Topic 6 - Employment Involvement and Participation

Tutorial Solutions
Shivani Swastika Lal – 2007004229

1. Employee participation refers to business activities in which employees participate

together in order to reach a common objective. For example, a computer security firm can
create a team of employees involved in creating doomsday security scenarios. It is
anticipated that any employee would participate by generating ideas based on real-life
situations which could compromise computer security. The team includes the platform
where an employee can come forward with suggestions to help complete the mission.
Both team members contribute to the project irrespective of employee work title. When
you create the right environment in which participation is communal, team-oriented, and
also take advantage of the unique skill set of each individual, you will boost the morale of
employees and create a more inclusive workplace.

The meaning of employee involvement is all about the opportunities that you give to
your employees to help them make decisions at their place of work. The meaning of
employee engagement refers to the direct interaction between management and
employees which encourages employees to take ownership of a project outcome.
Workers affect the process itself through partnership with management on important
decisions. Employee engagement activities may also involve providing the workforce
with more opportunities to try new knowledge, unique motivating approaches to improve
employee efficiency, and setting up an organizational environment that promotes free-
thinking and empowers employees to make critical decisions without managerial
approval. Examples of employee involvement include: Continuous working on progress,
Formal quality of the programs for work life, Circle quality management, the corporate
frameworks flatter, Labor problem solving efforts, Task Forces and teams solving
employee problems and Structured method of suggestion.

One of the main differences between the participation of employees and the involvement
of employees is that participation refers to the actual business activities that employees
perform, whereas involvement refers to the level of input in decision-making that
employees have regarding which business activities they do. Employee participation
encourages a team approach in which a group of staff complete a project using their
varied skill sets to accomplish a shared goal. Employee involvement, however, is all
about the direct link between workers and management to promote better collaboration
and confidence in the way decisions are taken that affect the workplace. Both methods
will create a clear sense of responsibility to a shared goal.
2. Forms of Employee Involvement:
 Communication – between management, workers and unions at both
interpersonal and inter-organizational levels, offers means to recognize
disagreements, establish a better understanding and pursue compromise through a
mutually appropriate solution.
 Delegated decision-making – focus on the socio-technical system and job design
to enhance the quality of working life and adapt organizations and work
arrangements to major market and technological changes, such as job rotation,
expansion and enrichment quality circles and self - sufficient working groups or
working teams.
 Financial participation – based on the involvement of workers (as a group) in
the financial benefits of the company, e.g. compensation scheme (payment
according to organizational performance) and employee equity ownership
schemes.
 Group Discussions - Using group discussions to discuss changes before putting
them into practice. Divide the employees into small groups of around 10 people,
and assign a facilitator to guide the discussion and record the key points. The
facilitator will submit a report to the leadership at the conclusion of the meeting,
detailing the input gathered. Team discussions on subject matter ought to be
deliberate. For example, if leadership wants to know how workers will feel about
changing a policy, they need to regularly point to that policy in the discussion
topics.

3. An opportunity for employees to take part in the decision-making process and employee
involvement is a process of getting employees' contributions to different activities is what
employee participation is about. The thoughts and behaviors of workers are involved in
the decision-making process when it comes to employee participation. Whereas, in
employee involvement, all the effort made by employees is taken together to achieve a
specific goal on behalf of the organization. Employee engagement is a one-on-one
relationship between the employee and management, where the supervisors or the
managers delegate the tasks. The management expects and appreciates employee
engagement, suggestions and behaviors when taking important decisions on behalf of the
company.

4. Various typologies of form of employee participation/ involvement are:

Method or Scope - Direct forms allow employees to participate individually and actively
in decision-making processes;
 Indirect forms limit the working mass to a relatively passive role, and
  Depend on representation of workers to carry out the active role of debating and
deliberating on their behalf with management.

Level within the organizational hierarchy - The procedure may be carried out at any
point, from the immediate job situation of the employee to the stage of the board

Objective and scope — Management functions and decisions supplying the contents of
the participatory process may be task-oriented (mainly related to the structure and output
of the operational job situation) or Power Focused (concerned with the most fundamental
management authority and decisions that decide the structure or atmosphere under which
operational decision must be made) There is a fourth dimension that needs to be taken
into consideration, namely the consistency of the interaction process between employees
and management.

5. Participation or involvement in one level or one form of problem may be less than
expected and may require its implementation at other levels and in other matters. The
management view seems to be focused on a conception of a unitary 'culture of interest'
between workers and management within the organization’s goals (survival, well- being,
and development). 'Employee engagement and involvement plans and approaches will
continue with the high degree of mutual interest and interdependence that occurs in any
productive organization;' and 'The basic focus of any system of participation and
involvement should be on increasing the organization's productivity and success and
through the sense of shared purpose and encouraging workers to optimize their
contribution by endeavoring to gain their appreciation of the organization's success and
their dedication and contribution to it. Through implementing such a policy, which
respects and incorporates the desires of the workers to be more involved, management
believes it can enhance the technical quality of decisions, increase the acceptability of
those decisions, promote employee engagement with the organization's performance and
improve job satisfaction. Accordingly, the emphasis of management approach is that of
enhancing organizational unity, performance, and productivity. At the other hand, the
trade-union view tends to be based at the premise that the company is a pluralist entity,
with sectionally a competing interest, which must be strictly governed on a shared basis.
Therefore, their focus is on involvement as a means of expanding the role of workers in
the decision-making of the organization; in particular, through the enhancement and
strengthening of representational structures.

6. The Role of Empowerment - Empowerment, as regards a work team, is the mechanism

by which the Team Leader encourages team members to provide further input into the
team's activity. Empowerment is about sharing decisions and obligations with the team
leaders in order to accomplish the team's goals more effectively. The main benefit of
inspiring a work team is the improved potential to accomplish the team goals. Work
teams include the individuals who best understand the everyday processes in which they
operate. Team members are the ones who can recognize the obstacles to achieving team
goals as easily as possible and are often aware of potential opportunities. Typically,
teams know what needs to be done, and when. Decisions can be taken on the spot by
encouraging the team and process changes can be taken when and where appropriate. As
well as the improved capacity to accomplish team goals, mobilization offers the
following advantages: Enhanced morality and morale of the team, a cohesive team based
on the goals of the team, enhanced use of expertise and abilities of team members,
improved team growth and individual members.