Advancing age a barrier to the modern day workplace?

The common perception that goes around is the amount of grey hair one has is directly proportional to the sensibility of his mind.The experiences gathered recently proved me wrong and after observing quite a few of the so called experienced campaigners, I have concluded that its more of an exception than a rule, especially in the modern era.The employees who are comparatively younger presents not only an added thrust in the workplace, but also shows more maturity especially while dealing with a host of stakeholders. The grey haired experienced hands are often at the receiving end mainly because of the head-weight they carry along with their personality. A normal individual who was a thorough professional during his prime now presents instances of childish/kiddish behaviour either through their peer management handling or through the estranged relationships they build with other staff members, including those at the helm and the ones below their level. The workplace having an equitable mix of old and young minds often comes across this crisis, and the positive channeling of the accumulated energy depends on the abilities of the organizational masthead. If the man at the helm happens to be an old mind he would generally favour the staff of his clan and age, however, the same cannot be said about a young boss as the 21st century folks are always on the look-out for new things and are fast learners and adapters. On the top of that if the workplace boasts of a diverse workforce comprising of different nationalities, the job is even more cumbersome for the leader.The ideal situation would have been to respect the grey haired individual owing to their age especially in a culture where age is considered head and shoulders above the exceptional talents possessed by the young minds. It is imperative for the decision makers to respect the young blood who are responsible for bringing in fresh perspectives, mindset and approach.The overall satisfaction lies in complimenting the old hands with the young ones in a way which is symbiotic for all concerned and is beneficial for the organization at large.

Diversity Management in the New Era

Management of diversity is an important prerogative for all modern day organizations,especially the ones which are global enterprises.The significance of diversity increases manifold if one takes into account the slowdown observed in the global market, not to mention the stagnancy in innovation as far as new products and services are concerned, courtesy slack in customer paying capacity in most of the markets, sans the emerging economies where the customers are out of their shells.Handling and managing a diverse workforce cutting across ethnicity's, culture, language, work habits, personal profile especially when the global market is on an support system (read government sops to boost up their respective economies)calls for innovative approaches which in turn needs out of the box thinking.Management of diversity in the modern day is more than mere equal opportunity benefits being offered to the employees, especially when the downward turn in the economies are responsible for one and all to leverage these diversity related problems and metamorphose them into opportunities.Gone are those days when diversity related issues in an organization was allergic not only to the employees,but also to a host of other stakeholders. Today companies crave to incorporate an element of diversity with a specific intention often recruiting new staff from different industries so as to inject fresh mind in the organizational fabric.The need for Chief Cultural Officer (CCO) has never been felt more than the last decade or so, when companies notably from the knowledge sectors have cut across geographies so as to share their number of customers, staff and even shareholders.Indian Information Technology companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro to name a few are cases in the point.
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Some Management Learning's from the Arab World

Management training in qualitative subjects like Marketing Management, Organizational Behaviour, Entrepreneurship, Management of Diversity to name a few, in the Arab World has given many new insights about the subjects in particular and imparting of training in general.Training in marketing management enables one to understand the importance of ethics while indulging in marketing, as the stakeholders are always willing to know whether the offering being presented were part of an ethical process or not starting from its manufacturing till the time it is delivered at their door step.The slightest doubt in the mind of the customer and even other stakeholders may lead to the reduction of their confidence level, culminating in direct and indirect losses for the concerned company.A glimpse across organizations like Oman Air, PDO, Sohar Aluminium, Bank Muscat to name a few from the Sultanate of Oman would show that ethics is strongly incorporated into the cultural fabric of the organization. This definitely has to do with the strong and rich Omani Culture which also emphasizes on ethics as a prime factor, even if that means taking a backseat in the profit related aspect momentarily. As far as Entrepreneurship is concerned, yours truly was completely moved by the backup and support provided by the administrators in bodies like Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry,when he was privy to a seminar where experts from Knowledge Oasis Muscat and Shell sponsored Intilaaqah Oman, which nurtures entrepreneurship all across the globe as part of the Shell funded Live WIRE program dwelt on aspects of starting an enterprise and managing it ethically with a profit motive.Even while training the budding professionals the details of business management,from engineering, business studies and information technology, coupled with the opportunities created by the leadership of the countries, one can strongly feel that there are plethora of opportunities to be grabbed.Organizational Behaviour gave important perspectives pertaining to the cosmopolitan yet strongly embedded local Arabian culture led organizations, where integrity and honesty is given the prime importance.The cosmopolitan aspect of these companies would make one understand how employees from different background which entails ethnicity,language,dress sense, food habits, joins hands in shaping up the organizational culture commensurate with the vision and mission of the company.This aspect also provides valuable lessons for the management of diversity, which is a very big challenge for organizations globally as they are into cross border deals, establishing relationships with stakeholders from all over the world.The other factors which are crucial are the importance of maintaining the cultural sensitivity of people working in the organizations which is observed in abundance across the organizations present in the Arab World.

The learning from other countries like the UAE would follow subsequently in another post.