One man’s happiness is another man’s sorrow represents, by no means, the word of law in the business environment but it is, however part of the present, unforgiving reality. Basically, it translates into profit by all means. Is this a viable strategic decision? Perhaps, for a limited period of time. Ultimately, the consequences of such decisions will strike back and kneel any organization, regardless of its size. Cases such as the 2001 Enron scandal and its collapse have drawn attention to an important trend in management, namely ethical leadership.
When a class of kindergarten children was asked to think of new uses for a paper clip, 98% of them came up with so many new ideas that they were ranked as geniuses on the creativity scale. When the same children were tested again, five years later, only 50% of them scored genius levels. Another five years and that level fell even further. It is, thus, obvious, that the standardized educational process we go through gradually relinquishes us of our creative abilities, as Sir Ken Robinson, esteemed educationalist, the coordinator of the study, concluded. Nonetheless, over 1,500 CEOs, included in an IBM survey, isolated creativity as the number one characteristic a future leader must possess in order to surface the business world of today.
Acknowledging employee feedback regarding their activities is an important element in increasing organizational performance. The USA government is committed to making such an annual assessment of its federal employees’ opinions. The tools has proven to be highly efficient and helpful both for leadership and staff.
Organizational culture has received, over the last decade, increased attention for being a key component of a company’s growth, prestige and productivity. The working environment and employee benefits exert such a great influence on a company’s overall success that they become the main ingredients for creating a list of top companies worldwide. These rankings not only influence company prestige and desirability, but they also create a model for smaller, developing organizations to follow.
Building a sustainable workforce today is a matter of developing manpower that can be both responsive and flexible with complex challenges and pressures within various working environments. So, how does a sustainable workforce look like?
