The Role of Workplace for both the Employees and the Managers - Case Study Example

CASE STUDY REPORT: The Case of the English Slaughter Men Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Key distinctive features of this workplace 2 3.0 Identification of matters and key changes that need to be implemented by management to the way that this work place works 5 4.0 Issues evident in this place of work 5 4.1 Harassments 5 4.2 Management control 6 4.3 Health and safety 6 4.4 Food hygiene 7 4.5 Degradation 7 5.0 Key changes that need to be implemented 8 5.1 Leadership and management control 8 5.2 Organizational structure 9 5.3 Motivation/morale 9 5.4 Work ethics 10 6.0 Recommendations 10 6.1 Create a plan for positive change 11 6.2 Appraise the obstacles 11 6.3 Establish a comprehensive communication plan 12 6.4 Build a sense of trust 12 6.5 Provide optimal support and training resources 12 6.6 Execute change according to the change plans and appraise the effectiveness 13 8.0 References 13 1.0 Introduction This corporation is considered to be a large and diversified corporation, with various global operations such as food production. One of the corporation’s arms is a company owned by a UK slaughterhouse. However, over the recent past, the company has acquired a foreboding and strange reputation within the wider organization. It is even said that some of the most promising managers have even had their confidence and careers terminated after being deployed from the slaughterhouse. As a result the slaughterhouse has become a place that is highly criticized within the corporation as a place where not only livestock are killed but also the managerial futures. As the corporation’s management trainees, the Director of Operations requires that we investigate into the matter and identify whatever is going on within the slaughterhouse, areas that need to be modified and the strategies that will be implemented to ensure the changes are effected. 2.0 Key distinctive features of this workplace In the Western world, slaughterhouses are considered to be unusual work situation as they integrate highly routinized with very dirty work. The work of a slaughterhouse is basically expected to have numerous monotonous and repetitive qualities. In addition, the monotonous activities are often combined with unfamiliar types of materials. A cross-national study conducted on meat workers highlighted that this type of work tends to be dirty as the workers are usually contaminated by the animal excreta, blood and other body fluids. This type of dirt is considered to be offensive and more than a physical sense. The slaughterhouse workers have to kill the innocent animals often evoking a deep moral distaste. Apparently, slaughter men have a strenuous, repetitive and unpleasant kind of work having the potential of attracting some form of social stigma (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). The society views this kind of a job as one that is dirty since the workers have a little chance to emphasize on the cleanliness. However, there are several work stations along the slaughtering line where the workers are less likely to be exposed to the animal dirt, both in practice and in public view. In the Casterton plant, the total number of employees if 47, including the management (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). The slaughterhouse is divided into four main areas. The first section contains the lairage, where the live animals are confined and fed through to the main plant. Then there are the dressing and slaughtering areas, furnished with overhead conveyor lines that are placed at the centre of the pant and used to carry the animal carcasses. The workers in this section are charged with the responsibility of killing, bleeding, skinning, disemboweling, beheading, delimbing and dressing the animal carcasses. The third section contains processing areas where the functional detached animal parts are classified and processed. The extreme end of the plant has cold storage areas where the dressed animal carcasses are divided and stored before being transmitted to various locations. However, the work of the slaughtering workers varies depending on the type of animal being slaughtered. For instance, sheep, pigs, lambs and several groups of the bovine animals can be slaughtered in batches of up to 200 animals per session (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). Every batch of the animals represents a distinct contract for the plant, and workers have to work through without breaking. However, the general order of tasks to be followed is the same for all the animals. Conversely, the company’s management does not decide on the specific division of labor, but instead, the slaughtering teams have established some degree of independence (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). The workers at Casterton are committed to their work since they can work through without breaks. Besides, there is competition for the available work between the gangs, a fact that is attributed to the piecework bonus system that constituted a high proportion of their wages. This motivation has removed the need for close supervision. Therefore, managers have very little to do with workers since the behaviours of the workers were supposedly directed by chargehands. This therefore means that each gang had a strong informal hierarchy led by the most accomplished and the fastest workers. In addition, every worker had a considerable level of autonomy (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). The competition that existed between the workers is uncompromising and carried potential consequences to the overall working conditions. For instance, the weaker and younger members of the team were often subjected to thrilling pressures from the more skilled or experienced workers. For example, the workers who took long to finish their allocated tasks would often be ridiculed and harassed. This is because the speed of the line was determined by the average speed of all workers, which at the end led to a buildup of work in the station for the slower workers (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). 3.0 Identification of matters and key changes that need to be implemented by management to the way that this work place works In order to identify the key changes that require to be implemented by the management in this workplace, it is important first to identify various issues evident in this place of work. Like all other organizations, several things need to change in the slaughterhouse in order to ensure work efficiency. According to various researches, the following concerns were obvious in the slaughterhouse. 4.0 Issues evident in this place of work 4.1 Harassments Harassment is defined as the act of making teething troubles for other staffs and putting forth pressures on them. According to Ackroyd and Crowdy (1990), harassment is very evident in this slaughterhouse. This is caused by the working culture of the staffs. For instance, the speed of work amongst the slaughtering group of workers was very fast and the work was also burdensome. For this reason, the weaker and younger members of the gang were exerted to extreme pressures by other skilled and experienced workers as their working pace was some how slow. Furthermore, the normal work routine in terms of work completion was also used to exert pressure and harass the weaker and inferior employees. This resulted to uncompromising competition whereby every worker tried to work faster compared to his fellow gang members where an opportunity arose. This however was seen to have severe impacts for those workers who could not measure up to the work demand. Generally, harassments were seen in terms of mere comments, abusive acts or actions in which a carcass could be pushed very hard along an unpowered overhead (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). 4.2 Management control The slaughter-men’s work organization entailed a species of staff self-management whereby, the task of controlling work was considerably assigned to the gangs. This meant that in this work place, work organization was led and controlled by the most skilled and fastest dominant members of each gang with the slaughter men having substantial autonomy. Matters regarding task distribution to work stations, and allocation of workers to stations were decided by the gangs. Controlling work routine resulted to a good deal of loud, terse, and hyperbolical communication (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). From time to time, aggression could break out leading to furious work performance and in fact, unjustified demonstrative and aggressive acts. Generally, in this work place, there was no management control and this is very harmful as it may result to work inefficiencies thus requires to be changed. 4.3 Health and safety Organizations should make certain that the health and safety of all workers is protected during work performance. This includes identifying the risks perceived in such an organization and putting proper measures to counter such risks. It is apparent that in all slaughterhouses and particularly the one in our case study, the activities of the workers are linked with unusual types of materials. In a cross-national study carried out by Meara (1974), revealed that work with the meat have a tendency to being dirty and attracts social stigma. Predominantly for the slaughter-men, there is direct contamination by bodily fluids such as blood; and animal excreta. Meara terms this slaughterhouse work as dirty end of dirty trade (1974), and is particularly disgusting. Douglas (1966) argues that dirt is constantly a physical and a moral matter. Certainly, the health and safety of the workers in this slaughterhouse is at stake, and thus something needs to be modified to prevent physical as well as mental impacts. 4.4 Food hygiene Food hygiene is an essential element in all corporations dealing with food production. Apparently, health agencies should ensure that this is put in place as failure to do so may cause a national catastrophe. The overall work of the slaughter-house is observed to be dirty. This is evidenced by the fact that the workers are continually in a direct contamination with animal excreta and blood. If care is not taken, there may be a high probability of food contamination which may pose a high risk to the final consumers. 4.5 Degradation Degradation is an aspect in which a group of staffs decides to cause problems and put forth pressure to other workers. Degradation was very evident in this workplace. For instance, various workers especially the weak, young, and lowly skilled were subjected to great pressures by the highly skilled and dominant members of the gang. 5.0 Key changes that need to be implemented In order to solve the above identified issues in the organization, various key changes need to be implemented by the organizational management. This will be in agreement with the management theory. Management theory is vital in organizations as it enables the management to make their personnel more productive and effective (Kotter, and Cohen, 2002). It aims at getting a group of individuals attain the set goals and objective of an organization. Management theory encompasses various aspects including employee motivation/inspiration, good ethics, morale, effective leadership, management control, organization structure, human resource management, and organization culture among others (Gomez-Mejia et al,. 2008). In our case study, the management requires to implement the following key changes in order to improve the efficiency of the organization. 5.1 Leadership and management control The success of all organizations depends with the kind of leadership offered. Leadership is termed as the core of every organization (Gomez-Mejia et al, 2008). In our case study, it is apparent that management control and leadership is left in the arms of the other employees. These result to be the dominant and the highly skilled members of the gang who allocate duties to the other employees. It is apparent that this has resulted to uncompromising competitions, harassments and degradation to the weaker employees. This may affect the organization considerably if not taken care of. The slaughterhouse needs to appoint leaders who are not members of the gang who will be allocating duties to the other employees (Manfred, 2003). In addition they will be left under control of all the activities of the slaughterhouse. These managers will efficiently deal with all the matters arising in the organization and simultaneously improve the level of productivity. 5.2 Organizational structure The structure of the organization in the slaughterhouse also requires to be changed. There should be hierarchy in leadership, whereby the organization should appoint individuals, from the company’s president, senior managers, directors, group supervisors and other senior employees. This as a result will ensure that work is carried out properly and efficiently (Kotter, and Cohen, 2002). The managers will coordinate the day to day running of the operations while the group supervisors will make certain that work is done effectively in the groups he is assigned to. The employees will also be treated equally and they can report any form of harassments, pressure and/or degradation to the supervisor who will ensure that actions are taken. 5.3 Motivation/morale As put forth by Meara (1974), the work of slaughterhouse tends to be very dirty and it also attracts social stigma. The workers have to come into contact with animal excreta and blood day in day out. For this reason the management should motivate the workers in terms of salary increment, commissions for extra work done, and providing them with proper protection clothing among others. This will not only motivate employees but will also protect their health and safety. 5.4 Work ethics Goods ethics at work places is considered as an essential aspect which will ensure workers productivity. It is apparent that, in this slaughterhouse, some employees have no ethics. This is evidenced by the fact that the dominant and highly skilled employees are seen to harass, degrade and even exert pressure to the weak and young employees. In order to improve efficiency in this slaughterhouse, the management requires enacting regulations which will ensure that all employees behave and works as per the same rules. The human resource management should also take part in educating employees on how to behave in the workplace and make sure such employees are monitored in their day to day activities (Kotter, and Cohen, 2002). 6.0 Recommendations From the analysis conducted for this company. It is apparent that changes have to be effected to eliminate the problems it is currently facing. However, it is important to note that every organization has to undergo through a process of change at some point in its growth cycle. The main objective of implementing change is to enable the organization attain positive change efforts that will employ, instigate and motivate both the management and employees to work towards the organizational goals. According to the numerous organizational management studies, the best approach to effecting change is to communicate, since it is through communication that the best strategies will be established that will help in attaining the intended change. The organizational theory highlights that one of the best approaches to attaining change in the organization is through communicating the need for change, engaging the concerned parties such as employees, pointing out change leaders, executing the change and gauging the effectiveness of change efforts (Legge, 1989) The Casterton slaughterhouse is currently faced with numerous challenges that have to be changed to stop the criticism the company is getting form the entire corporation. To attain these changes the management of the slaughterhouse will have to implement the following strategies: 6.1 Create a plan for positive change The objective of creating a plan for the positive change is to enable both the employees and leaders to accept the change (John, 1996). The management will first have to identify all the areas that need to be changed, while considering how the changes will impact the concerned people (Peters, 1987). Some of the areas that need to be changed include the work related behaviors since most of the workers are subjected to harassments from fellow workers. Such a change will help boost the morale of the harassed workers since all the workers will receive equal treatment. The management will also have to consider how the employees will be anxious about the change and therefore, it is important to come up with a message that will articulate the advantages and benefits of the change. 6.2 Appraise the obstacles Apparently, there are some challenges the management will encounter while implementing the changes. It is therefore necessary to determine these obstacles in order to identify measures that will be implemented to counter the outlined obstacles (Peters, 1987). 6.3 Establish a comprehensive communication plan Lack of communication creates anxiety and fear in the organization.  The management should therefore introduce change as a component of the organization’s overall values and culture. In addition, the management has to decide on the approach that will be used to make the first announcement, while explaining to the staff why the change is necessary. It is also important to illustrate the vision of the change and the transition plans. The employees should be given time to ask questions regarding the change, but keen consideration should be taken while answering such questions as the management should lay more emphasis on the benefits of the changes (John, 1996). 6.4 Build a sense of trust The management should build a sense of trust with the employees. The management needs to be open and explain to the employees what needs to be done to attain the intended changes. 6.5 Provide optimal support and training resources The management should institute training programs for the employees that will ensure the changes are attained. The training can involve creating new ways that will transform the old habits, and providing new leadership skills (William, 1991). 6.6 Execute change according to the change plans and appraise the effectiveness After implementation, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness in order to determine areas that require further adjustments. This will also enable the management to calculate how much change has been attained by the organization after the specified time.    7.0 Conclusion It is evident from the above assessment that this slaughterhouse is not the best place to work in for both the employees and the managers. Studies have revealed that in this slaughterhouse, not only livestock but also managerial futures are killed. This workplace is characterized by dirty working environment which may affect the workers health and safety, poor management and lack of management control resulting to various issues arising including harassments, and degradation to the weaker workers and uncompromising competition amongst the workers. It is clear that, the management needs to change the organization culture and structure, and in addition, motivate employees and teach them work ethics in order to ensure a smooth learning organization. These changes can only be implemented if there is harmony between the workers and the management. 8.0 References Ackroyd, S and Crowdy, PA 1990. Can culture be managed?: working with raw material: the case of English slaughter men, Personnel Review, vol.19, no.5, pp. 3-12. Douglas, M. 1966. Purity and danger: an analysis of the concepts of pollution and taboo, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Gomez-Mejia, L.R., Balkin, DB., and Cardy, R.L. 2008. Management: People, Performance, Change, (3rd Ed). New York: McGraw-Hill. John P. Kotter, 1996. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press Kotter, J .P. and Cohen, D.S. 2002. The Heart of Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing. Legge, K, 1989. HRM: A Critical Analysis, in Storey, J, (Ed.), New Perspectives in Human Resource management. London: Routledge. Manfred F. R. 2003. The Dark Side of Leadership - Business Strategy Review vol.14, no.3, p.26. Meara, H., 1974. Honour in dirty work: The case of the American meat cutters and Turkish butchers, Sociology of work and occupation, vol. 1. Peters, T, 1987. Thriving in Chaos. New York: Harper and Row. William B, 1991. Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, Reading. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Read More