Paper Example on Employee Involvement and Participation

1. Outline what is meant by EIP? Compare and contrast the different forms it can take, and examine the impact these are likely to have in practice

The thought of employee involvement and participation has seen the development of research from different scholastics and Human resource experts. Various affiliations stand up to the challenges of managing and empowering their employees to successfully share in the fundamental initiative. In this current tumultuous financial condition, affiliations require creative and imaginative employees who can venture up, handle change, brace improvement and adjust to high unsteadiness in the market (Cox, Marchington and Suter 2009). Most of the new period employees need to work in associations that can adequately tune in and get a handle on their musings. To suit the demand of the employees, most associations have surrendered their control with the desire of propelling involvement and participation and moreover subsequent change in individual and progressive execution (Cox, Zagelmeyer, and Marchington, 2006). The possibility of employee involvement and participation has taken many structures, progressing through the laborer intrigue and affiliation fundamental authority thoughts into the contemporary fortifying perspective. The likelihood of involvement and participation requires the employees to be outfitted with a basic level of chance and versatility to settle on decisions relating to work without the direct relationship of the top organizational management. The new model of organization has on a very basic level not resisted repudiating regular organization techniques that have underlined pecking request, control, and resoluteness (Cox, Zagelmeyer, and Marchington, 2006). Therefore, employee involvement and participation in this way contributes immensely to how affiliations settle on the decision and keep up their associations. The involvement and participation of employees affect both the agents and affiliation positively and antagonistically. It is however clear that even as experts in organizational behavior and human resource management work on identifying what employee involvement and participation are, there is no evidence of a clear-cut definition of the concept.

As a significant concept within many organizations, employee involvement and participations comes in different forms. First, there is the traditional and current form of employee involvement and participation. As Cox, Marchington, and Suter (2009) identify, the traditional form often involves indirect and limited direct participation. Indirect participation goes further to involve the use of trade unions or work councils while the limited direct participation is often aimed at the improvement of the quality work while working to counter absenteeism and turnover. On the other hand Cox, Marchington and Suter (2009) further recognize that current employee involvement and participation will mainly be more direct. The current form of employee participation and involvement is more direct as it concerns with the improvement of performance within the organization, which has a direct link with organizational objectives that may include customer satisfaction. Current organizations opt for direct employee involvement and participation as it ensures that employees and management work in conjunction towards achieving the goals set within the company. It also involves representative participation where Cox, Marchington, and Suter (2009) explain it as when employees elect one of them to be a representative in the management. It is a form of employee participation that ensures that the voice of employees is equally present at the management level thus bespeaking confidence within the employees. Another form of the concept is direct and indirect financial employee participation. It mainly involves the participation and involvement of employees in matters that involve financial obligations within the organization (Cox, Marchington and Suter 2009). For the direct participation, employees will get firsthand opportunities to take part in various organizational issues like decision-making and problem-solving. The indirect participation will involve the representation of employees by the leaders they have elected at the problem solving and decision-making levels. These two forms of participation and involvement make sure that whatever activities take place within the organization have the direct or indirect opinion of the employees (Cox, Marchington and Suter 2009).

2. Review the effectiveness of EIP at your organization or one with which you are familiar. Using examples indicate how existing EIP systems and practices can be improved and identify measures to evaluate its effectiveness

The Coca-Cola company is a multinational franchise based in the United States. It is among the top ten private employers with more than seven hundred thousand employees within its system in more than two hundred nations around the world (Barkay 2013). A look at the companys values, mission, and vision reveals that Coca-Cola has a deep set concern for employee involvement and participation. The company works on empowering its employees to be the best they can through developing a conducive working environment. In the companys vision, there is provision for employees to own the brand and carry it as their own, embrace internal diversity and the increase of employee system knowledge (Barkay 2013). Therefore, Coca-Cola often awards its associates for involvement and participation in problem-solving, risk-taking and engagement in innovation and fun. Employee engagement and participation is evident in how the companys associates own Coca-Cola and carry it across their neighborhoods as their own. The enterprise provides an environment where employees feel heard and therefore find it easy to contribute their talents and unique skills (Barkay 2013). While working with a bottom-up mentality, the company often involves its employees in open discussions ensuring that their ideas are heard and put into action. The type of involvement and engagement ensures that employees develop a sense of ownership resulting in increased and effective productivity. Coca-Cola has developed the Start-up You program which is an activation session that lasts for three days where employees are allowed time away from their regular work schedule to explore, engage in and share free thinking. After the program employees often go back to work heard, supported and ready to implement their ideas (Barkay 2013). To ensure that Coca-Cola continues to develop employee involvement and participation, it is necessary that managers are trained on how to do so effectively. Training will ensure that they are innovative in involvement and participation programs that will help voice the needs of their employees. However, the level of employee involvement and participation effectiveness within Coca-Cola can be measured in different ways including feedback from the employees. Feedback concerning their thoughts and feelings on involvement and participation will show how effective the concept is in the company and the areas that need to be adjusted. Regular meetings involving managers and employees or employee representatives can be effective in addressing issues of involvement and participation thus allowing for the measurement of how effective the set programs are. As Pendleton (2010) states, one of the ways of ensuring employee involvement and participation is through share ownership. Therefore, the effectiveness of measures within Coca-Cola can be evaluated through an analysis of the level of employee ownership that Coca-Cola advocates for and practices.

3. Who gains what from EIP? Provide examples from different organizations in a range of sectors and countries to illustrate your answer.

As illustrated earlier both the employee and the organization will gain from employee involvement and participation. As per Amah and Ahiauzu (2013) employee, involvement and participation have a great deal to offer to the businesses as they utilize the aptitude and learning of the representatives in the various processes which prompts better execution. Facilitate it enhances the notoriety of the association subsequently of better worker fulfillment, and it additionally pulls in a new ability. EIP enhances correspondence and understanding, which prompts fewer clashes in the association. For the employees, it gives them a chance to build up their expertise and learning and rewards and bonuses for better execution (Cox, Marchington and Suter 2009). It also gives higher occupation fulfillment and more noteworthy professional stability. Numerous organizations across the world engage in employee involvement and participation. They include the Accor Group of Hotels where the organization uses quality circles as a form of involvement and participation for its staff. The company gains from the innovative behavior developed by its employees while the members of staff gain a specific level of belonging, as they believe they are part of the organization. The Harvester Restaurants have ensured involvement and participation through autonomous work groups and the abolishment of levels of management. The employees are guaranteed a given level of freedom to work effectively while the company can access quality output from its employees.

References

Amah, E. and Ahiauzu, A., 2013. Employee involvement and organizational effectiveness. Journal of Management Development, 32(7), pp.661-674.

Barkay, T., 2013. When business and community meet: a case study of Coca-Cola. Critical Sociology, 39(2), pp.277-293.

Cox, A., Marchington, M. and Suter, J., 2009. Employee involvement and participation: developing the concept of institutional embeddedness using WERS2004. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(10), pp.2150-2168.

Cox A., Zagelmeyer S., Marchington M., 2006. Embedding employee involvement and participation at work. Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 16, no 3, pages 250-267

Pendleton, A., 2009. Employee Participation in Employee Share Ownership: an Evaluation of the Factors Associated with Participation and Contributions in Save As You Earn Plans. British Journal of Management.