OXY COMPANY-RESEARCH Free Essay Example

A STUDY ON THE OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS AND ATTITUDE MANAGEMNET AT OXY COMPANYIntroduction Occidental Petroleum Company explores and also produces oil and gas in different parts of the world, for instance, in America, Middle East, and the Latin America. Since this company engages in the exploration as well as production of the oil and natural gas, its workforce experience various occupational hazards in their lines of duty during the exploration and production activities. Occupational hazards, therefore, are hazards that the employees experiences in their respective workstations.

These hazards are of various types, i.e. chemical, physical, or psychosocial hazards (OSHA, 2018). On the other hand, attitude management is significant also to organizations such as the Occidental Petroleum Company because it enhances creation of good working environment where employees develop good attitude towards each other and also towards their jobs. Therefore, attitude management is essential for the company’s human resources as it ensures that the employee attitudes are positive at each time to facilitate better organizational performance.

ObjectiveTo study the occupational hazards and the attitude management at Occidental Petroleum Company in Oman. Statement of the problemThere has been a rising concern on the welfare and the rights of employees by labor organizations and other state agencies with regard to their working conditions of employees in various workplaces. One of such major concern is on the risks and the hazards that employees are exposed to in their respective work stations. Also, the aspect of attitude management as of late been a major concern of the organization’s human resources.

This is because the employee attitude contributes significantly to the organization’s success in terms of the better performance and growth. Many researches have thus been conducted on various hazards such as the natural hazards and the environmental hazards and therefore few and or no researches have been specifically on the occupational hazards experienced by employees in organizations hence creating a gap for a study on these occupational hazards. Moreover, many scholars have put much efforts to study various aspects of an employee such as motivation, communication skills, satisfaction, etc. but none or few of them have researched on the management of the employee attitude since they have not really established the impact of the employee attitude towards their job satisfaction and performance. This thus creates a gap in research on management if the employee attitude. This, research, therefore seeks to fill these gaps by researching on the occupational hazards and the attitude management at Occidental Petroleum Company. Literature ReviewOSHA, (2018), provides that in nay organziation, there are various occupational hazards that are experienced by the employees in their various lines of duty. This organization provides that there are many types of these hazards experienced by employees but it varies from one organization to the other depending on the nature of the activities that they carry out. These hazards include the physical, psychosocial, physical and biological hazards. All these hazards affect the employee, for instance, the physical hazards cause damage and injuries to the employees and as result, it affects their well-being and thus causing health problems to them. This affects their ability to execute their mandate fully thus affecting their performance.US Department of Labor, (2019), holds that effective and proper controls put in place at the workplace protects employees from hazards experienced or witnessed at the workplace hence enhancing prevention and avoidance of illnesses and injuries and also facilitating the elimination of the health and safety risks. This thus helps in proving the workers with the healthful working conditions. To be effective prevent as well as control such hazards, hazard control plan should be developed, workers should be involved in the hazard control decision making, and proper identification of the mechanisms for controlling such risks. Houg and Vaoughan, (2010)., defined attitude as enduring the organization of feelings, beliefs as well as the behavioral tendencies towards a significant group of individuals, objects, events and or symbols. It basically defines the state of mind and or the feeling of an individual towards a particular thing. The attitude of individuals in any working environment is significant because it helps them in mediating between their own internal needs such as expression and defense and their outside world, i.e. knowledge and adaptive. Attitude also enables employees to developing a meaning of life, helps them in organizing and structuring their experience makes them feel good, etc. Hayati, (2018), pointed out that there are three key components of the aspect of the attitude. One of them is cognitive, which represents an individual’s ideas, beliefs and thoughts about a particular thing. Another one is affective which is brought as a result of the feeling or emotions towards something. Finally, the other component is the behavioral component which explains the reaction of an individual to certain things. Based on this behavioral component, attitude can either be positive, negative or neutral. Positive attitude is important within the workplace as it enables the employees to love and be happy with their jobs thus encouraging them to perform. Negative attitude is the opposite of this this. It is therefore due to this that the concept of the attitude management emerged where the human resources in organizations ensures that their employees develops the right attitude towards their colleagues and also their jobs. Research PhilosophyA research philosophy refers to a particular perspective that is based on the set of shared concepts, assumptions, values and or concepts (Johnson and Christensen, 2005). It is basically the thinking of the researcher about development of the knowledge which helps him or her to conduct the researcher effectively. There are various types of philosophies that researchers adopt in conducting their studies. They include research philosophies such as the realism, interprevitism, pragmatism as well as the positivism. The adoption of these philosophies depends on the nature of the data collection instruments used by the researcher, the nature of the data i.e. qualitative or quantitative, and the budget or time constraints. The researcher in this study therefore will adopt the positivism type of the research philosophy. This is because the methods used to collect data for this research are quantitative i.e. the use of the questionnaires and surveys. Positivists tend to prefers these quantitative methods since they have good representativeness as well as reliability (Saunders, 2013). Research ApproachThis is the research’s plan and also procedure that comprises of the wide assumptions used in the research and the methods utilized in the collecting, analyzing and interpreting the collected data (Chetty, 2016). It therefore depends on the nature of the problem being addressed by the research.Research approach is two types; the deductive and the inductive approaches. In this research, the deductive approach will be used by the researcher. This is because this approach is associated with quantitative research and the type of the data collected in this study is quantitative since it is collected by use of the questionnaire. Research strategyThis is the overall plan that shows how the researcher is going to answer the research questions (Saunders, 2013). As a result, it will enable the research to meet and or achieve the objectives developed in the research study. There are various types of the research strategies comprising of the experiments, case studies, surveys, etc. The strategy adopted and used by the researcher in this study is the survey method. This is because it is associated with the deductive approach adopted in this study and it enables the researcher to collect the research data from the sizeable population. Ethical implicationsThe implications of ethics in this research is that it will enable the researcher to start and complete the study without any challenges such as the respondents were willing to provide answers to the research questions, the management did not allow the research to be conducted in their company, conflicts of interests, etc. this is because ethics will foster the researcher to obtain consent from the respondents and the management of the company to avoid such issues. It will also enable the researcher to maintain acceptable standards of behavior throughout the research process. Research MethodologyResearch methodology encompasses the methodologies that are adopted and used by the researcher in carrying out the research study. They include the methods of data collection, tools used to be used in analyzing the data, the research paradigm, etc. Research designThis refers to the set of procedures as well as the methods that are used by a researcher in collecting and also analyzing the measures of the variables which are specified in the research problem. It is basically the framework that is formulated in order to ensure that the research questions are properly and fully answered (Cresswell, 2014). Descriptive research design will be used by the researcher in conducting this study. This is because it describes the topic being studied without influencing it in any manner. Sampling This is a statistical method that is used researchers in a research method. It involves selection of particular sub-set of a population to enable the researcher to make statistical inference in the sample selected. In this case, the researcher adopted simple random sampling technique. This is because each element in the target population will have an equal chance of chosen or selected to participate in the study thus facilitating avoidance of biasness (Lance and Hattori, 2016). Data collectionThis is the procedure and process of gathering the essential and the most important information or data that is needed by the researcher to answer the key research questions developed hence enhancing attainment of the research objectives. There are various methods that are utilized by researchers in collecting their research. These methods used depends on the type of the type of the data to be collected. These types of data are: Primary dataThis is the type of information that is collected by the researcher at first hand in the field. This type of data is collected by various methods such as the questionnaires, interviews, observations, etc. in this research, questionnaires were structured to collect the necessary information from the Occidental Petroleum Company. Secondary dataThis is the type of data that has been confirmed, concluded as well as published, for instance, books, websites, journals, articles, etc. it is essential as it adds more knowledge and proof or evidence to the primary data that already been collected by the researcher (Owen, 2019). Data Analysis toolsAfter the data has been collected by the researcher, it is then analyzed in order to provide or give the statistical inference about the data and also to facilitate or enhance presentation of the data by use of the tables, charts, etc. in this case, the researcher analyzed the data collected in the field by use of the descriptive statistics, that is, percentage analysis. This was appropriate as it enhances presentation of data in form of tables and charts.DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATIONThe researcher distributed 10 questionnaires to the employees of the Occidental Petroleum Company. The analysis of their responses was done and presented in form of charts as follows: Chart 1From the chart above, majority of the respondents (60%) strongly agreed that the employees experience occupational hazards within the organization. 10% of them disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively that the employees experience these hazards. This proves that in this company, the employees experience occupational hazards at their respective work stations. Chart 2From this chart, 50% strongly agreed, 30% agreed, 10% disagree and strongly disagrees that the management of the company has put in place measures to prevent occupational hazards. Since the majority agreed, it implies that the management of the Occidental company has put in place safety measures prevents their employees against such hazards. Chart 3As shown in chart 3, more than 60% of the respondents strongly agreed and agreed while 40% of them strongly disagreed that the occupational hazards affect the employee’s well-being at the workplace. This clearly shows that these hazards cause injuries and damages to the employees which thus affects their well-being in their duty stations. Chart 4From this chart, 60% of the respondents strongly agree, 10% agree and strongly disagree receptively, while 20% strongly disagree that the human resource play a significant role in managing the employee attitude. This shows that the management of the human resources adopts strategies that ensures that the employee attitude is positive towards their job, for instance, by training and motivating them. This will improve their work attitudes. Chart 5From the above chart, it is clearly depicted that 60% of the respondents strongly agree, 20% agree, while 10% disagrees and strongly disagrees that attitude management is important to the company. This shows that it is essential in enhancing better performance of the employees hence leading to organization’s productivity. Open Ended QuestionsIn your opinion, what are the major occupational hazards experienced by employees in your company?Regarding this question, 80% of the respondents mentioned the physical and the chemical hazards as the major occupational hazards experienced. This shows that these are the major ones within the company. Do you think attitude management will help in improving the employee job satisfaction? Majority of them, that is, 70% of the respondents had similar opinion that it helps in improving job satisfaction because it enables the employees to develop a positive attitude towards their and as a result, creating job satisfaction. This thus proves that attitude management improves employee job satisfaction. Validity and reliabilityTo ensure validity and reliability of this research, a pilot testing was done before the actual research was commenced to ensure that the questionnaires were effective enough to collect the necessary information needed by the research to meet its objectives. Conclusion This research sought to study the occupational hazards and the attitude management at Occidental Petroleum Company in Oman. The researcher adopted various methodologies to ensure that the research meet its objectives. The researcher adopted the positivism research philosophy, deductive approach as the research’s main approach, survey as the appropriate research strategy, etc. the research also utilized primary data collected by the use of the questionnaires administered to the respondents from this company. The collected data was finally analyzed by the use of percentage analysis. The research established that the employees in this company experiences occupational hazards i.e. physical and chemical hazards, various measures have been put in place to prevent this, etc. it also found that attitude management is important in enhancing job satisfaction. ReferencesBooks and JournalsCresswell, W.J. (2014). The Research Design: Descriptive Statistics. 4th Ed. Sage PublicationsJohnson, B. & Christensen, L. (2010). The Educational Research: The Qualitative, Quantitative as well as the Mixed Approaches. 3rd Ed. United Kingdom, Sage PublicationsLance, P & Hattori, A. (2016). Evaluation and Sampling. Journal of Research, Vol. 2. Pp. 62-64Saunders, M. (2013). Methods of Conducting Research Studies for Business Students. 8th Ed. South Africa, Pearson EducationWebsitesChetty, P. (2016). The Significance/Benefits of the Research Approach in a Research Study. (online). Available from: Accessed on 08th April 2018Hayati, F. (2018). Types of People’s Attitudes. (online).Available from: Accessed on 08th April 2018Occupational Safety and Health Administration, (OSHA) (2018). Occupational Hazards. (online). Available from: Accessed on 08th April 2018Owen, A. (2012). Types of the Research Data. (online). Available from: Accessed on 08th April 2018US Department of Labor, (2019). Prevention and the control of hazards. (online). Available from: Accessed on 08th April 2018APPENDIXQUESTIONNAIREDo you agree or disagree that employees in your organization experiences occupational hazards? OStrongly AgreeOAgreeODisagreeO Strongly DisagreeDo you agree or disagree that the management of the company has put in place measures to prevent occupational hazards?OStrongly AgreeOAgreeODisagreeO Strongly DisagreeDo you agree or disagree that the occupational hazards affect the employee’s well-being at the workplace?OStrongly AgreeOAgreeODisagreeO Strongly DisagreeDo you agree that the company’s human resource play a significant role in managing the employee attitude?OStrongly AgreeOAgreeODisagreeO Strongly DisagreeDo you agree or disagree that the attitude management is important to the company? OStrongly AgreeOAgreeODisagreeO Strongly DisagreeIn your opinion, what are the major occupational hazards experienced by employees in yourcompany?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Do you think attitude management will help in improving the employee job satisfaction?