occupational and organizational psychology ‘case study’

Read the case study on Romero ltd below and answer the questions, providing research evidence for your argument.

“Romero ltd is a multi-national firm specializing in medical and pharmacological research and product development. Romero ltd has a number of high-profile clients, including military bodies. Although successful on paper, senior managers are concerned about the sustainability of present business practices and strategy at Romero ltd. There are concerns about employee health and well being, due to a number of recent incidents, and organizational change is considered to be essential to Romero ltd’s performance and profitability. The cost of repair and maintenance has been problematic for Romero ltd, as has the hire and training of new staff. Senior management has admitted that staff turnover and absenteeism are “alarming.” A culture of long working hours is evident at Romero ltd, and many employees are expected to make themselves available during evenings, weekends and holidays. It is also evident that there are high levels of cynicism amongst staff. The culture of Romero ltd has tended towards open suspicion of management motives. In private, many staff will state that they do not trust the management of Romero ltd.”

Imagine that you have been invited as a consultant to improve the organizational culture, in order to reduce absenteeism and turnover, and improve performance and team working. Drawing on the topics addressed in the unit, and work psychology more generally, how would you investigate these identified issues further, and what recommendations might you make? How might you evaluate the success of your interventions? Ensure that you provide justification, with reference to relevant research.

You may find it helpful to consider the following areas (although this is not an exhaustive list):

• Job stress and employee wellbeing.
• Job design
• Job satisfaction/ motivation.
• Working in teams
• Organisational culture.
• Leadership styles.
• Selection and recruitment of new employees.

You should write this assignment in the format of a standard essay.

Word limit: 2000 words (+/- 10%)

Guidance on the case study essay
Preparation
• While lecture slides and the core text are useful places to start your reading, they should not be the end of your reading! You should consult a wide range of primary and secondary sources. Avoid internet sites.

• The case study draws on the content of the unit very broadly. It is recommended that you read widely as you progress through the unit. You may find it useful to write notes on how each lecture might relate to your answer, and what further reading might help you in your work.

Content
• To gain the best marks, you will need to demonstrate a critical appreciation of the relevant literature, and are able to apply this to the issues in the case study.

• Remember to justify the points you make using research evidence. This is particularly important when describing the interventions that you would use.

• In your introduction, keep your description of the featured organization to a minimum. It is better to briefly note a few of the issues that you intend to address.

• If you use too many words describing the organization, you’ll have less of them left to describe your planned investigation, intervention, and assessment.

• You should try to address as many of the issues identified as possible. In the interest of adhering to the word count, you may wish to focus on some issues more than others. That is fine, so long as you are still engaging with the issues as a whole and set out early in the essay the issues you intend to focus on.

• To some extent you may find that you need to speculate, given that you have limited information on the firm and don’t know what further investigation might reveal. Focus on the information that you have been given (which identifies some existing problems). Keep speculations (such as potential underlying issues) to a minimum, with a focus on how these might help guide responses to the identified problems.

• Make sure that everything included is your own work. Do not copy the work of others, whether students or published authors. Doing so is plagiarism, and could lead to you failing the unit.

• Avoid using direct quotations where possible, but make sure that you always acknowledge your sources.

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