The managerial implications of changing workforce demographics: a scoping study

Article Abstract:

Managers from 21 large US corporations were surveyed between 1989 to 1990 as to the impact of changes in workforce demographics on their businesses. Labor force diversification and concurrent decreases in its growth rates and quality are the two major trends cited. Rising skill requirements, changes in hiring patterns and a deterioration in public education were found to have resulted in a mismatch between demand and supply of skilled labor, a serious problem in 71% of the respondents leading to the ballooning of firms' training expenditures, a long-term solution to which must involve a collaborative effort among government, private sector, labor and educational institutions. In contrast, the increasing proportion of women and minority workers, while important, is not seen as a difficulty. All these provide challenges to management in the face of simultaneously changing business conditions.

Surveys, Executives, Skilled labor

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Introduction: the new workforce/the new workplace

Article Abstract:

A 1991 survey of CEOs by the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business reveals the agenda of top management, with its emphasis on managing demographic and psychographic changes in the work force. Retirement, labor shortages, lack of education and skills and the baby-boomers' movement to less stressful jobs are trends the respondents recognized. Investment in human capital through training and retraining is also widely accepted as a top management priority. However, an added premium is placed on cultural diversity in the workplace, and the welfare of women, minorites and the elderly is gaining in importance. Increasing employee cynicism about the integrity of managers, brought about by the 'boom' years in the 1980s, poses another challenge. While the respondents were well aware of such findings, they will need to become more familiar with the techniques needed to solve them.

Social aspects, Demography

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Beyond demography: a psychographic profile of the workforce

Article Abstract:

A survey of the US workforce in 1990 reveals an increase in cynicism at every level of the organization, regardless of occupation, age, sex and social status. Mistrust of management and views of company exploitation have resulted from internal perceptions about payment, promotion and decision-making processes and from external forces such as mergers, acquisitions and the general 'de-industrialization' of the US economy. Work attitudes are influenced by both contextual and content factors in both the home and in the workplace, as well as by employee values and beliefs. Reducing mistrust and self-interest and restoring esprit de corps will entail the formulation and firm execution of policies that embody the merit system, teamwork, quality of service, equal benefits and burdens and over-all human satisfaction, with emphasis on the integrity of management.

Psychological aspects, Methods, Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Employee morale, Workers, Employee attitudes

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