Organizational Behavior - Alcoa and Alumina Limited - Literature review Example

?Running Head: Literature Review on Organizational Behavior Literature Review on Organizational Behavior [Institute’s Literature Review on Organizational Behavior It is obvious for human nature to get scared after knowing that there is a danger across all over the area. The employees who continue to work after layoffs face the same situation; they are always in fear of losing their jobs that greatly affects their productivity. They lose their trusts and want reassurance, they are always curious to know about the reason of their existence and others dismissal. In this situation, it is the duty of company to motivate them and make them work in the previous pace. They might think of themselves as victims who would work on whatever the organizations assign them to do as they consider it as the company’s grace. If the employees work in this state of mind then it would be very difficult for organization to achieve the objective of downsizing (Wagner, 1991). However, a smaller proportion of people take it as exciting and career expanding because they become optimistic about themselves, optimistic in a way that there must be some extraordinary quality in them; this did not let them go out of the organization. Nevertheless, one cannot deny that larger proportion of people is always in fear and organizations must take some impactful steps to bring them on the right track. Alcoa Inc. an aluminum producing company faces the same situation during many mergers and other developmental efforts. It is one of the largest creators of air pollution in united states proving to be harmful for many human lives therefore it became urgent and serious for it to take a step. Alcoa therefore invested $330 million in a plant to help reduce the emissions such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. As one can see that $330 million is not small amount of money, therefore they must have thought of implementing downsizing in the company making many of their employees leave the jobs. Moreover, in 2006 installed a new plant in its branch of Swansea again requiring a huge amount of money generated by reduction in administrative costs. A joint venture of Alcoa and Alumina Limited might have caused the need for downsizing too. All these instances left Alcoa’s remaining employees with a low morale and spirit to work and managers with a great worry and apprehension of low productivity. However, one should not lose hope keep striving to achieve the best. Firstly, knowing the reasons that make employees not feel easy after downsizing would be a great help in understanding their emotions and treat them in view of that. One of the reasons is that they do not have interest in learning new skills because they assume that this will increase their workload. Naturally, no one likes to work more than he was doing earlier with a good salary. However, organizations need to change this behavior of employees buy assuring them that new skills will work in their favor, making them more profitable for the company and provide them with more chances of personal growth in the industry. Additionally, they would get more compensation with higher profits ultimately building their self-esteem and self-security. In any case, employees should feel that they contribute in the growth and development of the company this would stimulate them to work more passionately and ardently. Another reason of breaking of trust and emotions of employees is that they have lost some of very close colleagues and friends. Some might feel guilty that some of their friend lost their jobs because they were give preferences over them. All these problems occur because different people react differently towards change. Some have difficulty in accepting the change; others will find great opportunities behind them. Change, which is demolishing for ones, might prove to be exciting for others. Some express their anger and frustration, while others fight with it silently. Some get release after complaining whereas others talk a lot but actually are encouraging the change. Therefore, organizations will need to analyze the level of potential to accept change of each individual and respond accordingly. The management has to play a very important role to eliminate this fear of losing jobs, which can be a great hindrance in achieving the company’s goal of profit maximization efficiently and effectively (Cameron, 1994). The management must strive to gain confidence of their workforce by letting them realize that change is a part of life and one has to deal with it positively (Karak-e-Shalhoub & Karake, 1999). Some companies also help their ex-workers to find new jobs by referring them to certain companies, which are in need of workforce, or through agencies that are looking for suitable candidates for different job positions. It is a very positive sign for both, the existing employees and the ex-employees. It shows that the company is concerned about them, but they also have to follow what is beneficial for the company, hence downsizing is just a part and companies cannot avoid it when necessary. Moreover, many a times it has nothing to do with employee performance in the company, the employee might be performing very well, but due to certain pressures and necessities, many of the employees need to be laid off. The company must pay gratitude to those employees, as a sign of appreciation of their hard work and offer them good compensation or may be a golden handshake in certain cases. As far as the existing employees are concerned, the company must understand that they are going through a very hard time, and if dealt carefully they will accept the change positively, but this process is always slow and gradual. The management must talk with them and let them know that the company needs to downsize, it is a requirement that the company cannot ignore, and assure them that it will be beneficial for the company as well as them. This will help to gain their confidence, and improve their relationship with the management. The management can make use of “Job Enrichment, Job Involvement, Job Rotation, and Flextime. Job enrichment solves solve the problems of tediousness, lack of flexibility, and employee dissatisfaction (Feder, 1999). It gives employees autonomy to use their different abilities just to expand the range of job with greater diversity of tasks (Feder, 1999). Job involvement encompasses the idea of creating an environment for employees, which motivates them to work. Environment means giving them continuous appraisals, getting them attend the trainings that motivate to work and telling them the importance of doing work by heart through several ways, which can be movies, quotes, or just by simple words. Job involvement would give them a chance to concentrate on their work after disturbance of downsizing. Job rotation says that management should change the positions of employees giving higher position to the ones who have shown good performances and de-promoting the employees with bad performance Ortega, J. (2001). This can also help removing boredom by getting new tasks in a new position to work on. Flextime is not suitable to use in all the companies but some can take advantage of it by giving its most beneficial employees to work in their own suitable hours (Hackman, Oldham, Janson & Purdy, 1975). Every employee is more concerned with his or her personal growth and career opportunities that he or she can avail. Management must assure them that here they will have tremendous opportunities to enhance their organizational skills and flourish in their respective fields. Management should also give them performance appraisals on their achievement to let them know that their efforts possess great value for the organization. If company is not in a state of providing monetary rewards then they can also go for non-monetary rewards such as a tap on back, appreciation in front of fellow employees and asking for advices in making important decisions of the company just to make them realize that their opinion matters a lot. This will be encouraging for other employee too as they will also try to put in more efforts to get these rewards (Burke & Cooper, 2000). Problems are very crucial part of one’s life, one dose not only refers to a person, but it also talks about organizations. Without problems, no one would be able to take out a gem of his or herself. However, right direction and guidance is important to convert these problems into useful factors. When a company is intending to downsize it must plan some strategies for its employees both who will remain and the ones who will have to leave. If an organization does not care about its employees then it will be visible from many of its actions and results and it is ultimately going to ruin the company. Employees contribute a lot to the success and development of a company, without them, the company will have no way to accomplish its goals. However, companies should not completely ignore downsizing but implement it when it is very necessary because it is not just about the employees working in the company but thousands of other people depending on the salaries of these employees (Baumol, Blinder & Wolff, 2005) Therefore, the managers of the company when downsizing should keep themselves at the place of those employees who are going to be laid off and then take the decision. Decision should not be not implement downsizing but to plan something for the employees who are leaving and for the ones who are going to have bad impacts of downsizing. References Baumol, W. J., Blinder, A. S., & Wolff, E. N. (2005). Downsizing in America: Reality, Causes, and Consequences. Russell Sage Foundation. Burke, R. J., & Cooper, C. L. (2000). The organization in Crisis: Downsizing, Restructuring, and Privatization. Wiley-Blackwell. Cameron, K. S. (1994). Strategies for Successful Downsizing. Human Resource Management . Feder, I. (1999). Customized Job Enrichment and Its Effect on Job Performance. Universal-Publishers. Hackman, J. R., Oldham, G., Janson, R., & Purdy, K. (1975). A New Strategy For Job Enrichment. Motivating Individuals in Organization Settings, 59-76. Karak-e-shalhoub, Z., & Karake, Z. A. (1999). Organizational Downsizing, Discrimination and Corporate Social Responsibility. Greenwood Publishing Group. Ortega, J. (2001). Job Rotation as a Learning Mechanism. Management Science, 1361-1370. Wagner, J. (1991). Downsizing Effects on Organizational Development Capabilities at an Electric Utility. Journal of Industrial Technology, 2-7. Read More