Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Communication and Involvement

Different between employee participation and employee involvement
If employees feel motivated at work, it is better for the organisation because the employees will put more effort and thought to their work. This also means that they will take good care of the customers by providing a good customer service. Employee participation comes from the pluralist approach and pluralists believe that everyone within an organisation have different interests and needs and therefore will arise different opinions as well as concerns within the working environment. If employees are given the opportunity to actively participate within the organisation it will motivate them because they will have their own say which will be taken into account by the higher department such as the management department etc. As it tends to motivate the employees to participate more with the organisation by helping and suggesting ideas to improve the decision made, it is important for organisation to give their employees the opportunity to speak out and get involved in the decision making because they invest a lot of money on the employees by giving them training, and all the facilities needed in order to work in a health and safety environment (MartinWebster 2009). If all employees have been given the power to participate, it will be more stressful and more work overload for the manager and for this reason new schemes has been introduced by the government. Many organisation have representatives for the employees such as the union or the works council, and their job is to listen to all the different ideas that the employees have, and they have to pass them on to the management team. This is a good scheme because the employees can speak out in their own time and no matter what, the representative will listen to them which is beneficial for them. Employee participation does not only benefit the employees but also the organisation itself because the more ideas and views there are, the easier it will be to make the final decision (M.Farmer, W.Yellowley 2008).
Employee involvement is similar to employee participation, but employee involvement is when employees are used to create an environment where they have the rights to make decisions which affects their jobs and working conditions etc. So they have a say on how to improve the working environment which affects them in the long run. For example if an employee feels that the toilets within the organisation are not clean enough, they can raise their concern to the health and safety department so something can be done quickly rather than later. Employee involvement approaches the unitarist approach because they are committed to the organisation values and goals and therefore all the employees are working towards the same thing. In order to maintain and keep the organisation going perfectly, the management team try to involve the employees as much as possible and get their views and opinions on how to improve certain things further (humanresources.about 2010). In order for the employees to be able to get involved properly, the organisation must make sure to share out important information and keep the employees updated. If employees are regularly updated of the organisation's progress etc, they can get involved with decision making accordingly. It is important that the employees ideas and suggestions are discussed because their hard work and effort need to be worth their time. If employees are given opinion surveys, they can put down any of their thoughts on how to improve the working environment, and this will be easier for the management team to measure their involvement. Involving employee's ideas by consulting with them first and using different techniques to get them more involved at work, will make them feel valued and important to the organisation and therefore they will bring more for the company (M.Farmer, W.Yellowley 2008).

There are many ways for organisations to involve employees in decision making and one of them is for the management team to sit down and listen to all the ideas that the employees have in mind. Employees like to feel valued and appreciated and therefore it is important that the manager listens carefully to what they have got to say because it could improve the business performance. For example if the employer asks the employees to find out what the customers needs are by giving out surveys and asking individuals questions, the employees have to provide the feedback to the employer and maybe also suggestions of how to reach the customers needs. For this reason consultation is important as things will have to be discussed properly and if things are done according to the employees idea's, they would want to get involved in decision making in the future which could bring success for the organisation (redding.com 2009).
Sharing important information with the employees could also be a method to involve the employees in decision making. Employees would like to be updated with everything that is going on within the organisation because than they can come up with ideas and help making decisions according to the latest update. Another advantage of keeping them up to date is that if the organisation is taking their time to explain anything new to the system or any changes made, the employees will feel more part of the organisation and this will encourage them to get involved more within the organisation. Information can be shared to the employees during briefings and also by communication via social network sites, email and roadshows.
Employees tend to work better in teams as they can share different skills, knowledge and ideas of how to improve the working environment. If people work in teams, the employer will give them regular feedback on how to improve the team working skills etc, and the employees will pick up the feedback quickly and learn from their mistakes. Giving regular feedback is also important because the employees need to know how well they are doing, and these feedback can be given during appraisal meetings or as they go along. When employees work in teams, they have to take up some responsibility and make suitable decisions for the team so they all work towards the same goal and eventually bring success for the organisation. If the organisation has a good rewarding scheme going on where employees will be rewarded due to good involvement and creating good ideas for the organisation, the chances of them getting involved in the future and coming up with better ideas are very high.
How are social networking sites used to involve employees?
Communicating with employees is very important because it will create a strong relationship between the employer and the employee. The better the relationship is, the better of an understanding the pair will have, and the employee will put more effort and skill to their job which will then bring better value for the organisation. A lot of organisations use social networking sites to keep their employees updated as well as to advertise any job vacancies available. Bucks new University use Facebook as a way of communicating with the students and keep the updated with the latest news etc. On Facebook the students can ask any questions or if they have any doubts, they are free to ask the person responsible for the group. On the group page, students can view all the events taking place during the month with a time, place and date. This is useful for the students because they don't have to depend on people giving them information at university, they can just go on facebook and click on the group followed by events. As facebook is a common social networking site, a lot of people are familiar with the website and students who have joined the group can get to know one another and socialise on there (Facebook 2010).
MySpace is another famous social networking site and due to the fact that a lot of people are familiar with the site, some organisations use the website to communicate with current employees. Tesco use MySpace and on there employees can talk with each other and tell people how their day at work went etc. If they have any questions related to work, they can ask within the group, so the person in charge of the group will answer all the questions in much more detail. There is also another group for external users, so for people who are looking for a job within Tesco can find out information about any vacancies and also information on how to apply etc (Myspace 2010).
Deloitte use Twitter to keep employees updated and also more involved at work. On the deloitte twitter homepage, they have uploaded different videos which helps employees learn certain things within the work place and they also have a small space where they can make comments on what they thought about the video. As Deloitte tend to have different events going on, they are all mentioned on the twitter page so the employees are informed when each event takes place. This gives an equal opportunity for each employee to get involved in the event and they can learn and get to know how the organisation really operates (Twitter 2010).
Conclusion
Over all it is important to get the employees involved at work because they need to feel valued and if they are taken serious, they will take their job serious. There are many ways of getting the involved and make the active participants, but which ever method is used, the employer must make sure that any idea or suggestion which the employee arises, they are taken in to account and not ignored. If employers take their time to hear them out and put their ideas into action, they will bring better ideas in the future which is a good way of improving the organisation's performance.

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