Impact of changes in the workplace environment and culture on the employees (SM4)

Background of the project

The small scale industries are often involved in practices which lead to the overall growth of the firm. Is is essential to adapt new processes and changes in order to create a specific position in the market. With the growth of the company, it becomes essential to set up new workplace.

The company XYZ limited has taken a decision of developing a new office where it will be placing a few of its departments. The employees of the respective departments have been successfully shifted and settled into this new place. In this new office, the employees are experiencing a new environment. The culture of this place is also different from the previous place. All these factors do have a considerable impact on the employees. In this research paper, this impact will be evaluated.

Rationale

The Company XYZ limited has developed a new site which is a new office for the HR, finance and marketing department of the firm. All the employees had to change their offices which lead to a change in the environment and culture of their workplace. Now, they need to adapt to the new culture and environment and work in accordance with them. This may appear happening to some employees whereas other may not find it comfortable to adapt to the new place.  This research will throw some light on the actual impact of these changes in the organization along with doing a detailed study of these concepts.

Aim

The main aim of the research is to study the impact of the change in workplace environment and culture on the employees.

Objectives

• To study about the workplace environment and workplace culture
• To evaluate the impact of the change in culture and environment of the workplace on the employees
• To provide recommendations for managing the processes in SMEs.

Research question

·         What is understood by the workplace environment and workplace culture?

·         What is the impact of changing the environment and culture of workplace?

·         What can be done to manage these processes in SMEs?

Hypothesis

H₀: Change of workplace culture and environment has an impact in the employees  

H₁: Change of workplace culture and environment does not have an impact in the employees Structure of the study

Figure 1: Structure of the study

Source: Created by self

Literature review

Workplace environment

Workplace environment is actually the interaction between the employees and the company. It is the main determining factor, which decides the way an organisation works and its development. The workplace environment depends upon some key factors.

Mehta & Sharma (2016) showed that, the main factor responsible for creating a healthy work environment is Job location. The engagement of a number of employees is directly related to the population density and the technological development of a place. Autonomy followed in the workplace, also determines a lot about work environment. If the employees are allowed to be flexible and follow steps they want, then employees are seen to be more inclined towards work. Next factor is how much an organisation cares about its employees.

The atmosphere of an office also plays an important role. Clearly, from observations, it is found that employees value the structural design of an organisation. This is completely about psychology. We generally have a tendency to lean towards posh area or designs according to Jain & Kaur (2014).

Nextly, if there are changes according to the situation, then employees are pleased. It is like adapting to the outer environment and advanced technological changes.

Exposure to natural elements like sunlight in winter, greenery and so on relaxes the employees and engages them more towards work.

Workplace culture

Workplace culture makes an organization unique. Culture is the interaction, beliefs and attitude of a company. This depends a lot on the type of an organization. Like IT companies generally, follow a corporate culture. As stated by Hagner & DiLeo (2013), most of the companies follow corporate culture nowadays.

As stated by Ezzy (2014), though corporate culture is the most accepted and preferred one, there are some diverse options worldwide. Culture depends on the way a company handles its employees. If a company value the reviews made by an employee, change and develop as per their need, be creative, shows a flexible attitude, then it is generally considered as a positive culture.

As per Li, Cao, & Xu (2014), findings show, if all employees are treated equally and made to work as a team, then the culture can be improved. It also shows, that hiring a right employee from diversified options, promote a healthy culture.

Sirota & Klein (2013) stated that, it is believed that ideas can come from anywhere, even a child can provide a creative idea. Taking ideas from employees, following their suggestions, letting them be flexible with work, friendly nature and so on develop a positive culture.

According to Proctor, Powell, & McMillen et al. (2013), the transparency and honesty of a company are valued by the employees. Perks and benefits provided by the companies, shift timings, working style and so on is said to contribute the culture of any company.

Characteristics of different workplace environments

There are diversified options available nowadays in case of companies. Each and every company differs from each other according to their environment.

As per Weber (2016), some reviews and discussion provided by some employees show that some different and distinct ways followed by the companies make them unique. Like in some IT companies, the employees can have an access to gym, lounge, pool area, gaming area. Some companies even provide unlimited snacks, beverages to their employees. This encourages the employees to look forward to their job.

As observed by Collins & Mirriam (2016), in best employer rating survey, some E-commerce companies completely follow an informal culture. Employees there are seen to be seated in bean bags, relaxing and even sleeping rooms are provided to them. Some airline company also follows this procedure. By this method, employees are found to be more active and engaged in work.

As per Servaes & Tamayo (2013), some companies follow the rewarding strategy. Rewards make the employees work more efficiently and compete for better work. Rewards also encourage the employees and motivate them.

As per reviews provided by Xia (2015), some hotels celebrate the important live events of their employees. Like on their birthday, three-course meals are provided and celebrated cheerfully.

Generally, employee recognition, reward programs, celebrating their presence, providing them with a relaxing and compatible atmosphere, promotes healthy environment.

 Changes in workplace culture

Sometimes changing the culture of a company is the best way to improve the working environment. As per Shockley, Thompson & Andreassi (2013), change is not only needed for poor sales rate of the company or competition, but also for the satisfaction of employees and better future options.

According to Kotter’s model of change, changes in a working environment can be brought about by an eight-step plan. Firstly, an increase in urgency, which let employee feel the need to change and second step, is to build a team who can guide other employees and next step to make the employees fully aware of the vision and goal of the company.

As observed by Larcker & Tayan (2015), some reviews provided by the company workers showed that when an organization undergoes a change, there are some people who feel motivated, some don't have any idea what is happening, some fails to adapt and some stay neutral and go with the flow. So, according to Kotter’s theory, first three steps are very important for a change.

Figure 1: Kotter’s eight step theory to change

(Source: Workplace culture and work–life integration, 2013)

Fourth, fifth and sixth step involves communicating the vision more often, empowering action and creating quick wins. As per Anitha (2014), studies show, that all these steps help to motivate people for a change.

The last two steps include building a culture out of the change and stick to it for a better future.

Studies reveal that when an organization changes for a long run, it becomes strong in the process and grow.

Impact of changes in workplace environment and culture on the employee's work

Every change brings about some positive and negative impacts.

Positive impacts

According to Herold, Fedor, Caldwell et al. (2013),  employees and the organisation stay up to date if an organization follow modern methods and procedures. Some employees look forward to these changes and generate better results.

Fullan & Michael (2014) stated, proper changes can lead to innovation of the company and employees sometimes brainstorm to generate new ideas.

Lewis (2013) showed that innovation leads to the door of new opportunities. Employers and employees both look forward to a role where they can learn new things and gain new opportunities. Some employees show improved attitude towards work after a change.

Negative impacts

According to Menguc, Katsikeas & Auh (2016), the negative impacts can be employees quitting in mass feeling feared about the change. Salary cuts and loss of benefits also produces a negative impact, as employees won’t want that.

Massive change can lead to workload stress on the employees and many employees are de-motivated by that.

Methodology

Research philosophy

The research philosophy helps in formulating the research in an effective manner. There are four types of research philosophies, out of which, anyone can be used for carrying out a specific research. This philosophy needs to be chosen as per the scope and requirement of the research. These philosophies are named as positivism, post positivism, realism and interpretivism. In this particular research, the positivism philosophy has been used as the reason will draw the conclusions from the existing phenomenon with the help of reasoning.

Figure 2: Research philosophy

(Source: Kumar, 2016)

Research design

The design of the research helps in creating a proper structure of the research to be carried out. There are three types of design and their nomenclature has been done as explanatory, exploratory and the descriptive design. Kumar (2016) stated that the explanatory design deals with establishing connection with the ideas to understand them. The exploratory design refers to exploring any work in deep details in order to define the scope for further studies on that topic. The descriptive design is involved in exploring the existing theories and making attempts to add more data to the theory with the help of further research.    In this paper the data will be collected and a description of the same will be provided.

Figure 3: Research design

(Source: Albertsen et al. 2014)

Research approach

The research approach can be considered as a proper plan for conducting the research. There are basically two types of research approaches which are called as the inductive and the deductive approach. According to Albertsen et al. (2014) the inductive approach deals with the creation of a new theory on the basis of the data received and the deductive approach is aimed at testing the theories which already exist. The deductive approach will be used for this study.

Figure 4: Research approach

(Source: Albertsen et al. 2014)

Data collection method

Figure 5: Data collection methods

(Source: Lindsay et al. 2014)

In order to carry out any research, the most essential step is to collect data on the specific topic. There are some specific methods of collecting the data. Data collection can be done in two different ways which are referred to as primary and secondary data collection. The primary data is collected in person by the researcher and the secondary data is the data which is present in several sources like books and journals.  In this study the primary data will be collected from the people with the help of survey questionnaires.

Sampling techniques

In order to collect the data, a specific sample has to be selected. This sample is considered to be a representation of the complete population and the analysis is done accordingly. As stated by Lindsay et al. (2014) there are two types of sampling techniques which are the probability and nonprobability sampling.  In the probability sampling, the sample is selected on random basis and all the people have an equal probability of getting selected, whereas, in the other case, the sample is selected on the basis of some specific parameters.  In this case, the probability sampling will be used for quantitative data collection and the non probability sampling will be used for qualitative data. In this study, 30 employees have been selected as the sample for survey along with 3 managers for the interview.

Figure 6: Sampling techniques

(Source: Christensen Hughes & Rog, 2008)

Data analysis techniques

The data collected for their research needs to be processed and analyzed to reach to the desired conclusions in a research. As per Christensen Hughes & Rog (2008) there are basically three types of techniques which can be used for analyzing the data. These are named as qualitative, quantitative and triangulation. The qualitative data is the data collected from the managers through interviews. The views of the managers are analyzed in this case. The quantitative data is the data collected from the employees through the surveys. The quantitative data is analyzed with the help of graphs and chart. The triangulation method, the data is analyzed with the use of more than one technique.

Research timeline

Activity	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7
Introduction
Literature review
Data collection
Data analysis
Conclusions
Recommendations
Reflection

Table 1: Timeline of research

Source: Created by self

Research ethics

Research ethics refer to the ethical principles which are applicable to the process of carrying out a research. As per the research ethics, there should be no misconduct during the complete process of the research. In this research, all these methods have been followed.  The data has been collected with the complete consent of the employees as well as the managers. The employees were completely aware of the motive of the survey and they were given complete freedom to deny to the same. The managers were also informed about the interview in advance before the meeting. In addition to this, the data represented in this paper is exactly the same as it has been collected. There have been no changes or manipulations in the data. It has been considered that there may be some information about the employees which they may not like to share. They have not been forced to share any such data during the research. The questionnaires were prepared taking into consideration that there are no questions which may offend or hurt the sentiments of the people. The response of the people is completely genuine and no unfair means have been used for collecting this data.

Data analysis

The data collected from the people has been evaluated in order to attain the objectives of the research.

Quantitative data analysis

Q1: How do you rate the new workplace?

Options	Percentage of respondents	Number of respondents	Total number of respondents
Excellent	20	6	30
Very good	40	12	30
Good	26.66	8	30
Neutral	6.66	2	30
Poor	6.66	2	30

Table 2: Rating the new workplace

(Source: created by self)

Figure: : Rating the new workplace

(Source: created by self)

Analysis:

As per the response received from the people, it has been found that the maximum of the employees have provided a positive rating to the new workplace. It can be drawn that the environment of this place is liked by most of them.

Q2: How do you find the culture of the new place?

Options	Percentage of respondents	Number of respondents	Total number of respondents
Excellent	20	6	30
Very good	36.6	11	30
Good	30	9	30
Neutral	10	3	30
Poor	3.33	1	30

Table 3: Views on culture of the new workplace

(Source: Created by self)

Figure: Views on culture of the new workplace

(Source: Created by self)

Analysis: The employees were asked to rate the culture of the new place and a according to the response given by them, most of them liked the new culture of workplace. This is an evidence of the fact that the culture of the new place is appropriate for the people working there.

Q3: Do you find the new environment motivating?

Options	Percentage of respondents	Number of respondents	Total number of respondents
Yes	83.33	25	30
No	16.66	5	30

Table 4: No. of employees who find the new environment motivating

(Source: Created by self)

Figure: No. of employees who find the new environment motivating

(Source: Created by self)

The employees were asked whether their new workplace provided them with motivation or not. This was a close ended question and they were asked to respond in yes or no. the maximum of them said that the change was motivating. This proves that fact that the changes are essential for the betterment.  

Qualitative Analysis

Q1: What is the overall effect of this change?

Manager 1	Manager 2
“ Initially the employees were apprehensive about the new office but now they seem to have happily settled“	“The shift to this new office has led to a better management of the workforce”

Table 5: Views on overall effect of the change

Analysis:

The first manager said that the employees were anxious about this new office when they were informed about the matter. However, they were able to overcome their fears with the help open communication and they shifted to this place. Now, they have already become comfortable with this place and have started liking it as well. The other manager said that it had become easier to manage the workforce in this new and motivating environment.

Conclusions

A small business needs to undergo several changes and developments in order grow in terms of economy as well as its scope. The expansion of the business or the creation of new workplaces is a part of this growth. In the case of setting a new workplace, the employees need to shift from one workplace to the other. These workplaces may have a different environment and a different culture from the one at the earlier place.  In this case, the employees need to make several adjustments with the new place. A new workplace may be motivating for some people while it may be a reason of de-motivation for a few as well. The difference in the culture and environment of two different workplaces has a direct impact on the employees. There may be some challenges while making such implementations which need to be mitigated with the help of effective planning and management. In this paper, a research has been carried out to evaluate the impact of the charged workplace on the employees. A critical review of the literature has been done in order to get a clear understanding of the topic.  This has helped in fulfilling the first objective of this research. Several literary works have been referred and analyzed to understand different workplace cultures.

In addition to this, the primary data has been used to fulfill the second objective of this study. The survey conducted on the people has been able to establish that the people have been easily able to adopt the new environment. The questionnaire prepared for the employees consisted of questions which were able to reflect their views on the new office. The rating provided to the new place clearly depicts that the employees are happy with this new office and its environment. Also, they have been able to adapt to the new culture of this place. This has had a positive effect on the employees and they have been motivated with this change. Moreover, the managers expressed that the change in workplace has brought about positive outcomes. The employees who were initially reluctant to accept the place have been able to develop the adequate level of comfort. It has also been found that managing the workforce has become further convenient in the new place. Hence it can be concluded that the change in work environment and the introduction of a new culture has a positive effect on the employees.