| The purpose of this research was to learn what it is like for employees to experience being undervalued at work. It is well understood that the field of human resource development (HRD) continues to try to shift the emphasis to the human in human resources. With current trends in business and industry, including the establishment of learning organizations, strategic partnerships between HRD and management, and the focus on humans as intellectual capital, the HRD field is entering an era of extraordinary influence. At the same time, employees feel undervalued at work. By investigating the experience of being undervalued, this research seeks to contribute to the understanding of employees' perceptions of their value at work. Unless professionals within the HRD field understand the essential role of encouraging organizations to foster employees' sense of being valued, traditionally unsolvable problems such as apathy, low productivity, and high turnover are likely to continue.; An examination of employee experiences of being undervalued at work is also an important step toward developing a management training approach that advocates an authentic appreciation of the human resource, and creates in employees a deeper sense of partnership with their companies. This examination can guide HRD efforts to encourage organizations to embrace a management approach that fosters improved employee perceptions of their value. For organizations, this can result in increased employee satisfaction, retention, and overall performance improvement. This effort can lead to improved HRD practice by enhancing management sensitivity toward employees' beliefs about their value, and facilitating improved communication between employees, their coworkers, trainers, and managers.; This study used a hermeneutic phenomenological research approach. This approach seeks to uncover the deep meaning structures expressed by people regarding their everyday lifeworlds. Ten employees were interviewed individually to explore their experiences of being undervalued at work. The interviews were recorded and transcribed to create the text for the study. This text was analyzed for themes.; Four core themes were identified in the study: (a) mistreatment by management reveals one's lack of value to the organization; (b) the organization's underutilization of employees reveals beliefs of being undervalued at work; (c) the work itself causes employees to feel undervalued, but can be tolerated under some circumstances; and (d) undervalued employees survive as long as they can before exiting. |
