Rough Seas on the Link650

Rough Seas on the LINK650

EVLN model which is exit-voice-loyalty-neglect in organization behavior theory identifies four ways that employees respond to dissatisfaction [1]. In the case of rough seas on the LINK650, employees’ behavior matched well this model.

Exit: In the beginning of working on the LINK650, a couple of the new hires quit to express their satisfaction on the worse working environment where employees must do the dirtiest jobs in the biting cold winds of the North Atlantic.

Neglect: As work went on, several people started finding ways to avoid meeting the cruel managers and get as little work done as possible in case of making mistakes and being pushed back to work when the supervisors kept abusing employees in the way they were treated before becoming managers.

Voice: After a work mate was killed in an incident because the person responsible wasn’t properly trained and that employees were being pushed to finish jobs without safety precautions, several employees decided to call Seafarers International Union to unionize the rig and protect their legal rights in order to express their satisfaction on the LINK650 and force the company provide better working condition.

Shaun O’Neill worked hard in the beginning and tried to prove to the company he could get work done. But he decreased his commitment to LINK650 because there are several factors affecting his commitment.

Job Security: The top 10 contributors to employee job satisfaction in the Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey by Human Resource Management (SHRM) [2] showed that job security stands, for the fourth consecutive year, as the top most important determinant of job satisfaction. Several of Shaun O’Neill’s work mates were fired and a few more quit their jobs and no one knew when he would be the next one. Employees were kept in dark about the problems on the rig. But their job security depended on the rig’s production levels and whether Can Oil would sign contracts to drill new...