Shifting Focus

Abstract

Today more than ever, organizations are subject to continuously changing operating contexts and requirements, and thus rely largely on their ability to change to survive. There is also a trend in the current business environment of an increasing focus on employee well-being, which is of even higher importance in a time of change. Employee well-being has been subject to a vast amount of business research, but in practice it is rarely the main focus of companies’ operations. Large manufacturing companies are employee intensive and the trend of employee well-being is therefore highly relevant in the sector. For this reason, this study investigates a company in the ceramic sanitary ware (CSW) industry, and its proposed restructuring project. The empirical data was collected through interviews with case company employees and a survey of factory workers. Through applying existing theory on change- and knowledge management on these results, the study identifies reasons for, and barriers to, implementing the case company’s restructuring project. Using Porter’s Five Forces, the findings were generalized over the CSW industry. Furthermore, the study combines takeaways from change- and knowledge management to improve implementation of large change initiatives. Finally, two recommendations are given for how to increase focus on employee well-being. First, the company should integrate knowledge management practices into the organization’s strategy. Second, they should use the explicit knowledge to formulate a change strategy with clear objectives and actions, which clearly aligns with the overall operations strategy and considers employee well-being. Ultimately, this study highlights that while having received much attention in theory, employee well-being still requires more targeted attention within manufacturing companies. Therefore, the provided recommendations may act as a starting point for shifting their focus.