7CO01 Work and working lives in a changing business environment

Introduction to 7CO01 Work and working lives in a changing business environment

The first unit in level 7 that explains people practice professionals’ role in creating links between the changing business environment and the world of work as well as people management. The unit explains how vital the issues relating to employee well-being, diversity and inclusion, ethics and sustainability and equality are to the employees and to the organisations where they work.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of the course unit, learners will have understood:

• The different ways in which people management are affected by the changing environmental developments.
• Current development in people management, focusing on media, technology, public policies, regulatory developments and labour market trends.
• How innovation changes and creativity promote productivity in the organisation while paying attention to leadership change, sustaining positive change and flexible working practices.
• Interrelationships based on initiatives that link organisation commitment and organisation values and ethics. Additionally, learners will understand the fields of corporate social responsibility and promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion.

How environmental developments affect work, employment and people management

The unit covers the impact that globalisation has on people developments and their working lives. Through globalisations, organisations get to restructure the nature of employment and increase the competitive intensity on how the organisation manages its people. Technological trend is another development that affects people working lives. Examples of technologies include artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and robots. These technologies affect people experiences and determine the nature of work and employment opportunities available within organisations. Another demographic trend associates with the social and demographic changes, which determines the pattern of work and changes in the society. Economic trends relating to de-industrialisation and economic change policies affect the nature of employment and employee management.

Developments on people management and the business environment

Examples of current and short-term developments in the business environment include media, technology and economic developments, which have an impact on people practices. These developments affect people management, and highly determine the nature of business operations. For example, the social media has a high impact on employees’ working lives. Public policy developments such as education, employment and industrial policies have an impact on people practice agendas in an organisation. Legal and regulatory developments that affect employees’ working lives such as health and safety and employment regulations determine the impact that the organisation has on the labour market. People practice professionals also learn of how they can easily mitigate risks by following the legal regulations and following the appropriate procedures in managing employees.

Organisational productivity improvement through change, innovation and creativity

Change in leadership affects experiences in the cultural and structural organisations. People practice professionals should evaluate the significant impacts of change to people and organisations, with the intention to understand how they can manage change as well as communicate changes in the organisation. They should prepare employees for change and strive to develop an environment where the employees can accept and accommodate change. The unit provides insight on why organisations address the issue of change resistance. This associates with the consideration of employee involvement in developing change agendas, implementing and sustaining change. Change agents and consultants take responsibility in creating meaningful communication and training the employees to address resistance to change. Additionally, people practitioners explain the mechanisms to sustaining change such as developing open feedback channels. Flexible working is an example of change agenda evident in an organisation, which people practitioners should consider to improve standards of work and create resilience at work. Creativity and innovation enhances development of interventions that guide people practice professionals to responding to different issues in the labour market and in the working environment.

Organisational commitment links to ethics, sustainability, diversity and well-being

Insight on initiatives that improve organisational ethics and values have an effect on the role of people practice professionals on managing dilemmas and developing alternatives that improve organisational ethical standards. People practices on improving employee well-being are priorities to developing the employees’ working lives. These relate effectively to people practice professionals’ roles in managing workplace bullying and improving employees’ holistic well-being. Corporate social responsibility and sustainability are needful in organisational management. People practice professionals need to understand the value of sustainability and how they can apply CSR initiatives to improve people practices. Diversity and inclusion support people practices by ensuring that everyone is treated equally and fairly.