Employee Involvement & Communication

Employee participation is the involvement of employees in organisations by means of communication. Employee participation allows employees to have some input in the decision making process within business's. Employee involvement, however, is the process of managers encouraging employees to be committed to the business in which they work. This can be done by sharing information, consultation and financial participation.

The difference between employee participation and employee involvement is that employee participation is more formal than employee involvement. For example, in employee participation, employees input their views and opinions on matters that concern the business e.g. whether or not to merge with another company while employee involvement involves matters that may not be directly concerned with the running of the business e.g. getting employees more active in the local community.

Organisations can involve employees in decision-making by:

1. Empowering them - Empowering employees gives them extra power and responsibility in the business, which would give them a greater say in the decision making process.

2. Working in teams - This would give employees an opportunity to discuss in teams the best course of action, which may involve making decisions agreed upon the group e.g. choosing a certain supply of goods.

3. Carry out staff opinion surveys - These can be given to employees within the company, allowing employees to give their views and opinions on the business. The results of the survey may determine how the business is run e.g. if the survey shows that 100% of employees dislike the autocratic leadership style in the business currently, the business may change its leadership style to a laissez faire leadership style.

Ernest & Young use Facebook as a social service, which allows potential recruits to inquire about any positions in the company that are available that they might be interested in under the "discussions" tab. This is done through online posts. Responses are then given by people that work at Ernest & Young about whether any positions are available and how to apply for a position in the company. For existing staff, employees can inquire about relocating to a different country but still work for Ernest & Young. Information is then given from users who work at the company that know which countries Ernest & Young support with available jobs going and respond with suitable answers.

Zappos use Twitter as a social service, which allows employees to communicate with each other on topics of their own choosing. Typical topics include how work is going, what training is like at Zappos and how the different Zappos branches compare. This is also done through online posts. Users reply to each other on topics that are currently active. Zappos' Twitter page isn't private however, which allows people that aren't employed by Zappos to post on the page. As a result, potential recruits can ask questions regarding Zappos that current Zappos employees can answer e.g. questions regarding the work environment in which Zappos employees work and the culture of the organisation.

In conclusion, I've enjoyed this topic because it is a topic that I'm relatively unfamiliar with. As a result, I've found the topic interesting having learnt a lot from it. It is also a topic that relates to the world of work, which is also why I enjoyed it to such a large extent as it will be relevant information to me once I finish University and find a job.

References:

Employee communication image [online]. [n.d.] [s.n.] Available from: http://www.powersbenefits.com/AA001354.jpg [Accessed 22 March 2010].