The assignment deals with the organisational change that is personally experienced, in the practice surrounding. I am an employee of the JBS Australia, the largest meat processing (beef and lamb) company and manufacturer of SWIFT food. It also produces a wide variety of fancy meats. The company holds the value of determination, availability, discipline, planning, simplicity and sincerity. It is committed to provision of high quality and safe products (JBS 2018). The reflection explains the personal transition to change. It is explained and related to the available literature. The purpose of the reflective writing is to demonstrate the capability to link the personal experience with theories, ideas and concepts existing in the selected area and consider the implications for personal practice. Reflection is useful for managing the change in the organisation as one can link the present story with the future.
JBS, Australia is the part of the world’s largest animal protein processing company in the world that is working in the areas of leather, food, cans and cleansing products, biodiesel, products for pets and others (JBS 2018). I have been working in JBS Company for around seven years. I have a traumatic experience of the breakdown of the automatic machine that removes the skin from the lamb bodies. If one machine misses any part of the skin removal in this process than the second machine is adjusted to completely remove the skin. The second machine needs to be manually operated. Due to high speed, the worker got his hand hit by the machine. He was admitted to the Alfred hospital for treatment in Melbourne. However, it was a critical condition, and his hand was amputated.
This incident can be related to the present scenario in the meat industry. JBS owns a beef plan in Greeley, Colorado. In 2014, an employee working in the bowels of the plant on a piece of equipment was pulled by a machine through his hair and sleeves. He was trapped under a conveyor belt and died (Runyon, 2018). In this industry, the workplace is hazardous for workers preparing pork, beef, and poultry. The safety concerns are extremely low as compared to one decade ago. Despite, health and safety policies and advancement in technology, some workers pay a steep price to produce high quality meat (Leibler and Perry 2017). In JBS (US), fatal injuries by meat and poultry workers were reported from the period 2004 to 2013. As per the Government Accountability Office report, there are many cases of under-reporting of the injuries in this industry. Within the same period, there was a death of more than 3000 manufacturing facility workers as per the “U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics” (Runyon 2018).
This incident is critical to me as I realised the risk inherent in the meat processing work. I believe that there should be a greater emphasis on the occupational health and safety measures. The incident was very much heart wrenching for me. Life is heavy price to be paid. If this incident has occurred once, it can occur to anyone, anytime. It implies prevention of such accident in future. I believe this incident was preventable with the help of the better machine guards. A worker is a person and not statistic. We employees are not cattle going through chutes. We all have families too. This, this incident is significant for me as everyone’s life is precious. I feel that there should be better provisions to make the workplace illness free and safe. I believe that risk management, safety policies, preventive measures, health and safety training for employees and regular auditing/inspection is highly demanding considering this situation.
A bulk of literature is available in the area of the workplace hazards explaining the causation of the injury or accident. The rationale for my feeling and response to the accident is based on the “Biased liability theory”. This theory states that a worker once involved in the accident has increased or decreased in chances to be involved in future accidents when compared to other workers. However, the drawback of the theory includes lack of any preventive measures highlighted for avoiding accidents (Hosseinian and Torghabeh 2012). The theory can be related to the personal experience of accident in my organisation, where the worker has met accident and lost his hand forever. If he continues his work, he may have high chances of future accidents than others.
I believe that the hazard that has occurred in my workplace demands change in the management level. The change is demanded and is rationalised based on the energy transfer theory. According to this theory, a worker suffers injury through a process of change of energy. For every change of the energy, there is a receiver and a path. This theory helps explain the cause of the injury, evaluate and assist in determining the control methodology. Using their theory, an organisation can develop the preventive strategies with respect to the energy transfer. This theory highlights that the energy transfer at the source can be controlled by changing the equipment or machine design, eliminating the source and implementing preventive maintenance. It further, emphasise the strategies to modify the path of energy. It includes installation of barriers, enclosure of path, installation of barriers and absorbers, and positioning of isolators. The receiver of the energy can be protected by limiting the exposure and use of personal protective equipment (Khanzode et al. 2012). This theory can be related to personal experience, where the co-worker in my organisation has lost his hand due to energy transfer between machine (for removal of lamb’s skin) and him.
The change experienced by me in this organisation is the removal of the machine that caused the accident. I believe that any workplace accident can be solved only in relationship with production and the working environment. My personal response to the accident and demand for change in management regarding the occupational safety can be supported by principles of workplace safety. The goal of avoiding disruptions demands the accident prevention to start the production planning. The ultimate goal should be to accomplish the production flow that is not hindered. It will ensure reliable elimination of defects, labour saving methods, worker’s well being and job safety (Patterson et al. 2010). Thus, removal of the machine was justified as per the Domino’s theory that emphasises on removing the hazardous conditions by which the future injuries and accidents are prevented (Swuste et al. 2010).
After that incident, I had taken an initiative to conduct a casual survey, with my team mates. The objective of the survey was to recognise the level of awareness they have in regards to elimination of workplace hazards. I was assessing their knowledge of personal protective equipment, training needs and awareness of the risk of lung cancer among meat and poultry processing workers.
According to OSHA the hazard control measures in meat industry includes implementing the effective ergonomics programs, hearing conversation program, implement design and maintenance to prevent injury, provide personal protective equipment, guard dangerous equipment, implement the OSHA’s process safety management standard, implantation of hazard communication standard, incorporate engineering controls, and safe working surfaces (OSHA 2018).
Based on the survey, I realised that my co-workers mainly needed the training to learn the workplace safety. They also demanded the guarding of machines and equipments used for meat processing. They were not aware of the risk of infections and other risks associated with the meat processing process. Some believed that regular audit of the machine might increase their safety levels. Although OSHA standards are maintained in the company the management needed to train the employees. Therefore, I had suggested my supervisor for arranging training and education program (general and job specific). I had forwarded the concerns of the team mates to the manger. The rational for adopting this role or taking the initiative was to prevent the future accidents.
In the context, of managing change, the experience implies that management demonstrates the willingness to be subjected to evaluation and accountability. Organisational change management is the strategic perspective (Kanaane et al. 2015). The management in the JBS should accept the responsibility for the accident and learn from the actions. It implies that the change is inevitable in any organisation; therefore, management must motivate the commitment to change. It implies creating the culture for change. My role in taking initiative to identify the needs of the workers after the accident in justified. As per social construction model, a change in the organisation can occur through communication. Communication occurred as I focused on understanding and sensemaking. According to Ford’s social construction model communication drives the change as an organisational phenomenon. Communication involves several conversational episodes. A new construction emerges from every round of interaction (Van de Ven and Sun 2011).
Conclusion
Risk of an accident in my organisation may be reduced by implementing the culture of change. It may start from conducting the risk assessment around the meat processing machine (look for emergency stop buttons, interlocked movable guards), check if the supply cords comply with the standards, compliance to electric safety legislation. Further, change may involve management in record keeping of the accident (OSHA 2018). Change in the organisation may also involve the consulting an engineer or safety specialist of the meat processing machine to reduce the risks associated with operation and convey the same to employee. The broader applications involve technical, structural, and managerial changes. This may lead to organisational development, which is concerned with planned change. However, change management may not involve organisational development (Burke 2017).
References
Burke, W.W., 2017. Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications.
Hosseinian, S.S. and Torghabeh, Z.J., 2012. Major theories of construction accident causation models: a literature review. International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology, 4(2), pp.53-66.
JBS 2018. JBS Australia. [online] Jbssa.com.au. Available at: https://www.jbssa.com.au/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2018].
Kanaane, R., Akabane, G., Peterossi, H. and Endler, D.C.N., 2015. Organizational change management in a strategic perspective. American Journal of Management, 15(2), p.88.
Khanzode, V.V., Maiti, J. and Ray, P.K., 2012. Occupational injury and accident research: A comprehensive review. Safety Science, 50(5), pp.1355-1367.
Leibler, J.H. and Perry, M.J., 2017. Self-reported occupational injuries among industrial beef slaughterhouse workers in the Midwestern United States. Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene, 14(1), pp.23-30.
OSHA 2018. Safety and Health Topics | Meat Packing Industry | Occupational Safety and Health Administration. [online] Osha.gov. Available at: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/meatpacking/index.html [Accessed 31 Jan. 2018].
Patterson, P.D., Huang, D.T., Fairbanks, R.J., Simeone, S., Weaver, M. and Wang, H.E., 2010. Variation in emergency medical services workplace safety culture. Prehospital emergency care, 14(4), pp.448-460.
Runyon, L. 2018) Fines For Meat Industry’s Safety Problems Are ‘Embarrassingly Low’. [online] NPR.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/10/489468457/fines-for-meat-industrys-safety-problems-are-embarrassingly-low [Accessed 31 Jan. 2018].
Swuste, P., van Gulijk, C. and Zwaard, W., 2010. Safety metaphors and theories, a review of the occupational safety literature of the US, UK and The Netherlands, till the first part of the 20th century. Safety Science, 48(8), pp.1000-1018.
Van de Ven, A.H. and Sun, K., 2011. Breakdowns in implementing models of organization change. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 25(3), pp.58-74.
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