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Running head: EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT IN AN ORGANIZATION 1

Employee Involvement Within an Organization

Millicent Prescott

Mulugeta Dessie

Strayer University

Leadership and Organizational

February 8, 2017

Outline

Thesis: Every organization aims at creating a progressive work environment based on trust, collaboration, teamwork, creative problem solving, and outstanding customer service. To achieve this, there is need for the leadership faculty to invest and understand the organization’s most valuable asset, the employees. Quality within an organization starts with an empowered and involved workforce.

1. Introduction

1. Employee involvement reflects the direct participation of employees in a bid to fulfill both the mission and objectives of the organization, and also help in decision-making and problem-solving processes.

1. Discussion

1. Drivers of employee involvement

1. Empowering employees, aligning employee efforts with organizational strategies, Supporting and recognizing employees, helping employees in their growth and development, Promoting collaboration and teamwork within the employees.

1. Relationship between employee involvement and organizational performance

1. There exists a positive relationship between involvement and organizational performance.

2. Employee involvement ensures profitability, productivity, consumer safety and loyalty, and employee retention.

1. Employee involvement strategies

1. Employee involvement starts from the management level.

2. The strategies may include enhance communication in the workplace, providing with advancement and development opportunities, providing the employees with adequate training and whatever they need to accomplish their tasks, motivating them through incentives and establishing a solid feedback system.

1. Conclusion

Active participation works to the benefit of both the employees and the entire organization. Employee involvement provides with a myriad of positive outcomes to the organization and for employees. To that end, organizations should ensure their employees always participate in decision-making processes, have adequate training, and ensure the presence of incentives in order to ensure employee participation.

Main Paper

Introduction

In the history of businesses and organizations, contemporary managers have agreed that of all times, this century demands more productivity and enhanced efficiency (Markos et al. 2010). It clear that every business is aiming at improving its performance, though managers are constantly dealing with numerous challenges just to keep their businesses ahead of competition. The need to improve productivity within organizations has prompted to these managers employing management tools, as suggested by scholars and researchers. Some of these tools include the Total Quality Management tool and the Process Re-Engineering tool (Markos et al. 2010). These tools, primarily focusing on process and operational improvement, have enhanced organizational performance and management efforts. These tools aid in planning, controlling and executing the desired changes within an organization, in an aim to improve operational overall quality.

Recent advances in technology have improved operational techniques as they have created the need for a more sophisticated workforce, one equipped with professional and technical skills. This fact has led to the realization that the most fundamental assets of any organization is the employee workforce. To that end, these managers have come to the realization that the most effective and productive workforce starts with involved and engaged employees. Thus, employers and management faculties are implementing initiatives which aim at improving employee involvement, in a bid to improve the overall organizational performance. This paper reflects on the basic concepts related to employee engagement.

Drivers of Employee Involvement

Research has proved that committed employees have the tendency of performing better (Robinson et al. 2007). It is essentially acceptable that employee engagement is a better version of employee commitment. To that end, it is well in any organization’s interest to have a clear comprehension of the various involvement drivers, if they plan on enhancing their performance. On the surface, there have been various drivers that have been put forward in the context of employee involvement. They include involving the employee in decision-making. Again, the ability of employees to voice their concerns, the management providing them with their attention and ensuring that they consider their contributions is another driver of involvement (Robinson et al. 2007). Providing these employees with an opportunity to grow and develop their job descriptions and organizational involvement on employee well-being and their health are other drivers of employee involvement (Robinson et al. 2007).

Adding to the aforementioned drivers of involvement, the underlying drivers of involvement include integrity, employee voice, manager engagement and leadership. These are the broad enablers which are fundamental, if an organization aims at gaining employee involvement. A strong leadership ensures that there is clear and concise understanding of organizational visions within its employees, enhancing employee involvement. This will ensure that employees have a clear comprehension of not only the underlying goals and aims of the organization, but also the roles they play and contribute towards achieving the goals (Reese et al. 2013).

Engaging managers clarifies the expectations of individual staff members, which includes training and stretching appreciation to the employee staff (Reese et al. 2013). This is achieved by treating every person in the workplace as individuals, treating them with utmost respect and showing concerns for their well-being (Reese et al. 2013). Engaging managers with also ensure that they know that they play a vital role in ensuring that the operations of the organization are effective and efficient. Effective employee voice is another driver of involvement. This means that employees are empowered to voice their concerns, and their viewpoints are taken into consideration and count in making differences. The management should have a solid sense of listening that ensures that employees are encouraged to challenge and speak out where the need arises (Reese et al. 2013). This enhances effective communication within the chain of command.

The Relationship between Employee Involvement and Organizational Performance

It is the aim of every organization to enhance its performance by providing its workers with opportunities to growth and to learn (Markos et al. 2010). It is clear that for an organization to perform well in the organizational level, it is important to enhance its individual performance first. Worker involvement, as mentioned earlier, reflects the need for an organization to treat each employee as individuals and ensuring that each employee is concerned with working towards achieving the goals and objectives of the organization (Markos et al. 2010). An organization requires every employee’s contribution, and in turn, it should show appreciation. There are three levels of employee involvement which are related to organizational performance. For starters, there is increased collaboration in the workplace, which leads to reduced events of clashes in among the employees. Collaboration ensures that there is faith within the workforce, reducing cases of disagreements and employee clashes (Markos et al. 2010). Secondly, involvement influences how disputes are addressed in the workplace. Lastly, employee involvement influences the perception of the decisions made by the management. When employees are engaged in the decision-making process, the resulting decisions may be perceived with greater legality among these employees (Markos et al. 2010).

Employee Involvement Strategies

There are numerous factors that should be considered by managers if they look to involve their employees and enhance the overall organizational performance. They include enhancing communication, providing with advancement and development opportunities, providing the employees with adequate training and whatever they need to accomplish their tasks, motivating them through incentives and establishing a solid feedback system. Here, managers are advised to establish and promote a two-way communication system that will ensure sharing of power and participation of employees in making organizational decisions. Again, managers should encourage creative thinking, providing their employees with the freedom of choosing how they deliver their job requirements. Managers are also tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that there is a solid feedback system which reclaims the different factors that affect employees making the employees more involved. Training employees will increase their knowledge and skills, enhancing their confidence in delivering the required results. Lastly, ensuring that there are adequate resources for the employees will ensure that these employees complete their delegated tasks effectively.

References

Markos, S., & Sridevi, M. S. (2010). Employee engagement: The key to improving performance. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(12), 89-96.

Rees, C., Alfes, K., & Gatenby, M. (2013). Employee voice and engagement: connections and consequences. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(14), 2780-2798.

Robinson, D., & Hayday, S. (2007). Employee engagement. ES Opinion: Institute for Employment Studies.