Improvements in the workplace: An action research in a small family business using integral human development

• Main Author: Vistro, Karla Isabel Z.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2017
• Subjects: Personnel management > Philippines; Industrial management > Philippines; Production management > Philippines; Family-owned business enterprises > Philippines
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/5307
• Institution: De La Salle University

This Integrated Action Research (IAR) addressed the issue on health-related concerns of the employees of AJ Vistro Enterprises, a small family business involved in the distribution of industrial and medical gas. The issue which this IAR addressed stemmed out from frequent absences of drivers and helpers due to the back pain they experience from manually loading cylinder tanks to delivery trucks. The first cycle of the IAR focused on constructing a custom built workplace for the employees to assist them in loading the cylinder tanks to the trucks. Meanwhile, the second cycle of the AR focused on improving the indoor air quality of the newly-built workplace because of the dust particles which accumulated from the construction during the first IAR cycle. To be able to achieve the targeted results, the Integral Human Development (IHD) framework was used for the improvements made in the workplace. In using the IHD framework, the need for Bodily Development and Moral Development of employees were recognized in the organization. Bodily development concerns the physical structure of a workplace and the appropriate design of work processes and equipment which should protect the health of the employees, while moral development is about having practices in the firm which recognize having respect for the dignity of each party in the organization. Change in the organization was successfully implemented using Lewins Change Model framework. The framework was used to unfreeze, change and refreeze the organization for the developments that happened for the common good of the company. Through the use of Scheins Pure Inquiry, Diagnostic Inquiry, and Confrontive Inquiry with all the members of the organization, the immediate issue of the company was determined.