the employee are not physical weak then it becomes difficult for the company to achieve its goal. This thing has become major in Australia as the Australian company cannot recruit much young people in their company as the population of the company is filling with the maximum amount of aged people. The Reserve Bank of Australia has some of its plan regarding the country’s economic growth. For that labour supply is necessary but because of this problem the economic condition off the company is decreasing. This is the reason why Australia is considering ageing workforce as a wicked problem which means a problem which is impossible to solve.

The impact of ageing workforce on Australia's economy

People are taking retirement very soon as they are becoming old and they are giving birth to their child in old age. This is the reason why the country is facing labour shortage. The government of Australia is still searching solutions for this problem but still they are failing to take any step for this. Because of this ageing problem in Australia the country is recruiting employees from different parts of the world with high rate. In every field they have to choose different skilled based person and their demand are higher. Investing more on the foreigners is affecting the overall economy of the country as the country is helpless and bound to face this issue. Thus the ageing work force is creating a barrier for the growth of the country’s economy. Not only this, the ageing workforce is creating a pressure on companies for which labour shortage is increasing and people are facing financial issues.

Critical discussion over how system thinking has been helping in developing solutions for sustainability problems.

System thinking or system analysis is basically a modern way of sorting out complexities of a problem by laying stress on various parts of a complexity and finding out the interrelationship between those parts to find a solution. This method various problem solving effects and has been used practically in educational method and corporate sectors to solve a great deal of complexities. This methodology was developed by Professor Jay Forrestor in 1956. This method actually realises that there is a significant difference in traditional way of thinking and systematical and modern way of thinking. Moving on to sustainability issues it is reasonable to say that system thinking can help to find out solutions for various sustainability problems. The problem of sustainability in a modern world is a major issue and an economic sustainability means satisfying human needs but keeping in mind the resources that has to be preserved for future generations. Resources being limited and population and other growth being maximum there is an urgent need for a systematic thinking by which things can come to a rescue (Kavanagh et al. 2015).

Systematic thinking in the case of sustainability problems can mean a way of thinking and interrelating things with each other and looking at things from a macroscopic view. For dealing with various sustainability issues the purpose of the methodology along with the various elements of the plans and not forgetting to keep in mind the functions of various parts and how they react with each other shall be helpful in solving any sustainability issues (Keynan, Assaraf and Goldman, 2014).

The best thing about system thinking is that it has no fixed procedure for dealing with issues. The methodology is flexible yet rigid. There are various sustainability issues like the population explosion, obesity, Australia’s work aging problem etc. System thinking has its own way of dealing with various problems. Taking an example of Obesity which is a major concern of the world rather a wicked problem if solved introspectively by system thinking, then it can do wonders. System thinking as it is mentioned earlier, dismantles a problem and breaks it and finds reasonable solutions, so in this case, the patients can be advised to keep a check on their daily food habits. Most importantly doctors shall be given modern methods and remedies and problem solving techniques, which most of the doctors are not aware of. They do not give emphasis on the complexities, because they hardly know about it (Twisk et al. 2015).

Critical discussion over how system thinking has been helping in developing solutions for sustainability problems

System thinking finds out the source of complexities of a given situation and in the case of sustainable living it deals with the smallest of problems. Environmental degradation being another major sustainability issues can be looked through modern way by this methodology. Modern and practical methods of protecting environment can be implanted and explained to people worldwide. Various activities with the local communities can be helpful in understanding the problems of natural degradation of a particular area. Thus these are various ways by which system thinking/system analogy can be helpful in dealing with sustainability issues (Termeer et al. 2015).

Discussion over how system thinking will help in eradicating the wicked problem of Australia's work ageing problem

System thinking is a new way of innovative technology. In the world of modernisation science has been developed and is still developing in a tremendous speed. With the help of technology everything has become easy and available for people. With the inventions of new gadgets and tools human life has been changed. One of them is system thinking. System thinking is the way of thinking everything in a different and rather in a much broader way. The theory helps people to see things in a wider perspective. With the help of system thinking the workforce ageing can be controlled in Australia (Nordby et al. 2016). Previously the retirement of Australia was 65 years but now the people choose to retire at the age of 55 years and it has also being predicted that in future the retirement age will fall down in a massive speed.

With the help of system thinking the companies will be able to record a personal detail of the employees who are old. The old age people lose its strength, agility and stamina so the company will provide skilled based training to them with is both mentally and physically. The companies and the government will monitor details of individuals regarding their age, name, address indifferent areas and will able to plan beforehand about what they will need in future (Gahan et al. 2017). This will help in becoming aware of the old age people problem beforehand. Providing basic training to the seniors of the company will help the aged people to fight with difficulties related to work and will make them more active (Ryan et al. 2018). Organising any kind of competition or programmes between the young age people and the old age people will be beneficial for the old age people as they will feel much better and will gain more confident. With the help of system thinking opportunities will be provided to the old age people who will also help to boost them up. Some extra education regarding technology based for work can be also beneficial for the aged people (Reinecke and Ansari, 2016). The system training has the power to eradicate this stubborn wicked problem of the country of Australia. The increasing level of aged people is becoming a cause of country’s major loss. The idea of system thinking will put a light of the problem and will open a wide range of opportunities for both the country and its citizen. The system thinking helps in breaking complex things into smaller and simple division which encourage a person to think and accept the broader perspective (Davey, 2015). By breaking complex things into simple things it becomes easier to understand the problem from various perspectives especially with the broad concept. Ageing workforce is a complex situation and difficult to understand and solve so over here system thinking performs important role for both understanding and solving the problem. So in order to eradicate the wicked problem of ageing workforce, system thinking method is the only way that the country can choose because this helps to understand problem in a more detailed and broader way and also helps in solving it (Head and Alford, 2015).

Conclusion

From the above content it is concluded that the assignment is based on the workforce ageing problem in Australia. In the above a detailed study has been made regarding the assignment and it has been found that the workforce ageing is affecting the economy of the country. It is also concluded from the above context that with the help of system thing which is a new innovation in today’s world, this problem can be solved as system thinking is already helping to remove and also developing new ideas related to sustainability problems of the country. The assignment shows that once again with the help of advance technology everything is possible.

References

Davey, J.A., 2015. Policy Responses To Workforce Ageing–Existing, Potential And A Report Card For New Zealand. Labour, Employment and Work in New Zealand.

Gahan, P., Harbridge, R., Healy, J. and Williams, R., 2017. The Ageing Workforce: Policy Dilemmas and Choices. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 76(4), pp.511-523.

Head, B.W. and Alford, J., 2015. Wicked problems: Implications for public policy and management. Administration & Society, 47(6), pp.711-739.

Kavanagh, A.M., Krnjacki, L., Aitken, Z., LaMontagne, A.D., Beer, A., Baker, E. and Bentley, R., 2015. Intersections between disability, type of impairment, gender and socio-economic disadvantage in a nationally representative sample of 33,101 working-aged Australians. Disability and health journal, 8(2), pp.191-199.

Keynan, A., Assaraf, O.B.Z. and Goldman, D., 2014. The repertory grid as a tool for evaluating the development of students’ ecological system thinking abilities. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 41, pp.90-105.

Mutale, W., Balabanova, D., Chintu, N., Mwanamwenge, M.T. and Ayles, H., 2016. Application of system thinking concepts in health system strengthening in low?income settings: a proposed conceptual framework for the evaluation of a complex health system intervention: the case of the BHOMA intervention in Z ambia. Journal of evaluation in clinical practice, 22(1), pp.112-121.

Nordby, A., Øygardslia, K., Sverdrup, U. and Sverdrup, H., 2016. The art of gamification; teaching sustainability and system thinking by pervasive game development. Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited..

Reinecke, J. and Ansari, S., 2016. Taming wicked problems: The role of framing in the construction of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Management Studies, 53(3), pp.299-329.

Ryan, C., Bergin, M., White, M. and Wells, J.S.G., 2018. Ageing in the nursing workforce–a global challenge in an Irish context. International nursing review..

Termeer, C.J., Dewulf, A., Breeman, G. and Stiller, S.J., 2015. Governance capabilities for dealing wisely with wicked problems. Administration & Society, 47(6), pp.680-710.

Twisk, D.A., Bos, N.M. and Weijermars, W.A., 2017. Road injuries, health burden, but not fatalities make 12-to 17-year olds a high risk group in the Netherlands. The European Journal of Public Health, 27(6), pp.981-984.