Investigating Contemporary Management Issues & Business Operations

This report explores contemporary management issues impacting business operations in today's global context. It discusses the role of management in adapting to rapid changes in the business environment, including globalization, technological advancements, and ethical considerations. The report identifies key issues such as uncertainty, globalization challenges, supply chain complexities, ethical responsibilities, and the importance of efficiency and employee empowerment. It presents research questions and objectives focused on analyzing these issues, their outcomes, and potential solutions for managers. The study aims to provide insights into how organizations can navigate these challenges to achieve their business goals and maintain a competitive advantage. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for managers to address these contemporary issues effectively to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of their organizations.

Running Head: Management Issues 1
Research on Contemporary Management Issues

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Abstract
Forces of globalization and new technologies have changed the way of doing trade in
business environment in current time. In the new environment, it is not possible for the
companies to avoid the various management issues affecting the business. in order to achieve
success and survival when the changes are taking place in the business, managers need to be
ready for the rivalry and various challenges associated with the dynamic business environment.
This report will focus on various contemporary issues in management like globalization, ethics,
competition, telecommunication technologies and the impact of these issues on the business
operations. The findings of this study indicate that managers are affected by these issues in both
positive as well as negative manner. The report will evaluate the pros and cons of the issues
based in the business perspective. A deep analysis and research will be taken in order to analyze
the impact of management issues on the organizations. Some recommendations will also be
provided to deal with the issues so that organizations can be able to run the business in proper
manner.

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Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
List of Tables...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Research Question........................................................................................................................7
Research objective.......................................................................................................................8
Structure...........................................................................................................................................8
Research Design..............................................................................................................................9
Overall research strategy..............................................................................................................9
Literature review........................................................................................................................10
Findings.........................................................................................................................................12
Discussion..................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
In today’s global context, organizations are facing significant challenges while
internationalizing their services. It is important for every multinational company to deal with the
high degree of uncertainty in the business due to contemporary management issues. The
management issues have crucial role in the business nowadays. This is the process which is
helpful for the managers to keep their markets, identify some risk factors that affect the business
operations, create various opportunities and enhance the image of the company in the operating
market. This report focuses on the theoretical and empirical perspective in order to analyze the
range of contemporary management issues in the business (Podyal, Pradhan and Bhandari,
2011). One of the most important business activities is managing. Effective management is the
key for the growth and development of the business. It is important for the companies to analyze
the environment of market and profit opportunities for the growth and financial viability of the
business. There are radical changes in the business environment due to rapid development in the
communication network, innovation of new knowledge, combination of multi-cultured
professionals, globalization of business etc. There are various contemporary management issues
that impact on the business operations of the organizations (Schoemaker, 2008).
First of all, it is important to understand the role of management in the business
operations. In the global business scenario, organizations are seeking for the effective
management and leadership practices so that some important changes can be done within the
organizations. Managers are those who are needed to reach their goals by the effective strategies
and tactics. In the highly competitive and demanding workplace, managers are required to show
their interpersonal skills by allocation of resources, making decisions, and achieving the
organizational goals and objectives. Basically, there are five management functions used in the
business i.e. planning, organizing, coordinating, commanding and controlling. Today
management and managers are important key resources for the social and economic development
of an organization. Management is the essential factor of production and effective management
provides opportunities to the organizations to enhance the productivity. The majority of
productivity enhancements are possible due to entrepreneurial skills of the managers in the
organization. But there are various managerial issues and challenges which have to deal by the
organizations. So, there are rapid changes and unpredictability due to various challenges faced

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by organization. Most of the organizations are able to survive due to remarkable managerial
talent of the managers and management. Business can lose the market share due to the
management challenges and issues (Cornelia, 2012). Organizations need to deal with various
issues in order to stay competitive in the operating market. In twenty-first century, people are
equipped with the pace of technology and they need to be trained in order to meet the challenges
and opportunities for the success of the business. Contemporary management can be described as
the management tools that are practiced by the managers and business organizations. This is the
most important aspect of management as well as business organizations. Contemporary
management practices are used from the ancient civilization. There are various aspects in
contemporary management i.e. scientific management, administrative management, modern
management and now the contemporary management is practiced everywhere. There are some
key or basic issues of contemporary management like e-commerce, total quality management,
project management, human resource management, and globalization. Apart from those issues,
some more issues are arising in the contemporary management. Management is now becoming
an important part to the business activities due to its universal application so; contemporary
issues in management provide basics on the efficiency of work-life of individuals who are
working in various situations of competitive environment of the business (Kara, 2013).
Management experts have developed and implemented various theories and philosophies
in order to develop the management in human civilization. They have provided a proper
direction by the application of different models for achieving the organizational goals and
objectives. Contemporary management is basically the set of theories which are developed and
properly applied in order to achieve the organizational goals. Management theories, philosophies
and system have been changed by the time. This paper deals with the issues facing by the large
and small companies while managing the business. The objective is to cover functional issues
and general aspects of management related to all types of organization like profit making
companies, manufacturing and service companies, non-profit organizations as well as large and
small enterprises (Barros, Gal & Kindler, 2012). Some of relevant contemporary management
issues are as follows:
Uncertainty-

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Sometimes, businesses face various issues due to uncertainty. Uncertainties in the global
economy, credit markets, uncertainty due to new regulations have impact on the business
operation of an organization in the market. Companies are not focusing on the long-term
planning while focusing on short-term results due to uncertainty. For instance, economy down
turn causes various uncertainties i.e. consumers’ wants, customer needs, distribution channels,
technological possibilities and feasibility of the existing business model. These are the examples
of uncertainties affecting the business operations (Mwacharo, 2013).
Globalization-
The introduction of the communication, transportation, and economic interdependency
has connected the people together in the world. Any product or service produced in one part of
the country can easily reach to the other parts of the world without any barrier (Parker, 2005).
Various multinational companies are the global players in the business in order to operate the
business properly. But, globalization can be a management issues for the organizations due to
high customer expectations (Martínez, 2012). For example, A US Company that is operating in a
developing country may face some pressure in the home and foreign market in terms of the
support from the customers. Along with this, cultural barriers can also be an issue for the
managers of the organization. Cultural barriers can be a huge threat for the managers in the
global business. Communicating about products and services benefits and branding are also
challenging as well in the global business (Zhang & Cremer, 2014).
Supply chain-
Due to uncertainty in the demand of the product and services, companies have smaller
inventories than ever. At the same time, uncertainty in the supply is the cause of changes in the
commodity prices, increase competition for the raw material and weather-related disruption
make the supply chain more challenging for the businesses. Small suppliers in the businesses are
struggling to get credit and meet the demands of the customers (John, 2011).
Ethics and responsibility-
For the managers, ethics and social responsibility is a growing concern in the business.
Ethics can be described as the personal beliefs of individual including right and wrong. It is

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basically created by the personal practices, standards and principles, family and situational
aspects (Ruiz-Palomino, Martı´nez-Canas & Fontrodona, 2013). The most important ethical
concern in the modern management is to know how the organization is treating employees, how
the employees are treating the organization and how the organization is treating to other
economic agents like competitors, customers, unions, suppliers etc. It is sometimes challenging
for the managers to deal with the ethical challenges in the business (Ann, 2015).
Excellence and efficiency-
Efficiency and excellence are also raising management issues of the business in current
situation. In past, various managers perceived that they could enhance the result by declining the
quality. Now, managers understand that such assumptions are wrong. Now, they identified that
productivity and quality are inter-related to each other. So, it is the big challenge for managers to
maintain the quality and productivity of the business (Chigbo & Ngige, 2015).
Empowerment of employees-
Employees are the key elements of the inner environment of the organization. When
managers and employees have same principles and objectives, it becomes very suitable to attain
the business goals and purposes. Sometimes, it is challenging for the managers to maintain the
mutual relations with the employees. It is a challenging task for the managers to provide the
decision-making right to assistant level of staff. Because of decentralized power and labor unions
associated to the political parties, dealing with the employees has been a serious problem for the
organizations.
Research Question
Key aim of the research study is to analyze various contemporary management issues
faced by the managers in the business operations. The management issues impact the managers
to achieve the business goals and objectives (Greener, 2008). The purpose of the study is to find
the answers to the specific research questions that direct focus on the research design, and data
collection. The research questions of the study are as follows:
 What are the key management issues and challenges for achieving the business goals and
objectives?

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 What are the associated outcomes of the identified management issues in terms of
achieving business goals?
 What are the solutions for the managers to deal with the potential issues in the business?
Research objective
The general objective of the study is to analyze the range of contemporary management
issues and problems in the business operations. There are various studies related to impact of the
contemporary management issues on the business. There are various issues like globalization has
increased pressure on the organizations as it has changed the consumer expectations and
behaviors. Various literatures indicate that there are lots of studies available on the perception of
managers on the recently rising problems which have already been improving the current
business environment. The objective of this study is to observe all these issues in the business
viewpoint. The study is important for organizations in order to achieve success and competitive
advantage in the market. The purpose and objective of the research is to analyze how
managements of various organizations deal with the changes and issues in the business
environment. The objective is to develop various strategies in order to overcome from the
difficulties associated with the contemporary management. The specific objectives of the study
are as follows:
 To identify the key contemporary management issues affecting the achievement of
management and business goals,
 To determine the associated outcomes with the issues in terms of the level of impact on
the achievement of the goals of business operations, and
 To provide solutions for the addressed management issues and challenges (Nummela,
2011)
Structure
This thesis comprises 7 sections and those are as follows:
First section introduces the background, research problems, research questions, and
objectives. This section basically focuses on the introduction of the subject area and provides
overall context of the research. Key literature is also introduced to justify the subject area in the
thesis.

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In the second section, research questions are developed from the context of introduction.
In the third section, the research objectives are outlined to reveal the intentions of this specific
research. Forth section comprises the research design including the methodological position and
method of data analysis. The methodology section includes overall research strategy adopted, the
procedure and method in order to collect the important and relevant information, and he
instruments used for data-collection.
Fifth section is findings that consists the presentation of data constructed as per research
design approach. Next, sixth section includes the critical discussion of data findings using
various literature reviews. The research questions are answered in this section and this could
inform the structure. Last and seventh section of the research is conclusion. Conclusions and
recommendations for the further investigations are highlighted in this section.
Research Design
This section discusses the methodology and research method used in the research. For
this research, qualitative research would be beneficial. In order to conduct a complete research
study, various sources and types of information are important. For conducting this study,
secondary and qualitative data will be used. The secondary data will be taken from various
sources i.e. books; journal articles and website etc. The secondary method will be used in
achieving the research objectives (Sreejesh, 2014).
Overall research strategy
According to Saunders (2009), research strategy can be described as the general plan for
the researchers to answer the research questions. The research strategy used in this study starts
with the identification of research problems, posing of research questions and setting the research
objectives for the study. This is followed by the review of relevant and appropriate literature with
the previous related studies. With the gathered information from the literature related area the
research objectives and questions are refined. The qualitative data and secondary data collection
method will be used in order to gather the important data for the study.
This secondary research study will use knowledge and information about contemporary
management issues in the organizations. The objective of the study is to get the clear
understanding about the challenges in human resource management and HR managers and how

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they face the challenges effectively in order to achieve the goals of the organization. Various
journal articles and books will be studied in order gather important and relevant data on the
concept of contemporary management issues. For this manner, literature review process will be
adopted.
Literature review
Today, the market is getting competitive day by day. In order to cope up with the
competitive market, management plays an important role in the business. Effective management
practices enable the employees to enhance their productivity and achieve the organizational goals
and objectives effectively. The key challenge of the organization is to operate the business in the
ethically and socially responsible way. Along with this, there are some more challenges arise
from the environment in which the organization is operating i.e. international and local
competitors, changing demands of employees, professional ethics, and pressure groups etc.
Further, challenges also come from the business operations also. With the continuous changes in
management, it is crucial for the managers and employees to be aware of the challenges that the
organization is facing. Basically there are some management challenges that the organizations
are facing and those are as follows:
Changing market- Changes in the consuming and purchasing pattern of the customers is a big
problem for the organizations. Along with this, changes in the economy can also impact on the
business management process. At the time of recession, a business can reduce its workforce as
per the demand of its products.
Work force diversity- In current time, the workforce is chabging as compared to last 10 to 15
yaers. Some of the changes are occurred in the recent past years and some are in process. The
lifestyles and necessities are changing continuously and employees want a balanced approach in
their work life. Traditional employees want to earn more money by putting extra effeorts in their
job role. But now employees are less willing to work for the long period of time. In such case,
more concerbed factors are minorities, female empnyees, old workers, cultural diversity and
retention of the employees etc (Rahman, Hasan & Islam 2011).
Management system- The management system in the organization is the framework of
procedures and processes that is usef to make sure that organization is able to fulfill all the tasks

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that ate crucial tp achieve the objectives. There are challenges in the effective management i.e.
effective use of respources, use of cost effective way to run the business, enhanced risk
management and improved customer satisfaction by providing products and services.
Organizational culture- the organizational culture is the collection of myths, belief,
assumptions, goals, vison, mission and values etc. when the group of people work together
within an organization the culture is a powerful force that impact on the members of that group.
there are seven characteristics of the organizational culture i.e. innovation, focus on outcome,
focus on detail, team work, focus on people stability and aggressiveness. It is the challenge for
the organizations to manage the organizational culture for successful business operations
(Chaston, 2010).
Development of leadership- One of the biggest management challenge for the management is
leadership development for the critical strategic initiatives. Managers face challenges due to
expectations to provide relevant structure, tools, processes and viewpoints and develop of leaders
for the future.
Managing change- This is one of the big challenge for the organization . due to new trends and
challenges, there are changes in pursourcing management practices, telecommunication, family
mediacl leave benefit cost sharing, negotiation in union managememt, pay for skills and many
other management areas of interest. All of these changes can be seen in the aging population. It
is the challenge for the organizations to implement effective change management as it needs
proper training so that competencies can be dev eloped to deal with the change management. So,
this challenge is faced by more and more human resource departments.
Environmental challenges- Environment includes of interacting systems of biological, physical,
and cultural elements which are interconnected collectively and individually. The managers of
the organization need to be aware of environmental challenges. Environmental challenges faced
by managers include organizational challenges, governmental challenges, international human
resource management etc (Khan & Taher, 2011).
Social issues- In many companies, employees are generally represented by the labor union. In
order to manage those unions, there is the requirement of specific laws, contract administration,

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and collective bargaining process etc. It is important for the organization to understand type of
approaches in order to determine the effecfiveness of management (Doz, 2011).
Ethics- In current time, it is a challenge for the organizations to operate the businhess in the
ethical maner. Ethical workplace is crucial not onlu for the employee satisfaction but also for
managers’ satisfaction as well. Various decisions realted to the management are characterized by
uncertainity. So, it is a challenge for the organization to deal with the value of ethical codes
within the business.
Other challenges- In the organizations, there can be challenges and issues related to
compensation, hiring, performance management, saferty, wellness, communication, employee
motivation, administration and training. Along with this, managers musy learn about managing
the organization effectively by organizing, planning, leading, controlling and being
knowledgeable of emerging trnds in employee development and training (Iqbal, Tayyab,
Farmanullah, & Khan, 2012).
Findings
Based on the gathered information from the literature review, it is observed that the most
important challenges of management are e-commerce, ethical comsideration, technology,
globalization and workforce diversity which may directly and indirectly impact the competitive
advantage of the organization. in 21st century, there are number of shifts that are the reason for
change in the future. The changes include growing use of cotingent employees, use of virtual
employees, and growing technology for some types of employees etc. The challenges in the
management process are increasing with the change in competitive environment of market. With
the increment in competition at the local and global level, organizations need to be more flexible,
adaptable and customer focused in order to get success. In current time, managers are facing
various types of challenges (Bratton, 2007). As the result, it is not easy for them ti retain take
care and attract of valued employees. If the organizations want to achieve better position and
output from the employees then it should overcome from its challenges. There are some
recommendations in order to deal with the identified challenges effectively and efficiently.
 Effective performance evaluation system must be implemented in the organization for
minimizing professional mobility,