Developing Organizational Safety Culture in Sopranos Smallgoods Company - Case Study Example

DEVELOPING ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE IN SOPRANOS SMALLGOODS COMPANY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The industrial revolution has since brought a myriad of changes about the use of machinery, the rights and safety of workers within industries. Safety and health relations have been prioritized as a major concern in most organizations. The understanding of beliefs and values within an organization that encompass the perception of the employees within an organization, hence organization culture is a preliminary step towards ensuring safety in every organization. Safety culture demands a committed effort from members within an organization to ensure undertaking their responsibilities regardless of their position to cumulatively enhance a safe environment. Sopranos Smallgoods Company faced challenges of enforcing safety measures. The initial step is to identify the risks employees are exposed so that plausible solutions to the problems can be worked out. The problems include poor use of protective equipment, dangerous use of machinery and failure to follow safety procedures. The company has presently provided basic solutions. However, these are not being effectively applied in the organization. The establishment of proper communication platforms will aid in dissemination of information regarding safety from top or bottom levels. Changes in biased perception of employees towards the management should be initiated. Safety monitoring systems for evaluating safety processes is a vital entity coupled with the proper use of safety equipment will promote safety. Full participation of all stakeholders ensures a smooth process during implementation. Several aspects related to safety will play a central core in each organization. It is important to identify the precise concerns in the organization and apply practical approaches for handling the matter. Long-term benefits will eventually be realised by the organization and other stakeholders at large upon enforcement of befitting structures and strategies that enhance a safe occupational environment. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………….. 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………. 3 DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………… 4 RECOMMENDATIONS……………………………………………………….. 5 CONCLUSION…………………………………………….………………….. 8 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………… 9 INTRODUCTION Legislative duties and responsibilities of an employer to employees are aimed at ensuring a harmonious and conducive working environment that benefits all parties involved in the running of the organization. Employers have a duty to create a fair workplace environment for their employees. This provides sufficient room for productivity and economic growth. Provision of equal opportunities for all entitled employees regardless of their gender is paramount; for example, job promotions and salary allocation to either gender should be fair. It will facilitate a harmonious working ground. The management should avoid discrimination of employees based on their sex or race as this creates animosity and poor work performance. Periodic annual leave within a 12 month period of service in the ordinary hours of work should be awarded. The annual leave is inclusive of payment and should be taken by every employee regardless of the critical nature of work undertaken. Special leave days also include maternity leaves, sick leave, and parental leave that should be structured into the organization. Employers have an obligation to provide safety conditions to their employees within the work environment. Employees should be equipped with the appropriate safety or protective equipment while at work. Employers are duty-bound to accord safety to their employees during training programme on machinery that they have never dealt with. Regular analysis of workplace safety measures helps to determine changes in the risk factors to employees, enforcing extra care to vulnerable groups, and providing suitable control measures for employees. DISCUSSION Safety culture is commonly defined from a socio-physiological perspective. It describes individual and group attitudes, beliefs and behavioral patterns that determine their approach and commitment towards ensuring a safe organizational environment (Cox and Flin, 1998). Organizational climate stems as a subset of safety culture (Reicher and Schneider, 1990). As safety culture encompasses a broad perception various people within an extended duration, organizational climate majorly dwells on current or emerging states that are transiently resulting from external pressures (Cox et al., 1998). Safety culture incorporates the employees and employers effort towards a safe and comfortable environment. Despite the management task of provision of safe workplace based on protective gear and safety procedures, the employees should contribute to promoting safety within their workstation, utilize the machinery with care and alert the management on possible risks (Joseph, 2013). Safety culture creation emphasizes the importance of communication between and among management and employees on safety issues. This addresses concerns that either party may have ignored and foster implementation (Joseph, 2013). Although safety practices encompass policies and activities that are followed by management to ensure safety for their workers, different strategies need to be employed to create a safety culture. These strategies could aim at preventing risks. They include assessment of hazards and inspection or those employed after exposure to risks so as to ensure workforce empowerment (Sara and Stephan, 2013). Regular follow-up on the plan prevents future risks from occurring. RECOMMENDATIONS I. CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE The Soprano Company has a simplified organizational structure where the management comprises of the family members. Promotion of safe culture should focus on adjusting the organizational structure. Establishment of departments that solely address safety affairs handle the problems effectively. Furthermore, incorporation of neutral members into the management sector will also attract cooperation by the employees on safety issues. This aspect is evident in research carried out in a stratified sample of U.S hospitals in 2009 that indicated a direct link between a low safety culture and hierarchical form of management (Singer et al., 2009). Therefore, a change in the organization system will be a useful approach for Sopranos Company as well. The Ministry of Health in China was also able to improve patient safety by establishing a department to deal with health and safety matters in 2010 (Cao, 2007). II. PROPER INTERRELATION OF STAKEHOLDERS Although commendable that the senior management desired a safe working environment, the employees may assume a different opinion about them because of failure of close interaction between the two parties. Biased perception towards the management may shadow the efforts being made to improve safety. The company should focus on building rapport between them and ensure that all of them understand the importance of safety culture. Research on inter-grouping perception tends to show a bias to those at the operational level. The workers were of the perception that the managers do not highly regard their working conditions. Lack of direct contact between them fueled the situation (Clarke, 1999). Senior management needs to understand the implication of poor health and safety measures. The realization of financial losses in Barings Bank in 1998 resulting from poor safety methods motivated the management efforts (Sheaffer et al. 1998). III. PARTICIPATION IN SAFETY MEASURES Sopranos Company is fortunate to have a determined senior management. However, the setbacks for implementation may be strongly influenced by sole decision-making process by the management. This creates a wedge between the two groups and hence fails to meet their expectations. Forums and discussions between the management and staff will be a bold step in solving the problem. Offshore industry studies carried out in UK and Mexico in 1998 highlighted the importance of active involvement in safety issues (Cox and Cheyne, 1998). Planning process within the organization concerning safety involved all stakeholders in order to facilitate acceptance and implementation of the proposed amendments. Focus group meeting among members will be an ideal platform for the revelation of various safety issues and laying out strategic plans. IV. REGULAR MONITORING OF EMPLOYEES There is an abundant source of managers within various workstations in Sopranos Company that supervise the employees. Supervision has to take an extra step to inspect the duties of their employees as they utilize the machinery despite reluctance to follow them around. Employees will eventually desist from harmful practices they previously carried out like improper use of forklifts. A solid monitoring system should also be installed to measure their strides in improvement towards safety atmosphere. The occurrence of safety concerns within the organization can only be addressed upon identification at its early stages. This requires the management to carry out constant monitoring techniques on the employees who directly handle the equipment. Although regarded as a childish venture, this is quite useful for the long term basis. The monitoring design can also be used for measurement of employee perception. The utilization of this process has benefited various business sectors during their assessment of organizational safety, acting as an audit to measure the same (Walters 1989). This showed remarkable improvements among 20 Israeli industries in 1980 (Zohar, 1980) that implemented these dimensions that measure safety culture, which are still being in use in different industries in the present day (Cox and Cox, 1991). V. UTILISATION OF PROTECTIVE GADGETS Although the company has spent a fortune on coming up with appropriate safety procedures and protective equipment for the workers, it may have failed to train employees on their usage. The employees may be unaware of the importance of this equipment and, therefore, thought to assume them by not wearing them. The company should facilitate a program that will enlighten the workforce on these crucial entities. This equipment should be appropriate for the workers dealing with the foodstuff like gloves. This can be done via education and demonstration. The assessment of personal protective equipment by Carmille (2013) showed a differential performance between trained users, the experienced ones and those without skills. Training fostered use of protective gear to promote safety. CONCLUSION Establishment of a safety culture within an organization requires the involvement of all parties concerned as the setback of one person may adversely affect the entire organization. This can be fully embraced once each person understands the importance of safety towards themselves and others. A collaborative workforce will efficiently follow the set procedures, raise alarm about various risks and be their ‘brother’s keeper.’ This will eventually reflect on the productivity and growth of the business that improves it efficiency backed by the efforts of a safe workforce. REFERENCES Camille, K. and Heather, C, (2013). Development and validation of tools for assessing use of personal protective equipment in health care. American Journal of Infection Control. 41(1):28–32. Clarke, S. (1999) ‘Perceptions of organizational safety: Implications for the development of safety culture’. Journal of Organizational Behaviour. 20(2): 185. Cox, S. and Cox, T. (1991).The structure of employee attitudes to safety: a European example.Work and Stress. 5: 93-106. Cox, S. and Flin, R. (1998) ‘Safety culture: Philosopher’s stone or man of straw?’Work and Stress.12(3): 189-201. Cox, S. Tomas, J. M., Cheyne, A. and Oliver, A. 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