(TIỂU LUẬN) assignment 2 contemporary management issues and challenges this paper aims to evaluate and understand potential problems for RMIT in the global work environment and then suggest several

Assignment Group Strategy Report Contemporary Management: Issues and Challenges Lecture: Ngan Tuyet Truong RMIT Vietnam, Saigon Campus Due date: May 2021 Wordcount: 2700 Vo Le Dieu Vy s3836515 Pham Thuy Linh s3754493 Pham Hoa Dung s3894292 Do Le Minh Chau s3777319 Nguyen Quynh Thien Nga s3836603 BUSM4188 Table of Content I Introduction II Market Analysis Technology and Digitalisation 1.1 Online learning 1.2 Cybersecurity .2 Diversity 2.1 Language barrier 2.2 Cultural bias .3 Stress and coping in workplace .4 3.1 Student perspective 3.2 Lecture perspective III Resources Analysis Technology and Digitalisation 1.1 Online learning 1.2 Cyber security Diversity 2.1 Language barrier 2.2 Cultural bias .7 Stress and coping in workpalce 3.1 Work-life interface .7 3.2 Workplace mental health IV Conclusion .9 V References 10 VI Appedix 14 I Introduction Globalization is known to enhance the demand for qualified employees at the firm level, and the strength of a business’s skill is positively linked to the international interaction level of this business (Davidson et al 2020) Globalization has boosted competition, leaving companies without options but looking for the best people regardless of their nationality, even the firms that only operate domestically The primary source of such talent is international graduate students as they have the expertise and the ability to transform them into economic gains for the host country (Bozionelos et al 2014) Based on these backgrounds, people tend to choose international universities to study One of these is the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), a technology, design, and business global university RMIT University, an Australian first tertiary institution, has an international reputation for innovation in vocational and specialized education, applied investigation, and commitment to business and community requirements (RMIT University n.d) RMIT Vietnam has a worldwide reputation for delivering high-quality, industry-related services relevant to the national and global marketplace Students of RMIT Vietnam get a degree from RMIT in Melbourne These degrees are recognized by the Australian government and employers worldwide (RMIT University n.d) Students will receive instruction from professionals in their careers and benefit from RMIT’s powerful business connections and curriculum inspired by current industry trends Cultural conscientiousness, critical thinking, experimentations, and entrepreneurship are all encouraged in our global learning environment (RMIT n.d) In 2020, to respond to COVID 19 limitations, RMIT has effectively migrated over five thousand online courses worldwide (RMIT University 2020) Online learning can be considered a platform that can improve the student center, innovation, and flexibility of the teaching-learning process However, many online technoligies often cause much trouble, such as downloading errors and login problems (Dhawan 2020) The development of a diverse and inclusive community for staff and students is one of the values of RMIT (RMIT University n.d), so it leads to some problems, which are the language barrier, cultural bias Moreover, stress and coping in the workplace are also potential problems of RMIT This paper aims to evaluate and understand potential problems for RMIT in the global work environment and then suggest several practical ways to address these problems II Market Analysis T e chn ol ogy a nd Digi ta li sa ti on 1.1 Online learning As a part of a circular program, RMIT offered authentic assessment and integrated learning for recent years This methodology has involved online instruction, presentations, and other soft skills widely employed in contemporary practice (RMIT University n.d) RMIT provides world-class online learning with the most flexible education in partnership with business opinion leaders and experts (RMIT 2020) Inadequate technology may interrupt learning and interaction if students and instructors commit time and resources to efficient access to content Lack of technology in online learning courses particularly frustrates students and negatively affects their overall experience (Dumford, Miller 2018).Moreover, to succeed in online learning, students also require additional inspiration, organization, and self-discipline Sometimes students feel online learning is boring and not interesting This learning method has so much variety and leisure that students will never find time to learn Personal focus is also a significant problem for online learning Students want twoway, often hard to enforce conversation, so until they practice what they learn, the learning process cannot achieve all its capacity Online content is sometimes theoretical, and it does not enable students to practice and understand easily (Dhawan 2020) 1.2 Cybersecurity Cybersecurity is virtual since it tries to block, track and defend the files, computers network, and people from the intruder when a fraudulent request is made While it looks straight, it is still hard as computer systems are now complex that even their programmers cannot wholly understand their interactions (Bayerl, Karlovie, Akhgar & Markarian 2017) In February 2021, RMIT University in Melbourne shut down its IT networks to revoke a phishing attack where an employee had been cheated or clicked on a suspicious link in an email accidentally (ABC News n.d) Some online and offline classes have to be halted for the school to find solutions Outside information has confirmed that this is an online scam targeting the school IT system However, RMIT University said there is no evidence to confirm that, and the school is still working hard to fix the problem as soon as possible Through Office 365 and the school's Canvas are still operating normally, students and faculty can work together remotely The school also has a specific plan for returning the IT system and actively keeps in touch with everyone around (Hendry 2021) Div er si ty 2.1 Language barrier Since the prevailing means of communication is English, numerous issues emerge from the interaction between individuals from various language foundations, especially in the international education environment Many students have learned English as a subsequent language or as a foreign language (Pincas 2001) Therefore, an international environment as RMIT probably will not be lined entirely up with native Vietnamese students, especially those who have never familiarized with an English-speaking context In general, students frequently have issues in "understanding lectures, taking notes, taking part in class discussions, and writing papers," though the university acquires students to meet the base language capability (Huntley 1993, as cited in Kuo 2011) Morover, language barriers regarding misinterpretation and misunderstanding happen between students - lecturers or students - students and occur among lecturers and staff in regular communication Consequently, language barriers have a massive effect on students' scholarly results (Lutfiana, Suwartono & Akter 2020) and impact working performance because information can easily be misconstrued (Ramlan et al, 2018) 2.2 Cul tural bias RMIT University has educated over 72,000 students, including about 28,000 international students from more than 100 countries worldwide (RMIT University n.d) Since diversity provides numerous benefits for students, it also brings some conflicts in multicultural collaboration The most specific example in regards to cultural bias usually happens when choosing members for a group assignment Students tend to pick teammates of a similar race because of the convenience in interaction, solace in working, and commonality in the way of life Therefore, international students may encounter isolation due to socioeconomic background, language, and lifestyle (Cushman 2007) These unconscious biases may challenge international students to blend in with the new surrounding and catch up with Vietnamese members (Garcia and Pekrun 2011) S tr es s an d co p ing i n wor kp l ace 3.1 S tuden t perspective In contemporary society, pupils are confronting more requests than ever before These include pressures for entry to university, performing at college, and ensuing work when studies are finished (Collins 1998) Furthermore, a high level of persistent negative stress could lead to burnout, which is explained by the symptoms of emotional exhaustion, lack of personal accomplishment, and physical/emotional withdrawal (Zastrow 1984) In RMIT, two leading causes lead to student stress include: Work overload and pressure to perform Firstly, students usually struggle in managing the academic workload at university, specifically at the end of the semester when there is a bulk of assignments from different courses.Moreover, students’ perceptions of whether they can succeed in completing the tasks and the fear of failure creates higher pressure on their performance (Il‐haam, Johann & Kitty 2011, as cited in Kamel 2018) Secondly, students may have high expectations from their parents regarding gaining high grades, fully understanding lessons, and the capacity to get suitable jobs after graduating (Collins 1998) In addition, students will likewise be confronted with greater autonomy and the temptations of the university environment with a level that surpasses their experience 3.2 Lecture perspec tive Teaching is always believed to be a highly honorable profession since they use their patience and wisdom to influence students’ minds and character (Syed & Nazir 2008) However, teachers are recently facing more stress and burnout, including unnecessary time pressure, poor associations with colleagues, the large volume of classes, conduct issues of pupils, insufficient opportunities for advancement, and unpleasant interactions with school administration (Thomas 1983) In the case of RMIT, teacher’ stress mainly happens due to the overstrain in workload The lack of qualified international lecturers due to the COVID-19 is a critical key factor, leading to the high workload and work pace among lecturers since they have to shoulder many courses, even if it is not relevant to their majors These problems can boost the potential for emotional exhaustion, as well as the insurance of education quality III Resources Analysis T e chn ol ogy a nd Di gi ta li sa ti on 1.1 Online learning For delivering high-quality online learning experiences, RMIT University needs to focus on improving the digital literacy and instructional design expertise among teaching staff The emergence of technology in higher education was faster than anticipated and generated resistance from the faculties causing slow technological integration in the learning process and content design (Abrahams 2010) Enhancement in instructors' digital competency would help avoid technologyrelated disruption during the classes (McGarr & Mcdonagh 2019).Regarding motivation, students will show a willingness to learn if they see specific learning outcomes and benefits for them Bates (2019) stated that well-designed content, including organized content, balanced workloads for lecturers and students, relevant learning activities, and assessments, leads to desired learning outcomes (cited in Rapanta et al., 2020) RMIT should move from a rich theoretical curriculum to more interactive and practical learning Koć-Januchta et al (2017) suggested that students tend to perceive the content better using visual stimuli Thus lectures should use more data visualizations, videos, and images while explaining complex concepts, which will help students to digest information more effectively Additionally, adjustments in the marking systems can be made, including 15% worth of the total mark, which will reinforce the students' participation in online class activities 1.2 Cybersec urity As cybercrime is simultaneously evolving with technological innovation (Scheau & Turliu 2016), RMIT should be prepared for the worst by developing a proactive plan to respond to cyberattacks step-by-step, enlightening each member of the community in the plan with their responsibilities (Goud 2021) During COVID-19 times, when the demand for working and studying remotely increases, it is harder for the university to control cybersecurity since the academics assess educational accounts from unsecured home Wi-Fi Thus providing cyber hygiene education has become essential (Barkat Ullah & Ahmed 2021) Staff and students should be taught to detect phishing emails and protect their confidential information through security awareness training programs with periodic updates of current trends in the cyber world Regular simulated phishing attack tests could be the way to assess the effectiveness of training (Greenlee 2019) Dive r si ty RMIT is supposed to enhance a cohesive team with its students, lecturers, and staff, and multiculturalism is one of its advantages It is, though, an unavoidable colossal obstacle 2.1 Language barrier RMIT is advised to utilize advanced learning procedures to get ready for recent lessons, such as talking about modern lessons, looking up lexicon and resources For workers, RMIT provides a rigorous program on lesson conveyance aptitudes (Gratis 2016) At last, students can profit from a community learning approach in which they collaborate with others who share a common language to manage the lecture better and master the concept in both their first and second languages Abstain from rectifying botches when students communicate may make them feel self-conscious and less sure in talking Instep, lecturers can emphatically strengthen the understudy for communicating and show the right shape of communication when an opportunity emerges To get learners' interest and support them in comprehending the information, use visual aids like photographs, drawings, motions, emotions, and audio-video clips in lectures On the side of students, they would like to keep in mind to provide themselves a break and disregard approximately talking perfectly Talking to someone else in a dialect that's not their local one will get it that they might make botches and not care much 2.2 Cul tural bias To handle cultural bias issues, RMIT's teaching approach must be modified Qualified instruction can be supplemented by assisting students in adjusting to institute-dominated conditions or their native community (Henderson 1996) Instructors ought to learn everything they can each of their understudies, indeed in the event required about professional advancement courses When discussing differences among peers, many students become nervous or uncomfortable Lecturers could support by celebrating variations wherever possible and seeing them as beneficial aspects of the academic and social atmosphere A few research have shown that cross-group alliances reduce tension in intergroup contexts, reduce discrimination against peer groups, reduce one's desire for social scale or hegemony over reduced individuals As students, they should try to be conscious of their prejudices and resist stereotyping or bigotry, and they can discover that they have more connected with cultural differences than they thought Respect, encouragement, and understanding are the keys to success, and they will help them create a stable foundation of loyal peers S t re ss a nd co pi ng i n wor kp l ace 3.1 Work -l ife interfac e Regarding the work-life value perceptions, RMIT University has the responsibility to provide an adequate program on work and non-work that ensures the work-life balance of employee and student schedules (Field & Chan 2018) The work-life balance is generally the balance between three main components, including 'paid work, unpaid work and personal time' (Agha, Azmi & Irfan 2017) Much research has indicated the positive influences behind the work-life balance, which relates to organizational performance, employee satisfaction, and the staff's well-being (Allen et al 2000; Keyes 2002) The concept 'quality of work life' can be considered the concept to achieve two goals of organizational productivity enhancement and employees' quality of life at work improvements (Lokanadha & Mohan 2010) Accordingly, RMIT should focus on four major elements: 'safe work environment, occupational health care, suitable working time and appropriate salary,' which is the foundation for individuals to work in a healthy working environment (Lokanadha & Mohan 2010) In addition, the Four Basic Action Strategies (Appendix 1) could be a valuable contribution to enhance work-life balance (Hirschi, Shockley & Zacher 2019) In the two first strategies, employees try to achieve their goal by activating and allocating the existing resource In contrast, goal disengagement is demonstrated in two remaining strategies, and staff will revise and abandon their current plan to have the new goals 3.2 Work pl ace men tal heal th According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every business has a responsibility to provide a safe and fair workplace environment A mentally healthy workplace directly connects with employee engagement and organizational benefits The strategies are needed contributions of individual, group, and organization level (Harvey et al 2014) Based on the currently available literature, RMIT should concentrate on six domains to maximize mental health and well-being in the organizational workforce environment (Appendix 2) Accordingly, the domains related closely to the job design and stress management need to be prioritized to solve the current issues in RMIT mentioned above In particular, RMIT provides opportunities for workers to involve in decisionmaking and control their schedules Besides that, stress management training may enhance personal resilience and organizational mental health IV Conclusion The challenges of RMIT's developing path in the contemporary working environment were identified through the above-detailed analysis.The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the learning mode to online learning, which leads to some deficiencies in technology and digitization Accordingly, technological issues also negatively influence the student's learning experience and lead to the phishing attack of IT networks The diverse environment in RMIT has developed a concern in the language barriers among students and lecturers; and conflicts in multicultural collaboration Besides, both students and staff are facing emotional exhaustion due to work overload and performance pressure To alleviate the current challenges, the report provided some proper recommendations RMIT should provide more practical online learning courses and develop a proactive plan to deal with technological issues Moreover, students and lecturers should be more open-minded to reduce the cultural barriers in the organizational environment To enhance the workplace environment, RMIT needs to focus more on work-life balance and people's mental health through the Four Basic Action strategy and a mentally healthy workplace strategy Being recognized for its exemplary environmental standard reputation, RMIT University is currently listed among the world's top 30 universities by the technological orientation (RMIT 2020) Furthermore, the university was ranked 3rd among the world's universities for blockchain research (RMIT 2019) RMIT mainly focused on advancing the digital transformation Those efforts in digital development proved that RMIT University has sufficient ability and knowledge for further growth in the digital economy V References ABC News 2021, Melbourne’s RMIT University suspends classes after suffering IT outage, ABC News, 19 February, viewed 30 April 2021, Abrahams, DA 2010, ‘Technology adoption in higher education: A framework for identifying and prioritising issues and barriers to adoption of instructional technology’, Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol 2, no 2, pp 34-49, viewed 30 April 2021, Emerald database Agha, K, Azmi, F-T & Irfan, A 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Appendix Appendix 1: Description of Four Basic Action Strategies (Lokanadha & Mohan 2010) Appendix 2: Six domains contributing to the mentally healthy workplace (Harvey et al 2014) 14 ... problems, which are the language barrier, cultural bias Moreover, stress and coping in the workplace are also potential problems of RMIT This paper aims to evaluate and understand potential problems. .. Keyes, C-L 20 02, ? ?The mental health continuum: form languishing to flourishing in life’, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol 43, pp 20 7 -22 2, viewed 26 April 20 21,