It is crucial for a manager to know and understand the fair employment laws? What can you do to create a supportive environment where these laws are understood by your employees? What communication strategies would you recommend?

It is important that workers start their career in an organization with a solid employee orientation and training. During this training it is imperative to introduce the fair employment laws to employees and let them know who they can reach within the organization to have these fair employment laws met. It is also essential to give these laws and company policies in a handbook that employees can reference at their own free will. As employment laws are updated through local, state, and federal laws online training programs can be used to share this information with employees and then test the workers on knowledge of the new laws. Human Resources can then track that every employee has been introduced to the law and tested. It is also the law that employment laws be posted on posters where all employees can see them. These posters are available at office supply stores and local Chambers of Commerce. All of this information must be recorded and tracked by Human Resources in case of investigations or future lawsuits. Human Resource departments can save the business money by carefully tracking fair employment laws and following them. When employees or the business terminate employment it is important that these laws are once again followed and recorded in case of future actions.

What can you do as a manager to keep your employees competitive in the 21st century business? How might you respond to challenges within the changing organizational environments, from a hierarchical, departmentalized environment to an environment where power is shared?

As a manager in the 21st Century it is important to keep your employees competitive. The seven dimensions to producing profit through people are:

1. Employment Security
2. Selective Hiring
3. Self-managed teams and decentralization
4. Comparatively high compensation contingent on organizational performance
5. Extensive training
6. Reduced differences in Status
7. Sharing of information

Employment Security is important to workers, employees do not want to feel as though they will improve productivity so much they will work themselves out of their jobs. Selective Hiring allows employees to be surrounded by others with similar skills such as teamwork that can not be trained.
Self -managed teams that allow workers to feel accountable for the operation and success of the organization. Comparatively high compensation contingent on organizational performance lets employees take part in the success of their organization. Extensive training allows employees to have a competitive advantage and a chance to better understand the position in which they are in or desire to be in. Reduced differences in Status allows employees to take part of stock options and bonuses that can usually be saved for Officers of the company. Sharing information with employees such as financial performances, strategy, and operational measures convey to an organizations members they are trusted. Using these seven dimensions to change the hierarchal environment of the business structure to a more open powered shared environment will be the challenge to many traditionally structure businesses in this economically challenged environment.

As a manager, explain the importance of understanding the controllable and uncontrollable financial impacts on a business environment? What can you do to limit these financial constraints?

As a Manager I have an annual budget which is then broken up into Fiscal Quarters. As a marketing manager I have ad spends, sponsorships, promotional items, staffing and additional items. These are considered my more controllable financial impacts. However our Chief Operations Officers may make changes to my budget throughout the year that affects the company as a whole. Last year the majority of my budget changes were made at the staffing level. When the banking bubble first burst, changes were made to our staff training budget. All trainings were cancelled until further notice. The next budget change was the freezing of all staff salaries for the next calendar year. These changes started to affect general moral and some employees found other employment at this time because of the bank’s uncertainty. This caused Officers of the bank to decide whether these employees would be replaced or not. The decision was made not to replace any employees. As the banking arena started a downward spiral the bank started to face uncontrollable financial impacts of Small Business Administration loans failing and deposits dwindling down to FDIC insured amounts. This caused the bank to decide to release the SBA loan department and 10% of its work force. The layoffs were the banks way of limiting financial constraits.