Reenergizing employees after a downsizing/ HR Management
The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to: (a) better understand theories and concepts we discussed in this course, (b) implement theoretical concepts into practice, and (c) improve your critical thinking and writing skills.
Please carefully read the “Reenergizing Employees After a Downsizing” case study, and then prepare a written summary of your assessment about the below four questions. This assignment requires critical thinking in addition to an understanding of the course material. To answer the below questions, please use the relevant concepts and theories which include task performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, motivation theories, psychological empowerment, justice, trust, and ethics. You must use and properly cite at least five external sources (e.g., books, journal articles. etc.).
Questions:
1. Putting yourself in the shoes of Andrea, which of the four justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, informational) is most important in the morning briefing? Should Andrea be honest and informative in explaining corporate actions in the downsizing, or should she be more guarded? What would be the ethical implications of those two options? Support your analysis with the relevant concepts and theories from Chapter 6.
2. Drawing discussions on justice and ethics, what advice would you give to Andrea in terms of her use of the bigger compensation budget? Would you give everyone a short-term “retention bonus” or a more permanent raise? Or would you leverage those funds to support the changes in the work structure, especially for those staffers with an especially expanded workload? What would be the ethical implications of those two options? Support your analysis with the relevant concepts and theories from Chapters 5 and 6.
3. Which motivation theories and motivational factors would Andrea apply when combining areas for the staffers? Is there a way to give the new versions of their jobs a higher satisfaction potential than the pre- downsizing versions? Support your analysis with the relevant concepts and theories.
4. How much voice and input would you recommend Andrea give to the staffers, as the Blaze transitions to its “new normal”? What are the pluses of giving such input and what would be the dangers associated with it? How could those dangers be mitigated?
