Challenges and Opportunities for Managers

This article discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by managers in a global environment. It also talks about the challenges of expansion and competition faced by Ford Motor Company and the conflicts and solutions in project management.

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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
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1CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
Description of challenges and opportunities for managers
Specifically, a company’s sphere related to influence is only extended until the local
community which it carries along (Javidan & Bowen, 2013). In recent times, business as well
as that of the recent upcoming start-ups often imply working within a community that has a
stretch across the entire global region. However, there are existent benefits as a reward for
going global.
Below are mentioned some of the challenges which are faced by the managers while
working in a global environment,
i) Lacking of clarity- while working within a team with the members of the team
having different language speaking, it is an usual happening for the important and
key messages to get lost within the procedure of translation from one language to
the other. In addition to this, the existence of poor connections of the phone and
the team members who are multitasking while being on such conference calls lead
to disruption within the process of communication, which leads to a huge
communication gap while being global on working.
ii) Placing of action items and prime decisions in the form of writing- the method of
following up to conference calls consisting of communication, which has a lot of
clarity and is in written form for the outcomes related to a meeting, which has
been held recently (Steers & Nardon, 2014). This puts forward an assurance that
each individual attending the meeting has walked out of the room with the same
amount of prime takeaways and results from this particular meeting.
iii) Slower decision making- with only a few hours to go for the day to come to an
end, it can generally take a lot of weeks for a particular meeting to be scheduled
that abides by everyone being free on that particular day without any of the

2CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
pending work in hand. Having a clarity to such a decision making generally
happens at a very slow pace.
iv) Resolution of disjoint conflicts- having the work done predominantly with the
help of emails brings in a lot of difficulty regarding the dealing of issues and
having everyone agree upon the same outcome. The tone as well as that of the
body language related to a single individual plays a vital role within the field of
communication. However, without the usage of such nuances, tackling such
circumstances can be very hard to look at with a managerial approach.
v) Corporate culture having conflicts- a company having a great work culture
depends majorly upon the interaction which takes place constantly as well as the
team bonding among all the employees working under the same roof. However,
the mentioned goals can be hard to implement, define and eventually be achieved.
However, within a global community, majority of the companies do not have either the
resources or the mindset to achieve the above-mentioned objectives for a better opportunity
to be presented in front of the manager in-charge of all activities.
The opportunities of the managers operating in a global environment need to perform
their duties on a regular basis for the upcoming opportunities to be presentable and
achievable. Global corporations are in need of similar kind of management positions within a
company which include of marketing managers, sales manager as well as industrial
production managers (Collings, 2014). The managers working within the global environment
must take multiple cultural as well as environmental variables into consideration for the
procedure of decision-making. Hence, some of the international management consists of
extra requirements such as that of foreign language skills. Similar to the domestic
counterparts, the managers working within the global environment play a part within the

3CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
company’s global strategy along with the frequent hiring and delegation of authority for the
implementation of new policies as well as that of the practices.
The managers who are a part of the global environment are often entrusted upon with
the responsibility of managing a huge number of employees working under them. However,
the duties related to the human resource do not fall under the job category of the managers,
they are at times responsible to ensure the employees and practices related to business
conform within the country, region or international regulations (Harvey et al., 2014). On the
other hand, making of decisions, communication properly and containing leadership skills
form an important part of the success for the global manager.
Challenges of Expansion and competition
Ford Motor Company is an automobile company which has opportunities to build up
links related to the company’s growth as well as its expansion in the overseas market. To
have expansions within the regions located overseas, the focus should mainly be upon the
market as well as the characteristics of this specific industry which will provide a support to
the growth of the company’s business.
Opportunities: A number of opportunities, which can help Ford expand its business,
are,
i) Recognition in the Global environment- Ford is a very renowned brand within the
field of automobile industry and also carries the recognition in the global environment
as a reason of its success with the help of marketing and advertising. Consists of a
brand value of $12.74 billion stated by the 2018 report of Statista.
ii) Research and Development- the company’s research and development is considered
by the company as one of the prime strengths of the company since it has a constant
commitment to make and develop new products. The company has a constant desire

4CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
to improve the performances of its vehicles evaluating the vehicular factors of
efficiency, safety as well as customer satisfaction.
iii) Diversity in Offerings- Ford provides its services to all of the population with a
variety in their brands as well as models. The company caters the care for its
customers by provisioning them with a huge variety of cars as well as commercial
vehicles.
iv) Eco-friendly vehicles- as Ford is already a well renowned organization within the
specific field, the company has the potential opportunity to produce a large number of
cars which are fuel-efficient as well as the likes of commercial vehciles.
v) Increase of Customer base- the organization has already started working upon the
penetration right into the markets of China and India within which they contain the
potential of an excellent opportunity to enter the small regions and countries present
in the world which will help them is broadening the base of their customers.
vi) Digital marketing- this is prevalent in all over the world now. Hence, Ford too has an
opportunity to take further steps in improving its digital marketing to grow the
engagements related to customer and suppliers to the company.
vii) Self-driving car- in the year of 2017, Ford had made an investment of $1 billion into
the Artificial intelligence company, Argo AI to make a development within the self-
driving related technology. As an addition to this, Ford has partnered with Walmart to
enter the future market of grocery delivery alongside.
Threats: However, there are certain conflicts which may cross the path of the Ford
Motor Company as an obstacle in its expansion overseas. Some of the threats are,
i) High competition- Ford is already having a tough competition from the rival
automobile companies such as the likes of Toyota, Tesla and Tata wherein

5CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
Ford is facing a struggle to maintain its innovative feature within the particular
industry.
ii) Increase in price of raw materials- the rising prices related to that of raw
materials which includes steel and steel coil shall affect the direct profit
margin of the company and cost of the company.
Europe existing within the global environment where in the international trade policy
is high on demand which is specifically determined with the help of tactics of populism and
where any of the recognition consists of the value closer to the integration existing between
the markets which is being challenged on a daily basis from being a source of concern to
being a slight ray of hope (Caligiuri & Bonache, 2016)
It has not been long when the consensus view of Europe was condemned of having a
slow growth related environment. Along with ever-worsening youth unemployment as well
as of an ageing population with generosity existing within the social security. In addition to
this, the inequality of access ranging from the north until south regarding the opportunity to
education has been a real source of concern in the recent times (Noe et al., 2017). The Global
financial Crisis has showcased all of this on the public display.
All of the above mentioned problems have not been resolved yet. However, the
resilience of all these mentioned institutions having a shared determination among the prime
nations of Europe also sharing a combination with the central bank has bound Europe
together in methods which had once been questioned with due respect.
Brexit was also considered to be a major challenge for various regions within Europe
but has not been until now (Osland, 2013). On the other hand, from the Australian aspect,
Europe in the current situation matters the most as a reliable source of stability in relation to
the world. From the view of commentary which majority of the population encounters on a

6CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
daily basis treats all the internationally acclaimed challenges to be found similar to major
sporting events for example the Winter Olympics (Cseh, Davis & Khilji, 2013). An event in
which Australia is not having an active participation but an occasional win or lose upsets the
entire population with the fact that the country is having supremacy in other regions rather
than sports. None of the players having a big name and being a part of the team has any
relation to the population but that does not suppress the feeling of loss or win.
The immigration policies are currently under a huge fire back at home, which is seen
the most developed benchmark by the entire world having a high diversity of cultures into a
far more harmonious and stability related society (Harrison & Lock, 2017). Approximately,
49% of the Australian population have been born overseas or has been a parent to a child
which was born overseas. This is related to a higher level of any developing nation keeping
Switzerland as well as in excess of the countries that are undergoing struggles to have
assimilation relating to much proportions. Of which, much more than a quarter of the labor
being provided has taken birth overseas.
It is well coped with the foreigners for a reason that they have been a part of the same
population for a longer time now. In addition to this, 300,000 of the people’s children
studying over there have been costing the parents a huge amount of money (Meredith, Mantel
& Shafer, 2017). Also, more than a count of million belonging to the citizenship of the
country have probably dominated the current century in a similar way US has dominated the
previous century by their visiting the region and then taking back positive impressions along
back home (Binder, 2016). All of these mentioned internationalizations have lowered the
barrier for the foreigner’s capability to sell all the things, which have been needed within the
procedure of active seeking for the skilled migrants to consist of a larger growth within the
workforce.

7CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
Conflict and Solutions
Conflicts which are being faced during the process of project management has been
unavoidable for a long time now. The potential reasons for the conflict within the information
system related projects has been usually high because of the fact that the individuals
belonging to various backgrounds and orientations when working together towards a specific
complicated task (Kerzner, 2017). The main reason behind the occurrence of conflicts within
a team can be due to several reasons such as differences within the values, attitude, needs,
expectations, perceptions, resources and personalities of each individual present within the
team (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). Carrying the capability of acting against conflicts makes a
manager fit to be working within a specific global environment.
Within the development of a project management, a system should always make
specific approaches towards planning, scheduling and controlling the modes for the conflict
resolution which have been explained under the situations best utilized for identification
(Schwalbe, 2015). The modes for avoiding the conflicts are as follows,
i) Confronting- which is also referred to as the procedure for problem solving,
collaborating, integrating and win-win style. This process involves the parties
related to the conflict that is concerned with both the parties playing a role within
the conflict. This style brings the involvement of open and a direct communication
that paves the way for the resolution of the conflict.
ii) Compromising- which is also described with the name of “give and take” style.
The parties involved into the conflict start with the bargain to reach upon a
mutually acceptable decision (Prenzel & Vanclay, 2014). This also leaves both the

8CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
parties with certain assured degree of satisfaction regarding the solution of the
conflict.
iii) Smoothing- is also referred as the procedure for accommodating or obliging style.
Within the scope of this approach, the topics of agreement is specifically placed
an emphasis upon the different areas of disagreement which have been
downplayed. Conflicts again have not been always resolved in such a smooth way.
One among the parties being involved within the conflict may need to satisfy the
concerns as well as the goals of the one or the other party.
iv) Forcing- is also known as the process of competing, controlling or the style of
dominance. Forcing usually occurs when one of the party goes out with the win
while having a certain degree of ignorance to all the needs or maybe the concerns
of all other parties who have been involved with the same conflict. With time, as
the intensity of the conflict increases, the tendency for the forced conflict to take
place increases alongside. The result of such a conflict accounts for a win-lose
situation for both the parties playing a hand in such forced conflicts.
v) Avoiding- this procedure is also referred in common terms as a method of
withdrawal style. This particular approach is viewed as a reason for the
postponement of the issue be it for a later or withdrawal from the situation
respectively depending upon both of the parties being included within the
conflicting situation. This particular method is regarded as one of the most
temporary solution lasting for a short span of time because of the reason that the
problem along with that of the conflict follow continuation to reoccur again and
again over a short period of time.
Hence, conflicts taking place within the process of project management is not necessarily
unfavorable if each of the conflict is properly acknowledged and managed. Several of the

9CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
disadvantages have been identified as a reason of personal growth and morale which
enhances communication along with the result of producing far better outcomes related to
such specific projects (Creasy & Anantatmula, 2013). However, a conflict arising within an
organization and when it is not properly dealt with and managed can lead to the decline of the
organization it aroused within.

10CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
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11CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANAGERS
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