Blackwood Reflections owned by Mr.Virjee, faced two years of consecutive losses, manufactures handcrafted African carvings.

These are custom made carvings with a target market of middle to upper class families. However due to the recession, their business suffered losses that were hard to sustain leading Mr. Virjee to bring about a change in the company that he thought would boost sales and eventually make it profitable again. His idea of change meant that all his employees to work Saturdays on top of the normal 5-day work week, without any additional pay. This was met with stiff resistance from his employees even though the basis of his change was to be productive and save costs which would equate to profits. The employees initially thought that this was a short term solution which would eventually change back to the normal routine; however later on they realized that this was a permanent change. The owner threatened to fire any employee that would protest against this extra day of work. On Maslows hierarchy, safety and love are of paramount importance that would lead to motivation and eventually towards more production. This safety and love need was not met by the owner, as the employees felt threatened which eventually demoralized them. The business owner failed to realize the detrimental effects of overworking his employees without extra-pay. Emotional tension arose amongst the employees and that translated into a poor work output. The owner, Mr.Virjee, would not consistently show up to work on Saturdays but required his employees to do so without fail otherwise they would be reprimanded for their actions. Employees were frustrated and did not work to their maximum potential which meant that the owners change for productivity translated into being counterproductive. This was a classic example of how the employees resisted change in the organization, instead of embracing it; they became unproductive leading to demoralized and a hostile work environment. Resistance to change has been defined as Emotional / behavioral response to real

or imagined work changes (Kinicki 220). One of the reasons why employees resist to change is to poor timing; introducing an extra work day on top of a busy work schedule, as employees hardly get time to catch up with their families, household chores or errands, is an intrusion into their personal life. The business owner failed to realize that he probably introduced a change in a very insensitive manner, not taking into account the opinions of his employees; who are the building blocks of any firms success. My advice to Mr. Virjee would have been to prepare his company for a change by keeping his employees informed about the change, from the moment the idea struck him. Besides keeping the employees informed about the change, the owner should have conducted meetings with his employees about the proposed change and sought their thoughts about implementing it. His tactical approach should have been the fiscal losses that the company is suffering and illustrated how imperative it was for the employees to put in the extra day at work, otherwise he would be left with no choice but to downsize. This meeting would have created a brain storming session allowing employees to input their ideas in ways to reduce cost and increase revenues. The employees would have felt that their opinions mattered and concurrently creating a sense of belonging in the organization. Allowing employees to give their opinions on how to effectively help the organization become profitable would have also eventually led to empowering these employees. Great ideas would have come out from this meeting, initiating the owner to designate projects or tasks to different employees by empowering them in the organization. Mr.Virjee should not only empower employees by delegating tasks or projects but should also promote healthy competition amongst employees by awarding perks or benefits to the most productive employees. This positive reinforcement will shape the behavior of the employees to outperform each other, leading to greater productivity within the organization.