Some people find change a very difficult thing for reasons described in the chapter. Managers often find it difficult also to change an organization’s culture because they cannot get people to develop new kinds of work attitudes or to adopt new kinds of values and norms—such as those involved in implementing kaizen.
Sometimes, kaizen requires both people and groups to change their work attitudes and behaviors in important ways, often ways they do not wish, and they resist the changes being made. Also, there have been cases where organizations actively involve employees in the change process by, for example, suggesting ways to change their jobs and perform them more effectively. Then, after the change process has taken place they proceed to lay off employees. Think about the ethical issues involved in this situation and address the following issues:
1. What kinds of techniques should managers be allowed to use to change employee attitudes and behavior before their actions would be considered unethical?
2. Under what conditions is it ethical to terminate employees as a result of implementing an organizational change program?
3. What kind of guarantees should managers offer employees to enlist their support if they suspect layoffs may be necessary?