Communication and Involvement

Employee participation concerns the extent to which employees are involved with management in the decision making of the organisation. Gennard, J and Judge, G (2005).  Employee participation can take either a representational or direct form. There are a large number of methods that are increasing employee participation. Some suggestions are boxes – the direct form and involvement of workers directors –the representation form. Whichever methods that are used, the objectives are to increase efficiency and to motivate. [Head Academy Online Accessed 9th May 2011]. This comes from the pluralist approach which allows employees to have some say in decisions as different groups in an organisation have different interests and conflict are more likely to arise. Employees may be interested in increasing their pay and managers / owners will be interested in increasing their profits. Trade unions can help negotiate a way forward.

Employee involvement concentrates on the individual employees and is designed to produce a committed workforce more likely to contribute to the operation of an organisation. By introducing employee involvement, management seeks to gain the consent of the employees to its proposed action, based on commitment rather than control. Gennard, J and Judge, G (2005).  This gives a unitarist approach which shows that all members of the organisation, both management and employees, have the same goals and interests and will work together towards the achievement of a common set of goals. With leadership at the top of an organisation are likely to recruit people who can follow these goals with little conflict. This meaning that Trade Unions have little involvement. Involving employees can include sharing information, consultation, financial participation, quality improvements and the community.

Organisations can involve employees in decision making by having –

-          Team briefings – Having weekly meeting where managers are briefing staff, is a good way to keep staff up-to-date. Also, if any employees have any suggestions on what they think might work, could help the organisation. This way, employees are getting involved in decision making and also giving their own ideas as to what they think might work. As employees are the ones having to deal with the customers, they are more likely to have a better knowledge of what the customers want.

-          Newsletters and Publications – Having weekly newsletters are a good way of keeping staff informed to remind them of what was said at the team briefing and to recognize any decisions that employees have made so other colleagues can see. Also, management can have a section asking employees for their opinion on something and asking them to report back to management if they have any ideas. If their idea is taken on board and put into practice, then the employee could be rewarded with a bonus. This is encouraging employees to get involved and to look at their newsletters.

-          Company videos – Having a video of how another similar company is run, can give some employees an idea of using a similar technique to use in their organisation. This encourages employees to look at their local competition and how they run their organisation.

Many organisations are now using social networking sites, such as Facebook, twitter, MySpace etc, to involve their staff, both existing staff and potential recruits. Organisations are using these sites to gain credibility, adapt employee relationships, building the opportunity for customers to communicate with organisations, and to increase sales and profits. Organisations allow staff to communicate with each other on the social networking site. It allows new recruits to talk to each other and get to know each other before they start working at the organisation. Wetherspoons use Facebook as a way to communicate with potential customers. Customers leave comments and questions and members who work at Wetherspoons can reply to the customer. It also shows customers that the organisation care about their opinion and comments. It allows new recruits to read the comments to get a feel of how the organisation works.

 

Reference –

Gennard, J and Judge, G (2005). Employee Relations. 4^th ed. Essex: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Head academy online http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/resource_guides/employee_empowerment_perception_and_involvement.pdf [Accessed 9th May 2011]

JD Wetherspoons http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/ [Accessed 9^th May 2011]