Threats to Organisations at the Present Time from a Neoliberal Worldview

According to Harvey, “The somewhat chaotic evolution and uneven geographical development of state institutions, powers, and functions over the last thirty years suggests, furthermore, that the neoliberal state may be an unstable and contradictory political form” (Harvey, 2005, p64). The term neoliberalism has been widespread during the last 20 years, it refers to a set of economic policies in the idea of reducing the government spending to promote the role of the private sector in the economy and society. The concept of neoliberalism could be seen as the modern take on classical liberalism. Liberalism is a philosophical worldview based on liberty and equality with limited government implication in the economy, whereas neoliberalism tends to favor free-market capitalism and “laissez faire” economic liberalism. Indeed, it is based on liberating private organisations from any intervention of the government and letting the market manage prices, focusing only on economic growth without considering negative externalities.

However, nowadays, organisations face threats relating to the neoliberal society we live in today. Neoliberalism has impacted significantly social work, concentrating on the economic aspect of firms and ignoring their social aspect. Steve Rogowski argues that the process of privatization now dominates, ignoring the ideal of social citizenship but also focusing on the productivity of workers and the methods used by managers to motivate them (Rogowski, 2013). Indeed, workers need to be motivated to work effectively nevertheless for the last decade we have seen that large organization not always offer good working conditions. This can in fact lead to poor productivity and thus have a negative impact on a bigger scale on organisations.

In addition, neoliberal policies also imply reducing the role of government and its involvement regarding the negative effect of organizations on the environment. Regulations of carbon emission are no longer decisions taken by government but by the firms themselves. However, organisations tend to focus more on their growth than their impact on the planet. The fact that organization are in control of their emissions leading to more pollution could affect health and be a danger for human beings. This would effectively be a threat to organisations themselves having to deal with workers in bad physical conditions and having to replace them regularly.

This paper analyses two pertinent threats organisations face relating to neoliberalism. The first section of the essay focuses on working conditions while the second examines the impact pollution can have on health of workers, followed by a conclusion.

First of all, Neoliberalism does not take in account the social aspect of workers but only their place in the production process and the economic growth of organisations. Neoliberalist production methods tend to deteriorate job quality by putting employees ‘interests after organisations ‘objectives. This has been effectively shown throughout workers ‘reports of the largest internet based retailer, Amazon. Bo Olson worked in books marketing and confessed to The New York Times: “Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk.” This testimony shows Amazon’s deplorable working condition and how employees are constantly under pressure. Moreover, according to The Times ‘investigation, Amazon employees have been receiving penalties for taking sick days off. In fact, for every day off they took, even with a doctor’s note, they would receive a point and three points for not going to work without calling. A worker with 4 to 6 points would face a disciplinary process.

Indeed, these working conditions affect employees personally but also have an impact on their productivity inside organizations, lacking in motivation. Motivation is the most important factor required for an employee to be productive. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs explains employee motivation. It is represented by a pyramid in which the lowest level needs to be satisfied in order to move up to higher levels. This pyramid is composed of 5 levels: Physiological needs, Safety needs, Social needs, Esteem needs and Self-actualization needs. Nevertheless, working in an organization with poor working conditions like Amazon can only satisfy the Physiological needs of an employee which are the basic human needs such as food and water. Safety needs are not even satisfied because of Amazon imposing a penalty for sick days taken by employees. Neoliberal policies allow firms to treat human beings like machines with no respect for them. However, this is a threat to the organizational performance, a lack of motivation results in low productivity which leads to a slower economic growth compared to the potential of the company.

In fact, organisations can adopt different measures to overcome these threats, starting by improving the working conditions in order to create a promising working environment. Firstly, giving more rights to employees will emphasize their motivation and therefore their productivity. Secondly, managers need to demonstrate involvement in their employees ‘work and needs in order to keep them engaged within the organization and therefore improving their motivation and productivity (L. Scott Kimball & Carl E. Nink, 2006, p2). Indeed, “Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year” (Sorenson & Garman, 2013). Having a strong relationship between managers and employees would increase worker’s motivation and productivity and therefore benefit to organisations. This is supported by Hertzberg’s two factor motivation theory explaining that motivator factors and hygiene factors influence workers ‘satisfaction and motivation. Motivator factors include recognition and enjoying the work while hygiene factors lead to dissatisfaction, these include company policies and relationship between managers and workers.

Consequently, improving working conditions in organizations would result