Creating Engaged Workplaces through Employee Ownership – A Study on Manas Agro Industries and Infrastructure Ltd

Author Name(s): Prof. Rijuta Joshi, Mrs Alpana Deshpande
Author Email: joshir1@rknec.edu

Abstract

The research work was undertaken with the objective to understand the working Systems at Unit II of Manas Agro Industries and Infrastructure Ltd. situated at Village Kolari in Central India. The objective behind research was to understand ownership of employees at Unit II towards organization. Sense of belongingness towards their work and organization was gauged through interviews. The research involved the conduction of Job Analysis of the various positions at the plant and to understand the deployment of manpower at each level. Further, the paper focuses on the working environment and culture leading towards current state of employee ownership. Based on concerns of employees suggestive measures are recommended. The paper focuses on how the organization can improve the engagement of employees at the workplace by improving the psychological ownership in its employees. Psychological ownership can be defined as a deep seated connection that the employee feels towards their work and they look at their work as something which belongs to them. Psychological ownership is the psychologically experienced phenomenon in which an employee develops possessive feelings for the target.

Keywords Employee Engagement, Psychological Ownership, Job Analysis

Introduction

In the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) times of today an organizations ability to flourish and grow depends a lot on the employees of the organization. In order to derive the most benefits from the employees the organization needs to ensure that the employees are contributing to their hundred percent potential. This potential can be derived by ensuring that the employees are engaged at the workplace. One of the means of improving engagement levels of employees is to instil Employee Ownership in them.

Conclusion 

Based on the observations made during the study recommendations were given addressing each of the three identified areas. The first identified problem was that of idle time. The recommendation given for this was the introduction of Pet Projects. Pet projects are defined as small short term projects/ portfolios/ assignments whose ownership is taken completely by the employees. The organization can create a list of such assignments that focus on Infrastructural development or Safety measures or increasing productivity and efficiency or employee engagement activities. The organization can also think of sourcing these ideas from the employees themselves for added sense of belongingness. This will address the issue of idle time thereby increasing manpower utilization. The second identified problem was that of employees still thinking from the pre-merger cultural mindset. For this issue the recommendations that were given was conduction of skip level meetings, inter-unit visits, inter-unit competitions. Initiatives like these will help the employees connect with employees from the other units as well as the Head Office and help them understand the new cultural set-up better. The third identified problem that of absence of employer branding. For this the recommendations that were given were Employer Branding Initiatives, Brand Sensitizations drives, publication of Corporate Magazine. These initiatives will help in propagating the brand of Manas in the minds of the employees.

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