Management Trends

Management Trends

Rapid Aging of the Working Age Population

As baby boomers near retirment age, their influence on the workforce is dramatic.  The overall Canadian workforce grew to 21.7 million by 2006, an increase of 6.4% over 2001; but the number of workers aged 55-64 grew by 28% during the same period.  This age group represents 16.9% of the working age population today (up from 14.1% in 2001), and is heading for 20% of the working age population by 2016.

Employers will face a number of challenges in the near future related to this rapidly aging workforce:

• there will likely be fewer Canadians ready to enter the workforce than there are people about to retire
• knowledge transfer as many senior workers retire at the same time
• health and benefits issues related to an older workforce
• employee retention as other firms compete for mature talent.

Source: http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recnesement/2006/as-sa/97-551/p8-eng.cfm

Top Ten Volunteering Trends - Volunteer Canada

Listed below are the top ten trends in volunteering as identified by Volunteer Canada. The topics offer a wide range of practical and philosophical discussion points. Note that this entire blog is a direct quote from the website/article referenced at the end.

1. Much comes from the few: Although one in three Canadians volunteer, less than 10% do three-quarters of the work. What are the challenges and opportunities posed by this phenomenon?
2. The new volunteer:
More young people volunteer to gain work-related skills.
More seniors who travel or have multiple activities have less time available for volunteering.
More new Canadians volunteer to develop work experience and to practice language skills.
More persons with disabilities view volunteering as a meaningful way to participate in community life.
3. Volunteer job design: Volunteer job design can be the best defense for changing demographics and fluctuations in funding.
4. Mandatory volunteering: Mandatory volunteer programs through Workfare, Community Service Order and school mandated community work have created a new category of volunteers sometimes called “voluntolds.”
5. Volunteering by contract: The changing volunteer environment is redefining volunteer commitment as a negotiated and mutually beneficial arrangement rather than a one-way sacrifice of time by the volunteer.
6. Risk management: Considered part of the process of job design for volunteers, risk management ensures the organization can place the right volunteer in the appropriate activity.
7. Borrowing best practices: The voluntary sector has responded to the changing environment by adopting corporate and public sector management practices including:
Standards, codes of conduct
Accountability and transparency measures around program administration
Demand for evaluation, outcome and import measurement
8. Professional volunteer management: Managers of volunteer resources are working toward establishing an equal footing with other professionals in the voluntary sector.
9. Board governance: challenges and contradictions Volunteer boards must respond to the challenge of acting as both supervisors and strategic planners.
10. Volunteer development: Volunteer development is a pro-active response to the declining numbers of volunteers. By offering opportunities for training and growth, managers of volunteer resources can recruit and engage potential volunteers while retaining current participants.

Source: volunteer.ca/en/volcan/other/x-trends

The New Voluntarism

The patterns of volunteering are changing. We are witnessing:

• declining numbers/availability of volunteers – reported by almost all organizations surveyed in ‘The Capacity to Serve’ and confirmed by the 2000 National Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating (27% of Canadians volunteered in 2000 compared to 31.4% in 1997
• increasing dependence on a few with increased danger of overload and burnout: average number of volunteer hours per volunteer increased in to 162 annually in 2000 (from 149 in 1997) - almost ¾ of the volunteer hours come from ¼ of the volunteers
• decreased commitment: declining interest in ongoing roles in favour of short term projects or assignments, often seasonal
• diminished interest in taking on leadership roles, at both operational and governance levels.

An extensive literature review indicates that the most sought after volunteer experiences will be shorter term, personally meaningful AND developmental:

• as mentioned above, teens and the underemployed are looking for opportunities to develop marketable job skills and to build their resume - the volunteer assignment must be meaningful and developmental support available
• the younger baby-boomers are often plateaued and find themselves looking outside of their job for meaningful work, satisfaction and personal growth
• Generation X and the 'baby busters' have reduced their expectations of the educational and employment world and are searching for different ways to 'make their mark' - for many, meaningful volunteer contributions are an answer
• there is a renewed tendency towards isolationist 'close to home' volunteering - making a difference that you can see in your community as opposed to supporting distant groups that have a more diffused impact
• 'episodic volunteering' is the new key - the single parent family, the dual income family, the mobile worker finds it difficult to commit to long term and tightly scheduled assignments - the one time, short term or specialty task is preferred
• those that do have a long term interest in the organization and its mission are demanding significant roles in the planning, development and improvement of programs and services - beyond simply delivery
• many require an enhanced support structure - child care, travel subsidy, flexible hours, short term rewards - and visible evidence that related staff appreciate and celebrate their involvement
• toleration of overuse and 'burnout' is diminishing - we now know too much about life balance, stress management and consumer rights to allow ourselves to be abused in a discretionary situation.

The most likely sources of new volunteer energy in the years ahead include:

• teens and young adults. In 1987 only 18% of Canadians aged 15-24 were active volunteers; by 1997 this had increased to 33%. This increase of 15 percentage points compares to a range in other age groups of increases between 1 and 4 points. Over 50% of this age group report that they volunteer to increase employment opportunities. Schools are also encouraging, if not requiring students to take on volunteer, experiential learning roles.
• unemployed and under-employed are rapidly becoming Canada’s most avid volunteers - often focused on the desire to develop skills and experience that can be transferred to the job market
• special needs volunteers (persons with disabilities) are coming forward in greater numbers than ever - connecting with and contributing to their communities, but also committed to expanding and enhancing their range of employment and life skills.
• employee voluntarism, encouraged by Imagine - in 1997, 27% of volunteers who were employed were allowed to use their employers facilities or equipment in the process, 24% had authorization to take leave or time off to volunteer, and 22% had been given permission to modify their work hours to accommodate volunteer activity.
• Baby Boomers, just now starting to retire - equipped with the skills and health to make a long term contribution to their organization(s) of choice.

We have an opportunity to move beyond 'capacity'building' (the current focus). In many instances, our voluntary organizations are struggling simply to survive and cannot wait for a long term, developmental approach to solve their 'crisis'. They need a strategy that involves immediate insertion of the skills, talent and commitment required to launch a 'turn around' program. The time may have come for 'capacity insertion' - for new, more aggressive approaches. Consider:

• utilizing the United Way ‘loaned executive’ approach in a big way – asking for a key staff person half time for a year to address a critical gap
• leaning on the ‘young retiree’ for a super commitment for a short time
• the fact that our best leaders are spread too thin – volunteers for many organizations. It may be time to ask the most talented for focused commitment (to one organization) to maximize their impact and resource a significant ‘rethink’ or renewal process.
  

The key is for the volunteer-dependent organization or manager is to fully understand what motivates or demotivates today's volunteer. Consider the following table:

DEMOTIVATORS	MOTIVATORS
lack of focus/mission drift lots of activity - little evidence of impact maintenance paradigm organization in trouble but unwilling to change dependence on government weak team (board, staff, volunteer) requirement for long term commitment invisibility/lack of recognition	clear vision, cause, case outcome/results focus - monitoring system s progress paradigm an organization poised for and wanting change balanced investor/donor portfolio some clear HR strengths to build on intensive commitment towards key results visibility/appreciation

The Changing Leisure Service Paradigm

The relative affluence of the 1950's and 1960's spawned a recreation and parks movement that seemed destined to grow endlessly, defining its own agendas along the way. We are being encouraged, if not forced, to change for a number of reasons:

• society simply cannot afford the bill that was also growing
• funds had to be shifted to priorities such as health, social services, education and justice
• related concepts were catching the public imagination and we did not seem to be associated with them (wellness, human potential, quality of life)
• holistic thinking and systems strategy encouraged all organizations to get 'out of the box' and partner around mutually shared outcomes and priorities
• the public appetite to invest in play and pleasure had shifted to a desire to see results that paid dividends to the non-participating taxpayer who had to share the bill.

The following table summarizes the policy and operational shifts that are resulting. Note that we are addressing the need to rebalance our service paradigm to favour the right column, not simply to abandon the traditional roles summarized in the left column.

Shifting FROM

Moving TOWARDS

narrow definitions of recreation, sport, art, culture, parks internal focus on our field professionals serving community independence working alone hoarding resources tolerance of barriers to access public services 'universal' 'flow' and self-actualization government as prime supplier provider role dominant focus on own facilitities facility bound the leisure agenda bureaucratic silos being 'business like' building/manicuring outdoor spaces activity-driven resistance to change

broad concepts of leisure, welllness, human potential and quality of life external, interdisciplinary approaches mobilization of all community resources inter-dependence strategic alliances/partnerships sharing resources champions of accessibility/equity targeting to serve most in need investment in public priorities public sector as 'supplier of last resort' facilitator/community developer shared/full utilization of all facilities creative use of all community spaces support for the benefits agenda integrated/networked acceptance as an industry protecting natural spaces outcome-driven, flexible on means embracing change

Shfting Organizational Paradigms

Networking in the information age will make it virtually impossible to sustain the boundaries, narrow institutional or disciplinary paradigms, beliefs, myths and social constructions common in today’s independent bureaucracies. Every issue will present opportunities to develop new responses that are more effective than in the past. The network is the means.

The emerging business environment and therefore modern manager will increasingly focus on:

§ constant review and improvement of business processes

§ balancing vertical processes (bureacucratic silos) with horizontal business procedures which are emerging as the key to success

§ creating flexible teams with a lifespan defined by the duration of the need or priority

§ importing additional talent to project teams on a temporary basis to ensure that the correct balance of expertise and experience is available

§ dismantling any structures, procedures, rules, or agreements that limit flexibility and innovation

§ building partnerships and alliances with other organizations sharing similar missions to increase impact.

The table below provides another perspective on the workplace shifts that will continue to take place.

FROM	TOWARDS
responsive/rigid dependence on authority trained responses/conformity replication 'stop action' controls adverse to risk regular, scheduled hours centralized isolated bureaucracy authoritative managed individuals departments/units	adaptive/flexible independence/autonomy initiative/problem solving creativity monitoring controls calculated risk taking flexible work patterns decentralized networked cyberocracy democrative self-managed teams project teams