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The Omega case (Adam Smith and Littlewood) describes an

organization with serious issues that relate to organizational
behavior. The company fails to communicate with its employees
and also does not place any value on them, which is clearly
pernicious to the effective running of the business. According to this
case , this has led to absenteeism and high turnover rate among the
professional staff. These and other issues within the field of
organizational behavior will be discussed with reference to scientific
research and theory. Whittington and Evans propose that creating a
challenging and meaningful environment for employees is the
strategic imperative of the new millennium”(2005 , p 114). In the
case of Omega, absenteeism and high turnover rate is due to lack of
communication and lack of motivation for its employees. This stem
forms their lack of commitment towards the company and low job
satisfaction.

Organizational commitment has been classified in three distinct

stands. Affective commitment can be refer to employees who have a
affirmative view of the environment and therefore prefer to stay in
the organization, continuance commitment refers to those who
perceive the cost of leaving are outweigh the benefits, and
normative commitment refers to those who remain because they feel
obligated to do so (Allen and Meyers, 1990). The employees
described in the Omega case are generally described to have high
levels of affective commitment. There is very little evidence that
proves those employees are high on continuance commitment or
normative commitment. Further more in a meta analytical study
stated that affective commitment is related to low job turnover and
absenteeism (Meyer el al 2002). The recent meta-analytical study
revealed that employees with greater affective commitment would
perform much better in future (Riketta, 2008). However due to
associated design of studies in this area caution must be urged in
placing too much emphasis on this relationship.

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Maslow’s theory addresses issues of human needs from a certain job

which are personality based and psychological. Unlike the issues of
organizational commitment, it is possible to study Maslow’s theory
and job performance. ‘Indeed , the general idea behind Maslow’s
theory seems to be supported, such as the distinction between
deficiency needs and growth needs.’ (1986, p.78). in Omega, we
observe that the company 52% of the employees would prefer
joining a job that would offer them 10% increase in their existing
salary. This states that the employees were not happy with their
current wages, but they employees were mainly not satisfies because
91% of them did not hold any company shares and for 89% of them
found that money wasn’t the most important aspect of their job.
Wages and salaries are recognized to be a significant but cognitively
complex (pg 102-109 ,1996). Offering employees with company
shares was anticipated by most of the employees.

Research on Maslow’s theory suggest a number of property the

organization should provide as security needs. The company had
withdrawn all health care plans. Considering the average age of the
employee is 44, health care plan will provide a sense of
belongingness in the organization. This provides a the hygiene
factor , which can be related to Herzberg’ two factor theory. Most
of these problems can be overshadowed by the fact that the
organization has not been fulfilling any of its social needs. Gallup
survey research argues Maslow’s third level, social needs are the
single most important contribution to satisfaction in life (Tom Rath,
2006). The organization did not have any sort of formal
communication structure which disturbed the employees since they
did not have any control over things that were affecting them at
work. This in return made the employees feel that the management
was not interested in their working environment.

Maslow’s theory addresses the issue of self-esteem related to status ,

promotion and symbol in an organization in accordance to

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employees. 95% of the employees feel that they do not need close
supervision while working as most of them do not receive regular
feedbacks on their work performance. Herzberg’s theory argues that
providing monetary benefits and providing excellent working
conditions are not the only factors of motivation but at times
challenging jobs and acknowledgment of their work helps in
achieving a sense of belongingness and keeps them motivated.
Motivators should keep a check on them and not only supervise but
also value their work in their presence which would help in
motivation. It also understood at the same time management support
is required and the employee view on decision making which effects
them should be considered.

“Self esteem can be understood at self concept under personality

theory. Self esteem has more to do with people’s self – perceived
competence and self image”(Luthas, 128). At Omega the employees
do not face any problems, which could relate to their self esteem as
most employees are always trying to put better outputs and are more
willing to learn. Hence it can be understood that employee at Omega
have high self esteem. It is argued that high self esteem can be a
good thing when it relates to human characteristics such as
creativity, intelligence and persistence when it is nurtured and
channeled in a constructive and ethical way (kreitner and kinicki,
2001).

Self-actualization, which relates to personal growth and realization

of potential, is low at Omega since the company has been facing
external pressures and trading difficulties which has led to
developing smaller or no training and development budgets. Since
Omega was not increasing the wages they even were facing the fear
of these employees leaving the organization. It is argued that
organizations that attempt to reduce fear and other strong emotional
response during these moments through severance pay programs
and outplacement services may be able to reduce the impact of

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individual termination and lay offs, especially for those who remain
in the company(Kinicki, Prussia and Mckee, 2000). Hertzberg’s
two factory theory could also be related here since personal growth
is a hygiene factor and realization of potential is a motivators factor.
Hertzberg also argues that both these factors play an important role
in an employees motivation. Hertzberg theory says that management
should not only concentrate on the hygiene factors but providing a
sense of recognition, achievement, responsibility is also an
important aspect of motivation. Omega should work on
communication which will also help develop better leadership
qualities. Omega lacks vertical communication. Communication
also reflects the organizational culture. Communication is referred
to a process that occurs among people, its not with the help of
technology but on the forces of people and their
surroundings(Iavncevich and Matteson, 1993). Vertical
communication should be prominent in an organization as it helps in
exchange of views and not just information. It should both ways,
which would help the organization in understanding the situation in
a much better manner. It should be understood that communication
at all levels plays an important role and the absence of
communication could lead to dissatisfied employees, therefore
making the environment very unconducive.

Considering all the fact and finding we can conclude that

communication has been a major issue in the organization.
Considering Maslow’s hierarchy of need, the company has been
facing a lot of issues with security and social needs. Maslow’s
theory is considered as a pyramid that starts with safety and
security, which moves up through rewards, affiliation, growth and
work and life harmony(Stun, 2001). Omega as an organization does
not face issues with poor quality of staff. They should work towards
developing a better and more effective way of communication that
will help in generating a more positive approach towards the
employees. Although the employees are not looking for any sort of

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monetary benefits they should be provided with company shares,

which will help build confidence in them that lack when it comes to
Omega. May be Omega can not afford to provide a better fleet of
cars or intensive training and development programs but they could
consider the employees view which is of high importance
considering the fact that they are professional staff. The level of
criticism could be high but a more effective management methods
could be adopted. Once the communication barrier is removed the
free flow of thoughts among the employees and management will
also help in understanding on how the company should be governed
and the level of supervision that should be provided. The company
may also downsize considering the fact that each employee is
willing to take more responsibility of his or her job. This also helps
increasing leadership levels and the company can take this as an
opportunity for internal promotion and creating newer positions in
their management. Hence the management as such will be able to
provide a ‘meaningful and challenging’ working experience their by
reducing turnover and improving satisfaction.

References:

Whittington, J L and Evans,B (2005) General Issues in

Manageemnt: The Enduring Impact of great Ideas. Problems and
Perspective in Management. 2 114-122
J.P Meyer and N.J. Allen.”A Three-component Conceptualization
Organization Commitment” Human resource management review
Vol 1,1991 , pp 61-89

Riketta, M. (2008). The causal relation between job attitudes and

performance: A meta-analysis of panel studies. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 93, 472-481.

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Robert A. Baron, Behavior in Organization, 2nd edition, Allyn and

Bacon, Boston, 1986 p. 78

Tom Rath, Vital Friends, Gallup Press, New York, 2006 and “You
Schmooze, You Win ,” Fast company July/August 2006 p. 109

Robert Kretiner and Angelo Kinicki, Organizational behavior 5th

edition, McGraw- Hill, New York,2001, pg. 139

A.J.Kinicki, G.E. Russia and F.M. Mckee- Ryan “A Panel Study of

Coping with Involuntary Job Loss” Academy of Management
Journal, Vol. 43, No 1 , 2000, pp. 99-100

John M. Invancevich and Micheal T. Matteson, “Organizational

Behavior and Management ” McGraw – Hill , New York, 3rd edition
1993, pg. 633

David .L. Stun “Maslow Revisited: Building The Employee

commitment Pyramid,” Strategy and Leadership, Vol. 29, No.4 , pp
4-9

Bozionelos (2008). The management of work attitudes and work

motivation. Organizational Behaviour. Online
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304E/courses/1/BUSI4V815_2010/content/_1409078_1/embedded/
MAOB-U3%20-%20Attitudes%20%26%20Work
%20Movivation.pdf>

Fred Luthans “Organisational Behavior ” An Evidence Based

Approach , Twelfth Edition Text Book