COMMUNICATION AND INVOLVEMENT
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION AND EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT
Employee participation is the process where employees are involved in decision making procedures within an organisation. They raise different viewpoints, which need to be taken into consideration. By involving employees in decision making, they feel they are valued by the organisation. This therefore follows a pluralist approach.
Employee involvement, on the other hand, aims to influence employee behaviour and change organisational culture. This is similar to the unitarist approach as the employees are devoted to the organisation.
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD):
Employee involvement is ‘a range of processes designed to engage the support, understanding and optimum contribution of all employees in an organisation and their commitment to its objectives’.
Employee participation is defined as ‘a process of employee involvement designed to provide employees with the opportunity to influence and where appropriate, take part in decision making on matters which affect them’. (CIPD, 2011)
WAYS OF INVOLVING EMPLOYEES IN DECISION-MAKING
· Meetings and consultation exercises whereby employees are encouraged to offer their say and share ideas on the matter. Employees will feel valued as they are able to voice out their own opinions.
· Project teams where the employees are involved in working as a group to complete tasks and offering advice to each other on what to do and how to go about doing it. Employees are responsible in getting the project done by voicing out their opinions and having responsibility delegated to the team. This helps them deal with customers on a daily basis as they are responsible for making decisions by themselves.
· Another way of involving employees is by unions. Unions are a key channel to greater employee participation in decision making. They provide the opportunity to campaign ideas and to obtain feedback. For example, unions at universities are a good way of involving the students to participate and make decisions and raise opinions on the university itself and on different activities and societies.
(TheTimes, 2011)
USING SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES TO INVOLVE STAFF AND RECRUITS
Thanks to technological advances, organisations can now recruit as well as involve their current employees using social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. For example, Blackbaud, leading global provider of software and services, have found success through LinkedIn to build social networks designed to attract candidates that may not be actively looking for a job. Over 17 million professionals in over 150 industries have signed up with LinkedIn.
Another interesting organisation with a Facebook page is the Army Jobs. They have general discussions and also hold events, which users as well as current employees can look into and find out further information about it. They also have several links on their page of several Army colleges and the recruitment process. This is a good way of connecting with the members of Facebook as they will want to find out and get to know further details about the Army if they are interested. People wanting to apply for a job at the Army can research on this page as well as its original website before they apply for a particular job role; they can find a wide range of useful information on this page, which will be of huge benefit. Current employees can also post on this page and help promote the organisation and socialise with their colleagues. Army Jobs also have a Twitter and Flickr page.
To conclude, communication and involvement is vital for businesses. Due to the innovation in technology, video conferencing is used nowadays if shareholders and chief executives are based abroad. This shows that communication is reduced in terms of costs. On the other hand, involvement is essential because employees are always looking to prosper and being able to make decisions and progressing, enables them to not only be satisfied with their job, but also perform better.
REFERENCES
M.Simpson, 2011, powerpoint presentation.
The times 100 (2011) Employee participation [online] Available from:
Marketing Power (2011) Blackbaud [online] Available from:
Facebook (2011) Army Jobs [online] Available from:
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