It's A Whole New World: Article Analysis

892 Words4 Pages
Article Response Week Three Raymond Brown, KZMT-19 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, MGT-315 10/26/2010 Response to It's a Whole New World: Is Your Management Style Up To Date? "It just ain't like it used to be" can be heard throughout the halls, break rooms and offices in many workplace environments. (Mary Rau-Foster) Today’s workforce is not the workforce of days gone by. People are coming from diverse places and cultures. It isn’t even necessary to leave the country to see a veritable smelting pot of cultures mixing and evolving on a continuous basis. When it comes to training and leading the workforce of today, it is very difficult to rely on what has been relayed by elders and mentors. The “old School” way just doesn’t…show more content…
The themes of the day included: (1) appreciation for the opportunity to have a job; (2) the expectation of loyalty to a company; and (3) a belief that the boss was always right. The management style was patriarchal: management was the brains and labor was the brawn. This was accepted as a way of life, and it worked... back then. But things have changed. Enter the baby boomers, a generation born during a period beginning in 1946 until the 1960s. This group rejected the old ways of blindly following the path laid out by employers. This group wanted more influence on how the workplace was run. They wanted participatory management. In addition, their job became a source of personal identity. The boomer's opening question of "And what do you do for a living" is inevitably followed by an "I am..." response. Much of the boomer's self-esteem was, and still is, tied up in their…show more content…
The work force of today has no problem with questioning authority and challenging the old way of doing things. If a leader can control the situation and guide and direct the feelings and focus of the work force, then this could be a good thing. We have learned that challenging the process is what actually makes for continual process improvement. Many fought against that in the past, GenXers embrace it as a daily thing that is necessary for growth in the company and the market. The mindset of the GenXers were shaped by a shocked and unstable world economy, world violence, politics, and less than reputable businessmen and women who continued to control the direction of those appointed below them. The business world of today needs to focus on the needs and desires of its workers and see that their needs are met. The old world savvy manager will be stutter struck by the reactions and quick walking that will take place on the production floor should he try to apply the old tools of the trade. Mary Rau-Foster, in her article sums it up as she reflects on a passage in a book that she

More about It's A Whole New World: Article Analysis

Open Document