Verified Document

Workplace Re-Organization And Its Effects Literature Review

The second set of strains is created by the poor management of the change. In other words, employees accept the fact the organizational change would materialize in several impacts on their jobs. Yet, they need to feel a certain degree of security and this is given by an adequate managerial act. When the managerial team is unable to adequately manage the modifications brought about by the implemented change, the employees' emotional well-being would be negatively affected. At the third level, the study by Donald B. Fedor and David M. Herold assesses the impact of change from the standpoint of the multitude of modifications it would imply. The two authors find that employees are more accepting of a minimal change which improves their working conditions. In such an instance, their loyalty to the firm increases. Vice versa, when a major modification occurs, the loyalty of the employees towards the employer decreases, even if the employees ultimately accept the change. "Somewhat ironically, while the participating employees reported reasonable acceptance of the change being implemented, they also seemed to become less committed to the organization. Moreover, the highest commitment occurred when the change was seen as good for the work unit, there as a lot of change at the work unit level, but little direct job impact. Ergo, employees like lots of beneficial change that also leaves them relatively untouched. In contrast, the greatest decrease in organizational commitment was reported when a somewhat minor change was seen as good for the work unit, but the personal job impact was high" (Fedor and Herold).

Wilfred J. Zerbe, Charmine E.J. Hartel and Lea M. Ashkanasy (2008) strongly believe that organizational change has a significantly strong negative impact of the emotional welfare of the employees. This belief is constructed on the fact that change is a primer generator of stress for both managers as well as employees. They base their conclusions on several previous studies which detailed on particular aspects of specific organizational changes, such as downsizing (Brockner, 1998 and Torkelson and Muhonen, 2003), job redesign (Mak and Muller, 2001) or mergers (Buono and Bowditch, 1989). All these studies indicated that organizational change has a negative connotation among employees, whose emotional well-being is affected to a deep level. The stress associated with the change would then take a negative toll on the employee's family life and on his mental and physical health. In the very words of the authors: "collectively, this research demonstrates that organizational change causes chronic occupational stress hat has carry-over effects on family functioning, psychological health, physical health, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and loyalty. There are several social, cognitive and psychological consequences of organizational change that have a negative impact upon employees' affective well-being" (Zerbe, Hartel and Ashkanasy).

In spite of these findings, the three authors mention that the negative impact would only be felt in the short-term. In the long-term however, the company manages to integrate the modifications and become more competitive. This in turn leads to beneficial impacts for the staff members, such as reduced workloads, increased salaries or an increased job security.

In terms of the specific change of organizational restructuring, the three authors mention that the process follows in the same footsteps as any change process and generates a series of negative implications upon the emotional well-being of the staff members. "Organizational restructuring is associated with decreased job security, role conflict, ambiguity and uncertainty and decreased social support as work teams are redistributed" (Zerbe, Hartel and Ashkanasy, 2008).

The specific aspect of organizational change as organizational restructuring is less discussed than the actual change process, meaning as such that the specialized literature on the impact of organizational restructuring on employee well-being is limited. Yet, there are some sources which discuss the topic. Grace Lee and Albert Teo (2010) for instance look at the impacts from two...

The findings indicate that organizational restructuring generally impacts these two elements in a negative manner as the employees' on the job satisfaction and their trust in the employer decreases with the implementation of change. Still, the authors conclude that these negative impacts can be counteracted with an adequate change management program.
Paul M. Hirsh and Michaela De Soucey (2006) come to a similar conclusion. They recognize the necessity of contemporaneous organizations to implement change in order to survive in the incrementally competitive business environment, but argue that organizational managers are not always aware of the full extent of the impacts of organizational restructuring. From their standpoint, restructuring is implemented when other organizational and external approaches have failed. They as such generate stress and a negative impact on the employees' well-being. "The language of restructuring is regularly used to mask, reframe, and sugarcoat economic slumps as possessing positive social outcomes" (Hirsh and de Soucey). The authors end their study by revealing some topics for future study, such as the impact of restructuring on organizational culture.

All in all, the approach taken by Hirsh and Soucey is consistent throughout the entire literature, which identifies the need for change, and its particular restructuring component, but which also argues that not all managers have comprehended the dimensions and implications of restructuring. On the short-term, the process generates tremendous negative impacts associated primarily with the stress of change. On the long-term however, the process can lead to significant positive outcomes. The editors at the Universal Teacher Publications mention the following benefits of organizational restructuring:

Decreased operational costs

Better trained staff members

Improved organizational culture

The creation of a new and more equitable employee payment structure

The creation of more adequate human resource policies (Universal Teacher Publications).

Sources used in this document:
References:

Barnett, W.P., Carroll, G.R., 1995, Modeling Internal Organizational Change, Annual Review of Sociology

Dawson, P., 2003, Understanding Organizational Change: The Contemporary Experience of People at Work, SAGE

Eric, P., 2008, Definition of Organizational Change, Associated Content, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1051603/the_definition_of_organizational_change.html?cat=46 last accessed on June 3, 2010

Fedor, D.B., Herold, D.M., Effects of Change Management on Employee Responses: An Overview of Results from Multiple Studies, CPBIS, http://www.cpbis.gatech.edu/files/papers/CPBIS-WP-04-02%20Herold_Fedor_Change%20Management%20Fall%202004.pdf last accessed on June 3, 2010
Kaur, G., a Study of Organizational Change and its Impacts on Employee Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction in a Few Selected Public Sector Banks in and Around Chandigarh, Panjab University, http://www.puchd.ac.in/phd/gaganubs.pdf last accessed on June 7, 2010
Organizational Restructuring, Universal Teacher Publications, http://www.universalteacherpublications.com/mba/free-project/p3/page9.htm last accessed on June 7, 2010
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Organizational Change and Development the
Words: 2653 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

Exploring the complex web of meaning and interpretation attached to concepts like nostalgia would illuminate aspects of resistance in ways that current rationality-based theories do not. Greater attention to affect, identity, symbolism, aesthetics, and related subjects would provide a useful balance to change and innovation research. It is important to acknowledge the many sides of human beings and consider how they may figure in starting, sustaining, and resisting change. We

Workplace Violence Bullying Workplace Violence Can Be
Words: 4127 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Workplace violence (Bullying) Workplace violence can be defined as an action that manifests itself in threatening behavior, physical assault, aggression or any other violent form that may be displayed at work setting and may be directed towards coworkers, managers or even the customers themselves. These aggressions can cause emotional or to great extent physical harm or both (USLegal Inc., 2011). In the context of this paper, bullying as one of the aspects

Workplace Motivation Theories: In the Early 1960s,
Words: 890 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Workplace Motivation Theories: In the early 1960s, the study of motivation was not considered as a reputable pursuit since it was dominated by behaviorists. These behaviorists argued that motivation is brought by external factors that act as either re-inforcers or punishers. Internal factors resulting in individual motivation were basically regarded as physiological by non-behaviorists. However, in the past few decades, workplace motivation has developed to become a significant topic to an

Organizational Motivation and Leadership in the Workplace
Words: 1471 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Organizational Motivation and Leadership in the Workplace The company A globally well-known chain of the burger and rapid food dining establishments called McDonald's Company (NYSE: MCD) serves around 58 million consumers on a day-to-day basis. McDonald's Company likewise runs some well-known little chains of dining establishments like Pret A Manger, which was closed in 2008. This company was among the investors in Chipotle Mexican Grill up until the year 2006. Boston Market

Organizational Development: Driving Change in the 1960's,
Words: 3316 Length: 10 Document Type: Research Paper

Organizational Development: Driving Change In the 1960's, Organizational development (OD) emerged as a field identifiable with survey research, action research, T-groups, open system theory, humanistic psychology, building team and channeling process consultation. The methods and ideas have thus broadened and enriched its range and approach. Since the 80's, these methods and ideas have converged in a form of OD which begs to vary from the OD of the 60's in both

Organization Structure ROWE Model With Each Organization
Words: 631 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Organization Structure ROWE Model With each organization looking for the most efficient ways of getting work done, there has a risen a necessity to try out several modes of operation that would enable the intended results in an organization to be realized. This was one of the driving forces that prompted Best Buy to change their mode of operation to the ROWE model. The other very significant reason behind the ROWE model is

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now