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Organizational Behavior: the Quest for People-Centered Organizations and Ethical Conduct

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http://the-business-scholar.blogspot.com/2014/06/improving-employees-attitudes-during.html
Improving Employees' Attitudes during Recession

The fear of layoff prominent during a recession can have a huge impact on morale throughout an organization. While management is busy considering where to cut costs and how to properly invest during the economic hardship, employees become disengaged due to their concern about what the future holds. Finding inspiration and motivation can be a real challenge when anxious about whether your position will be available tomorrow. It is during these times that management must carefully consider their strategy for keeping employees optimistic and engaged. Planning to survive the recession could have fatal implications if management is too short-sighted. Cutting costs alone will not see the company through the recession without seeing the investment opportunities that exist during these times; the most important of which is the investment in people.
Managers at Bain & Company, Home Depot, and Best Buy have taken a variety of steps in the past to build and maintain talent during the recession; utilizing Schwartz’s value theory to keep employees engaged and motivated. According to Schwartz, values “represent broad goals that apply across contexts and time." He proposed that there are ten primary values that guide human behavior: Power, achievement, hedonism, simulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Shalom Schwartz, PhD (2012) explains that “values are critical motivators of behaviors and attitudes." Because of this, organizations often create strategy based on one or more these values to influence employee attitudes.

Home Depot is aware of the importance of these values; utilizing achievement to boost morale during the recession. Chief Executive Frank Blake lowered hourly

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