The Company Perspective: Micro-Political Considerations

The micropolitical perspective can easily be summed up in a single sentence: Companies will face enormous challenges. First of all, the hot topic of skilled labour shortages: Most companies are having difficulties filling their vacancies. Apart from demographic developments, the reason for this lies in the area of education and training, with STEM occupations being particularly hard hit. Whether the much-vaunted digitalisation of the working world can be a solution or whether it will exacerbate the problem—due to an increased demand for technical staff—is still a matter of controversy among experts. The number of employees might have shrunk, but there is a greater degree of diversity among them, in terms of age, gender, ethnic and cultural background, race, religious beliefs, social class, or simply diverging interests. All of these contribute to making each employee a unique individual as far as the integration and management within the company are concerned. Good diversity management is seen as a key success factor for the effective leadership of staff and organisations. Workforce productivity is often discussed in relation to age. While fears that productivity declines with age are still widespread, young workers are often criticised for an apparent lack of motivation to reach their full performance potential. The medium and long-term challenges at the beginning of the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’ lie in finding the ‘right’ people and in fostering and maintaining high productivity levels. However, the most urgent challenge of the moment—and in many cases it is a matter of survival—is to address the full range of Covid-19 related issues. This unexpected and sudden crisis has had a monumental impact on the day-to-day running of businesses and all related matters.