Reference no: EM132981120

1. Case Study - Psychology in the Workplace and Change Management 

You are a new health and safety manager coming to work for ACME Widgets. There have been several health and safety managers hired previously (6 in the past 3 years) but none of them have stayed long enough to affect any real change. You have asked why the other H&S managers have not stayed with the company and the response you received was that "they were not the right fit" for the job.

You left a highly paying position in a different city, moved your family, sold your house, and convinced your partner to quit their job so you could explore this new adventure with ACME Widgets.

You scheduled your first meeting with operations and maintenance managers with the intention of introducing yourself and getting to know some faces. Of the 20 people you invited to the meeting, 4 showed up. Those that were in attendance were not overly welcoming to you. When you began your discussion with the small group, you noticed that 2 of the 4 people were texting or answering emails and not paying attention.

You go back to your office a bit concerned and a bit offended and decide that you will start reviewing some of the safety statistics for the company. You notice that the accident frequency was extremely high compared to the other organizations in the WSIB rate group, and that they had 8 fatalities just last year. This is all coming as a shock to you.

Just then, a loud knock at your door startles you and in walks the local union president. He didn't wait for an invitation to sit down - instead he pulled a chair in front of your desk and put his feet up on the other chair. He then began to tell you that he doesn't trust you, you will never make a difference, the company doesn't care about his workers' health and safety and that he will make sure that you are walked out the doors the same way the others have been. He then leaves without giving you an opportunity to respond.

The next visitor came less than 5 minutes later and it is the president. You're still a bit shaken from your first couple of hours on the job, and the president sits down in your office to talk. She admits that there are some huge problems with the current safety performance, but also admits that she is at a loss when it comes to safety management system development. She explains that "it's all up to you to fix this." Then she leaves.

Considerations for your answer:

You do not have an option to quit this job. You must come up with a plan based on what you know about Psychology in the Workplace, Change Management and all of the complications associated with getting people to buy into YOU. What do you do? (This case is based on a true story)