Working Conditions in a Digital Era: Changes in Business and Hrm

Working in a digital age, there is a multitude of skills necessary to compete in an ever-changing market that is complex and each area provides its own sets of challenges. Working conditions during digital era are explored in this essay. Also we will touch on aspects of management theory, ethical considerations in the digital environment, digital presence, artificial intelligence, innovation, and a potential digital revolution.

Evolution of Business and Digital HRM

The history of management has adapted over the years with the first proper management theory from the 1900s; this was due to the industrial revolution causing large factories to be built, bringing around a need for an organisational structure to enable the efficient running and production of businesses. In today's business environment, management theory is categorised into 4 schools of thought: classical, human relation, systems, and contingency theory.

Classical theory can be regarded as the traditional management theory, being one of the oldest theories, and laid out the first formal structure to try and maximise production performance. Taylor's scientific management theory can be used as one of the most prominent examples of this: it focused on maximising production output by minimising the time taken, allowing workers to become specialised at tasks, allowing a more streamlined process in the industry, eliminating wasteful operation and the first establishment of structured hierarchy. In today's modern society, the framework of Taylor's method can still be seen, although there are several limitations; one of the most prominent being that it doesn't offer any support for the social and psychological needs of the employee, causing detrimental side effects such as lack of motivation and a decrease in overall productivity for production.

Human relation theory first started to appear at the end of the 1920s early 1930s, coming about as production started to decrease due to the new management of industry, many workers became unmotivated. The theory showed that if the relationship between managers and employees was strengthened morale increased, leading to an increase in production, job satisfaction, and organisational commitment. This was also shown by the Hawthorne Studies, showing clear links that production was also influenced by group decisions and social norms. Employees take pride in their work and would like to be able to offer input; ultimately, the classical structure diminished this and led to unexpected drops in production. One limitation of this model is that the research and study taken was on groups of people and was not representative of large bodies in the organisation, this was also dependent on factors, such as pay, working conditions, and individual employee circumstances.

Mcdonaldization is comprised of 4 principles predictability, calculability, efficiency, and control, this can be seen today as a model used to streamline services to be delivered to the consumer as efficiently as possible. In today's modern business world, the effects and implications of Mcdonaldization are rapidly becoming more apparent, spreading to many business areas in different forms. One of the implications is that management focus is now on delivering products as quickly as possible, minimising the time taken for tasks, and the whole product cycle. Another implication is the standardisation of products, to ensure customer satisfaction is consistent, to achieve this management is now more inclined to replace human jobs with machinery and technology to create the same level of control and reduce human error. Management in the modern era now has become more orientated to Mcdonaldization, with big negative drawbacks such as making workforces unskilled, resulting in their jobs becoming easily replaced and leading - in some areas - to unemployment or harsh working conditions with workers unable to speak out with fear of getting replaced.Working in a digital era is facing people with many new modern-day challenges, one of which being managing and looking after their digital presence, usually on various social media platforms - things we tweet, and posts we like or share all contribute to our digital presence. In today's world, there should be greater ethical consideration for what we post and how others can interpret this, as others may see different meanings than what your original intention was.

An ethical line has been crossed and had severe repercussions resulting in the 6 HSBC bankers being unemployed. The group had taken a video of a mock ISIS execution, where they faked the death of a co-worker using a coat hanger, shouting 'Allahu Akbar'. This caused major public offense, as it followed the kidnapping of a man from Salford who was executed in Syria by ISIS members. Once the men had posted the video on Instagram, it quickly gained traction and caught the attention of The Sun, who passed on the information to HSBC bank, making a formal apology statement to the public, stating zero tolerance to the type of behaviour.

Managing our digital identity should be a concern for everybody on the internet, as it can affect future job prospects or current jobs as 93-96% of employers will review candidates' social profiles. Certain things which we post, or share can have unintended effects, as seen in the post above, inexplicit posts such as your weekend parties or frequent selfies can also affect new job applications. Certain employers may not be happy to accept you for posting your outgoing lifestyle if that involves frequent drinking or potential drug abuse. The frequency of posting could also affect your chances of employment. If you are somebody who posts 4 to 5 selfies a day, this can raise questions in recruitment about the individual's time management and productivity or indicate that the person is not a good team player, as they may be more self-centredabsorbed.

Having a digital presence is not always a bad thing, with many recruiters looking at professional social media platforms like LinkedIn and non-professional sites to gain insight into your character and hobbies. Individuals with zero digital identity can be rejected from jobs altogether, 41% of employers are less likely to interview candidates if they have no digital existence, so this can be used to your advantage and set yourself apart from other applicants. Building a positive digital presence is vital for employment in today's digital era, allowing you to showcase favourable qualities, activities in your personal life, and accomplishments or qualifications on professional platforms. Social media helps recruiters gain an insight into your lifestyle outside of work and can be the difference between you getting picked amongst other candidates.

Presenting a high-quality digital presence in the digital era should be a key factor to consider as your actions can have unforeseen consequences in some cases leading you to unemployment. However, your digital presence can be utilized to set yourself apart from the rest and is crucial in employment as a range of recruiters will check this; incorporating in a digital era means that you must have considered what you post and spread as ultimately this reflects your character.

Managing People in the Digital Context

The digital era has drastically changed the way we manage people. Our perception of marketing, data processing, data mining, and how we interact with others has been affected. Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to change the way businesses interact with their stakeholders and how we manage businesses. This essay will investigate the current state of AI and innovation, the future of technology, and how the development of the digital world links to data privacy and protection.

Data privacy gives the user control over what data companies collect and what they can do with it; data protection, on the other hand, is the prevention of unauthorised access to your data. In this digital era, the change in people management appears in 3rd party companies harvesting data. A primary example of this is Facebook, where they feed user data to advertisement firms to be able to deliver targeted ads to users and directly influence buying patterns. Facebook's business model relies on showing targeting ads to its users, profiting from displaying ads on their platform, influencing users to buy sponsored products or services.

AI has rapidly evolved the way companies harvest data to create targeted ads using voice recognition, spotting patterns on social media, and linking your location to things that may be of interest. This evolution in technology has made it easier for companies to sell products to specific audiences does this cause harm to the public? Data mining with AI can boost profits, reduce costs, and drive innovation; however, ethical concerns in data privacy and protection are major when using AI with personal data. The more personal data an AI machine collects about an individual's activity, location, interests, and opinions, the more accurately it can predict what you will or won't accept. Problems arise when data is used to spread political extremism, fake news, or track movements.

As defined earlier data protection and data privacy are different - data protection does not guarantee data privacy. The development of AI can help the evolution of our species, making information more accessible and performing mundane jobs to allow for greater human freedom. However, AI can also hinder our evolution as advanced facial recognition software is developed, organisations such as governments can increase their control over the general population. All public movements and associations could be tracked in fine detail, a level of data protection would be implemented, but there would be virtually no data privacy. This limits human freedom, as 'if people believe they are or could be, being watched all of the time, they will behave accordingly' reducing our right to choose our actions.

AI can be considered one of humanity's greatest technological achievements with the ability of deep learning 'where it is the process of machine learning in a simulated neural network to process large amounts of data and learn'. Machine learning can be used to calculate and predict trends or innovational change. This has led to multiple major companies collecting data to process using machine learning, to gain an advantage over the competition. With this comes the potential pitfalls of AI using its efficiency to make human jobs obsolete, bringing about a change in society. AI could start a digital revolution, leading to the creation of creative jobs that are more intrinsically human and alter our perception of working. Machine learning can adapt and optimise, but is incapable of creating. Humans can utilise their unique emotional intelligence and creativity and open new opportunities, resulting in a multitude of careers that are yet to be made available, unlocking a new door in human evolution, where innovation is driven by the help of AI.

Conclusion

Working in a digital era provides a multitude of challenges, constantly challenging management in different aspects. Ranging from the different types of management theories to what can be considered the most effective form in motivation and production. To the ethical consideration of how people behave in the digital environment and how they should be aware of the effects of their digital presence and the potential repercussion of their action. Furthermore, the advancement in technology and how that shapes the management of people in the organisation from advertisements to the ability to shape the functionality of work on a global scale. To sum up, working in a digital era requires constant change and incremental innovation, to be as competitive as possible in the market whilst also caring about the physiological, psychological, and sociological needs of the people as we step into the digital revolution.

References

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