Management employees in the context of demographic changes

Vykstant demografiniams pokyčiams visuomenėje, jie neišvengiamai paveikia ir organizacijų darbuotojus, tai ypač svarbu XXI amžiaus Europos organizacijoms. Straipsnyje analizuojama, kaip ir ką turi daryti organizacijų vadovai, kad darbuotojai jos nepaliktų. Remiantis Lietuvos ir užsienio mokslininkų įžvalgomis sudarytos schemos ir pateikiami veiksniai, kuriuos pasitelkus įgyvendinamos lygios skirtingo amžiaus darbuotojų galimybės, sudarant vienodas karjeros galimybes, užtikrinamas pasidalijimas žiniomis. Nustatyta, kad šiuolaikinėje organizacijoje vadovai, siekdami užtikrinti veiklos tęstinumą, turi pasitelkti skirtingo amžiaus darbuotojus. Pateikti nepagrįsti stereotipai apie vyresnio amžiaus darbuotojus, atskleisti šių darbuotojų galimi privalumai ir trūkumai. Apibūdintas psichologinio įgalinimo veiksmingumas, galintis lemti darbuotojo apsisprendimą likti organizacijoje.In this research paper we analyse the management of employees in the situation of work force migration and birth rate decrease that is especially essential for the countries of Europe. Such demographic changes as the declining number of young people starting work and the ageing of work force inevitably demand changes in the leadership style with special consideration of the existing work force. Therefore business managers have to consider several crucial aspects, e.g.: how to keep the employees from leaving the company, how to attract new employees to ensure the continuous performance of the company, how to encourage the employees of different generations to work together, etc. Companies face a shortage of employees, and they experience an influx of older workers which leads to a bigger age gap in the organisation. The companies that used to have young employees of the same sex have to accept more older age workers. Our statistical table illustrates the changes in the number of older employees. It is necessary to increase the activity of older people because their efficiency, experience, motivation and competence are important. We pay special attention to the problems of employment of young and older people and to the ways of retaining them at work. Both groups are characterised by certain personal and professional advantages that can be successfully combined in the effort to a successful further expansion of the company. The former are more active and radical, the latter are more experienced, and this combination can be one of the components of success of the company. A diagram shows the activity of management in different age groups of the employees and the advantages of this activity for the company and for the society as a whole. Equal opportunities are of no less importance. Motivation is lower in the companies where the equality principle is not respected. It is especially important in the environment of different age groups. It is also important to take into consideration the person’s physical, psychological and emotional age, his or her life experience, etc. It is necessary to get rid of certain faulty stereotypes that are typical of the representatives of each age group as there is no ground to state that the older employees work worse than the younger ones, and vice versa. Some groundless stereotypes concerning older age employees are pointed out, such as health problems, conservative way of thinking, unwillingness to develop, higher maintenance, lower productivity, too high or too low self-confidence, obsolete knowledge, etc. There is also a diagram demonstrating the drawbacks and the advantages of the older employees. Trying to attract and retain the employees of different ages calls for socio-psychological knowledge. Company managers have to create a psychological climate that would encourage the employees to stay and to work in the organisation. Psychological empowerment can become one of the positive management qualities. The essence of psychological empowerment is that it allows the person to show initiative that improves work performance, productivity and positive attitude. Empowerment works as a stimulating factor for the employees thus calling for more responsibility and at the same time allowing to cope with the task. In a broader sense this empowerment embraces the methods of participation, decision making and motivation of the employees and allows them to work in the engaged organisation. We have investigated the four major factors that determine the employee’s decision to stay with the company: importance, competence, influence and decision making. Company managers are suggested to take certain steps to ensure the success of psychological empowerment. The object of the study: management and leadership in the context of demographic changes. The aim of the study: to provide effective management of the work force in the context of demographic changes. The objectives of the study: • to determine the advantages of joint working for the employees of different age; • to demonstrate the theoretical prerequisites of advantages of older age employees; • to generalise the effectiveness of psychological empowerment. The methods of the study: to provide the theoretical foundations of managing work force in the demographic context applying analytic and synthetic methods based on the analysis of research works. Having analysed different ways of management we have determined that the managers who aim at involving employees of different age groups in the company’s work have to respect each other. Preventive measures should be taken to eliminate possible age discrimination. Taking into consideration different abilities of the employees they should be praised for good results, and they should be granted equal career opportunities. The implementation of continuous performance of the company consists in passing the knowledge of the older generation to the young people. When the employees feel more certain of their opportunities in the company, there is an increase in the efficiency of their work. Thus a positive attitude is reached towards the company that promotes social integration among various age groups. [...