Subrat Sarangi, Ashok Priyadarshi, Gloryson R.B. Chalil and Rasananda Panda
The case dwells with the following theoretical concepts: Appreciate the different need dimensions required to motivate different employee types based on need theory (Alderfer…
Abstract
Theoretical basis
The case dwells with the following theoretical concepts: Appreciate the different need dimensions required to motivate different employee types based on need theory (Alderfer, 1969). Identify the functional needs as per Maslow’s need hierarchy (Hall & Naougaim, 1968) for the permanent and contractual workers. Outline why only hygiene factors are insufficient to arrest worker absenteeism during a pandemic like COVID-19. Apply need theory and “Herzberg’s two-factor theory” (Herzberg, 1966; Herzberg et al., 1957) to enumerate the measures that need to be implemented to build supply chain resilience by reducing absenteeism by motivating employees.
Research methodology
The case is based on primary research carried out by the authors at Alkem Laboratories Ltd., Sikkim unit in India, during the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the company leading to high absenteeism of contractual workers.
Case overview/Synopsis
Alkem Laboratories Ltd. is a leading pharma major from India with a global footprint. At the break of COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing unit of the company at Sikkim is facing the scare of mass absenteeism, especially among the contractual workers who account for 60% of the workforce of the unit. Ashok Priyadarshi (Vice President, Human Resources) and his team along with the think tank of the unit have to find a solution to the problem at hand. What shall be the measures that the think tank will propose? The team sets out to find an answer to these questions so that Alkem could seize the business opportunity at the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Complexity academic level
The case is suitable for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in organizational behavior, organizational change and development and supply chain risk management. The case can also be positioned for executive education and training modules in companies on employee motivation and commitment.
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Keywords
Gaurav Manohar Marathe, Girish Balasubramanian and Gloryson Chalil
The purpose of this paper is to extend the job demands-resources (JD-R) model by including the factor of “personal demands” and conceptualise experience on personal and job…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend the job demands-resources (JD-R) model by including the factor of “personal demands” and conceptualise experience on personal and job dimensions separately as personal thrust and job thrust. Further, different psychological work states that individuals experience through intra-dimensional balance across personal and job dimensions are proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explains various possible psychological work states experienced by a job incumbent by conceptually developing intra-dimensional fluctuations within the person and job dimensions, respectively, as the new concepts of person and job thrust.
Findings
Personal thrust and job thrust have been identified as the two dimensions which impact the work state. Complete engagement and complete disengagement have been identified as two ends of a continuum. Complete work engagement is defined as the balance across these two dimensions. Various combinations of balances and imbalances across these two dimensions results in four different states of disengagement identified as work exhaustion, work boredom, work search and work neutrality.
Research limitations/implications
This paper suggests a novel approach to using personal demand to look at work states which would significantly impact existing research in the JD-R model. This paper tries to bridge the gap between work engagement as a construct and the psychological work states as a phenomenon. Further, it is contended that the psychological work states are manifestations of the interactions between the two dimensions identified as personal and job thrust, which could further be developed into various work-related attitudes and behaviours.
Practical implications
Instead of only relying on the engagement/disengagement dichotomy to plan interventions, managers can plan the appropriate interventions depending on the specific disengagement state analysed through personal and job thrust.
Originality/value
The newly developed model of work states explains the fluctuation of an individual across different work states and links the personal and job-related demand–resource balance at the workplace with distal work-related outcomes, thereby significantly extending the JD-R model.