Contemporary Management Capabilities: Reflection Report (MGT811)

This report presents a student's personal reflection on management, focusing on key challenges faced in organizations. It begins with an executive summary outlining the report's purpose: to provide a view on management and a significant challenge – managing a diverse workforce. The introduction sets the scope, explaining the theoretical concepts learned from journal articles and their implications for future career goals. The main context delves into management theories, including scientific management, systems theory, and contingency theory, as well as the challenges of managing a diverse workforce. The report highlights the importance of both hard and soft skills in addressing these challenges. The report then reflects on the student's experiences with workforce diversity, the difficulties it presents, and the impact of cultural differences. The student describes how they, as a manager, have attempted to manage the situation using communication and leadership. The conclusion and recommendations sections offer actionable steps for management to address the challenge of workforce diversity. The report emphasizes the use of theoretical concepts to analyze and interpret learning experiences, and how these insights can be applied to future careers.

Personal reflection journal
and report
Student name:

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Executive summary
The primary purpose of the report is to present my view regarding the concept of management
and a key challenge that is faced by the management in an organization. From this study, I have
understood that management is the process which is useful for managing and controlling the
workforce. For managing the workforce, people generally follows several theoretical concepts
that should be suitable for their firm. From the theoretical concepts I have learned the way of
managing the workforce, and it will help me in the future to achieve my professional career
goals. The key challenge faced by the management is managing a diverse workforce in the
business. The issue is caused due to the presence of different people from diverse culture within
the organization. In order to reduce this challenge, it is essential for the management to use both
hard and soft skills by which they can understand the beliefs and values of their diverse group of
employees and can reduce their issue. Moreover, some recommendations are provided that will
help the management team to overcome these challenges of managing a diverse workforce in the
coming days.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Main context................................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10
Appendix...................................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
In today's environment, the management faces various challenges in the organization that not
only affect the business growth but also affects the performance of the employees working in the
firm. The report aims to define one of the key challenges faces by the management that has to
create difficulties for them to sustain their working performance properly. The key challenge is
to manage a diverse workforce within the organization. In addition, they also interpret and reflect
my point of view regarding the theoretical concepts that I have learned from the chosen journal
article. Besides this, based on knowledge provided by this journal article, I can implement my
future career goals in relation to the activity of management.
The scope of this report is to understand the key challenge of managing diverse workforce which
is faced by the management team in order to control the business function of their organization.
Along with this, it also helps the reader to identify proper steps that should be required in order
to reduce the adverse impact of the challenge in the coming days. Another scope of this paper is
to analyze the proper solution that should be used by an individual to manage this challenge
while working in an organization. Besides this, the paper will also help the reader to take
appropriate steps to mitigate this type of challenge in their organization.
The first section of this paper will demonstrate my opinion regarding the theoretical concepts
that I have analyzed and interpreted after reviewing the selected journal article. This section will
also describe the implication of this learning on my future career goals. The second section will
define the management challenge that I have been witnessed in my organization. In this section,
the problem will be reflected as per the manager's point of view, and it will depend on both the
hard and soft skills of a manager. Moreover, the last section will provide some recommendations
that will be helpful for the management to reduce this key challenge in the coming days.
Main context
After reviewing several journal articles, I have learned that management is the process of an
organization that includes managing resources, strategic planning, setting objectives, deploying
the financial and human assets that are needed to achieve the business goals. From this aspect, it
is seen that the role of management is to store and record the information and facts related to the
organization. Management is considered as the multipurpose organ of a business that not only

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manages their staff members but also plays an important role in controlling the various business
functions of the different department that present in an organization (Akinnusi, Sonubi &
Oyewunmi, 2017). The theoretical perception that I have learned after analyzing the concept of
management is that the functions of management are not only limited to the working procedure
of supervisors and managers, but it also guides the physical and human resources to maintain
dynamic organizational units by which the business can reach their goals. In other words, I have
analyzed that the management generally follows different types of theories for managing as well
as controlling their staff members present in the organization. The theories also help the
management to overcome their challenges in business operations (Benschop, Holgersson, Van
den Brink & Wahl, 2015).
It is well known that the concept of management depends on four factors such as planning,
directing, organizing, and controlling, and all these factors are related to each other (Prause &
Mujtaba, 2015). In order to maintain all these factors, I have seen that most of the management
follows scientific management theory. The management mainly uses this theory because it
emphasized the fact that forcing people is not a good option to achieve the desired results. It can
forcefully increase the productivity rate, but it reduces the interest of employee working in the
firm. Thus by following this theory, the management promotes standardization, supervision and
also provide extensive training to the employees so that they can enhance their performance in
work (Knights & Omanović, 2016). Apart from this, the management also follows the systems
theory of management by which they can make an alternative approach of improving their
business functions in such a manner that it should be advantageous for the employees. With the
help of this theory, I have learned that the management makes a system which is composed of
several interacting elements such as interrelations between various subsystems, interdependence,
and synergy.
Delivering the work as per this system can enable the management to improve their
organization's performance as well as productivity rate in the chosen market (Ozturk & Tatli,
2016). Due to this reason, system theory has generally followed by management. Along with
this, I have also noticed that to reduce the challenges of managing and controlling the workforce,
sometimes, the management of various organizations follows the contingency theory of
management. It is seen that several internal and external factors are present that can affect the

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management approach of an organization (Maylor, Meredith, Söderlund & Browning, 2018).
Thus in order to reduce the effect of both these external as well as internal factors, the
management follows this contingency theory. By following this theory, the organization
becomes able to identify the three variables of the organization structure such as technology
implemented in the business, leadership style used by the superiors and the size of the firm. After
analyzing all these factors, they will take the required steps that should be needed by them to
manage and control their managers and employees, respectively (Eveleens, van Rijnsoever &
Niesten, 2017).
In other words, the theory also helps the management to adapt to the changing environment of
their business without facing any issues (Tweedie & Holley, 2016). Hence after understanding
the main context of all these theories, it is clear that they have uses the theoretical framework
only to provide a positive impact on the organization. Thus after analyzing and interpreting the
several theoretical concepts that have been used by the management, I have to understand that
management plays a vital role in a firm and therefore they face most of the challenges in their
business. They generally lead the organization as well as the staff members, and therefore I can
say that it is necessary for them to utilize relevant theoretical concepts so that they can easily
manage their workforce without facing any complex situations. After analyzing all these aspects,
I can generate a brief view regarding the working procedure of management, which can help me
to reach my career goals in the future. From this prospects, I have interpreted that in future if I
will be appointed as a management team member of an organization, then it became essential for
me to use appropriate theoretical concepts that should be beneficial for the firm and fitted for the
situation.
It is clear that all these concepts help me to influence my performance in the organization and
also enables me to reach my professional goals in the future. Along with this, after understanding
the several challenges of management in a firm a person can make proper solutions that will help
him or her to overcome this barrier in future (Kamoche, Siebers, Mamman & Newenham-
Kahindi, 2015). Hence, these prospects also influence me to achieve my career goals without
facing any complex difficulties. Apart from this, it also helps me to gain immense knowledge
regarding the various procedure by which a member of management can influence the staff
members to give their full effort in work. From this management concept, I can gain a clear idea

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regarding the working functions of management, their challenges and also the general concept
used by them and these features help me to overcome the problems of management that should
be faced by me in future. Hence it is clear that the management concept will help me in future to
provide a positive impact on the organization where I am going to work as well as it also helps
me to resolve the management challenges without having any issue.
From the theoretical concepts, I have noticed that the management of an organization faces
several challenges, but among them, I have seen that managing workforce diversity is one of the
key challenges of this management. This challenge has generally been facing by the Human
Resource Management of the organization (Ashkanasy, Humphrey & Huy, 2017). It is quite
evident that in a large organization, several types of people are worked together, and thus their
opinion also differs from one another. Managing this types of a diverse workforce is quite a
difficult task for the management, and it not only affects the company performance but it also
overall reduces the performance level of effectiveness as well as an efficient employee of the
particular firm (Tenzer & Pudelko, 2015). Depending on this fact, I have noticed this type of
challenge in the management where I have involved with. Being a manager of the firm, I have
seen that the HR management of the organization faces issues in controlling as well as managing
the workforce diversity. The main reason of generating this challenge is only the change of
socio-cultural, environmental, legal and political factors of the country that affected the diverse
culture workforce mental and physical activities (Trittin & Schoeneborn, 2017).
Belonging to a different cultural and religious background, their thoughts and opinion are
different from the native country people (Pant & Vijaya, 2015). Hence due to this reason,
sometimes conflict and arguments take place between the different culture employees and
managing these employees is become a complex task for me as a manager. Depending on my
soft skills such as communication and leadership approach I can manage the situation as a whole,
but it does not diminish the problem completely. The management team always help their
manager to take proper steps by which they can control the situation, but they face issues in
controlling and managing the overall workforce that presents in the organization (Donnelly,
2015). For increasing the performance of the firm in the chosen country market, I have noticed
that HR management has appointed several employees belonging to different cultural
background. From this, it is quite clear that the management only notices the factors that should

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improve the quality of production of the particular firm and not on the problems that may arise
due to the closing of different background people. Thus when several background people work
together, then I have noticed that a multifaceted approach has been generated regarding their
opinion on the same project. In such a situation, the management is able to control their diverse
background workforce, and due to this reason, most of the employees become offended for the
working procedure.
In order to address the problem and reduces its impact, I can say that every firm should use
appropriate workforce diversity management system. With the help of this management system,
they can understand the beliefs, values as well as views of their diverse workforce and thus it can
reduce their challenges in managing this workforce (Theodorakopoulos & Budhwar, 2015).
According to my view, workplace diversity management is necessary because it helps the
management team to develop appropriate integrative as well as practical diversity theories that
can help the leaders to take appropriate steps of being them in the same group. Apart from this,
the management should provide appropriate training to this workforce so that they can learn the
way of working together in a firm (Tang et al., 2015). In other words, being a manager of this
firm, I can also say that the management should use both soft as well as hard skills for reducing
these challenges in their organization. It is important for HR management to maintain good
communication with their staff members so that they can easily resolve their issues and
understand their views also (Hall, 2016). With the help of these soft skills, the management can
enable them to understand their employee’s opinion on every working prospect, and thus, they
can reduce their conflicts and arguments of their diverse workforce. This procedure not only
helps the management to reduce their challenges but also it helps them to improve their
employee performance in the business.
In other words, for solving the problem, it is essential for the management to maintain flexible
working hours for all the employees, especially for the diverse workforce (Clark, 2017). This
soft skills of management can influence the diverse workforce to work in a team and reduces
their differences while working in the same department. Hence according to me, it also considers
as the positive approaches of the management that can reduce their issue while handling the
diverse workforce. Along with this, as per my view if the leadership style of management must
be innovative and effective, then it easier for them to attract and retain the diverse workforce.

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Managing a diverse workforce is a complex process and therefore if the management team uses
proper strategies to motivate as well as encourage their workforce, then it can influence them to
give their best in work keeping aside their differences (Davis, Frolova & Callahan, 2016). Proper
motivation, as well as encouragement, can influence a diverse employee to reduce their cultural
differences and work together with the other workers in the firm. In order to use this soft skills,
the management also can use the various theories for management to motivate their diverse
employees and also encourage them for their small piece of work (Dwyer & Azevedo, 2016). By
following this technique, they can manage as well as control their diverse workforce that
presents in their organization.
In terms of hard skills, the management should train themselves in several foreign languages so
that they can easily improve their communication skills with that of the diverse employees
related to their firm. (Mor Barak et al., 2016) With the help of these hard skills, they will not
only improve their interaction ability with the employees of various cultural background but also
it will enable them to identify their employee’s demand within the workplace. Become skilled
and experienced in several foreign languages the management can convince their diverse
workforce to work under the same team without generating conflicts as well as arguments
between them (De Jong, 2016). I can demonstrate that if the firm enhances their proficiency in
the various language then they easily interact with all group of staff members in the organization
and they can also try to solve their problems while working in the firm. Apart from this, another
hard skill that should be used by the management is to train their employees for handling the
machine operation that the firm uses for the production purposes (Earl & Taylor, 2015).
Appropriate training facility on several machine operations enables them to understand the way
of working by which they can increase their interest in working in the firm. Besides this, the
training facilities also help to understand the importance of working together in a team and in
this way, the management can reduce this particular challenge of their organization (Mor Barak,
2015). Thus by using the above mentioned soft as well as hard skills the managers and the
management both can reduce their problem of managing a diverse workforce in their
organization. Hence as per my opinion, it is the best approach that the management easily
controls their employees and influence them to give their full effort in work so that they can
complete the task as per the stipulated time frame and improve their performance in the
particular firm.

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Conclusion
The paper concludes my learnings that management is the multipurpose organ of a business that
generally manages and controls the business operations and employees of a firm. They generally
plan, direct, and organize the several features of an organization. In order to do this, people
follows various management theories that helps them to manage the working functions of
employees and also helps them to reduce their problems. By understanding the concept of
management, I have learned the way of using its theoretical framework in the coming days to
reach my career goals. In addition, after reviewing various journal articles, I have analyzed that
managing a diverse workforce is one of the key challenges of management which needs to be
reduced with proper strategies. For reducing this challenge, it is essential for the management to
use both soft and hard skills that will help them to manage the workforce. In respect to soft skills,
the management should maintain good communication with all employees, follows a flexible
working hour for the workers, and also maintain an innovative leadership ability. With the help
of these skills, I can say that the management team will be able to easily overcome their barriers
of managing the diverse workforce in their organization.
Recommendations
In order to resolve the challenges of management, some recommendations are provided that can
help both the managers as well as the management to reduce their barrier in the firm. The
recommendations that should be useful for the management are as follows:
 One of the recommendations is that the management should train the employees with
several computer programming procedures. In the world of technology, most of the
organizations have improved their technological means, but they do not get appropriate
results due to the lack of a skilled workforce. Therefore, by providing training to this
diverse workforce, they will not only improve their performance but will also increase
their interest in the firm which eventually helps them to overcome their barriers
 Another recommendation is that the management should increase their skills of problem-
solving abilities so that they can solve every issue related to diverse workforce. Problem-
solving abilities helps them to convince their employees to work in a team easily, and if
some issue arises, then they together can solve it without facing any difficulties. By this

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way, they can reduce the conflicts among the employees of the diverse workforce which
will reduce their challenge