Question 1
In the morning of briefing, Andrea should opt for the Informational model justice dimension. The situation forcing Blaze to undertake downsizing is apparent, and the reality cannot be hidden from the employee. This means that facing the reality and communicating to the retained employees in a very just and open manner is the only way forward. Accordingly, adoption of the informational justice aspect that demands the practice of the justification rule becomes necessary. Andrea should attempt to explain the decision-making procedures adopted by the company and their consequences in a broad and logical manner. Importantly, she needs to make the remaining employees realize that the organization followed the stipulated organization’s procedures and provisions when endorsing the idea of downsizing. This is to cultivate the idea of integrity, which is an important factor that influences Trust. Integrity entails the feeling that the authority follows defined codes and values that are morally acceptable when making critical decisions. Furthermore, the ideology will uphold the concept of benevolence that includes the belief that the authority has the desire of doing good to the employees, instead of any selfish or profit-centered motives. Through promoting these perceptions, the staffers are likely to regard the Blaze’s move of downsizing as honest. She needs to embrace the concept of the truthfulness rule by communication honestly about the challenges that Blaze is facing (Ashton, 2012). With this, the retained employees will understand the unavoidable situation that forced the company to engage in downsizing, thus endorsing it decision. Andrea should be honest and informative when explain corporate actions in the downsizing. The ethical implication of this is ensuring that the remaining employees are aware of the real situation in the company. However, being very informative and honest may attract some ethical concerns are the remaining employees may get demoralized upon learning the doomed future of their company. On the other hand, remain guarded when communicating the corporate actions may affect employees’ trust upon the company by making them feel that the management is hiding something from them. This is fatal for the Blaze because besides demoralizing the employees, such a notion has the potential of reducing commitment (Martin, 2004).
Question 2
In view of the values promoted by the concepts of justice and ethics, I would advice Andrea to leverage the funds to finance the changes in the work structure, especially for the workers with an expanded workload. Justice in the workplace can be viewed as the perceived fairness of the administration’s decision-making procedures. On the other hand, ethics regards to the extent to which the authority’s habits or practices conform to the accepted moral norms. This means that the prevailing situation or circumstance will always define whether the option adopted by an organization is Just or Ethical. With the downsizing, it is apparent that staffers have to take up more work to fill the gap left. In this respect, Andrea should utilize the available funds to motivate employees into embracing her idea and catering for other expenses that may characterize the change in the nature of their work. Furthermore, the company is entirely likely to adopt a new work structure. This implies that they will need money to support and implement the proposed changes. These practices will make employees acknowledge the company’s caring attitude towards their welfare and its commitment towards providing them with good working environment and terms (Ashton 2012). The ethical implication of offering a retention bonus or pay raise is that, the employees may view the company’s corporate actions as unjustified. Sacking some employees then providing the remaining few with a pay raise may present as an obvious strategy for bribing the staffers into endorsing the company’s unjust actions. Conversely, an ethical implication of leveraging the fund to support changes is that the strategy may fail to be supported by the remaining employees.
Question 3
When combining areas for the staffers, Andrea should apply Hezberg’s Two-Factor and McCLellands Acquired theories. Initially, Andrea should have high knowledge of the aspects that are causing job satisfaction in her company to capitalize on them and make employees feel contented with the organization (Beck, 2004). On the other hand, Andrea should be aware of the factors that are causing job dissatisfaction in her company. The Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory proposes that hygiene factors in the work environment results to job dissatisfaction. These factors include aspects such as the organization policies, quality of supervision, base salary, working terms, relations in the workplace, status, security and relationship with the co-workers. Conversely, the theory identifies factors such as achievement, recognition, growth, responsibility and advancement as important motivator elements in the job content that foster job satisfaction (Beck, 2004). This implies that Andrea should account for each of these elements when combining areas for staffers. Andrea’s ability of matching the staffers with their right job will define the entire organization’s workforce productivity. This perspective is supported by a common assumption posed by the Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory which suggests that, ‘anyone who needs people to do a good job, he or she should give them a good job to do.’ With the knowledge of these factors, Andrea will be at the position of establishing a customized workforce in which individuals are perfectly matched with their interests. Andrea also needs to consider the ideas proposed by the McClellands Acquired theory when combining areas since needs are dynamic. McClellands Acquired theory proposes that individuals are mainly self-driven by three major aspects of needs that include the desire for Achievement, Association and Power (Martin, 2004). The idea of the need for achievement implies that people are motivated by crave of perfecting or improving something or their work at any time, provide a solution to a thrilling challenge or to tackle a more sophisticated work. This means that individuals will always attain satisfaction upon realizing that their results or performance has improved from the previous one. The idea highlights the need of installing effective tools for measuring performance and formulating strategic policies and procedure for rewarding or acknowledging staffers who record high improvement. The need for Affiliation idea acknowledges the people’s desire or building and maintaining good relations with others while the need for power regards to the desire to control others, affect their habit or to be accountable for others. However, it is acknowledgeable that these needs are dynamic. In this context, besides accounting for the staffers’ needs when combining work areas, she needs to acknowledge that individual needs for each employee are bound to change with time, which affirms the significance of adjusting the working structure continuously (Beck, 2004). Essentially, addressing the needs factors is highly recommendable. Andrea can successfully give the new versions of their jobs a higher satisfaction potential than the earlier jobs. Job satisfaction is attributable to aspects such as salary offered, supervision, promotion, work itself, environment and status among others (Trusko, 2002). With fewer employees than in the pre-downsizing time, the organization has the potential and capability of concentrating on each of this aspect to improve its working conditions. For example, the company can use the finance salvaged to increase the pay for the retained employees. Moreover, supervision and promotion can easily be effected with a small number of employees, which would increase the status of the version of their jobs.
Question 4
Andrea should give high voice and input as the company transition to the “new normal.” Staffers need to be encouraged and be made to visualize a better Blaze in the future. Consequently, Andrea needs to set goals and rewards for attaining the specified objectives. This should include both verbal and material rewards. It is apparent that the company’s current state is discouraging, which affirms the significance focusing on investing on any input and strategy that can enhance employees’ morale. Giving these inputs will re-organize employees and motivate them into working hand to overcome the challenges that are facing them for a better future (Beck, 2004). The staffers will also have confidence with the firm and embrace the decision adopted by the company wholeheartedly. This is essential in establishing a team that is working towards attaining a common goal; thus struggle to overcome together to enjoy the fruits of their success together (Springer, 2011). Dangers associated with such input include resistance and lack of adequate resources to support and honor the promises. Engaging in calculative negotiations and involving staffers in decision making would be essential in mitigating some of these dangers.
References
Ashton A., (2012). Issues in Business, Occupational, and Creative Psychology: 2011 Edition. New York, NY: Scholarly Editions.
Beck, R. C. R. C. (2004). Motivation: Theories and principles. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education.
Martin, J. (2004). Organizational behavior and management. London: Thomson Learning.
Springer, G. J. (2011). A study of job motivation, satisfaction, and performance among bank employees. Journal of Global Business Issues, 5(1), 29-42. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/871891682?accountid=45049
Trusko, B. E. (2002). A comparative investigation of job satisfaction factors between traditional work environments (TWE), and virtual work environments (VWE). (Order No. 3046030, Golden Gate University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses,195-195 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/305448091?accountid=45049. (305448091).
