Employment and Job Security Concepts - Case Study Example

Case Study Involving Problem Created By Change in the Organization Summary 1. Introduction This paper attempts to find the problems to the rapid changes in the business environment and employment and job security concepts that have undergone tremendous changes in all sectors of society causing a feeling of insecurity and feeling of being lost in the big rush and rat race to survive. The drafting policy makes it mandatory to perform military service. There are two types in the US army, the regulars and the conscripts. After a stressful career in the army, what suffering do they face when cashiered, and what trauma is created? How do they overcome them? Can we find a solution to this? This is the concern of this paper. If we are able to analyze the US Army and find a pattern, it will fit any company or concern in the US because to day business models are also based on the army model. What happens to the employee who suddenly finds that there is no more pay check next month? The problem is similar to the soldier who is suddenly divested off his uniform and told to go looking for a civilian job. 2. A look at the Soldier The US army trains soldiers to various professions, but are they cared for in such a way that they fit the civilian life? The army is like a work place. Just as the software engineer is oriented to computer programming, and will be like a fish out of water once that area of his work is lost, and he is for example made to become a salesman of biscuits. There will be considerable trauma and he will have to compete with the specialist biscuit sellers. The soldier is imbibed with a sense of belonging and the pride in the uniform he wears. He lives, breathes and works in a great institution insulated from the outside world, a world where duty is first and things like competition, sales and board meetings for enhancing product value almost does not exist. Added to that in today’s civil world education and specialization is very important to have a good career. That is why the GI is asked by well wishers to keep and enroll in education programs. For example the GI Bill takes out $100 from the pay to ensure education. “Did you know that an enlistee only has one chance to sign up for the GI Bill? It happens in basic training, and those who sign up agree to have one hundred dollars a month deducted from their basic pay for one year. When the enlistee attends college, the military pays more than one thousand dollars a month at current rates for full-time enrollment in an approved, accredited school.”1 That was an advertisement from the Universities. The advertisement tip further says: “The GI Bill is a 'one time only' deal. Most people who refuse the GI Bill don't think they'll ever need it or think they can sign up for it later if they change their minds, but this is not the case. Don't refuse the GI Bill! The one hundred dollar a month deduction from your pay won't hurt much in that first year of military service, and the benefits of having the GI Bill are worth the expense.” 2 What will the benefits of education? How will the personnel leaving the army adjust to civilian demands? We are aware now that education by itself does not guarantee that the veteran will find a job or be free of traumas. In peace time, the trauma is less. Consider the veterans from Vietnam, or even the world wars. Also consider the ones returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. What is their plight? If we are able to analyze the way the veterans are treated by society today, we will understand the problems of the soldier and the tough life faced by them once they leave the safety of their uniforms. 3. Veterans from the Army The Times on November 15, 2007 reported that there is an epidemic of suicides among the veterans who are disillusioned and traumatized and the death toll is more than the toll in the war. The rate of suicides among veterans prompted claims that the US was suffering from a “mental health epidemic” – often linked to post-traumatic stress.” 3 If that was not enough the article further goes on to state the pathetic conditions of those who get out of the army after seeing action : “CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself in 2005 as suggesting that the military was covering up the scale of the problem. “Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total,” Mike Bowman said. “They don’t want the true numbers of casualties to really be known.” Mr Bowman’s son, Tim, was an army reservist who patrolled one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, known as Airport Road. “His eyes when he came back were just dead. The light wasn’t there anymore,” said his mother, Kim Bowman. Eight months later, on Thanksgiving Day, Tim committed suicide.” 4 According to the report there are more than eleven percent of the veterans who are homeless. It is also learnt that even the army hospitals are not above reproach. Cconditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington according to the newspaper revelations became a lightning rod for criticism of the war in general. The outpatient clinic was described as Terms as squalid and rat-infested were reserved for the outpatient clinic. It was also dubbed as a maze of red tape – patinets often with severe brain injuries – wandering the corridors without help.”5 The army is neglecting even the existing staff was reported by Dana Priest and Anne Hullon. The caption was “Soldiers face neglect at Medical facility”. They say that: “The common perception of Walter Reed is of a surgical hospital that shines as the crown jewel of military medicine. But 5 1/2 years of sustained combat have transformed the venerable 113-acre institution into something else entirely different -- a holding ground for physically and psychologically damaged outpatients. Almost 700 of them -- the majority soldiers, with some Marines -- have been released from hospital beds but still need treatment or are awaiting bureaucratic decisions before being discharged or returned to active duty.”6 The wish is to highlight the soldier’s plight, particularly those who fall prey to wounds with loss of faculties and limbs. At the same time those who are traumatized have little hope of getting on in society. This is the outlook: “On the worst days, soldiers have opined that they feel like they are living a chapter of "Catch-22." The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide. Unqualified platoon sergeants, disengaged clerks, and overworked case managers grope with simple needs: replacing a uniform ripped off by medics in the desert sand, feeding soldiers' families who are close to poverty, or helping a brain-damaged soldier remember his next appointment. "We've done our duty. We fought the war. We came home wounded. Fine. But whoever the people are back here who are supposed to give us the easy transition should be doing it," said Marine Sgt. Ryan Groves, 26, an amputee who lived at Walter Reed for 16 months. "We don't know what to do. The people who are supposed to know don't have the answers. It's a nonstop process of stalling." Soldiers, volunteers, family members, and caregivers who have made attempts to fix the system say each mishap seems trivial by itself, but the cumulative effect wears down the spirits of the wounded and can stall their recovery.” This is a situation particular to the army veterans. Any individual in any profession today faces the axe often enough. Job hunting and networking are the buzz words. Now, in such a situation, what will be the ideal steps for individuals and organizations to take to minimize the trauma of change and help rebuild the lost lives? How to save people from taking the extreme step? The problem reflected in corporate sectors. Most companies today play the hire and fire game. Business is very competitive and therefore everyone is employed until he or she is useful. There are no values like respect, and past considerations. Today’s performance keeps your tomorrow. This attitude is very alarming and in future suicides, drunkenness and many problems are likely to result for people not only from the army, but just anyone pushed against a bleak wall of uncertain future. The point is that we have to learn from the Eastern countries like India and Japan, both of which are democratic nations and also competitive. The pattern of employment and state regulation of labor and the traditions of honor and commitment lessen the individual suffering. Employees and employers have a well defined pattern of mutual trust and existence and all adversities are shared. In part 2 we analyze some steps an individual and the collective public can take to end this problem. Changes bring in trauma. David Lee7 says: “Personal and corporate survival requires the ability to embrace and respond effectively to rapid change. The accelerating rate of change is usually cited as the greatest source of stress for today’s workers. The interplay between the brain and overwhelming stress creates a vicious cycle which interferes with a person’s ability to cope with stress. The overwhelmed person, operating out of their Primitive Brain; will likely be very rigid, territorial, and wedded to the "old ways". The more threatened a person feels, the more they need to stick to their routines and familiar ways for security. Responding from the Primitive Brain, the traumatized person fights change. The more they fight it, the less effective they will be in responding to the inevitable, thus reducing their sense of self-efficacy and mastery. This further reduces their ability to respond effectively when future changes occur, adding to their Cumulative Emotional Trauma.” Speaking further on the very mind set of the worker who is insecure, he says that they are in a battle zone with the ‘us vs. them’ mentality and therefore expert counseling and team work are needed to keep employees off the brink : “Traumatized workers are focused on survival..”8 Part II – some solutions a. General solutions The employees and employers ought to understand the price of stress and the effects it has on the employees. Employers ought to find ways of making their employees feel financially and socially secure. We have to agree with David Lee that decision makers ought to be first educated about how trauma affects persons who feel insecure can proper policy be implemented. We have these general suggestions which will help employers and employees find their peace in the long run: Most suggestions are commonsense suggestions requiring no further elaboration. 1. Employers must always inform employees well in advance, say 3 to 6months in advance before they are fired. Or a 3 month pay ought to be given in case they are fired without notice. Secondly employers must assist the employees to find new work by recommending them. 2. Workers ought to be insured and unemployment benefits passed on to them. 3. Workers and employees have to always be prepared to change careers, for which each individual ough to constantly keep updating his or her skills, and network with peers so that they are found employable and have access to venues of employment. 4. Taking counsel from advisors, trainers and doctors where ther is trauma and the guidance of friends and family is the best course of action. Lee also suggests that decision makers of organizations ought to “open communication, help the organization develop clear vision, especially when a significant change is taking place. This is because the degree of uncertainty and unpredictability influences how traumatic a stressor is. The more information workers have about what is going on, the more in control they feel. It has been revealed by decades of research that the more in control a person feels, the less affected her is by potentially traumatic incidents.” In his own words he also advocates the solutions we mentioned above, which is : “Help workers expand their employment options - This may sound heretical, but this is a fact. If they feel confident of their marketability, they can focus their attention on doing a good job, not on what they will do if they lose their job.” This involves teaching interpersonal skills to all persons in the organization, with which we can overcome most situations. There must be adequate management training and recreation avenues for people and employees. These aspects will help mitigate the problem to a great extent. b. Specific to the Army The retirement benefits today are better. The private sector and government both have to help. Veterans can highlight some of the special skills they acquire in the army to find better jobs or use these skills in their own business. They have leadership skills, are loyal, and are trained in modern technology. They can take stress. Those who are fit therefore ought not to have any problem in finding work. In this context we also must consider the Indian experiment of ‘Allotments”. That is a certain percentage of all government work is allotted to veterans. Thus if there are 10 vacancies in a unit, there must be one seat vacant for a veteran. This will ensure employment. This also must be included as a feature in the employment policy of the country. 9 Thus there are two important solutions we propose: 1. That a reservation policy be made in government offices for veterans. 2. Business establishments and companies also be encouraged to adopt it voluntarily. 3. That NGOs and charitable institutions be funded so that they can establish more care centers hospitals and special units for the care of those who have lost their limb family and sanity in the cause of the country. 4. That more entrepreneurs be encouraged by giving special consideration in contracts for business run by veterans. Conclusion This problem cannot be solved by the government or any agency by itself. It is for us, the citizens of the United States to join hands and solve it in a multicultural and multi disciplinary environment as we have suggested in the solutions considered above. Reference 1. GI Bill Tip #1 at http://www.militarygibill.com/gibill-tip-01.cfm 2. ibid 3. Times on line : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2873622.ece 4. Ibid Times on line : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2873622.ece 5. Ibid Times on line : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2873622.ece 6. Dana Priest and Anne Hullon Sunday, February 18, 2007; Page A01 Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/17/AR2007021701172.html 7. David Lee ,The Hidden Costs of Trauma In The Workplace : http://www.humannatureatwork.com/Workplace-Stress-3.htm 8. ibid 9. countryhttp://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2007/1009veterans.aspx Read More