The events and news that reach us every day through the media sometimes threaten to overwhelm us and fill us with passions and emotions. However, situations outside the work environment do not necessarily have an impact on daily business life.
Apparently, all the facts of the national reality are alien to the development of daily tasks in the exercise of job performance, however, it is clear to everyone that depending on the way these events, especially those that have to do with relationships with other countries and the economic and financial issues of the nation will largely depend on the permanence of our companies in the market.
For many, the business context, as suggested by D. Ulrich, is essential to put into position what happens with other companies in the sector, of the economic movements that may become a threat to the survival and sustainability of the company in which we work.
It is mainly the executives who dare to review the business surroundings in order to warn of situations that may jeopardize organizational competitiveness, however there are few occasions in which we include social events that can impact daily life in the circle of our concerns labor.
The recent events of social turbulence in the countries of the Middle East, the evidence of mistreatment and neglect in working conditions in countries where labor is taken advantage of but not adequately rewarded, natural events such as tornadoes, storms, earthquakes, crises policies of Latin American countries, the triumphs and defeats of the soccer teams that win our passion, etc., pass in many organizations as experiences that are hardly worth commenting on during breaks or at lunches where food is left over and the subject is missing.
The work routine seems to have been reduced to its spaces and times, the development of tasks, no matter how executive, do not seem to be involved in the processes of social evolution and their contact is limited to the realization of products for clients who accept or they complain about them and compliance with the legal regulations established by the labor control entities.
Reality, for its part, tells us that we live in a world where borders have disappeared and we travel every day the virtual highways that connect us with other cultures, we have technological tools that allow us to establish social and transactional ties with customers and suppliers who are in other latitudes, the language seems to be no longer a barrier and changes occur at the speed of a click.
However, paradoxical as it may seem, for many bosses and even managers of companies, social networks and access to the internet is still a forbidden territory to which only some executives who need it due to their function have access, others remain in a ostracism that ends when the workday ends.
The turn of the century has not yet reached many companies that follow the management routines that were born with the founding of the same and in many cases it is proudly proclaimed that tradition has not yet given way to innovation. Working hours advance under the weight of tasks to be accomplished and ignorance of what the FTA agreements mean and their impact on the organization.
The boards of directors go directly to the P&G and the balance sheet without devoting further discussion to the events that may be an opportunity or a threat to the company. Managers meet to discuss production and the need to increase sales without considering the meaning of competitiveness. In the areas of human talent, they are concerned with calling attention to those who arrive late and ensuring that they comply with the function manual, forgetting their responsibility to interpret performance as a moment of human and organizational development.
The social aspects and their impact on the organization have been relegated, in many cases, to the philanthropic feelings of the owners or managers who continue to confuse charity with social responsibility (no matter the amount of the check), and make mercy a opportunity to win indulgences and popularity with recipients. It is even more complex when the contributions, donations and benefits are for communities (that need it) but are not in their core business and it becomes a reason for that altruism to end up being “light for the street and darkness for the House". It is worth inviting executives and managers to reflect on what CSR means and what the ISO 26000 standard proposes to entrepreneurs and companies.
The reality is complex and everything that has been said may not necessarily be true and easily debatable and refutable by showing that it is about differentiable spaces and dimensions, such as the centennial debate between university and business that still gives a lot to talk about, however I believe that social daily life impacts in many ways on business management in terms of mood, enthusiasm and motivation to carry out tasks.
I believe that management must be vigilant to the new horizons that transcend the close borders of the company and dare to recognize and intuit the new trends that are already present and that we have refused to incorporate as a competitive advantage, it is not about anticipating what it comes from taking advantage of what has already arrived and threatens to leave us behind on the edge of organizational history, as Tom Peters warns in Re-imagine.
I hope that these brief considerations motivate the required discussion on the subject in order to encourage a reflection that leads us to ask ourselves if the daily business life is really impacted by social changes or it is about aspects where the cause-effect relationship does not necessarily exist..
