The Impact of Work Redesign and Psychological Empowerment, Essay Example

Interpersonal and informational justice should be adhered to in the above case scenario by Andrea because the company’s reputation is at stake. The employees need to understand how the decision was made, their consistency in applying rules and the accuracy in using available information. Moreover, interpersonal justice dictates for Andrea to explain to employees concerning the decision of downsizing since she is sensitive to the harm caused to the individual being laid off. Even though she is not in a position to change the situation at hand, but will show concern for the employee in a manner that is sensitive and caring. Employees of an organization tend to be less inclined to the suing their former organization if they believe that their procedures are integrally fair.

In the case of informational justice, Andrea requires giving employees detailed information regarding the downsizing procedure, which will leave people accepting the fairness associated with the management’s decision. People believe they are considered an important part of an organization if the officials take time to explain to them the rationale behind their decision. The effect of the relationship between interpersonal and informational justice is additive since it contributes to the perception of people of impartiality. However, a combination of both allows the effects to be magnified. As such, by sharing information with employees about outcomes, lets them accept them better and same to presenting the information in a fashion that is caring and sensitive. Therefore, informational and interactional justice enhances feelings of justice and behavior of employees becomes optimistic, which promotes effectiveness in performing task and duties assigned.

Ethically, it is appropriate for organizations to prescribe ethical behavior because it influences decision making and behavior in the organization. Blaze has upset public’s trust in the newspaper business world and also has managed to wipe out the dreams and hopes of many hard-working and honest people. Therefore, if Andrea decides to be more guarded, she will not be living up to her standards.

In terms of justice and ethics, the soundest decision for Andrea to take is the second option. Because by leveraging the funds, she will be giving support to the employees; who will be assigned more workload than others. In a way, this will be a motivation to the other employees to work hard in their discipline and request for more work to be expanded their way. As a result, Andrea will have utilized Maslow’s need theory: a. Lower-Order needs (psychological needs, safety and security needs), and b. Higher-order needs (love/social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs). In this case, management has the responsibility of organizing the productive enterprise elements. It includes materials, people, money and equipment among others, in the interests of the organizations economic needs (Nelson & Quick, 2012). The expanded staffers workload will be immensely compensated for by the higher-order needs. Therefore, managers will make the employees be psychologically empowered to handle the workload in a diligent and objective manner (Carless, 2004). In addition, employees will be motivated to work extra hours even because the manager’s respect them and have dignity due to the aspect of putting employee’s welfare into consideration.

On the other hand, the short-term retention bonus or a more permanent raise raises a lot of unbiased situations when it comes to decision-making processes. In essence, this will lead to injustices and unfairness that will lead to employees being less inclined to follow organizational rules. More so, the mission, objective and vision of the company will not be realized because the workers are not working together in attaining their organizational mission and goals. It is paramount for the leaders to understand that an organizational commitment and job performance is all ascribed to their level of motivation. The power that leaders have should be utilized in a positive way that encourages employees to be empowered to work and stress levels lowered or minimized. Leaders need to encourage their employees to be creative task performers (Zhang & Bartol, 2010).

Charismatic or transformational leadership has effects on a self-concept-based theoretical model because it influences employees positively. In the first instance, followers’ self-efficacy is increased; secondly, value internalization of followers’ is influenced; and; lastly, the social identification of followers’ with a group is facilitated. When combining areas for staffers, it is important for Andrea to put into consideration the Mayo’s Human Relations School and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The reason for this is because the Mayo’s school of thought encourages employees to work in teams, and it is within those teams that they make decisions. Furthermore, changes in working conditions and the financial rewards have little effect on the worker’s motivation levels because of the way they interact as a motivational tool to them (Zhang & Bartol, 2010). In Maslow’s theory, emphasis is made on the reason why people go to work is bound to change and needs to be accepted by all in the organization in order for them to have a competitive advantage. In addition, the hierarchy attests to the fact that people are believed to work up and not down.

The motivation factors present in the external (extrinsic) environment in the case of Blaze include supervision and job perks. While those in the internal (intrinsic) environment include the existing relationship between the worker and task at hand. Therefore, the motivators are moving from the external environment towards the intrinsic needs. Also, it becomes difficult to influence motivation because material rewards are less relevant, and the internal rewards become more difficult to address and identify. Hence, for organizational performance to be enhanced, it is vital for Blaze to recognize the individual need of their employees. Hence, provide them with opportunities that will lead to job satisfaction (Chen & Chen, 2008).

Andrea needs to accord staffers a voice and input because as it transitions to the “new normal,” the employees need to move with them. Such input to the organization enables them establish procedural justice in that, people will be in a better position to accept the outcomes because they had some input when it came to determining them. Compared to when they are not involved in the whole change process and is commonly referred to as a fair process effect. Fairness is accomplished by regular conducting of meetings with employees of the organization to hear their views or what they have to say. By so doing, results in making better-quality decisions since workers’ expertise has been tapped and by merely involving them in the process. Employees solicited inputs are inclined to feel better in the organization since they are accepted and become valued members than those ignored (Greenberg & Baron, 2010). In all this, fairness will be promoted in the organization in terms of procedure used and resulting to the outcome. As a result, employees accept and follow decisions and become supportive of organizations goals and objectives.

The dangers associated with such a voice will include issues of disrespect and ‘bullying’ among workers. Disrespect of leaders’ authority is bound to occur with assigning staffers such voice, but it can be mitigated by ensuring that all boundaries are set and adhered to strictly. ‘Bullying’ is in respect to those who have no voice to talk and thus, once an idea is implemented, other workers will harass them and this will lead to conflicts among employees. However, leaders can avoid this by ensuring that an “open door policy” is kept (Greenberg & Baron, 2010). Managers using this policy are sending a very strong message to their employees they are valued, and the leader is interested to hear what they have to say. Also, online suggestion systems can be introduced as a way of encouraging employees to share ideas.

References

Carless, S.A. (2004). Does psychological empowerment mediate the relationship between psychological climate and job satisfaction? Journal of Business and Psychology, 18(4),405-406.

Chen, H., & Chen, Y. (2008). The impact of work redesign and psychological empowerment on organizational commitment in a changing environment: An example from Taiwan’s state-owned enterprises. Public Personnel Management, 37(3), 279-302

Greenberg, J. & Baron, R. (2010). Behavior in Organizations. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall PTR.

Nelson, D. & Quick, J. (2012). Organizational Behavior: Science, the real world, and you. New York: Cengage Learning.

Zhang, X., & Bartol, K. M. (2010). Linking empowering leadership and employee creativity: The influence of psychological empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and creative process engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 53(1), 107-128.