ALIENATION AND OPPORTUNISM OF RUSSIAN COMPANIES’ EMPLOYEES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT ROLES

Abstract

The reserves for the growth of labor productivity largely lie in the increase in the degree of involvement of employees and managers in the affairs of the company, their personal aspiration to achieve the organization’s ef­fectiveness and efficiency. The deterrent to this is the inherent opportunism and alienation of workers. Evaluation of the drivers of alienation and opportunism for subsequent counteraction is an important and relevant scientific task. The purpose of the study is to analyze and evaluate the degree of alienation and the level of opportunism of employ­ees of Russian enterprises, depending on their commitment to managerial roles. The study is based on the results of an online survey of employees of Russian enterprises. The assessment of the degree of alienation, readiness for opportunism and the level of opportunism was carried out on the basis of the author’s methodology, which makes it possible to quantify them both for an individual respondent and groups formed according to various criteria. During the study, groups were analyzed, formed according to such characteristics as age, position, commitment to a certain managerial role according to the methodology of I. Adizes. As a result of the study, it was found that in Russian companies all managerial roles are represented both among employees and among managers, while in most of both groups they play the role of a producer of the result. The important role of the entrepreneur for the or­ganization is represented by 15.2 percent of managers and 5.9 percent of employees. About 10 percent of employees and less than 2 percent of managers are not in managerial roles. At the same time, there is a significantly higher alienation and opportunism in this particular group of employees. Also, a significantly higher degree of alienation is characteristic of the producers of results, and a higher readiness for opportunism and the level of opportunism are characteristic of administrators. Those who play the role of entrepreneur show consistently lower levels of alien­ation and opportunism. The results of the study can be used to improve the methods of personnel management in Russian companies and to develop institutional and political economic theories.