Rick's termination, resistance to change, and organizational integration failure

Rick's New Job

The author of this report has been asked to review a case study that involves Rick's new job. Rick has been interning at a factory that is in need of a proverbial shot in the arm and he is then offered a permanent position. He is warned straight away that he is an "outsider" in the first and that other people in the group are the "insiders." The questions that will be answered start off with why Rick was let go. How reinforcement theory figures into the firing will be discussed as they pertain to the main characters in the situation and there will also be a discussion of expectancy theory. The second question and headed will pertain to how Rosie's and Walter's reactions to the computer can be defined in terms of resistance to change. The question of how much Rick have used the concepts in the chapter to approach the computer situation as a means to gain acceptance will be discussed. Explaining Rick's ability (or inability) to "fit in" will be covered vis-a-vis social learning theory will come next as well as how his "processing" of the situation broke down. Finally, if Val were to hire the author of this report, it will be explained how a management program would have been introduced and brought forth. While Rick had good intentions, his methods were far from advisable.

Reinforcement Theory

Rick was let go because there were further struggles with the paper firm and he was the easiest person to let go because he was, as the others clearly noted up to and including Val, the "outsider" of the group. He acted too much like he was the upstart and a new leader, even if that was not his intent. Social reinforcement theory applies because the social behavior of people is governed by the actions that they see in their social sphere. They saw an outsider some in and try to "take over" and change things the way he say fit. The people from the existing group did not take kindly to this and they eventually got him forced out. Expectancy theory says that the group expected Rick to act as an outside because that is what he was. Since he did not do that, they openly rebelled and fought against him and sought to have him removed from the employer…which eventually happened (URI, 2015).

Resistance to Change

As far as the computer situation, Rick either should have ran the computer by Val and other people at the top first or he could have asked what the current system was of tracking people and asked if he could help make it "even better." Rather than suggest the current system is broken and non-usable, Rick could have worked with Rosie and Walter rather than do what those two deemed to be an "end-around" on the situation. In other words, Rick would have to work with the two rather than against them so that the computer would already be accepted when it appeared rather than people that are afraid of his "big and fancy letters" and/or the "fancy computer" reacting as if he was walking through the factory in his birthday suit (HBR, 2015).

Designing a Management Training Program

Basically, what would have needed to have happened is that Val and Rick (at a minimum) would have to have a meeting of the minds and figure out that the current way of doing things is not working. Then and only then could they all agree that a new management program could be created. One major way in which it could work is that Val and the other family members would be the "face" of the changes and Rick would be more in the background. He could facilitate changes and get the juices going in meetings. However, he would never be the person representing the changes and all changes should involve in the "insiders." If the insiders won't play ball, Val needs to be the person that corrects them (Reed & Bogardus, 2015).

Conclusion

Rick could have done things different. However, Val is letting the proverbial inmates run the asylum and Rick has no way to prevent or stop that on his own. Indeed, Val is letting the "insiders" chase off people that violate the norms and it is to an extent that is not healthy or normal. Norms and such are fine but the ones at PPP are clearly not working.