Employee participation essay examples

“ An employee’s voice describes how employees raise concerns and express their interests, solve problems, contribute and participate in workplace decision making” (Pyman et al, 2006, p. 543).

The type of voice an employee possesses on a job helps in establishing the essence of relationship between employee and employer relationship. A voice is an expression of discontent, engagement towards management decisions and demonstration of mutual relationship between employee and the employer (Dundon, 2004). In today’s organisations there are various kinds of voice that are practiced by the employees, it all depends on the nature and structure of the organisation that ensures which form is the appropriate one. As an employee it is an utter desire to opt for Direct Voice because it allows having a very direct communication with the employer.
As Bryson mentions in his book that direct voice is a form of two way communication between the management and employees (Bryson, 2006, p. 442). Direct is far more better than Union or Non-union voice because there are no representatives in between the organisation management and the employee and they both are able to interact and communicate with each other in a more healthy and efficient way. An effectiveness of voice definitely provides a better hold over the employment for an employee.

Direct employee voice acts as a beneficial tool for an organisation because that not only help the employees in expressing themselves but also the management towards the betterment of the organisation. The positive aspect of implementing direct voice is that it builds up an employee’s morale in a positive manner. The one to one meetings held in this regards give the employee an opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions and show their likes and dislikes with the management decisions. At the same the employer is also encouraged to express his thoughts regarding an employee’s concerns. Both employer and employee get a chance to mend their relationship in a positive way and value each other’s opinion at the same time. On the other hand, if employee voice is suppressed or is not used in an effective way, it may lead towards, low morale and low job satisfaction on behalf of the employee. Whether an employee makes the use of direct or indirect voice this channel should provide better control over one’s job.

With the help of implementation of direct voice an employee can more likely get rid of his dissatisfaction towards his job and as a result an effort is made to bring creativity towards work. Direct voice becomes responsible to create a work friendly atmosphere and emphasizes on showing dissatisfaction that an employee faces, if any. As, Bryson explains in his book that an environment that promotes two way communication between the management and the employee helps an individual to cope up with the situations and encourages them to build a strong relationship with their work and at the same time a stronger relationship the two parties is also exhibited. This all ultimately leads to better productivity because when you are satisfied with your work environment you are able to give your hundred percent and this benefits you and your organisation as well.
Productivity cannot be casted as the only criteria to have employee voice at the workplace as there are many other factors that affect and are being affected by employee voice. There are various economic and social benefits that are achieved through the practice of employee voice. An employee who is satisfied with his job aims to be creative and comes up with new ideas and as a result contributes towards his workplace with improved performance and increased loyalty. The level of improved performance is responsible for increase in productivity of goods and services which helps the organisation to compete in this competitive market.

Apart from productivity, implementation of employee voice in an organisation leads to the improvement of systems used by the employee management. As employees are given opportunity to voice themselves therefore they are able to outshine their issues and this helps the management to bring more enthusiasm inside the workplace by giving employees a sense of value. As Wilkinson (2004, p. 312) explains in his book that when employees are given credit and value by their employers, their work ethics tend to improve and they put more effort towards their job than they previously would have done. Moreover, other than productivity and economic boost, employee voice also helps an organisation to build up employee retention rate which is quite important in today’s job market where employment quit rate is high due to lack of employee voice.

When we take into account the perspective of an employer, it is realised that an employer’s aim is to achieve the organisation’s set targets and goals while using the available resources and productive labour. When direct employee voice is implemented in a specific organisation it helps the employer to know all about where he is lacking when it comes to employee satisfaction. Bryson mentions in his book that it is important for an employer to save cost but at the same time enhance the productivity of his organisation and in order to do so he can make the use of direct employee voice in a very efficient way. This act helps in building a strong and direct relationship between the employer and his work force and when both of them communicate with each other directly, an employee finds it very easy to express what is bothering him and why is he unable to put his 100 percent effort and what can be done to make things right.
On the other hand, an employer’s duty is to listen to his employee’s concern but at the same time it might not be feasible for him to provide everything that his employees may demand for. But with a better understanding of his employee’s concerns an employer can focus on lower costs and better productivity. In some cases, an employee’s voice can be extremely complex and very difficult to be measured. Moreover, the management is fully responsible for using employee voice in an effective way as employer and the managerial persons are responsible for employee voice encouragement (Bryson, 2006, p. 452).
Any suggestion that an employee put forwards to his employer with the use of direct voice may pose a direct impact. The voice mechanism does benefit both the employer and the employees at the same time. Employees are benefited in a way that voice enables their inner thoughts to be revealed and if they are dissatisfied with any of the decisions made by the management, they are happy to show their dissatisfaction straightaway. It not only gives them the opportunity to express but also gives them a sense of job security. Likely, an employer is also benefitted from employee voice as it creates a sense of mutual understanding between employees and the management; also it improves the level of creativity and productivity. Lastly, it also gives an organisation a level of comparative advantage over other competitors. Therefore, it can be said that if an organisation makes the use of direct voice it will benefit both the organisation and its workforce.

References

Dundon, T & Wilkinson, (2006). Employee participation, contemporary resource management. 2nd edition, Pearson: Harlow, p. 382-404.
Bryson, (2004). Managerial responsiveness to union and non-union worker voice in Britain. Industrial relations: A journal of Economy and Society, vol. 43, p. 213-241.
Pyman, A., Cooper, B., Teicher, J & Holland, (2006). A comparison of the effectiveness of employee voice arrangements in Austraia. Industrial Relations Journal, vol. 37, 543-559.