Understanding the Aspect of Employee Relations - Essay Example

?Employee Relations Table of Contents Employee Relations Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Understanding the Aspect of Employee Relations 4 Concept of Employee Involvement 5 Concept of Employee Participation 6 Differences between Employee Participation & Employee Involvement 11 Conclusion 16 References 17 Introduction The dealings or rather the communication that takes place among the employees with the management is learnt to have an effect on numerous aspects with regard to the business context. Classification of such associations has been recognised with employee participation and employee involvement and is regarded as the most important ones. Employee involvement as well as participation is measured to be equally significant for the reason of attaining organisational objectives along with ensuring the effectual functioning of the organisations (Light, 2004). Human capital has been considered to be an imperative asset since long for every kind of organisations. All the other existing resources are made use of and dealt by the human resources itself. It is in this context that it becomes essential to achieve the involvement and participation of the employed human resources with regard to every sphere of work so as to ensure enhancement in their respective performance as well as attaining satisfaction. The present business environment is considered to be quite competitive as well as turbulent which makes it mandatory for organisations to look for various ways to attain increased adaptability, flexibility and competitiveness (Light, 2004). The research study would aim to provide a lucid understanding regarding the aspects of employee involvement and employee participation along with vividly identifying their key differences. Understanding the Aspect of Employee Relations The aspect of employee relation is perceived as strategic with regard to the management of the business risk associated with organisations. Employers are learnt to make use of the proficiencies and potentials linked with employee relations. These mentioned proficiencies as well as abilities are regarded by the employers or the organisations to be vital for attaining performance specifications with the help of concentrating on employee participation as well as involvement. The employee relations are supposed to be strategic with regard to the management of business perils that exists both upside and downside risks. Notably, the upside risk refers to the disappointment regarding the failure of displaying or attaining utmost business performance. The downside risk refers to the nonconformity with the rules as well as regulations related to employment (Williams & Smith, 2010). In this regards, Human Resource Management (HRM) is learnt to emphasise on the ways organisations build and encourage employees to attain the superior specifications related to performance that is considered and believed to be essentially imperative in the present competitive environment. Employee relations can therefore, be stated as the emphasis that is exerted on the broader associations existing among the employer and the employees (Dicker, 2003). Superior degree of employee relations is believed to be the primary essential condition that is required to attain success by the organisations. The methods related to the facet of employee involvement are believed to prove helpful in circumstances where the employees and the management maintain flexibility in their respective behaviour as well as attitudes. It is believed to trigger employee participation accompanied with employee encouragement with the help of mutual agreement. Therefore, it can be deduced from the stated explanation that with the intention to ensure superior and successful employee relations, there need to pertain an environment of dependency and belief (Gennard & Judge, 2005). Concept of Employee Involvement Employee involvement refers to the assortment or series of processes that are devised so as to employ the comprehension, encouragement and the best possible contribution of every individual employee alongside with their respective assurance in the course of attainment of the organisational goals. Alternatively, the concept of employee participation has been explained as a particular procedure that can often be observed to relate with employee involvement. This particular procedure is believed to be devised with the intention of endowing the employees the prospect to manipulate along with taking active participation in the process of decision making when it is considered appropriate on subjects that are supposed to have an effect on the employees’ productivity (Light, 2004). Employee involvement explains the opinion in relation to a particular employee with reference to his/her individuality or significance in the place and team of work. The notion of employee involvement has frequently been regarded to be a process oriented method; however, it also entails the potential of being regarded as a motivational method or even participative management. The aspect of employee involvement is believed to entail four different and distinct processes like information, rewards, knowledge and power. It can be stated with regard to this context that knowledge is considered or measured to be a relatively richer notion in comparison to training (Apostolou, 2000). Employment involvement comes out as a sturdy triggering factor or rather facilitator with regard to employee participation. However, it needs to be stated with regard to this context that in-spite of the similarities between the mentioned two aspects, i.e. employee involvement and their participation, there still exists notable differences regarding these two notions. The most important and noteworthy point of distinction is that the concept of employee involvement is measured as a process whereas employee participation is measured to be increasingly cognitive as well as responsive. In addition, at the time of making differences, employee involvement has been regarded as a precursor in relation to employee participation (Singh & Dixit, 2011). Employee involvement implies that every individual employee is considered to be an exceptional individual and each of them is concerned with aiding the organisation to attain its aimed objectives. Every employee’s contribution or effort is importuned and measured as valuable by the management. Management along with employees identify that every individual employee needs to be actively involved with the business operations so as to ensure the smooth functioning of the organisations (Singh & Dixit, 2011). Concept of Employee Participation Employee participation is however stated to be a separate idea. Employee participation implies recognising the importance of engaging employees in the course of conduct of the business functions. Employee participation in accord and synchronisation with the management are also believed to make out that numerous issues or hindrances in the way of attaining organisational goals and efficiently resolves them. Employee participation denotes that management identifies this particular aptitude and offers the employees the means along with the power that is supposed to be necessary for the constant enhancement of their respective performance. The management also affirms its belief and prospects regarding employees identifying and resolving the issues and as a result facilitating them to continue doing so in the form of participation (Singh & Dixit, 2011). In the midst of the several fundamental factors that contribute towards the accomplishment or breakdown of any kind of organisation, the power of the individuals or rather the employees are considered to be the most noteworthy factor. The power or influence of the employees along with the competence of making use of that power or influence is considered to be vital as it helps in attaining the organisational goals to a large extent. The influence of the employees in the attainment of the organisational goals can be stated as the utmost contributing factor. An organisation, irrespective of its way of operating or rather conducting its business functions remain largely dependent on the strengths as well as weaknesses of its respective employees. Even in case of a completely automated manufacturing unit, the endeavours of the employees are required to devise, operate and also maintain the structure that would generate output (Singh & Dixit, 2011). Organisations that are successful in exploring and making use of the strengths of their respective employees are considered to be stronger and increasingly competitive compared to those organisations that remain incapable of doing so. According to Singh & Dixit (2011), organisations which consider their human resources or their employees to be automations or rather sheer components of a wheel would never identify their complete potential. This inability of the organisations would prevent them from making use of the respective potential or competencies of the employees which result in luring competition in the long run. Therefore, it is supposed to be important for organisations to recognise the potential or rather the proficiencies and competencies of their respective employees so as to ensure their existence in this competitive business environment (Singh & Dixit, 2011). Employee involvement can also be referred to as the procedure of facilitating the employees to make their active participation in the course of making managerial decisions and enhancement related actions suitable to their positions with regard to the organisation. In this regards, the Theory Y stated by McGregor was considered to be the initial comprehension that made the managers realise the concept of a management style that was participative in nature. Since then, the idea of employee involvement is believed to have undertaken various shapes, entailing the advances made with regard to job design and exceptional activities for instance programs related to work life quality (Singh & Dixit, 2011). It was found in numerous instances that organisations were able to attain higher degree of success with the help of employee involvement accompanied with formal participation (Godard, 2004). Participative management has been referred to as a term that entails within its numerous activities such as providing solution to the problems, setting objectives, and direct as well as active engagements in the process of decision making which includes individuals or rather employees placed in the consultation board, deciding on fresh co-workers along with involvement in terms of policy bodies (Singh & Dixit, 2011). Employee participation ensures that any decision taken mutually by the management and the employees get willingly accepted by the employees owing to their involvement while making the decision. The other benefit offered with this kind of participative management is that the decisions that are taken or made with the involvement of the employees are usually considered to be of superior quality owing to the assorted inputs offered by the management as well as the employees. For instance, it was observed and found in one of the manufacturing units of General Motors that the employees along with their union appeared to be similarly passionate and excited regarding the fresh focus exerted on the aspect of quality. It was owing to the fact that the participation of the employees in ascertaining the specifications related to superior quality triggered a sense of dignity as well as a feeling of being wanted in the organisations. It is even regarded as advantageous as the employees working in the ground level are supposed to be well aware of the requirements of the customers and therefore, their valuable inputs could help the organisations to better comprehend the needs of the customers further enabling them to effectually cater to the wants of the customers (Singh & Dixit, 2011). In this context, the participation of the employees has been stated to exist in the form of direct as well as indirect participation. The employees’ participation in an organisation’s management could be through the help of representatives or even can be laid down in the law that is founded with the help of contracts or at times even offered by a particular employer. Therefore, the types of participation could be stated to exist in the form of employer grants as well as legal statutes. The legally supported or the laid down structures or rather systems, for instance, employees’ depiction on the work councils and their inclusion on corporate boards amongst the directors or the aspect of collective bargaining can be considered as the formal structures. These formal structures with laid down rules as well as regulations are believed to provide consistent guiding principles for the reason of engaging or involving the employees in the process of decision making in every organisations that are supposed to fall under the authority or influence of the specified or the laid down contract or law. The instigated participation provided by the employer is generally not believed to indicate the lawful rights in relation to the employees that are to be exercised during the process of decision making (Hollinshead & et. al., 2002). Two major kinds of theoretical disputes are believed to exist that were used so as to legalise the direct participation of the employees. The disputes have been stated as the productivity as well as efficiency justification and human growth as well as development. The prevalent theories related to human progress as well as development propose that individuals are believed to have psychological requirements so as to develop with regard to their complete prospective along with being active, independent and self-measured individuals involved in the process of constant learning. This particular requirement is believed to be possible to be satisfied with the assistance of the jobs which are regarded to be intrinsically challenging as well as appealing which as a result intends to provide employee responsibility and self-sufficiency. Direct participation of the employees entails possibilities of meeting up to the psychological requirement or development needs which also facilitates in augmenting the degree of motivation along with performance of the employees. The theories related to the aspect of employee participation concentrate and focus on the manner the work needs to be structured and also states the need of creation or development of organisational arrangement so as to enable and promote the psychological development with regard to individual employee (Kaufman & Taras, 2000). Employees’ participation is supposed to be one way of enabling the psychological development or rather meeting up to the psychological requirement of the employees; however, it cannot be stated as the only way of attaining so. The fundamental supposition that is considered to lie beneath the theories were stated to be the actual fact and idea of making the utmost use of the unexplored talent and energy that is believed to be liberated by the employees when prospects of participation are made available for the employees by the organisations or the employers. This is also supposed to trim down the rate of absenteeism as well as turnover owing to the fact that employees would develop a certain level of obligation and dedication towards the objectives of the management along with the feeling of comprising a stake in the future of the organisation (Kaufman & Taras, 2000). Differences between Employee Participation & Employee Involvement The above discussion has helped in gaining a detailed and comprehensive insight towards the aspect of employee involvement and employee participation with reference to the related theories. It also provides a lucid comprehension of the fact that there exists significant difference between both the concepts. The basic difference that can be revealed from the provided explanations regarding the two aspects indicates the approach or concept of employee participation to be a collective or pluralist approach followed by a scale that is believed to vary from no kind of involvement to managing the employees (Blyton & Turnbill, 2004). The aspect or idea of employee participation is believed to entail certain processes as well as mechanisms such as the work councils, schemes related to employees shares, mutual consultative committees, worker directors and collective bargaining. However, the aspect of employee involvement is considered as increasingly unitarist notion along with being individualist as well. This particular idea of employee involvement is intended to tie together or rather attach the factors of dedication and assurance towards the ascertained goals of the organisation and is dependent on the preservation and continuation associated with management control. Employee involvement is usually considered to be a form of ‘soft’ approach associated with the conception of HRM, which more often than not, engages the communication courses of upwards as well as downwards stream (Loosemore & et. al., 2003). The flow in relation to downward communication refers to the flow that is directed from the top level of management and comes down to the line employees. This communication process is supposed to engage the aspects of written form of communication such as staff handbooks, employee newsletters and house journals among others. Written form of communication is also observed to get accompanied with even different formal channels such as staff forums and team briefings with the intention to keep the employees well aware of the organisational guiding principles and main concerns. Conversely, the flow associated with upward communication exists in both formal as well as in informal forms and entails the chances of engaging some definite means including systems related to employee suggestion, employee surveys and appraisal programs. These ways of communication at times get associated with tools related to TQM, for instance, quality enhancement teams and quality circles. It is initiated so as to make certain that the course and guiding principles with regard to a particular organisation gets manipulated by the views and outlook of the employees’ (Loosemore & et. al., 2003). The vital point of difference existing between employee participation and employee involvement can be identified from the fact that the idea of involvement is considered to exert emphasis on individuality compared to collectivism. This implies that there exists a need in case of employee involvement to concentrate on the aspect of direct form of communication with every individual employee subsidising the importance of spokesperson chosen by the employees themselves. To add further, the aspect of employee involvement is considered to be triggered by the management and is not observed to be established within the area associated with the experts connected with industrial relations as it is considered to be significantly directed towards attaining economic efficiency (Department of Trade and Industry, 2002). It is in this regards that employee involvement is considered to be the definite structure where the manipulation of the employees is believed to be decisively established within the core of the associated procedures. Employee involvement is usually considered to be the process of engaging the employees effectively towards their respective tasks so as to facilitate increased productivity along with enhanced performances. Endeavours are adopted by the management of the organisations for the reason of prompting and encouraging a culture of involvement with the help of the inclusion of team working by way of providing or allocating tasks and providing the teams with the advantage of independence and triggering a sense of obligation towards their own respective job responsibilities. These mentioned triggering factors or endeavours are learnt to become associated with the methods related to culture alterations as a result such as enhancement schemes with regard to customer service, TQM along with business-process re-engineering (BPR) among others (Loosemore & et. al., 2003). Therefore, it becomes necessary to be mentioned in this regard that the noted mechanisms as a result helps in initiating employee participation to a certain extent. Employee involvement is considered to be necessary for the organisations for the reason of deriving their dedication and loyalty towards the attainment of the organisational objectives. The process of employee involvement is learnt to be initiated by the management with the help of expressing respect to every individual employee and is also believed to attain this aspect by way of triggering an environment of mutual belief as well as assurance. This feeling of mutual dependency and dedication of the employees that is extracted with the help of employee involvement helps in facilitating the productivity of the organisations (Loosemore & et. al., 2003). From an in-depth point of view, employee involvement can be further referred to the direct participation of the employees without the need of representatives. Conversely, employee participation differs in a significant way as refers to the degree of involvement with relation to the employees usually with the help of their chosen spokesperson with the management in the course of decision making. This indicates that the employees are discussed with by the management regarding other organisational matters apart from the aspect of their respective work. Although the final decision is believed to be made by the management, the opinions of the employees are also considered while making decisions. Therefore, it can be comprehended that employee involvement can be stated as the process by which employee participation is attained in an organisation. Employee involvement is preferred for the reason of gaining consent towards some definite suggested actions of the management in terms of assurance and not control. However, employee participation to some extent engages control by the employees in the process of decision making by the management (Loosemore & et. al., 2003). Conclusion The above discussion aids to gain an apparent understanding regarding the concepts of employee involvement as well as employee participation. Although both the processes share some kind of inter-relation, they are still learnt and believed to differ in some key areas. The main area of differences has been lucidly explained in the above discussion. It can be inferred from the above provided explanations that both the aspects of employee involvement and participation are considered to be imperative for the management of the organisations as an endeavour to ascertain the associations for exploitation. This study has been successful in depicting the fact that employee involvement is associated with employee participation which in turn ensures enhanced performance of the employees and increased productivity of the organisations. It can also be further inferred that both these aspects and concepts helps in attaining employee contentment along with deriving dedication and assurance towards the attainment of the organisational intentions. References Apostolou, A., 2000. Employee Involvement. Technical University of Crete, pp. 1-22. Blyton, P. & Turnbull, P. J., 2004. The Dynamics of Employee Relations. Palgrave Macmillan. Dicker, L., 2003. Employee Relations: How to Build Strong Relationships with your Employees. Allen & Unwin. Gennard, J. & Judge, G., 2005. Employee Relations. CIPD Publishing. Godard, J., 2004. A Critical Assessment of the High-Performance Paradigm. British Journal of Industrial Relations, pp. 349-378. Department of Trade and Industry, 2002. 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