Reaction of Transport Salaried Staff Towards the Closure of Ticket Offices - Literature review Example

Assessment of the reaction of transport salaried staff towards the closure of ticket offices Introduction and Background to the Study Forced layoffs and organizational restructuring have become common strategies for quality productivity and cost reduction. Most countries are currently struggling to adopt advanced technologies with an objective of maintaining competitive advantages among their productive sectors. Forced layoffs are caused by planned elimination of jobs or roles in order to either institute advanced technology or reduce operation costs. The plans to eliminate ticket offices are projected to cause 750 job losses in the United Kingdom. Closure of ticket offices represents job cuts that are usually detrimental to the affected employees. The decision to close ticket offices by 2015 is similar to organizational change; employees are always pessimistic about transitions because they fear the consequences to their job security associated with such changes. The management of the affected companies have the responsibility of adhering to ethical frameworks while addressing the issue of possible layoffs. Employees working in ticket offices fear falling victims of the proposed plan; thus, it is necessary to assess their reactions to the plan and its possible effects in order to strategise the best practices for helping the victims cope with the situation. Literature Review Gonçalves and Gonçalves (2012) argue that employees do not usually smile at all organisational actions that endanger their job security. Layoffs take a form of organizational change instituted by the management. According to Maertz, Wiley, LeRouge and Campion (2010), employees are not always ready to accept organizational changes because they fear possible ramifications of such transitions. The research carried out by Kostopoulos and Bozionelos (2010) revealed that understanding the common reasons why people resist change gives them an opportunity to effectively plan the change strategy that can address failure to live up to the expectations of the employees. Organisational stakeholders are always aware of resistance to transitions and expect labour unions actions through strikes and demonstrations. Most employees react negatively to transitions due to misunderstanding about the need for change. Maertz, Wiley, LeRouge and Campion (2010) argues that fear of the unknown constitutes the greatest cause of negative reactions during times of transitions. In most cases, people take active steps towards the unknown if they genuinely believe that the risks of not accepting change are greater than not accepting them. Kostopoulos and Bozionelos (2010) analysed the impacts of layoffs on the employees who are not affected by the layoff plan. Regardless of the specific form of layoffs, the plan usually involves deliberate elimination of jobs. Everyone expect job eliminations to create negative reactions, not only to the victims, but also to the survivors (Kostopoulos & Bozionelos, 2010). Boyd, Tuckey and Winefield (2014) explored factors that reflect survivors’ perceptions of their work environment and attitudes towards their employers; the factors identified include management fairness, organisational performance, employee empowerment, attachment to the organisation, work satisfaction and job security. Therefore, possible layoffs caused by system changes portray the companies as lacking the potential to ensure their employees job security. Employees may end up losing confidence on the company since they fear for their future (Craig & Silverstone, 2010). Both the affected and the surviving employees are exposed to equal magnitude of adversity because none of them is secured. Craig and Silverstone (2010) believe that the surviving employees develop less favourable views and attitudes towards their employing organisations than their colleagues working in organisations that do not experience layoffs. This is caused by survivors viewing layoffs as an indication of poor organisational performance, unfair management behaviours, and threat to job security. Survivors also develop negative feelings towards the organisation in addition to perceiving that organisation’s goals as difficult to achieve (Maertz, Wiley, LeRouge & Campion, 2010). This caused higher turnover rates and intentions to quit because surviving employees expect more layoffs if need arises again in the future. Employees who survive consequences caused by organisational changes develop more negative feelings towards layoffs than other forms of downsizing such as outsourcing and off-shoring. Alban-Metcalfe and Alimo-Metcalfe (2009) recognised the necessity of the companies affected by layoffs urgently addressing the problems of redundancy and deployment. The executives of these companies should begin with instituting democratic styles of management to allow employees speak out their views. In this approach to management, the importance of encouraging employee participation in the process of organizational change cannot be overlooked. Employees understand the work better; therefore, their suggestions are of critical merit (Shuck, Reio & Rocco, 2011). Encouraging workers to suggest on how they expect to be treated after layoffs will lead to making supported actions and decisions based on humanity. According to Craig and Silverstone (2010), the executives need to ensure constant consultations and communication throughout the process. Encouraging employees to form steering committee with focus groups will can enhance lateral communication. Alban-Metcalfe and Alimo-Metcalfe (2009) posit that during layoffs, companies can reduce frustrations to the victimised workers by eliminating barriers to downward communication; this can be achieved through reducing the level of organizational bureaucracy and encourage workers to share their worries about the company restructuring with their executives. Effective communication will inform the stakeholders the reasons for change, the costs to be incurred, participants in the change process and the benefits accruing from such change. Maertz, Wiley, LeRouge and Campion (2010) recommend that laid off employees need to undergo training. The main content to consider in education and activities is to inform workers the essence of organisational transitions. Executives should take this opportunity to expose workers to the economic implications of continuing to have unnecessary sections in the company when they can be pruned to allow for more effective and efficient approaches towards operations. This will make them understand that operating ignoring desirable changes is detrimental to both the company and the workers. Education and training sessions will encourage employees to take the effects of restructuring positively, since it is inevitable. Kostopoulos and Bozionelos (2010) posit that layoffs cause organizational change that in turn causes unemployment of some workers; these workers are forced to undergo the process of searching for jobs with the associated expenses. This is usually traumatic and disruptive. According to Gonçalves and Gonçalves (2012), counselling services for the victims of structural change are necessary for them to cope up with the changes. It is the responsibility of the executives to seek the services of a counsellor to encourage the affected workers and enable them to understand that changes are necessary and that they have chances of securing employment opportunities elsewhere. Research Questions 1. What are the possible reactions of employees towards the closure of ticket offices? 2. How will ticket office closure affect the transport salaried employee working in ticket sections? 3. How do the employees working in ticket offices think about the closure of ticket offices? 4. Are there best ways through which the management of affected employees can use to address the issue without causing further implications to the affected employees? Methodological Approaches towards the Study The researcher will adopt both primary and secondary methodological approaches to collect data. Primary Approaches to the Study The primary approaches to study involve the collection of data using primary methods. Data in primary approaches is collected for the first time and for some specific purpose (Gratton & Jones, 2010). The main methods of primary research include surveys, interviews, observation, and questionnaires. The researcher can select the methods for primary data based on the type of data required. Strengths of Primary Research Primary approach to study is advantageous because it leads to collection of accurate data from the respondents. There is a 100% probability of collecting accurate and unbiased data if the respondents maintain honesty (Gratton & Jones, 2010). Primary research is suitable where the area of research is small. The researcher can access the area through communication networks such as roads and telephone calls to interact with them for the purposes of data gathering. Data collected through primary methodology is usually unbiased and accurate since it comes directly from the population. Primary methodology also allows the researcher to address the targeted issue and address the specific research questions. Weaknesses of Primary Research Primary methodology is expensive and time-consuming. The researcher spends a lot of time and money to move from one place to another especially if the respondents are scattered in the population (Zikmund, 2013). The researcher must design questionnaires and prepare recording equipments ready for the data collection; this adds to the already inflated costs of the research. Data collected through primary approaches is usually raw, and requires other methods for it to become usable and understandable. Researchers using primary methodology also find it difficult to collect data especially when the expected respondents fail to cooperate (Zikmund, 2013). Secondary Approaches to the Study Secondary approaches constitute collecting data from sources that have already been researched and published by other researchers (Nelson, 2013). The main source of data for secondary research is case studies. Other sources include documents, letters, autobiographies, textbooks, publications and journals. Secondary approaches involve the researcher visiting various libraries to search information concerning the topic of interest. The researcher must do a thorough evaluation of the sources before trusting to use the sources to complete the study. Evaluating Secondary Sources The researcher will focus on the four guidelines for evaluating the secondary sources of data. The criteria constitute authenticity, credibility, representativeness, and meaning (Nelson, 2013). Authenticity will involve determining whether the source is accurate with regards to its authorship and soundness. In terms of credibility, the researcher will consider the amount of possible distortion to the source that may affect its sincerity and accuracy. The criterion of repetitiveness stresses the necessity determining the extent to which the sources are in order and can recognize limits and conclusions that can be drawn from them. Evaluating the meaning will be concerned with how well the researcher will be able to understand the source document. Strengths of secondary Research The first advantage of secondary approach to research is that it saves money and time. The researcher only needs to visit a library or an online site where the sources about the research topic are kept. Most of the libraries have several kinds of sources in one building. The researcher will not spend time and money travelling from one place to another unless a particular source can be accessed from a different point. Secondly, secondary methodology provides information and access to historical data (Gratton & Jones, 2010). It is not possible to access information on historical events from primary research methodology. Secondary method, thus, provides general background information about the topic of interest. Thirdly, if the original data was accurate, this accuracy can be reflected in the current study (Nelson, 2013). Most researchers strive to achieve accuracy and excellence throughout their research processes. This ensures that secondary researchers using the data achieve accuracy in their data collection endeavours. Weaknesses of secondary Research Secondary methodology depends on previous researches. If the previous research was biased, this biasness can be translated to the current study (Nelson, 2013). Similarly, if the original data in the sources was inaccurate, the inaccuracy can be reflected into the current study. The researcher may encounter challenges in analysing data that is characterised by biasness and inconsistencies if they do not have the potential to identify any forms of inconsistencies. Methods of Data Collection The methods of data collection for qualitative research usually involve direct interaction with the respondents on a one-to-one basis or direct interaction in a group setting (Nelson, 2013). The qualitative methods of data collection are usually time-consuming; therefore, researchers collect data from a smaller sample than the case for quantitative methods. This explains why qualitative research is more expensive than quantitative research. Despite being a costly approach to research, qualitative methods provide a deeper and richer insight into the phenomenon under investigation than quantitative methods. Interviews The researcher will use interviews to assess the reaction of transport salaried employees to ticket office closures. The interview is the most widely used method of data collection in qualitative studies (Nelson, 2013). The researcher will use the person-to-person format interviews. This is because this format of interviewing ensures confidentiality in data collection and encourages the respondent to speak the truth since they are assured that private information will not be disclosed to third parties. The only disadvantage of interviews is that it is costly and time-consuming (Nelson, 2013). The researcher must interview one person at a time; therefore, covering the desired sample may be problematic. The researcher, however, will use specific questions and request the respondents to maintain clarity and specificity in order to collect large amounts of data within a predetermined period of time. The researcher intends to use highly structured questionnaires. The questionnaires will be prepared based on the predetermined questions because the researcher intends to collect consistent data from each respondent. In qualitative research, the highly structured formats of questionnaires provides the best methods of data collection about attitudes, beliefs and feelings of the people (Gratton & Jones, 2010). The interviewer will ask the same questions to all participants; however, the researcher will vary the order of questions, the exact wording and the type of follow-up questions depending on time, place, and nature of the respondents. The researcher will use a tape recorder and a camera to record responses from the participants. Prior to recording, the researcher will seek permission from the respondent to record their responses in audio or visual. The researcher will also ask each respondent if they would like data to be displayed with their names and videos. Data from interviews will also be recorded on paper in some circumstances where the researcher cannot be able to use audio and visual recordings due to unfavourable weather conditions. Questionnaires The researcher will use both self-administered and researcher-administered questionnaires. Self-administered questionnaires will offer the researcher the potential to access a large number of respondents in a variety of branches. The main challenge the researcher will encounter with self-administered questionnaires is meeting the costs of producing and distributing higher number of questionnaires(Gratton & Jones, 2010). Additionally, preparing self-administered questionnaire will be more time-consuming since the researcher will focus on ensuring validity, reliability, and completeness of data. These questionnaires will be filled under the supervision of the researcher in order to prevent uncooperative respondents from not returning the filled questionnaires. Researcher-administered questionnaires will advantageous because the researcher will verify questions, ensure completion of questionnaire, enhance the response rate and manage greater control of the environment. Researcher-administered questionnaires will be fewer than the self-administered questionnaires; this is because the researcher will administer them to verify that the illiterate respondents understand all questions. Since this is a qualitative research, the researcher will use open-ended questionnaires since they will help the researcher to collect descriptive data from the respondents. Data Analysis This is a process of inspecting, cleaning, and transforming data in order to highlight useful information (Gratton & Jones, 2010). The purpose of data analysis will constitute obtaining usable information by describing and summarizing the collected data in forms of audio, visual and handwritten. The researcher will analyse data to identify the similarities and differences in reactions as well as forecast outcomes. The data will be analyzed by continually refining and reorganizing the data to adapt standards of simplicity and understandability. Data analysis stage will constitute a qualitative data analysis technique because the research design will adopt a qualitative methodology. The researcher will analyze the responses from participants to identify similarities and inconsistencies in the data collected. It will be essential to bear in mind that the researcher will use open-ended questions; therefore, data analysis will basically be achieved through qualitative abstraction. The final step in data analysis will involve conclusion drawing. This step will not only involve identifying implications of the findings, but also evaluating of those implications. A critical component of this analysis step will be verification; the researcher will check responses several times in-order to verify the stated conclusions. The researcher will identify the significance of conclusion drawing, and hence ensure that this phase be integrated in all stages of the data analysis. Media recorded data will be displayed using screens while audio data will be played through audio effects. The researcher will also prepare scripts highlighting pertinent responses for presentation purposes. Case Studies The researcher will use case studies to collect secondary data. The sources of case studies will include government publications, journals, periodicals, newspapers, and official gazettes. The researcher will select the most recent resources from dependable sources such as company head offices, technical libraries and the websites of the affected companies. The reactions of employees to the proposed plan will be accessed through interactive websites and social media platforms of transport industry. The researcher will collect data from the journals to find out the grounds of critique towards closure of ticket offices. The Usefulness of the Project to London Underground The research study will be critical to London Underground. Through the research, London Underground will be able to identify the consequences of layoffs on both the affected and surviving employees. It is evident that the transport sector will be affected negatively by the decision to close all ticket offices. The aim of closing ticket offices is that passengers no longer use tickets because most of them prefer booking online. Given the success of Oyster and advances in online and ticket machine technologies, passengers using ticket offices have dramatically reduced; currently, less than 3% of the passengers visit offices to buy travel tickets. Regardless of reduced demand for ticket offices, lack of concern for the already working employees may present a kind of callousness, which may psychologically traumatize salaried employees during the period of readjustment. Layoffs will have a significant impact on the surviving employees; these employees will experience reduced trust in the transport sector and begin seeking employment in other sectors that can guarantee job security. Thus, the respondents’ arguments will enable the company to identify the impending danger and institute mechanisms for counteracting further adversities associated with employee reactions. The findings from the research will enable London Underground to identify and propose alternative strategies to the government for addressing the issue of laying off workers. Employees will be provided with an opportunity to give their views concerning the best steps to be taken. The transport must expect decline in productivity because of the reduced morale among the surviving employees. The company will indentify the best approaches for treating these employees in order to rejuvenate their motivation for work. Additionally, the company will realise the benefits of providing humane treatment should the offices end up being closed by 2015 as proposed. This will include providing alternative jobs within the company, offering guidance and counselling services, and providing them with finances for adjustments. References Alban-Metcalfe, J. and Alimo-Metcalfe, B. 2009, “Engaging leadership part one: competencies are like Brighton Pier,” International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, 5(1), 10 -18. Boyd, C., Tuckey, M. & Winefield, A. 2014, “Perceived Effects of Organizational Downsizing and Staff Cuts on the Stress Experience: The Role of Resources”, Stress & Health: Journal of The International Society For The Investigation Of Stress, 30, 1, pp. 53-64. Craig, E. and Silverstone, Y. 2010. “Tapping the power of collective engagement,” Strategic HR Review, 9(3), pp. 5-10. Gonçalves, J, & Gonçalves, R 2012, “Overcoming Resistance to Changes in Information Technology Organizations”, Procedia Technology, 5, 4th Conference of Enterprise Information Systems - aligning technology, organizations and people (CENTERIS 2012), pp. 293-301, Gratton, C., & Jones, I. 2010. Research Methods for Sports Studies (2nd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis. Kostopoulos, K, & Bozionelos, N. 2010, “Employee Reactions to Forms of Downsizing: Are There Any Lesser Evils?”, Academy Of Management Perspectives, 24, 4, pp. 95-96, Maertz, C. P., Wiley, J. W., LeRouge, C., & Campion, M. A. 2010. “Downsizing effects on survivors: Layoffs, offshoring, and outsourcing.” Industrial Relations, 49(2), pp. 275–285. Nelson, L. 2013. Research in communication sciences and disorders: Methods for systematic inquiry. San Diego, CA: Plural Pub. Shuck, B., & Reio, T. and Rocco, T. 2011, “Employee engagement: An antecedent and outcome approach to model development,” Human Resource Development International Journal, 14(4), 427-445. Zikmund, W. G. 2013. Business Research Methods. Florence: South-Western, Cengage Learning. Read More