As is discussed below there are many factors including low performing and lazy employee as well as lack of relevant skill among employees.
Organization Chart
Plexus strategize its' manufacturing facility to fulfill and focus more on different type of OEM customer via its Customer Teams and the Focused Factory Concept (CFT) organization (Schmenner, Morgan and Swink, Nov 1997). Each manufacturing plant was divided into few CFT with customized marketing strategic to gain highest customer satisfaction, which a team of managers and function groups focus to serve a smaller group of customer with basic cellular principal by providing flexibility to uniquely configure customer requirement (Peppers and Rogers, 2002). Plexus operation method changed to suit demand, by re-layout most of manufacturing line from straight line to U-shape work cell for greater flexibility with higher demand on multi-skilled job functions direct labors
Purpose of the Study
The main objective of the study is to explore the factors that helped to manage the change and keep good work atmosphere at the operational level of the organizations. For this objective the researcher focused on the three factors; employees trust in the management, employees' perception of organizational support and communication methods adopted by different leaders at Plexus. The author assumes that the level of these factors has a positive correlation with the effective change management.
The main question of the study is, "how the management at Plexus shall manage change and establish and what has been the impact on employee morale after the process of restructuring?" The research was conducted within PCBA contract manufacturing industry at its Plexus facility. The researcher particularly examined the relationship between communication methods and employee commitment to effective change management
For the objective of the study both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. To explore employees' satisfaction with change process and impact of managers' communication on employees' commitment to effective change a survey was used followed by interviews with managers of four departments at Plexus.
Research Questions and Hypothesis
As the purpose of the study was to explore the employee motivation during the organizational change at Plexus the study addressed following specific research questions;
1. How the management at Plexus established the interfaces while going through organizational change?
2. How the restructuring process effect employee morale during restructuring process?
3. Does employee satisfaction with communication method have association with employee commitment to effective organizational change?
Based on research questions the following hypotheses were tested.
H0: There is no linear correlation between communication methods applied and employee morale
H1: There is a linear correlation between communication methods applied and employee morale
H0 Employee satisfaction with managerial communication will be positively associated with employees' affective commitment to organizational change
H2. Employee satisfaction with managerial communication will not be positively associated with employees' affective commitment to organizational change
For hypothesis 1 dependent variable is employee morale and communication is independent variable
For hypothesis 2 employee commitment to organizational change is dependent variable and satisfaction with managerial communication is independent variable.
Chapter II Literature Review (5000)
Introduction
The purpose of the present study is to explore the change management strategies of the Plexus during restructuring process and its effect on the employee at operational level. The current chapter is a review of literature related to research topic. The author has in particular focused on the literature on employee motivation, organizational change processes, change management strategies, communication methods and factors that help to motivate employees and help them to cope with the change.
Outcomes of Change Initiatives
Before going for change management strategies and leadership it is necessary to explore the outcomes of change process. As current study focuses on how the change process impacts employees and what strategies are helpful to cope with these problems. At present the organizations are operating in a challenging and turbulent environment. As highlighted by Tichy (1983) there is process of discontinuous change for organizations in today's globalization era. The organizations are facing problems like energy crises, limited resources, issues related to environment, the development and resources gap that is present amongst developed and developing countries and an unstable world economy. Due to globalization and growing international marketplace organizations today have become more complex and because they are expanding their networks and establishing
There the organizations have to face turbulent and some times hostile environments. For survival in these circumstances the management of the organizations must adopt and inmate main changes at strategic level. Now they need to be more flexible so as to cope with the rapid and continuous change.
The age of discontinuity came to realization with the emergence of work by Peter Drucker (1969) and it was realized that work environments are rapidly changing. These changing environments are leading to conditions that lead organization to larger transitions thus requiring organization to change their structure, leadership practices as well as
corporate culture. In these circumstances there emerged a need of more transformational strategic change models.
Employees face difficulty in adopting any change in particular a revolutionary structural change because it challenges their well-established belief systems and values. The efforts to reform challenge the
norms and practices of workers and consequently the efforts of organizational change result in failure. While decision are taken change such as reengineering, restructuring, and M&a in the organization mostly organization try to eliminate unnecessary jobs for the purpose of cutting costs instead of eliminating redundant work. In such situations, managers and management of organizations mostly ask who goes instead of what goes. Resultantly the organization not only loses personnel but also competencies. These
core competencies are important for organization.
Motivation
Motivation plays an important role in
managing change. Leaders motivate employees and boost their morale by communicating about change and appreciating their efforts in accepting the change process. The present section discusses in detail the literature on motivational
theories and role of motivation in organizational successful change management.
Many different theoretical
framework exist which help to explain why a person is motivated to engage in any particular activity as compared to the similar other activities. Robbins (2005) defines motivation as "the willingness to do something and is conditioned by this action's ability to satisfy some need for the individual "(p. 48). In organizational settings motivation has been identified as a key ingredient to make employees engage in productive work. Organizations try to seek employees who can be motivated for doing and completing their tasks as well as managers and leaders who have ability to motivate employees (Francesco & Gold, 2004). Motivation has been defined by Martin and Briggs (1986) as "a hypothetical construct that broadly refers to those internal and external conditions that influence the arousal, direction, and maintenance of behavior" (p. 201). Motivation is also defined as the factors or forces that affect a person and set their direction, concentration, and
determination of voluntary behavior (McShane & Glinow, 2007). Motivation in itself holds broad meaning and covers wide ranges of concepts for example attention, inquisitiveness, acknowledgment, aspiration level and locus of control (Khan, 1997).
There exist many theories of motivation. According to one group of theories motivation is the product of a person's belief that helps to satisfy their needs. An example of this group is the Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs
Though previously it has been considered that
money or
compensation play an important part in employee motivation and their
job satisfaction but according to a recent research it has been proved wrong as concluded by the results of Reliable Surveys.com. It was found that in organizations having high turnover, employees left due to low compensation rate or less wages and it has been a common reason of employee turnover. Similarly in organization where there is low turnover the reason for staying is not compensation but it was found that majority of employees were of the view that they stayed for intrinsic reasons like
working environment, working relationships and satisfaction at employee and managerial level. From this evidence it is clear that the reason behind dissatisfaction is not the one that helps to determine job satisfaction. These results are consistent with the motivation theories Fredrick Herzberg's and
Abraham Maslow's who proposed that employees however level needs are satisfied through compensation and benefits but we are motivated and satisfied if our higher level needs are being met (Employee Satisfaction, 2007)
The "hierarchy of needs" theory was developed by Abraham Maslow. Maslow derived this theory on the principle that there are specific needs at different stages of life that motivate employees. He identified five different levels of needs from lowest to highest. These include physiological needs that are
food, shelter and
sex. Secondly there are
safety needs including physical and emotional safety. Thirdly there come social needs that include belongingness and
love. At fourth level there is need for
respect and self-actualization that is the desire to become what a person desires he/she must become at a certain stage of life. According to Maslow these need needs are generated internally in a person. He also pointed out that lower level needs must be fulfilled to a degree…
