Professor Suzanne Baxter was preparing for her first class of the semester when Shaun O$$Neill knocked lightly on the open door and announced himself: $$Hi$,$ Professor, I don$$t suppose you remember me$?$ Professor Baxter had large classes, but she did remember that Shaun was a student in her organisational behaviour class a few years ago. Shaun had decided to work in the oil industry for a couple of years before returning to school to complete his diploma. $$Welcome back! Baxter said as she beckoned him into the office. $$I heard you were working on an oil rig in the UK$.$ How was it$?$

$$Well$,$ Professor,$$ Shaun began, $$I had worked two summers in the Texan oil fields and my family$$s from Ireland, so I hoped to get a job on the LINK$650.$ It$$s that new WestOil drilling rig that arrived with so much fanfare in the North Sea fields a few years ago. The LINK$650$ was built by LINK Inc. in Texas. A standard practice in this industry is for the rig manufacturer to manage its day$-$to$-$day operations, so employees on the LINK$650$ are managed completely by LINK managers with no involvement from WestOil. We all know that drilling rig jobs are dangerous, but they pay well and offer generous time off. A local newspaper there said that nearly $1000$ people lined up to complete job applications for the $50$ non$-$technical positions. I was lucky enough to get one of those jobs.

$$Everyone hired on the LINK$650$ was enthusiastic and proud. We were one of the chosen few and were really pumped up about working on a new rig that had received so much media attention. I was quite impressed with the recruiters$$so were several other hires$$because they really seemed to be concerned about our welfare out on the platform. I later discovered that the recruiters came from a consulting firm that specialises in hiring people. Come to think of it$,$ we didn$$t meet a single LINK manager during that process.$$Working on LINK$650$ was a real shock, even though most of us had some experience working in the oil fields. I$$d say that none of the $50$ non$-$technical people hired was quite prepared for the brutal jobs on the oil rig. We did the dirtiest jobs in the biting cold winds of the North Sea. Still, during the first few months most of us wanted to show the company that we were dedicated to getting the job done. A couple of the new hires quit within a few weeks, but most of the people hired with me really got along well$$you know, just like the ideas you mentioned in class. We formed a special bond that helped us through the bad weather and gruelling work.

$$The LINK$650$ supervisors were another matter. They were mean taskmasters who had worked for many years on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico or North Sea. They seemed to relish the idea of treating their employees the same way they had been treated before becoming managers. We put up with their abuse for the first few months, but things got worse when the LINK$650$ was shut down twice to correct mechanical problems.

$$The supervisors started to ignore equipment problems and pushed us to get jobs done more quickly without regard to safety procedures. They routinely shouted obscenities at employees in front of others. A couple of my work mates were fired, and a couple of others quit their jobs. I almost lost my job one day just because my boss thought I was deliberately working slowly. He didn$$t realise$$or care$$that the fittings I was connecting were damaged. Several people started finding ways to avoid the supervisors and get as little work done as possible. Many of my co$-$workers developed back problems. We jokingly called it the $$rigger$$s backache$,$ because some employees faked their ailment to leave the rig with paid sick leave.

$$Along with having lousy supervisors, we were always kept in the dark about the problems on the rig. Supervisors said that they didn$$t know anything, which was partly true, but they said we shouldn$$t be so interested in things that didn$$t concern us$.$ But the rig$$s problems, as well as its future contract work, were a major concern to crew members who weren$$t ready to quit. Their job security depended on the rig$$s production levels and whether WestOil would sign contracts to drill new holes. Given the rig$$s problems, most of us were concerned that we would be laid off at any time.

$$Everything came to a head when Bob MacKenzie was killed because someone secured a hoist improperly. Not sure if it was mentioned in the papers here, but it was big news around this time last year. A government inquiry concluded that the person responsible wasn$$t properly trained and that employees were being pushed to finish jobs without safety precautions. Anyway, while the inquiry was going on$,$ several employees decided to unionise the rig. It wasn$$t long before most employees on LINK$650$ had signed union cards. management has been doing everything in its power to get rid of the union. $.$ Use the MARS model as well as motivational theories to explain the oil rig employees$$ performance