Nowadays entrepreneurs with business acumen have acknowledged the power of information technology (IT) tools for reaching business targets and enhancing the business. It is important to have the knowledge of upcoming business trends as it helps the organization prepare for the future. This is done by collecting, assessing and reporting the current trends and based on them, predicting those for the coming year. These trends are based on national and international survey around the world, which comprises primary and secondary research of the markets. According to the surveys, health and social care, workforce participation, workforce growth rate will increase and unemployment rate will decline due to increased work opportunities. In an effective organization, there are departments and teams whose work is specialized according to their department function. In an effective team, team members must identify themselves as part of the team and each team member is aware of the contributions provided by other team members. This results in strong team spirit and team loyalty. The top workforce trends include better workplace communication, training and learning credentials, better finances due to better global economy and increased IT and artificial intelligence in the business’ controls.
1. Better workplace communication
According to the surveys, better social relationship among the employees will help stabilize the work environment the next year and will motivate the employees to work as a team. Mahdi Roghanizad and Vanessa Bohns are two researchers who found that one face-to-face conversation is equivalent to thirty-four emails. Hence, more companies will tend to rely on face-to-face communication rather than telecommunication. In an effective workplace environment, co-workers must communicate with each other and keep each other well informed. Further, a leader must use the democratic style of leadership, as explained in Lippitt and White’s leadership styles, where he must offer guidance and encouragement to his team while also being aware of his team members. Effective negotiators are able to listen actively, “read between the lines”, as one may call, in order to resolve the conflict. The team shall benefit more from harmonious interpersonal communication and will result in improved productivity. This is likely to manifest with increased productivity in the team and a strong team identity and reputation of the organizations around the world. This is because due to better work opportunities and better working conditions, there will likely be better communication among the employees. Conflict among the staff can adversely affect the quality of service and personal effectiveness and may further deteriorate the workplace environment. Better feedback mechanism will also be incorporated in the business by the upcoming year. Employees need feedback about their performance. Employees need to be communicated about their actual performance and their expected performance. However effective conflict resolution can bring radical changes, open communication, improved dialogue, improved customer service, encourage innovation and result in constructive levels of tension within the organization. The improved reputation for looking after the workforce may attract both the investors and the customers who want to be associated with a socially responsible organization who keeps its employees satisfied.
2. Better learning credentials
Organizations that offer learning training courses such as hr courses to its employees have shown an increase in their productivity levels throughout the market. According to the recent economic trends, specialists are of the view that with organizations seeking more diversity, more employees will be accepting different credentials over the period of time. This will mainly be for employees desire to grow not only in terms of career progression but also financially. According to the Gallup survey, engaging your employees to organizational goals is the key feature for every business. Employees can be engaged with their work if they are passionate for their work, deliver their best performance and strengthen their commitment. This can enhance organizational performance by a multiplier effect. This can be done by building a strong understanding of your business strategy throughout the employees, building trust and by making certain that all employees are using their desired set of preferred skills. Almost three out of four working people agree that organization has the responsibility to make sure that people with the right credentials are hired for the job. Currently, change is happening faster than ever before. More organizations are aligning its business systems to changing environment. However, according to the recent surveys, more organizations are likely to invest in their training programs and learning sessions. Employees will be more qualified and experienced in this way. This is merely to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the work.
3. Increased IT and artificial intelligence embedded in the workplace
Organizations are striving to cut costs and increase efficiency. The best possible way is to enhance the artificial intelligence and information technology systems within the organization. Data management becomes easier when IT is used and it becomes paper-free. In 2018, many of the monotonous work will no longer be manual. This shall increase the efficiency of the work and the effectiveness of it. Organizational performance will hence lead to timely success of the business whether in a stable or an unstable environment. Employee’s performance data will be critically analyzed by the HR IT tools more often if it’s online and will become readily accessible to everyone.
It will not only help to achieve the business goals but also optimize the work processes. This will also include activities such as recruiting, training, developing and rewarding people in the organization. Mostly aiming at achieving the competitiveness of the company, by means of providing constant educational and training programs for the personal and professional development of the employees of the organization, employee’s efficiency will increase. Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as internet, mobile communication, new media etc is proved to greatly contribute to the fulfillment of personnel policies of the organization. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, one of the leading management theorists of her time, argued that the re-birth and success of business organizations would depend upon innovation (developing new products, introducing new services, and operating methods), entrepreneurship (taking business risks) and participative management (encouraging all employees to participate in making decisions about work).
Technological advancement will have a huge impact on the performance of an organization. It will allow the companies to improve its internal processes, core competencies, relevant markets and organizational structure as a whole. Human Resources will mainly focus on the strategic objectives of the organization. These strategies will be led to incorporate an IT strategic plan for the organization. Information Technology may have greater impact on organizations that exist in a dynamic environment. This will lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness of the Human Resources. Hence, utilizing IT application for database management and advances recruitment system will increase the efficiency of the business.
4. Better finances and financial management
Employees around the world are more focused on earning more and working less. They are finding ways such as the internet and the telecommunication as faster means to earn money. The telecommunication economy is booming and the youth is taking benefit of that. According to the surveys, most of the economy would be internet driven for businesses around the globe. Employees have also recently searched for part-time job in order to meet the ends and focus on savings. This shows that with the recent years workforce around the globe is moving towards efficiency.
5. Companies will take diversity more seriously
During the recent years, organizations are more willful to accept diversity and companies are taking diversity more seriously. It is considered healthy for business organizations globally to accept diversity within the organization. Therefore, companies around the world by 2018 will be taking diversity into the business.
6. Customer service and Human Resource Management
Organization performance can also be described by evaluating the reliability of service and by understanding the quality of customers of the organization. Value can come in 2018 by providing a reliable service, so that the customers know that they will receive the service on time, at the promised time, to a good standard of performance. As organizational change is inevitable, critical success factors and key performance indicators should be revised, and relevant Human Resource IT tool must be devised for the better quality of work. Doing good quality work and providing quality results will hence increase the organizational performance.
7. Adapting to the organizational culture
The diversity within the organization can also lead to conflicts in the workplace. It is expected in 2018 that cultural differences will be minimized and the teams will feel as part of a larger community and accept each other. This will be done when the management demonstrates such an example and further cherishes the cultural diversity within the workplace out in the open.
The above workforce trends analyze the business conditions by 2018. It has been predicted by many studies that 2018 will be better for businesses around the globe as the world is growing into a global village by the day. This enhances the organization’s ability to grow as the opportunities increase by the day. These are expected according to the recent workforce conditions. This will lead to increase in organizational performance and increase in economy as a whole.
