Order Number |
636738393092 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
The environmental crisis megatrend refers to increasing the awareness of our dwindling natural resources; leaders need to rethink operational efficiency and effectiveness due to increasing costs and amplified social pressures (Rajagopalan, n.d.). Environmental crisis stood out to me because climate change has affected the world in which we live in drastically. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (n.d.), climate greatly impacts our agriculture and livestock, and “Crops, livestock, and seafood produced in the United States contribute more than $300 billion to the economy each year.”
With that being said, one of the issues that climate change can impose is making it more difficult to “grow crops, raise animals, and catch fish in the same ways and same places as we have done in the past” (US EPA, n.d.). This can lead to shortages, which can cause price increases – an issue we are all too familiar with right now. Because of the environmental crisis that we are currently experiencing, leaders must come together to combat climate change and find new and innovative ways to protect the environment. Some of the ways leaders and companies are doing this are through the creation of new products, such as electric powered vehicles, and by making Environmental Social Governance (ESG) their top priority and committing to things like net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The second megatrend that spoke to me, individualization and pluralism, discusses how customers and employees are not seen as one person that have the same needs anymore (Rajagopalan, n.d.). Instead, they are seen as individuals who need products and services tailored to their wants and needs. This means that customers and employees have more control of their purchasing and employment decisions than ever before. Leaders are realizing that one product or service does not accommodate all customers; they are not one-size-fits-all, so they must offer a suite of products or services to attract more prospects or keep the customers they already have. In regard to employee empowerment, the Covid-19 pandemic enabled ‘The Great Migration’ – people searching for new jobs with companies who are willing to give them the benefits they want. According to Prudential’s Pulse of the American Worker Survey: Special Report (2021), half of the survey participants said that the pandemic gave them more power in deciding their career path. A quarter of workers also said they plan to find new job opportunities when the pandemic ends to find better benefits, such as a flexible or remote work arrangement, higher salary, more growth opportunities, etc. (Prudential, 2021).
The employee wants and demands for these benefits and their companies’ ability to provide them has clearly influenced people’s decision to stay at a particular job, fueling the competition for global talent – a part of the multi-generational workforce megatrend. This megatrend states that the global job market has become increasingly competitive with the millennial generation entering the workforce, working side-by-side with other generations (Rajagopalan, n.d.). Because of this, leaders will need to learn how to accommodate this new globally dispersed workforce through the use of technology, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, to interact with their teams.
It is very interesting for me to see a clear explanation of these trends, as I feel like I have been experiencing some of them through my internship as a recruiter. I have seen firsthand the increased need for customization and individualized needs for both our clients and employees. Particularly, I have noticed it is becoming more and more important for employees to be able to have flexible schedules and options for remote work. Especially since COVID-19 has started, I feel like values have changed in what employees are looking for in a job. In my recruitment experience, lifestyle has become more important than pay. It seems like this emphasis has been noticed across many fields, and has pushed HR and leaders to rethink operational management and to be more agile.
I feel like the evolution of digital has facilitated the way for leaders to adapt and include different processes for their employees to reach their desired lifestyle with an emphasis on work-life balance. Having information easily accessible online has also created new needs for more transparency. Indeed, job applicants can now work for positions on the other side of the world on a remote basis. They have more choice and opportunities available to them, which has transformed the way companies operate. This shift has forced companies to display salary ranges and to be more competitive on aspects such as benefits, since most applicants can now choose to apply for a variety of job positions without too many geographical restrictions.
In my opinion, this is linked with an unprecedented competition for global talent, which impacts leaders around the world to find new solutions to cope with international workforce related issues. Some qualities I have personally noticed that are important for global leaders to possess when working with international teams are: sincerity, adaptability and trust. Indeed, when having to manage teams on a remote basis that are in different areas, leaders must establish some boundaries between the employees’ private and professional life. It means they have to be able to trust that the employees they hired will do the work, even if they cannot micro manage them.
Above all, and as explained in Rajagopalan Mega Trend video, global leaders also have to be adaptable. In a constantly evolving environment, being flexible is a key quality to possess. Leaders have to work in multi-cultural environment, with new emphasis on trusting their teams. Global leaders have to adapt to the individual personalities of their teams, working cross-cultural environments, from language barrier to generational gaps due to the complexity of the current workforce.
In the company I currently work for, I hire people throughout North America from the headquarters located in Florida. We had to accommodate our training program to be partially physical, and mostly online, so we can fit the evolving need of our employees. As of right now, it is still complicated for us to do a full training online, but we are slowly tending to it. This can sometimes be complicated as not all employees are embracing digital technology, so we have to accommodate the needs of all groups in our training programs, always taking into consideration their different technological skill sets.
Overall, I feel like these global leadership trends are important to follow for all of us, as they have an impact on most job positions. All theses megatrends identified seem important to consider to me, even though I have not necessarily been impacted by all of them on a personal level. Although these trends have proved to be a challenge for global leaders, it seems to me it has pushed companies to evolve for the better, with an emphasis on caring more about workers’ needs. Job loyalty is not a given anymore, and even though it makes my job a bit more complicated, I appreciate the evolution and opportunity to create new strategies to attract and retain diversified talents.