- Why is it important to focus on motivating employees who survived a layoff?
Tata Consultancy services (TCS), lay off up to 500 hundred of its staff after conducting a performance appraisal. The employees who failed to meet the required performance standards of the company left their positions vacant in search of other jobs. It has also laid off workers in the past during hard economic times such as laying off its UK based workers in 2009. From the above conclusions, it is important to motivate the employees who survived the layoff since they proved competent in their work and for better performance of the Mumbai-based company; they should motivate these employees in order to reduce the rate of workforce turnover. These motivated workers can work well when the work force is reduced, for instance during a recession.
According to William Conaty, strenuous economic times require realistic goals and not stretching these goals. According to him, in such economic environments, an individual might decide to cut a few corners in order to achieve the numbers for the fear of losing their jobs. This statement by Conaty is consistent with the three basics of the expectancy theory, which include valence, instrumentality and expectancy. The realistic goals are also consistent with the equity theory.
- Do you believe that recognition will motivate layoff survivors? Explain.
Yes. Recognition would eventually motivate these employees since this will assure the employees that the services they render to the organization are valued, which is the main reason why they survived the layoff. Recognition also leads to job satisfaction, which translates into commitment by these survivors.
- Do you agree managers should find ways to have fun in the work environment after the layoff? Why or why not?
No. the layoff reduced the workforce, which implies that the workers who survived the layoffs could not immediately adapt to working the extra effort of filling the gaps left behind by the retrenched workers. If the managers find ways of having fun in the working environment, employees would not perform as expected, therefore, productivity would be reduced.
- What is the biggest takeaway you get from trying to link content in this chapter to this case?
Reference:
Tata Consultancy services. Retrieved from http://www.tcs.com/Pages/default.aspx
