Leni is a newly assigned production
manager in a manufacturing organization. During the first week of her
assumption of office she noticed the need to upgrade and computerize the
manufacturing department’s equipment and machines. But she was in a dilemma because
the upgrade and computerization would require the displacement of half of the
current manufacturing employees. She was asking herself: “How would I go about this?”
Leni’s dilemma is not her own only. In
this age of modernization and hi-technological advancement. Many organizational
leaders and managers are also in the same boat as Leni. How would they
modernize without antagonizing their employees?
Organizational modernization is like a
force of nature that no one of us can avoid. If an organization wants to
survive its journey toward the 21st century it must embrace
modernization otherwise it would be left behind. But the sad part of
modernization is the need for organizations to shed a sizeable number of its employees.
The Catch-22 filled question now is, how
would a leader/manager go about it without upsetting the employees? Since the
need to modernize is inevitable, the leader/manager must not do it abruptly so
as not to antagonize its employees.
Why? For the simple reason that the
leader/manager is inviting trouble to come in when she/he antagonize the
employees. Therefore, a good and
effective leader/manager must do it in such a way that modernization should
proceed as smooth as possible.
This smooth transition to modernity should
be done slowly but surely. Therefore, employees should not be kept in the dark
regarding this matter. This transition should be done with utmost transparency
and openness. And the employees who would be affected by the modernization
shall be properly informed and compensated.
In hindsight, this should also the method
that ought to be followed. When a certain organizational department/division
decides to embrace change to enter the door of modernization. It should
transition slowly but surely so as not to immediately upset the current
organizational set-up of its employees.
As the saying goes, haste make waste. Same
goes when an organization decides to hastily enter the door of modernization. Therefore,
organizational leaders and managers must carefully balance the pros and cons of
their decision. Vis-a-vis the most important resource of an organization which
is its employees or human resource. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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