Topic: Employee Satisfaction, Strategic HR
Publication: Research and Practice in Human Resource Management
Article: HRM: A Contributor to Employee Alienation.
Author: G.R. Tonks, L.G. Nelson
Featured by: Sarah Bowen
Alienated employees are typified by
powerlessness, purposelessness, loneliness and self-estrangement. But what
causes these symptoms of alienation? Has Human Resource Management (HRM)
contributed to the increase in alienated, less-committed employees? Tonks and Nelson suggest multiple
variables play a role in the increased existence of alienation in the
workplace. Commitment to an organization declines when a company downsizes or
implements a hiring freeze. Sometimes implementing cost-reducing technology can
generate lower levels of employee commitment. Casual (or part-time) workers may
feel inferior compared to full-time workers in both benefits and value. A deficit in employee training and the
escalated use of out-sourcing fosters alienation as well. Each of these decreases employee trust
as workers fear for their jobs, cope with monotony, or sense inequitable
treatment.
How can HRM remedy the problem of
employee alienation by satisfying both its obligations to the organization and
employees? While research cannot
specifically answer this question, the model suggested requires that equal
benefit should be derived for both the organization and employees. Selection and training are two areas
proposed to reform in order to instill allegiance and transform organizational
culture. Selecting individuals that claim to be compatible with organizational
goals, promoting the organization’s beliefs in orientation, and restructuring
individual commitment are strategies to combat alienation and lack of
commitment. It is also important
for HRM to recognize that there is not a solitary remedy for combating employee
alienation; a diverse workforce requires individual solutions to such a
problem. Such solutions must be
sought to retain committed workers that produce results.
