How has our business environment become more unpredictable? What is it that causes change? Have we adopted new moral standards or simply become better at accountability?

“Our environment has become much more volatile than before, and will continue to do so in our future” says Dominic von Martens, in a bold statement emphasized by SelfLeaders at the Clarion Hotel Leadership Conference. “A rapidly changing market requires managers to throw out old ways and introduce adaption through a new perspective on leadership.” The Project Leader at Selfleaders believes that volatility will bring a greater speed of change and unpredictability.

In countries like Sweden, France, UK and the US change is the new normal. From 2016 to late 2017, we experienced major changes in democratic systems. Brexit and instability in American politics brought increasing volatility. Since then, we’ve seen changes and the impact on currencies, stock markets, and investments. Pharma companies are now worrying about the regulatory changes that will occur following Brexit and trading deals in the car industry are expecting significantly higher tariffs. Large corporations are beginning to shift operations elsewhere.

In terms of the market, digitalization is speeding up and increasing annually. The ways in which we manage data are continuously changing as well. The question is, how well do we understand why we are experiencing volatility in the workplace? What is driving volatility and the necessity to act?

Let us start with what “volatility” means in this context; change and unpredictability of behaviours and decisions. If we know that behaviours have changed, can we trace it back to the origins of what the behaviour aims to manage? Let’s say that the response, in this case, is an action based on an attitude where the attitude is towards ethics. For example; a video is leaked on social media depicting a man making sexual advances on a female colleague. This video becomes viral and the company receives major critique on failure to manage sexual abuse in the workplace.

The attitude in this example is the reaction towards the treatment of the female colleague because it is viewed as unethical treatment.
The behaviour is the male employee making sexual advances on the female colleague.
The action is sharing the video and criticising the company. In this example the public displays values that disagree with the act of sexual predation.

The reason that attitude towards ethics is important, is because our environment is composed of cultural values.

Ethics haven’t changed in the last decade, but norms have, due to our exposure to changing behaviour based on our values. If modern systems of management, such as human resources, are set up to push businesses to act on unethical behaviour in the workplace, it could imply a shift of power to the users.
Why is this important to understand? Because most effective marketing practices take place online, and if we can’t understand how to equip our companies in a way that complements modern values then we’re basically doing business blindfolded.

It is more common than ever to share, connect and communicate ideas and experiences with others. We’ve seen a massive increase in the sharing of experiences relating to unethical and discriminatory practices. For example, the waterfall effect of sexual discrimination incidents that occurred after Susan Fowler spoke out regarding her experience as an employee at Uber, or the groundbreaking #MeToo movement which cast a new light on the women who experience(ed) sexual harassment and abuse.

Just look at the backlash received by Pepsi after the company’s failed marketing attempt using the black lives matter movement to sell a commodity, or the influx of public disapproval of the transformation of a woman from black to white by Dove, which forced the company to remove its advertisement.

It is through exposure that the business environment has become more volatile than ever.

Volatility in the marketplace is being driven by more aware, and consequently, more demanding consumers. By understanding how values are shaped, actions that go against these values and exposure to these actions, companies can prepare themselves to face higher standards of accountability and be more resilient in an increasingly volatile environment.

AUTHOR

Cecilia Johansson is an industrial engineer with one foot in business tech and another in corporate sustainability. She strives towards ensuring that corporations grow together with society.