High Turnover Rate In The Workplace

Organizations are like an engine in a car. They have multiple moving parts that all need to be in sync in order for them to succeed. Conflicts come up occasionally but with creativity, direction, delegation, coordination and collaboration organizations can have a very long life (Greiner, 1998). There are many factors that can interrupt an organization’s flowing system. Issues like having old processes, unsafe work environments and poor communication can have a negative impact on an organization and its individuals (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2016). Specifically, high turnover rates can hold back an organization from reaching their intended goals which negatively impacts their success. An organization is said to have high turnover rates when they have large numbers of people leaving or getting fired after a certain amount of time. In other words, the lower the average number of year’s individuals stay with an organization, the higher its turnover rate will be. For example, if an organization has 100 employees in year 1 and 100 in year 2 but during that time had 50 employees leave/get fired, the turnover rate for that organization as a whole would be 50% in that 1 year period (Pavlou, 2015). High turnover rates create an issue with an organization’s productivity, employee relations and profit. It also interrupts routines and makes continued education difficult (Hausknecht & Holwerda, 2013). As mentioned, high turnover rates negatively impact an organization’s performance. There are many variables that contribute to this issue. High turnover rates effect organizational behavior within an organization. Organizational behavior is defined as the way individuals and groups interact with each other (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2016). In an effort to further our understanding, organizational culture and leadership will be discussed as they contribute to high turnover rates. Purpose Statement The purpose of this paper is to discuss how high turnover rates are impacted by organizational culture and leadership. Examples from my own organization, Phillips Seafood Restaurant, will be used. Solutions to this issue as well as how these solutions will aid organizational culture and leadership will also be analyzed. Organizational Culture To begin, Petrock’s dissertation (as cited in Velliquette & Rapert, 2001) defines organizational culture as connections of communication that influences attitudes and behaviors within an organization. This is just one of many definitions of organizational culture since past traditions have been difficult to define (Bellot, 2011). Broadly outlined, culture within an organization oversees what type of people are hired, the values it stands for, how individuals mesh, how it resolves problems and its overall structure (Velliquette & Rapert, 2001). “Organizational culture is socially constructed” (Bellot, 2011, p30). This means that it is created by individuals and groups within an organization. This also concludes that organizational culture is unique to its people and will continue to …show more content…
Lack of commitment means an employee does not feel an obligation to their work. Examples of behaviors that lead to lack of commitment are dishonestly, excuses, and complaints. When an employee continually shows up late and uses excuses to explain their reasoning this is a good example of someone who has a lack of commitment. Employee dissatisfaction is when the working environment does not fulfill an employee’s needs. An example of this would be a line cook. If they have physical needs of a certain amount of pay and social needs of being around people and if these needs aren’t met, this is an example of how this line cook could be dissatisfied. Lack of commitment and employees dissatisfaction are byproducts of a negative organizational culture. These are two attitudes that increase high turnover rates (Habib et. al. …show more content…
Looking at the workplace culture, desirable environmental conditions, competitive wages, desirable work, meaningful positions and realistic demands all increase the likelihood that individuals will stay with an organization. These are examples of a positive organizational culture which will increase employee commitment and job satisfaction. When an organization has a strong culture this drives employee performance as well as improves employee self-confidence, strengthens employee commitment to their organization, decreases stress and increases employee ethical behavior. This is because when people feel like they are valuable and are part of an effective team their commitment strengthens. (Habib, Aslam, Hussain, Yasmeen, Ibrahim, 2014). When organizational culture increases this creates solid relationships between employees, managers and owners which would decrease turnover rates. (Lane,