BUSS701 Report: Managing Diversity: Contemporary Manager Challenges

This report examines the multifaceted challenges contemporary managers face in today's diversified workplaces, particularly within the context of Tank Test Laboratories. It identifies key issues such as communication barriers stemming from cultural differences, discrimination affecting employee morale and productivity, and difficulties in decision-making processes. The report further explores the challenges of keeping up with rapidly changing market conditions, managing scarce resources, retaining top talent, and ensuring continuous skill development among employees. A comparative analysis with other countries reveals that challenges like team development, employee motivation, and skill development are globally prevalent. Ultimately, the report highlights the need for contemporary managers to adapt their strategies to effectively lead and inspire diverse teams while navigating the complexities of the modern business environment.

Running head: CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 1
CHALLENGES FACING CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS IN A DIVERSIFIED
WORKPLACE AND HOW THEY OVERCOME THEM
STUDENTS NAME
UNIVERSITY AFFILIATION

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 2
Contemporary manager refers to the type of managers whose tools of management are
predicted by today’s managers and business organization. This would mean that the
process used for management is similar with of the business world as opposed to
regular management. This would mean that management of a contemporary manager is
guided by the current situations of its environment as opposed to regular management
where management did not consider it surrounding but how profits would be made in
the end.
Challenges faced by contemporary managers
Contemporary managers must not only manage the organization but also give
attention to their employees, terms and cultural challenges and hence managers are
bond to face some difficulties. Life is changing by the day and being a manager can be
super challenging. To this, 66% of CFOs say it’s more challenging to be a manager
today than it was in five years ago (Agrawal, 2012).. These challenges were not there
but have evolved over the years. This is the reason why the role of contemporary
managers is considered to be more challenging. This would be relevant to tank test
laboratories in its managerial activities in ensuring the needs of the employees are met
Acceptance of diversity brings a lot benefits to employees such as improvement
of morale, gives voice to a team and as well as raises the overall productivity
(Cappelli and Keller,. 2014).. However when the employees cannot embrace diversity
amongst themselves then this becomes a challenge. To this reason Contemporary
managers are faced with the challenge of communication, may it be upwards or
downwards communication. This interferes with the overall performance of the
organization. This would affect the overall performance of tank test laboratories in
selling of its cylinders
Discrimination does not kill morale only but hinders productivity in the
organization (Kieff, and Wlmarth 2014). Contemporary managers, as much they may try
to build team spirit there are various instances where the employees will conflict. In
case of the current era where everyone is moving round countries intermarrying then
this creates a more diverse environment for the manger. Employees at the task test
laboratories are from all over the world and hence these creates room for discrimination

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 3
based on achievements, skills, abilities hence affecting the overall productivity of tank
test
Some of the challenges contemporary managers face today is decision making
process as well as feedback mechanism. A manager today will make a decision that
could favor only a certain kind of people but at large benefits the entire organization
(Moran, and .Morner. 2017). This poses as a challenge since a certain group will feel
left out. Especially in Tank test laboratory which has different departments with different
objectives. Hence the response to the decision will be low meaning that the outcome
will be less than the desired one
Keeping up with the market in earlier years was not much of a task as this would
be done once in many days. In today’s unexpectedly changing weather of the market,
contemporary managers have to keep up with the market study on a regular basis or
even on short intervals depending on the type of product and services provided (Daft,
and Marcic, 2016). . It has become a requirement for managers to have the knowledge
so as to keep up with the once stable market now rapidly changing. Hence this regular
watch of the market is tedious and tiresome as compared to earlier days thus tank test
would need to keep up with changes in the selling, filling and testing of cylinders.
Scare resources have always been a challenge in the economy (Pedersen and
Thibault, 2014). . This means, need for more when the availability is less. This involves
getting one more employee; the need for extra funds the need for more equipment. This
stands as a challenge to the contemporary managers reason being currently business
are being uprooted every now and then hence this would mean more sharing on the
same resources that have not increased as the business increases hence plans have
to be developed on how to acquire this resources so as to keep the business running.
Hence tank test laboratories have to operate in such a way it beats the scarce
availability of gas.
Another challenge these contemporary managers are facing is on how to retain
top talent. In this job hoping era failure to retain staff then the cost turns out to be
massive. It would cost 33% of employee’s annual salary too replace them and that
would mean 400% for expert senior staff (J. Wrench, 2016). Obviously each time an

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 4
employee leaves they go with their ideas, company knowledge, skill; simply all
worthiness goes with them which create a gap (L. R. Sayles, 2017). . It’s common to
think that for one to be in a position to retain an employee it’s all about money or annual
promotions however this is not the case. Tank test must be in a position to ensure that
low turnover of employees is experienced.
It does not count how good your organization is, there is always a gap to do
better; better working environment, changes in a process, better focus, employee
motivation at its best and much more (Richards, 2017). . The big challenge is to ensure
that employees are always updated on the latest trends, knowledge and skills. Just
when you finish on the latest training, thinking that your employees are shinny with new
skills the skill becomes outdated. Staff needs to be continually updated with skills in
tank test so as to remain relevant and as well enhance productivity.
In an tank test there are always those employees who auto perform the others.
This means they more skillful in what they do, they are more knowledgeable in their
work. In this kind of environment where competition is at its pick, contemporary
managers need to ensure that these employees are taken care of as not to be porched
by other firm as an act of competition (Vance and Paik 2014). . These employees will
need special handling and care. These employees will need to be recognized, they will
need to be appreciated. These kinds of employees will need encouragement, training,
and proper leadership. However this becomes a challenge their being scarce resource,
tank test being a small business, for the managers in tank test being diverse places this
becomes even more difficult. The goal being to appreciate all employees this leads to
discouragement of some, since they feel unappreciated
Important challenge faced by contemporary managers
In this competitive era most of the employees at tank test, have tried to achieve a
lot in terms of education and gaining experience in the workforce. With this entire
achievements one is in a position to remain relevant

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 5
(McFarlan and Sweeney 2014). However this possesses as challenge to the manager
since it becomes a challenge to choose employee who is qualified in a pool of over
qualified employees.
Decision making also becomes a challenge for contemporary managers in tank
test laboratories. Being that most people are from different background , then this
would mean that there will be a communication barrier which at the end of the affects
the decision making process of the organization (Briggs, 2008),. This leads to poor
productivity for the organization of tank test laboratories which is a major undesirable
outcome
Innovation is the creation of new or improved products or services or even
coming up with different ways of production. For an innovation to be successful it must
provide the organization with originality, uniqueness in context of the product which is
being produced by the competitors (Greene, 2015). However contemporary managers
in a diverse workplace, that being tank test laboratories, find this as a challenge since at
time the workforce does not to embrace change. Thus emulation of the change will be
difficult, hence progression in filling, testing and selling of gas goes down for tank test
laboratories
Challenges faced by in comparison to other countries
The challenge faced by contemporary managers are more or less the same if not
similar all around the world Some of this challenges include; it is a real challenge to
develop a team, manage it, instill pride in the team and even support the whole team.
This goes a long way since teams are essential in an organization so as to accomplish
some task. This possess as a challenge to all contemporary managers in almost all
countries since bringing individuals with different background, different capabilities
together to work as one sounds almost impossible. Spain ranks at 40% in it ability to
effectively formulate a team this is followed by UK being at 20% (Drucker,2012).
The need to motivate employees is an important aspect in the contemporary
management. Reason being everyone has his or her own capabilities thus capabilities

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 6
of the induvial are truly different. Being in a diverse work place motivation and
inspiration to the employees is an important factor (Landy, 2016). . This helps the
employees not to feel left out. However this is a huge challenge to the contemporary
manager reason being that everyone is different from the other and the society keeps
changing. Hence the manager is left with the challenge of what is right and agreeable
way to appreciate especially publicly, what is that mode of motivation that will be
acceptable especially in this diverse workplace. As much as inspiring individual is an
important aspect that ensures employees are satisfied with their job and are also
capable of working smart. It possess as a challenge. Only 22% is the capability of china
and 16% for Egypt to motivate its employees. This not only shows that this is a common
challenge between countries but also quite difficulty. (Jeston,. 2014)
Developing the relevant skills required for management is also something difficult
and complicated for contemporary managers (Monostori, 2014).However; these skills
such as time management, prioritization, decision making, and strategic thinking are
required skills for management. China is at 26% in its capability to develop these skills
followed by India at 20% (Elliott, (2012). In the diverse work place all this skills are
required so as to offer efficiency in leadership, however with the diversity in workplace
this becomes a challenge since not all will accommodate this skills.
Ensuring that employees have the required and relevant skill is a challenge to the
managers (Bengtsson and Kock, 2014).Some of the personnel are very rigid to change
and hence end up not accepting introduction of new skill introduced to them. With the
frequent changes in the market employees are efficient and more effective when their
skills are up to date. To the contemporary manager in the diverse work place it is a
challenge to ensure that the relevant and required skills are developed, employees are
mentored and even coached. United States is at 16% in its managerial implementation
of developing employees as compared to china at 20%. (Heizer, 2016).
Change is always inevitable, it occurs whether we like it or not. However not all
accept change when it does occur. How an individual responds to change will always
determine the outcome and effect of change. Contemporary manager are faced with the

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 7
challenge of managing, mobilizing, leading and even at times understanding change.
There are time when change occurs is so massive to an extent that managing it
becomes chaotic especially in a diverse workforce. Mobilizing people as well so as to
accommodate it is also difficult since the desire of the manager is to ensure that
everyone is on the same pace. Leading people through change are as well difficult;
reason being at first most of the recipients is always resistant to change as well as
some do not know how to accommodate change. At times in leadership to ensure
change occurs you are obliged to lead by example and this becomes challenging
especially in a situation where the change has not been understood by you. This
becomes even more challenging to implement in a diverse work place. Singapore has a
percentage of 16 in its ability to lead through change as compared to US which has a
capability of 20%. This shows that US has a higher capability of guiding people through
change as compared to Singapore and china which has a capability 12% (S
Amin,.2014).
Solutions to the challenges faced by contemporary managers
One of the ways contemporary managers especially those in tank test
laboratories, can do to overcome this challenges is by ensuring that they keep up with
the ever changing market so as to be competitive relevant and hence in return be
profitable in the long run. An organization that is experiencing profit is in a good position
to appreciate its workers thus building the morale hence higher productivity (Mehedintu,
Plotogea, Ionescu, and Antonovici,.2014).
Contemporary managers in this cooperative should come up with workable ways
of dealing with conflict between the diverse employees that will lead to satisfaction on
both ends. People from diverse background tend to be in more conflicts and hence
contemporary managers in these workplaces should come up with ways to solve these
arising issues (Galliers ,and Leidner,2014). One of the conflicts solving ways could be
mediation that could be used by managers in tank test

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 8
In this era with a competitive world, companies tend to experience very high
turnovers (Long,Charles,and .Stephenson, 2015). In the diverse workplace this happens
more often due to employee differences. However managers at tank test laboratories
can resolve this by appreciating their employees, that is by responding to their work
progress. Feeling of appreciation goes a long way than not when it comes to staff
retention
Managers at tank test laboratories can as well keep up with the pace of
advancement especially in skills. In a diverse work place, being up to date with the trend
especially skills, gives the manager a stronger ground in his leadership (Jakobsen, and
Jensen,.2015). This creates a positive competitive advantage for tank test laboratories
this means current and frequent training should be done so as to remain relevant,
otherwise failure to this .in this changing world ,this would term the manager as
irrelevant.
Delegation of duties is another way to help managers overcome the challenges.
The act of delegation makes one more productive it also empowers your people
(Craig, 2014). Delegation of task reduces the amount of task on your shoulder and
hence this enables the manager to concentrate more on important staff. In a diverse
work force, delegation enhances working together of employees in tank test
laboratories. This helps the workers to mingle and hence this enables familiarity of one
another. This will eventually lead to a situation where people appreciate of one another
for who they are.
In situations where the employees’ auto performs one another, this would mean
that some employees are better than and hence employees with better performance are
treated way special than the other. This is to mean that some employees are feeling of
less value as compared to the rest. To avoid this kind of challenge especially in a
diverse workplace, contemporary managers should come up with methods of
appreciation of all workforces to avoid some sort of discrimination at large. By doing so
even though not equally rewarded, they would feel recognized and appreciated. This

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 9
would be very visible in tank test laboratories since it has different departments with
different objectives
Contemporary managers are faced with the challenge of discrimination at diverse
workplace. Some of workforce gets picked upon due to diversity, such as lack of the
required skills, race, background, achievements and so much more (Deery and Jago,
2015). Hence this poses as a challenge to the contemporary managers in tank test
laboratories since one of the ways for a firm to be successful is through unity .To
overcome this kind of challenge contemporary managers in tank test are required to
come up with methods to overcome this kind challenges. A contemporary manager
would put in place measures for everyone who discriminates against the other. This
would mean that any time one discriminates against the other no matter the
circumstances; one would be forced to face the consequence. This would ultimately
discourage discrimination which is predominant especially in the diverse work place,
tank test being one of them. Where no discrimination occurs, this creates more room
for self-awareness, self-development, high productivity, unity, and pride in work done
A problem shared is a problem half solved. Contemporary manages especially in
the diverse work place face almost similar challenges worldwide (Vance, and Paik,
2014). . This challenges would not be similar in exacts but would be related depending
on the product and services provided, therefore contemporary managers in the diverse
work place would avoid some of this challenges if they were shared with other
managers.(Amin,2014). This would not only enlighten on the steps to avoid but also on
the roads to take when executing managerial practices.This also enables the manager
to be aware that some of these challenges are common and hence should take them
with ease when they occur. This builds hopes to managers at large and also enables
the manager to pre- avoid some of this challenges tank test managers need to involve
themselves with other managers outside the company so as to avoid failure for the
company

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 10
Conclusion.
Tank test being a small business it would not experience some of this challenges
or rather the challenges would not be as heavily felt as in in a large firm. For example in
a large firm there are many job opportunities and hence employees strive to be more
and more skilled so as to get this opportunities especially in high ranks. Considering
that the world is still a competitive playground then when these employees get
advanced skills they tend to look for greener pasture outside the firm hence leading to
high turnover. In comparison to tank test laboratories where opportunities are few then
this means that turnover level is at its minimal.
Tank test laboratories being a small business would mean that it’s require fewer
resources and hence less cost. This would me that the number of employees in the tank
test laboratories is less compared to a large firm. Tank test is in a position where the
scope of diversity is less since fewer employees are required and thus the management
process for this kind of diversified workplace is less hectic. In a large frim more
employees are required and thus creating an opportunity for a large diversity of
employees.
Chances of decisions being implemented in tank test laboratories are high,
reason being with fewer employees this would mean communication is faster ever with
diversity. In a larger firm more personnel is involved thus creating a long process of
communication, as well as a lot of different people suggestion which leads to waste of
time at times nine implementation of the decision being made.
Market challenges would not be as much for tank test laboratories. Tank test
being a small business, the market to be handled by is small and hence does not
fluctuate as much compared to market served by large frim. This would mean that, in
consideration to the product and services provided, managers do not need regular
studying of the market so as to be current with the trends. This means that the market is

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 11
easily understood since a small portion is being dealt with, and thus provision of service
is high. With its diverse work place this possess as an advantage to the organization.
Tank test being a small business would mean that fewer work force as
compared to a large frim. However this does not mean that tank test does not
experience challenges although not as much as a large company. Tank test experience
a situation where some of the employees are more competent, or more skilled than
others and this would mean special treatment to them to the rest of the workforce. As
much as this would cost less for special treatment as compared to the large firm this is a
challenge tank test being a diverse work place. This would lead to a more visible sort of
discrimination due to its small size in the long run. Contemporary managers are
therefore faced with the challenge of work force unifying
Tank test also experiences technological challenge. Technology keeps on
advancing by the day. New machines, equipment, computer application and much
more keep on being produced as much as it is a small company, it require to keep up
with the trends especially tank test being involved in almost 80% technological process.
This would mean that contemporary managers need to keep track of the ever changing
technology so as to have a competitive advantage keeping track of anything especially
one that’s is not in line with your interest can be a tiresome task. This track keeping
would mean more investment that tank test does not have; currently all it need is to
ensure upward growth not more non-financial rewarding activities. This means that
managers would stretch more to accommodate technological change that has the likely
of not being accepted by the employees due to their diverse nature.

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONTEMPORARY MANAGERS 12
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