Assumptions
Negative work events at both, the new sales commission and at Datasil Inc., got different responses from the employees at both companies.
It’s quite clear that employees of Datasil Inc. are fully committed to their company from their response during the meeting with their bosses from the U.S. Old employees at the new sales commission are committed to the welfare of their company.
They have invented survival tactics to cope with changes implemented without their consent. Employees of the newly acquired organization show little or no commitment to the company.
Datasil’s employees are motivated. They look up at the acquisition with a lot of anticipation and are, in fact, willing to oversee a smooth integration of the parent company into the Canadian market. During the meeting, they actively participate in finding solutions for their problems.
Employees at the new sales commission are demotivated, especially after taking home no bonus while their counterparts pocket huge bonuses.
The employees of Datasil Inc. show a lot of job satisfaction. No one in the company is contemplating quit. On the other hand, the new team at Amtransport is largely dissatisfied with work.
Root Cause Analysis
Job satisfaction
In general sense, a job is supposed to elicit emotional state that results from the appraisal of one’s job experiences. This is what is termed as Job satisfaction. Workers at Amtransport are not satisfied.
This arises from the fact that the new workers who join the company are not taken through job training. The accounts Executives from the parent company have experience and adapt easily to the changes introduced by the management, thus have advantages over new employees.
The new employees used to work in a different fashion, and a sudden change caught them by surprise. Most of them only had experience in selling one product. The introduction of new directives for the three products did not rhyme well with what they already knew. This brought about job dissatisfaction.
Amtransport employees were not properly supervised and, therefore, no one noted that the new employees have a problem in adapting to the changes.
Salary, bonus, and commission systems may also have demotivated new workers resulting into their poor performance. Whereas their counterparts from the mother company received huge bonuses, almost all the 25 new account executives received nothing.
Because of poor integration of the competitor company into Amtransport, employees lacked the sense of ownership of the company. They did not possess affective commitment to their employer. No wonder that many of them were contemplating leaving.
There is no Autonomy in The new sales commission, a fact that leads to further dissatisfaction. Job autonomy means that the employees possess a certain degree of freedom, independence, and discretion.
The new sales commission has no feedback mechanism. Therefore, their work is not evaluated, and the information on how they are performing in their work does not reach the seniors directly.
Value-Percept Theory of Job Satisfaction contends that satisfaction in jobs depends on whether employees feel that their job supplies the thing that they value. Specific aspects of a given job are used by people to evaluate job satisfaction.
Pay satisfaction– The new sales commissioners were not satisfied with their payment. The bonus and commission systems were unachievable to the new employees and therefore, they earned less than they expected.
Employees at Datasil Inc. were happy with their payment, especially after they were promised payment increase. This value perception increased their job satisfaction, and no one would be willing to quit with such a high expectation.
When people joined Datasil Inc., there were high hopes of promotion, but later people realized that they would stack in their routinized jobs for quite a long time. The takeover presented them with new hopes and filled them with anticipation.
The new management had already offered an upgraded workstation to each of the Canadian employees. This move really made those at the meeting quite motivated. Their commitment to this company saw them participate in the discussion with a positive attitude like we saw.
Another core aspect of value-percept theory has to do with satisfaction supervision. Senior managers at the new sales commission were those who headed the parent company. They lacked a personal touch with the new employees. No team building activities or party were held.
The workers felt that their bosses were incompetent, isolated, and bad communicators. On the other hand, top managers at Datasil Inc. actively participate in decision making in the Canadian company, the new departmental managers are friendly and decisions are made openly.
Communication in Datasil Inc. is laterally as opposed to the vertical communication at Amtransport. This created job satisfaction at Datasil Inc., while at the sales commission, job dissatisfaction was very high.
Satisfaction with the work itself-this should reveal the feelings of the employees about their specific work. It includes whether their jobs are challenging or uncomfortable. In both the companies, satisfaction with the work itself is rather low.
Employees at Datasil Inc. are disgruntled with the new directives that are ultimately resulting in customer dissatisfaction. Delays in delivery are now more common than ever, and the company is likely to be losing to competitors. Those at The new sales commission have no experience or training the responsibility they are handling.
Coworker satisfaction- old Amtransport employees at the new sales commission strategize swiftly when new directives are given. They share on how to share their strengths to ensure each one of them reaps from the new measures. However, they do very little to share their strategies with their new co-workers.
When the bonuses are paid, they reap heavily, while their new co-workers take home nothing. This acts to dissatisfy the new team leading to quits. Likewise, the Datasil Inc. employees mind about each other’s welfare. Mr. Baker is particularly concerned about his employees who he says are unhappy due to their orders delays.
Organizational commitment
Organizational commitment may occur in any of the three forms; affective commitment, continuance commitment, or normative commitment.
Affective commitment
Employees at Datasil Inc. were promised salary increments which are likely to increase their commitment to the company. They also anticipated and were enthusiastic about the new management style.
The promise of more autonomy from the parent company is likely to make them motivated and thus, show more commitment to the organization. The Datasil Inc. employees are likely to remain in the company because they want to. This type of commitment shown by Datasil Inc. employees is what is termed as affective commitment.
Continuance commitment
This is the desire to remain in the organization due to emotional attachment, and involvement with that company. If an employee with Datasil Inc. chose to resign, he or she would have to part with all the promises that come with the takeover.
Normative commitment
Following the takeover, the new top management at Datasil Inc. actively solicited the views and the opinions of the employees. Meetings were held to assist in resolving any arising problems. Such a move is likely to create a sense of ownership in employees.
The employees had a desire to promote a smooth integration of the U.S. Company into the Canadian market. They showed a normative commitment because they felt part and parcel of Datasil Inc. These commitments combine to create psychological attachment.
The attendance of Datasil Inc. employees in an informal cocktail with their local and the U.S heads boosted their flowing commitment to the company. An informal party increases the bonds that link employees together and can only be equated to mentoring and team building programs.
On the other hand, Amtransport did little to inspire employees in the newly acquired competitor employees.
There were no incentives such as promises for better salaries and good working conditions, instead of understanding the market first, the new management, which had no experience in ground services, took the chance in the acquisition process to restructure the sales department and the commission system.
The salaries paid to the account executives were below the industry standards that did little to encourage commitment. The bonus system was also discriminatory in that it was based on core products, whereas the acquired company operated under geographical division. Rather than consult, the senior management assumed almost everything.
A situation like this demoralizes employees making them feel unimportant and less valuable. As such, they lack job satisfaction which lowers their commitment to the organization. Unsatisfied employees will always want to quit.
Whereas Datasil Inc. employees have been given autonomy (freedom, independence, and discretion to individuals performing the work), those at Amtransport have not the slightest idea of what freedom tastes like. Responsibilities are heaped onto them without caring to listen to their views.
The new employees inherited from the acquired organization are not even inducted into the operations of the parent company. They are sent into the field to sell products they are not even familiar with.
There seems to be division among workers as the original Amtransport workers won’t share their secrets with the newly acquired account executives. Jobs at Amtransport lack key ingredients such as growth need strength, knowledge, and skills.
Motivation
Motivation is a set of energetic forces, both intrinsic and extrinsic, to the employee; it initiates work related effort, and determines direction, intensity and persistence. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory refers to terms such as the working conditions and salary.
The theory states that when working conditions and salary are inadequate, employees tend to be dissatisfied. Improving on these factors alone does not however raise job satisfaction. According to Herzberg, achievement, recognition and responsibility tended to be associated with satisfaction. When people succeeded in their jobs, they attributed the characteristics to themselves.
Motivation has the tendency to increase competency. Very difficult goals are demotivating in a certain way. The motivational force emanating from expectancy is a powerful motivational variable for job performance.
Datasil Inc. management created a very high expectancy in their employees-the promise of pay increase, improved work stations, better communication methods, and greater autonomy and so on. These factors acted to increase their level of motivation which, in turn, precipitated to the positive attitude shown during the meeting.
The new sales commission new employees showed lack of motivation due to poor working conditions and inadequate bonus system. According to Herzberg, these two factors are very likely to result into dissatisfaction in employees.
Company’s policy and administration, poor supervision, and poor interpersonal relationships are other predisposing factors that lead to the dissatisfaction displayed by the new sales commission employees.
Recognition, the quality of work, and the responsibility handed to the Datasil Inc. employees increase job satisfaction. The possibility of salary increment and promotion are also pivotal in the attitude shown by the employees during the meeting.
Withdrawal Behavior
Workers in the two case studies reacted in one of the general four ways in response to the negative change in their respective organizations;
Voice: those from the Datasil Inc. opted to speak out their concern in a meeting convened to address concerns over loss of sales. Representatives from various departments aired out their concerns which were then discussed in the forum.
Discussions in the meeting are organized and individual do not play blame game. The participants were able to come up with a solution for their problem.
With the case of Amtransport, there was no communication from the senior executives. There was not direct contact between the top management and the junior staff. Problems go unsolved because the management rely more on assumption rather than real observation.
When several account executives resign, there is no inquest into their action, they are summarily ignored, and the change dubbed a success. Employees in Amtransport have no chance to speak.
Exit- nearly all the new employees at Amtransport are contemplating quit as they don’t have job satisfaction. There was no job training for the new employees, and because interactions are not encouraged, there is no opportunity to learn from each other. This is despite the fact that Amtransport bonus system is the best in the market.
Neglect- most of the new employees remaining at Amtransport are showing neglect. They would like to leave but have nowhere else to go to. They are buying time to see if the situation will improve or they find alternative jobs. Their motivation has decreased to very low levels due to conditions at the workplace.
Recommendations
To create job satisfaction, the senior management at Amtransport should consider reviewing the bonus system to foster equal chances. The new employees should be offered training to match their co-workers who are already far much ahead. Salaries should also be harmonized to reflect trends in the market.
To increase commitment, the managers should consider installing proper supervision measures so that the correct picture of the happening on the ground is reflected. Consultations are an important part of any decision making process; the managers should consider consulting with the employees to avoid losing valuable employees.
Team building programs are essential if co-worker satisfaction is to be achieved in Amtransport. The company (Amtransport) should consider lateral communication to improve on information dissemination.
The management at Amtransport should solicit feedback from employees about how their assignments can be made more satisfying.