Employee alienation and its impact on business ethics and CSR activities
Research Dissertation: How HR and alienation of employee effects employee performance business ethics and CSR
The purpose of this paper is to explore the reason for employee alienation and its impact on business ethics and CSR activities. The issue of employee alienation can refer to several different issues: alienation from the company as well as alienation from society as a whole. Companies and the way they are structured affect both of these factors. The corporate culture which permeates an organization can determine whether its employees enjoy high-level morale or whether they feel separated through the workplace environment and their supervisor (Turner, et al., 2019). Employee alienation influences the principles of business ethics such as “trust, behaviour, relationship and reliability” in negative terms. The proposed research will be important because it reveals information about the business problem (employee alienation). As in the UK, the employees have less interest and passion towards the work and have the feeling of separation from their managers. Therefore, employee alienation brings a lack of trust and an inadequate relationship between employees and employers in the workplace. The research will be worth undertaking because it can help in improving employee motivation and allows businesses to conduct activities in ethical terms (Uçkun, Arslan and Yener, 2020).
Alienation at work happens when workers express individuality when they are working. They become emotionally separated from the organisation and other employees. In some case alienation can happen without the employee and manager even realising it (Chiaburu, Diaz, and De Vos, 2013). Work alienation has been conceptualised as an impact comprehensive peculiarity that depicts a degree of positive effect for the universe of work. All in all, it addresses how much representatives felt estranged from their work. The notion of work alienation has a long history; it was at first used in ancient times. Besides, there was a number of researches about workplace-related alienation in contrast field of concentrates like a way of thinking, human science, brain research, psychiatry, and philosophy (Tummers and Dulk, 2013). Besides, Sookoo (2013), characterises alienation as the failure of the representatives to satisfy their social necessities. Incomparable vein, Conway aet al. (2020), added that alienation alludes to the failure of representatives to fulfil their notable requirements and assumptions from work. In light of the two above definitions, it can be presumed that the normal topic in these definitions is the linkage between the individuals and the work environment. Work environments alienation can be portrayed as spot nonappearance of independence in choosing assignments, refusal of support in navigation, and the representatives are bound to feel with serious estrangement. Additionally, Erdem (2014), stated that associations that deny independence and control of the job is bound to encounter alienation.
According to Li and Chen, employee alienation reveals the employee’s state of being in which they feel highly demotivated and unconcerned towards the job and work they are performing in the workplace. In the UK, employee alienation issues occurred when an employer does not provide enough information about the performance and short-term goals to the employees (Li and Chen, 2018). Furthermore, the other reason is lack of recognition which influences the employee outcomes and affects the behaviour of the employees in negative terms. Employee alienation impacts business ethics and CSR practises because of several issues such as lack of trust, conflicts and not fulfilling their responsibilities. As it becomes important for the company to reduce the employee alienation issue because the role of the business is to stress the requirements of firms and at the same time behave as good corporate citizens (Ji, and Jan, 2019). The focus of the business is not only to conduct the activities by following the government rules and regulations related to labour law, minimum wages law and employee safety law but also to develop the strategies so that employees feel motivated and valued at work (Kakkar aet al., 2021).
The factors contributing to employee alienation in the workplace
However, as compared with this Lee and Yoon, described that employee alienation impacts the overall productivity of the employees and at the same time reduces the capability of business to build a better image in the external environment. The alienation of employee increase job loss reduces the motivation level of employees and also decreases the loyalty of the workforce towards their work (Lee and Yoon, 2018). Furthermore, the goodwill of business gets affected due to higher employee turnover, lower organisational wellbeing perception and absenteeism. The author described that at the time when employee alienation occurs in the company then the CSR practises of the company get influenced. This is because of not fulfilling the ethical responsibility such as lack of fair treatment among the company’s stakeholders. As it is significant for a company to recognise that the profits and value of the shareholders should have to be maximised (Kakkar aet al., 2021). According to Choi, Myung and Kim, it is the responsibility of the manager to provide an inclusive environment to the staff members. The firms should provide equal opportunities and develop ways to work with diverse team members (Choi, Myung and Kim, 2018). This is important because employee alienation reduces the engagement of the employees and decreases respect among employees towards their employer. For example, due to employee alienation, the CSR activities of the company gets affected such as inadequate labour policies and reduces the capability of the company to focus on involvement and fairness (Carter, 2019).
According to Carter (2019), work alienation can occur for various reasons. Employees may not feel engaged to express their real thoughts on the grounds that their managers do not tell them they need representative input. Workers may be produced to talk or believe it’s improper to chip in a legitimate assessment assuming their manager is not requesting it. Moreover, work alienation could happen assuming supervisors are not giving fitting consideration to representatives (Carter, 2019). An exhibition audit once a year is not to the point of assessing and following worker execution appropriately. Administrators being inconsistent with correspondence with representatives and holding ordinary one-on-one gatherings can cure this. Assuming a representative is working from a distance while the remainder of the group is in the workplace, they may encounter figure out alienation and feel of the circle. If an organisation has group building activities and gives remotely working representatives the tool they need to keep in contact with the group, then they are less likely to encounter work alienation (Rasti, and Salajeghe, 2019). Bosses should deal with representatives like individuals, not simply labourers. Assuming they do not, work distance is reasonable. For example, representatives might feel estranged assuming they are denounced for getting some much-needed rest. At the point when representatives feel distanced from their supervisors or organisations, they feel like objects or anonymous gear-teeth in the machine. Distance causes representatives to feel like they are not required in their occupations. Therefore, they feel no steadfastness to the organisation and are anxious to search for different positions (Cetinkaya, and Karayel, 2019). An administrator’s responsibility is to help guide and urge representatives to arrive at their definitive potential. However, as activities stack up, life gets going and the everyday toil takes the top of mind, keeping up with and further developing one’s initiative abilities can some of the time take a secondary lounge. Anyway, benevolent the administrator, some of the time they might estrange a worker without acknowledging it (Akar, 2018).
The impact of employee alienation on employee motivation and performance
Alienated employees are portrayed as being victims of the assorted components of the idea, however clearly a person or thing causes, and triggers these lamentable indications. A review done by Carter (2019), propose a few factors assuming a critical part in the expanding level of estrangement at working environments. Essentially, to Tummers and Dulk, (2013), Lakshmi (2013), came to understand, that when an organisation cuts back or carries out a recruiting freeze it has a negative effect on representatives’ obligation to an association, therefore causing work estrangement. Other potential causes behind worker alienation are the absence of security because of authoritative scaling back and rebuilding, innovative changes, or expanded strain to focus essentially on execution (Lakshmi, 2013). At times, applying cost-decreasing innovation can likewise produce lower levels of worker responsibility setting off estrangement. Sometimes casual or part-time employees might feel inferior contrasted with full-time specialists in the two advantages and worth, which indeed was a case in an examination paper executed by Clark aet al. (2010). An absence of worker preparing and the expanded utilisation of re-appropriating support alienation as well.
Furthermore, determination and preparation by supervisors are proposed to have especially genuine help in the battle against worker alienation, yet it must be remembered, that a different labour force requires individual and explicit answers for every issue. These arrangements should be found to save submitted workers that produce high outcomes. All in all, it is essential for the managers to choose people that case to be viable with authoritative objectives, to advance the association’s convictions in direction, and rebuild individual responsibility, in the battle against worker alienation (Lakshmi, 2013). Work alienation can have a few genuine results on representatives’ mentalities towards work and is generally contrarily connected with work execution. Work feebleness and particularly unimportance, affect representatives’ hierarchical responsibility. In other words, when a worker feels distanced, it ponders destructively their work responsibility. A similar discernment was found in an investigation of the supervisor’s job on representative alienation done by Laskhmi (2013). Employee alienation likewise has been demonstrated to affect workers’ careerism, somewhat through career disappointment. Despite the solid connection with business settings, work commitment does not just show up on a private level, yet can likewise be capable as an aggregate sensation. An individual employee can positively affect their associates, in the event that one can spread the energy and excitement brought about by work commitment, thus making commonness, which thusly produces the sensation of work commitment. Work commitment works best in working environments, or even in human connections as a general rule, where communication between parties is strong and steady. (Santas, Isik, and Demir, 2016).
Research Objectives
The aim of the proposed research is “to understand the HR and employee alienation impact on employees, business ethics and CSR activities of business”. The research will focus on the following objectives: –
“To explore the reasons of occurring employee alienation issue in the organisations”
“To examine the impact alienation of employees, have on the employees in the business”
“To analyse the effect workforce alienation, have on CSR and business ethics”
The effect of employee alienation on business ethics and CSR practices
Research Questions
“Describe the causes of employee alienation?”
“What is the effect of employee alienation on employees within the business?”
“What is the relationship between employee alienation, business ethics and CSR?”
The proposed research will be using an inductive research approach because of gathering the perception of the participants in the real environment. The inductive approach will be selected for determining the theories to reduce the employee alienation problem in the business. The research will use an interview method in which “5” managers will be selected from the UK’s organisations. The purposive sampling method will be selected because the participants will be selected based researcher’s judgment. The interview method will support the researcher to understand the association among “employee alienation”, “employees’ productivity and motivation”, “business ethics” and “CSR”. The collected data will be examined by adopting the thematic analysis method. This is selected because it helps the researcher to sort and develop themes of large data sets (Uçkun, Arslan, and Yener, 2020). Furthermore, thematic analysis is selected to maintain flexibility and represent the data in adequate terms. However, while conducting the study, the researcher could face privacy, conflicts, and biases issues. These issues will be overcome through adopting confidentiality, informed consent, and anonymity principles.
It is revealed that the research will be conducted in different sequential steps, while writing the research proposal the researcher design research by gathering the background information about the issue and business problem (business ethics, employee alienation, and CSR). The methodology is designed for writing the proposal. Furthermore, for preparing the final report, the data will be collected and analysed. The interview question that will be asked from the managers are based on the employee alienation, reason of alienation, and impact on individual and company’s performance.
Finding from this study has revealed that employees can show individuality while working as they become emotionally separated from their employers, and the feeling of alienation can happen without even realizing by managers. In regards to this Chiaburu, Diaz, and De Vos (2013), said that employee alienation is the result of their emotions for work, and individuality, however, depends on several factors. It has been found from this research that when employees feel alienated, they are isolated from their organisation including managers, supervisors, and colleagues. While asking the same question in the interview, it has been observed about their employers. The manager also said during the interview that there could be n number of reasons why employees are being alienated or feel separated. In their perspective alienation is that if they are left out alone from the others. In regards to this Sookoo (2013), provide a definition of employee alienation at work, it is the state when worker become highly demotivated with their job and workplace. This is because they observe something inappropriate due to misunderstanding. In regards to this Li and Chen (2018), also said that when employers are unable to provide job performance, review, and goals to employees, they feel alienated.
The finding also shows that lack of communication and interaction, between employees and their managers leads to isolation at the workplace, hence they start to believe that they have been left out of the group while others are having an advantage over them. One of the examples to support this has been given above. The full-time and part-time workers provide more exploration about the reasons why employees feel alienated or separated (Clark aet al., 2010). It has been found that part-time workers or remote employees who miss opportunities of working in a team often feel separated from their organisation and develop alienation. To support this, there answers of managers during the interview have revealed that employees more often feel alienated when they are not involved in the group discussion or group meetings, in other words, their answers are more suitable for the remote employees who receive fewer opportunities to work with their team. As discussed by Erdem (2014), work environment, workplace culture, lack of support from seniors or supervisors, and refusal of support lead to serious alienation. In regards to this, the observation from interview discussion shows that there are also chances that workplace culture, and environment, for example, refusal of support may become the reasons for alienation, however, managers further argues that organisations do have multiple channels supports for employees to reduce the risk of such problems (Santas, Isik, and Demir, 2016).
While asking how often employees can experience alienation at work, 3 managers said that it depends on the contributing factors, and perspective of the individual workers, however, two of them said, if necessary, mitigation activities are not performed there are changes that employees feel alienated at work more often than can further affect their performance as well as organisation outcome. These reoccurring incidents are associated with the factors, to support, Lee and Yoon (2018), said that lack of motivation and recognition of their work lead to decrease morale and affect their behaviour negatively, furthermore it creates the risk of alienation. The finding also shows that employee motivation and encouragement are necessary to avoid alienation and improve the workplace culture. During the interview one of the managers also said that employee alienation may also be associated with their mental health condition, in some cases employees may have stress due to the professional or personal life that restricts them to concentrating on work, and they become isolated even at their work. However, studies further show that stress is not the core problem, the causes of stress are the actual reasons behind alienation. In addition, alienation makes an employee separated that can be observed when they join the conversation, during lunch, in group meetings, social events, and during working hours. The alienation during working hours affects their productivity (Kakkar aet al., 2021).
During the interview, the impact of alienation has also asked from the managers who revealed that it affects both individual and organisational performance. In regards to this Carter (2019), found that employee alienation at work affects business ethics and CSR practises due to trust and other similar challenges. According to Chiaburu, Diaz, and De Vos (2013), alienation affects the important aspect of work. Job insecurities are one of the reasons for individuals’ worry, however, alienated employees experience lower job satisfaction. Hence, involvement and commitment can reduce alienation. Furthermore, Conway aet al. (2020), found that employee alienation affects business ethics and CSR practises. As it become significant for employers to diminish the worker alienation issue in light of the fact that the role of the employer is to push the prerequisites of firms and simultaneously act as great corporate residents. The focal point of the business is not just to direct the exercises by keeping the public authority guidelines and guidelines connected with work law, least wages law, and worker security law yet additionally to foster the procedures so representatives feel propelled and esteemed working (Kakkar aet al., 2021). Similar findings also revealed from the interview, managers said that when organisation focus on employee motivation and employers behave in a good manner with their workers, it keeps them motivated and reduce the risk of alienation. As discussed by Lee and Yoon (2018), The alienation of workers can affect both individual and team productivity, furthermore, it reduces the capability of an organisation to develop a better brand and achieve the desired outcome. Considering the individual impact, it can make employees, separated from their employer, increase the level of stress, lack of motivation, absenteeism, and increase the risk of losing the job. This hypothesis also supported by the managers, who dais during the interview that employees who are alienated have a higher risk of losing jobs, not because of their performance, however, they develop negative perspectives and feel isolated at the workplace, hence, they leave jobs (Lakshmi, 2013).
It has been also found that the business ethics and CSR practises of a firm get affected by the alienation of employees. This is a direct result of not satisfying the ethical obligation like the absence of reasonable treatment among the organisation’s partners. As it is critical for an organisation to perceive that the benefits and worth of the investors ought to must be expanded. Hence, it is necessary for the organisation to improve their workplace, and business practises to eliminate the risk of employee alienation. Workplaces where employees feel motivated, encourage, and receive support from supervisors are free from such risks, however, individuals’ reason may lead to the problems. In regards to this Choi, Myung, and Kim (2018), revealed the responsibility of managers and superiors in such cases. They argued that it is the obligation of the supervisor to give a comprehensive climate to the staff individuals. The organisations ought to give equivalent freedoms and foster ways of working with different colleagues (Choi, Myung, and Kim, 2018). This is significant in light of the fact that representative distance lessens the commitment of the workers and diminishes regard among representatives towards their manager. The CSR exercises of the organisation get impacted due to the alienation such as lacking work strategies and reduced ability of the organisation to focus on contribution and decency. Finding from the interview revealed that to improve the employee motivation it is necessary to review their performance more often rather than an annual check, provide them with small objectives and recognise their achievement, furthermore, a health communication between employee and manager can foster a positive relationship that is necessary to motivate them and reduce alienation (Kakkar aet al., 2021).
Conclusion and Recommendations
Based on the above analysis it can be concluded that employee alienation is the employee alienation concerns with the separation of employees from employer, workplace, and managers. In such situations employees feel degraded and become isolated, they start to work alone that can be observed during working hours, lunchtimes, meetings, or during events. The alienation affects both individual and company performance. Employees whole feel alienated often have a high absenteeism rate, and end up leaving their jobs. There can be multiple reasons behind the alienation of workers such as workplace culture, working environment, lack of support from supervisors, or managers, and lack of communication between worker and manager. Interview discussion with managers and fining from different studies have revealed that employees feel alienated when they refused to support, and are not included in the team. For example, part-time employees often miss opportunities of interacting with their team. The alienation also affects their performance that influences business ethics and CSR practises in the organisation. Finding from this research revealed that employee motivation is and improving workplace culture can reduce alienation. When managers support employees and develop communication effectively with employees it empowers them. Furthermore, recognition of their work, short-term goal and performance reviews can reduce the alienation.
Alienation causes workers to feel like they are not required in their occupations. Subsequently, they become anxious to search for different firms. Henceforth, it is vital for the associations to stop alienation. Employee engagement is important to stop alienation. Keeping labourers in the loop and allowing them an opportunity to sparkle are only two of the manners in which employers can keep their representatives glad and locked in. It is the obligation of the supervisors to give comprehensiveness to staff. They need to empower, develop, and offer direction when required. It is not difficult to hop in and help a worker dependant on the related knowledge as an administrator, as opposed to slowing down to pose examining enquiries to recognise the main driver of the representative’s challenge. It is vital to explain in a conscious way, then, at that point, ask the representative what sort of help would be generally significant to their prosperity. In the event that the workers realise their director thinks often about them personally, they will stroll through fire for them. Assuming that they accept the inverse, they will allow the supervisor to stroll off a cliff. Caring gets to the core of worker commitment.
Furthermore, workers feel distanced in the event that they feel like they do not realise what is happening in the association, what the higher perspective is, for sure is occurring in their specific division. To stay away from this, it is prescribed for the businesses to have customary interchanges with to the workers as a gathering so everybody is in total agreement, just as normal one-on-ones to guarantee open and standard correspondence and empower representatives to pose enquiries and give criticism. Feeling like one’s, commitment is not recognised is frequently the main motivation behind why a representative will withdraw. The principal motivation behind why representatives leave associations is that they try to avoid their managers. Also typically, it is the way that administrators do not focus on tuning in. The managers should acknowledge compelling correspondence and listening abilities are a prerequisite assuming that they are hoping to be advanced. Everybody wins when listening is a priority.
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