How Jinnikins Jeans Would Benefit from Extending Employee Voice - Essay Example

?Evaluation of How Jinnikins Jeans Would Benefit from Extending Employee Voice Introduction The topic chosen for discussion is the benefit of extending employee voice at Jinnikins Jeans. This organisation is currently operating below its threshold. It recently recorded a 31% drop in gross turnover. Other high street clothing industry players are in the same predicament, so this result does not alarm stakeholders. Regardless, the company still has several internal issues that it must solve in order to turn around those numbers. The extension of employee voice could be the answer as will be highlighted below. 2. Overview of the impact of employee voice on Jinnikins Jeans The underlying theory behind employee voice is that employees have sufficient interests, skills and knowledge to engage in business decisions. Unlike what management experts previously assumed, it is becoming increasingly clear that even non-investors ought to make decisions (Gollan, 2006). Since workers dedicate a significant part of their lives within certain organisations, then it only comes naturally that their work would define them. At Jinnikins, some of the employees have been working for the company since they left university. Therefore, it makes sense to include them in decision-making processes. Employee voice has four distinct functions in any given organisation. It may allow the employee to express dissatisfaction with the organisation or management. Currently, such a platform seems to be lacking at Jinnikings. Most of the individuals in the organisation do not have an avenue for expressing their misgivings. The case study states that several employees in the headquarters are worried that they might lose their jobs just like their counterparts in the UK factory. Furthermore, some feel marginalised by senior level executives concerning operations of the business. This was especially true for Lionel, the production director. If the company does not provide avenues for expression of dissent, then employees could look elsewhere. Businesses need employee voice in order to enjoy collective organisation. Unionisation and membership in other employee interest groups allows members to express collective concerns to which their employers can respond. Jinnikings feels it is a reasonable employer, which pays above average salaries and fosters communality. Therefore, it sees no need for collective bargaining. However, employees are already planning to join a Works Council, and this could throw the company off track if it does not prepare in advance. Senior executives, Trevor and George are quite apprehensive about unions. In fact, they outsourced their operations because of this aspect (Mathews, 2012). The company needs to address this matter before it overwhelms them. Firms need employee voice because it facilitates the contribution of employees in management decision making. This implies that they can handle aspects like productivity, quality and organisation better using such a voice. Problem solving will spread across the organisation if firms foster participation (Van Dyne et al., 2003). Jinnikins appears to need this form of participation in decision-making. Currently, the two senior executives make all the decisions, which leads to a backlog in introduction of new ideas. Furthermore, it wastes a lot of time and frustrates the creative energy of the enterprise by creating all this bureaucracy around decisions. Clearly, the firm needs to rethink this approach in the future. Even critical elements of planning, like recruitment and selection or redundancy planning, are often in the hands of senior executives. They often select individuals based on the person they know rather than their work. As a result, the company has a backlog of redundant staff that they cannot get rid of. This reliance on the executive for most decisions has even led to difficulties in eliminating these staff. Instead of relying on guidelines for getting work done, managers have to second-guess. The highhanded approach of the two executive brothers has caused this problem. The HR manager’s take on redundancy ought to take priority and so should the same thing occur for other leaders with input on the matter. Organisations also require employee voice in order to foster mutuality between the employee and the employer. Employees would feel better connected to their institution and thus be more satisfied with their jobs (Kato and Morishima, 2002). The component of mutuality is lacking among workers at the company. Some employees have already left the institution because of misgivings about certain things. For instance, a top rival for the company was able to poach the marketing director because of failure to instate this aspect. Members of the design team feel that they deserve bonuses. However, the lack of voice in the company has not allowed them to express this need clearly. Therefore, mutuality between the organisation and the workers is lacking. The Science and Voice model enables one to understand the motivation behind strong employee voice or the lack of it in organisations (Van Dyne et. al., 2003). This theoretical framework consists of three motives for voice; that is, self-protection, disengagement and other-orientation. Such motives lead to the manifestation of three forms of voice that are acquiescent, defensive and pro-social. Acquiescent voice refers to expression of information by employees due to their lack of confidence in their ability to change the company. Defensive voice is motivated by fear and self-protection while a pro social voice is founded on cooperation. Conversely, an organisation may also experience these same forms of expression in the form of silence. Currently, Jinnikins seems to be dealing with acquiescent silence. Employees have lost confidence in their ability to create a difference in the organisation. Several of them have different contributions that they can make but choose not to speak out. Etty, the human resource director, learnt about members’ apprehensions towards the top-down approach of communication. The executive brothers think that their culture is like that of a family, yet employees feel stifled by their inability to communicate upward. This company needs to think of new ways of encouraging voice to foster greater engagement and cooperation. The expectancy theory of motivation also allows one to understand the relevance of voice within organisations. It attempts to explain what motivates individuals in an organisation. Persons will be motivated if three factors exist: desirable outcomes, clear performance-outcome links and confidence in employee’s capabilities (Holweg and Pil, 2004). Companies can motivate individuals to perform if those individuals have confidence in their ability to carry out the task. Managers can only deduce this confidence when employees have voice in the company (Dundon and Gollan, 2007). Some top-level managers at Jinnikins Jeans seem to lack confidence in their ability to carry out tasks. Poor knowledge of the IT function by several employees at the headquarters is preventing them from performing their duties. The distribution manager, Dan, is suffering from a lack of confidence in his abilities as a manager. Even the Human resource director also lacks confidence in her academic abilities. If these individuals had voice, then they would be able to express their misgivings about the skills gap, and executives would do something about it. In the expectancy theory, people will also be motivated when they clearly understand the link between outcomes and performance (Wilkinson et. al., 2009). Employee voice is necessary in this regard, because it allows organisational leaders to deduce whether workers understand the link between performance and outcomes. This appears to be a serious problem at Jinnikins Jeans. No one has approached senior managers concerning this issue. The executive brothers reward individuals haphazardly for their efforts. Skills improvements occur in a way that does not tie in with organisational and individual needs. Therefore, many employees do not see the link between training and development as well as their jobs. Furthermore, only members of the sales team get to enjoy positive returns in the company. Other workers do not see the association between their work and the incentives they get. Employee voice would have allowed them to express these ideas. The company would have worked on suggestions and increased motivation. Finally, expectancy theory postulates that employees will be motivated only when they value the outcome of a reward. Organisational members that speak up would express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with rewards in the company. Sadly, for Jinnikins Jeans, this state of affairs does not exist. Employees in the sales team have a pay for performance reward system in place. However, this has led to intense rivalry between star sales men and the rest of the team. Therefore, the employees needed to communicate their misgivings about the reward system through employee voice (Freeman et. al., 2007). Members of the creative team also appear to value more money than they are getting currently. In order to understand how employees perceive reward systems, it is prudent to look at other theories on the topic. The Maslow hierarchy of needs theory indicates that employees need to have their basic needs met before focusing on emotional and higher order needs like self-actualisation. Most western companies have already gone past lower level needs and are focusing on high-level aspects such as self-actualisation (Armstrong, 2006). In order to ensure that self actualisation arises, the company needs to assess the needs of its subordinates. Jinnikins is relying excessively on monetary rewards as its motivational tool. Stress overwhelms a person like Dan who wonders whether he can take it. This means that other aspects of rewards are more valuable to him than just money. Employees want to feel recognised for the work they do (Wilkinson et. al., 2004). Company policy at Jinnikings is such that it has no formal system for offering such a reward. Furthermore, even the feelings of achievement that may motivate some individuals could affect productivity. Hertzberg’s theory of motivation also states that motivation and hygiene factors may be forms of rewards granted in organisations. Some company policies may impede satisfaction. As the case is currently, Jinnikins has a carefree work environment. It has not created a system for staff attendance, discipline, unpaid leave or absenteeism. This implies that mid level managers may struggle to synchronise their work schedules with overseas clients or to communicate with other departments. Therefore, the lack of company policy on these matters causes dissatisfaction at work. Employee voice would have enabled top-level managers to learn about these challenges. 3. Recommendations The action plan will be undertaken within a period of three years, and will consist of three critical components; the first if pay and performance. Jinnikins needs to conduct a pay audit in the company. It needs to ask employees about their salary expectations and methods of rewards (Wilkinson et. al., 2009b). If individuals in the creative department call for a pay for performance system, then implementation should commence 6 months after information collection. Additionally, sales staff should give alternatives for pay for performance to dissipate tensions. The best suggestion should be considered and adopted in subsequent months. The company will also develop a system for recognising employees who have performed well within the institution. This will also come through suggestions from employees. Workers will fill in questionnaires regarding their preference for a method of recognising achievement. This practice will continue on an annual basis. The organisation will thus be able to maintain a pulse on workers’ perception of their reward system. The second component of the action plan is recruitment and retention. Since little information is available on real turnover figures, the company will have to collect data on turnover, diversity and age. All data should be collected three months after implementation of the plan. Thereafter, a recruitment committee consisting of representatives from all the departments will be selected. They will be carrying out recruitment and selection on merit basis. The idea is to give employees a voice through representation in the hiring process (Seibert et. al., 2004). Promotion will occur through work experience in the company and opportunities should be available to internal employees first before considering external ones. In matters of retention, the organisation will first do a skills-analysis to establish the gaps that exist among the employees. Thereafter, it should instate a multi skilling program for all members. The evaluation of the case study shows that the company needs to get rid of redundant staff. However, choosing to eliminate them at one go could spark legal issues. Therefore, both Sandy’s and Etty’s idea about the layoff should be merged. They need to receive large pay packages and released. The remaining staff will make up for prevailing skills gaps. The third aspect of the plan is organisational development. Staff engagement will be a priority since bottom up communication was a key problem. Jinnikins will establish staff forums that will occur on a monthly basis. It will also have recognition schemes designed to boost morale. The organisation will set up intranet facilities that allow direct discussions between senior level management and employees (Detert and Burris, 2007). Executives will have more time to respond to suggestions since they will have decentralised recruitment, planning among other things. The organisation will do an audit of all the job titles, positions and their roles. It will then compare this with the skills audit and arrange for training. An intensive work-training program will occur based on the above findings. Training will occur continually depending on an annual skills audit. Employees will receive instructions on how to meet this need in the future. 4.0 Conclusion Jinnikins Jeans has had an informal culture from its inception. The need to nurture creativity has been its main justification, but this approach is costing the company millions of pounds. Most of the people management problems in the company arise from this culture, and they include poor bottom up communication, demoralised staff, inadequate reward systems, skills gaps, insufficient training and ad hoc recruitment and motivation. The organisation would benefit from extension of employee voice by determining their take on how to solve the above problems. It should then implement these recommendations. Formalising human resource system through employee voice or input will contribute towards a stable and profitable institution. References Armstrong, M., 2006. Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Page Limited . Detert, J. R., and Burris, E. R., 2007. Leadership Behaviour and Employee Voice: Is the Door Really Open? Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), pp. 869-884. Dundon, T. and Gollan, P.J., 2007. Re-conceptualizing voice in the non-union workplace. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18, pp. 1182-98. Freeman, R.B., Boxall, P. and Haynes, P., 2007. What workers say: Employee voice in the Anglo- American world. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Gollan, P.J., 2006. Employee representation in non-union firms. London: Sage. Holweg, M and Pil, F., 2004. The Second Century. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Kato, T. and Morishima, M., 2002. The productivity effects of participatory employment practices: Evidence from new Japanese panel data. Industrial Relations, 41, pp. 487–520. Mathews, S., 2012. Jinnikins Jeans. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University. Seibert, S., Silver, S., and Randolph, W. 2004. Taking empowerment to the next level: A multiple-level model of empowerment, performance, and satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal 47, pp. 332–49. Wilkinson, A., Bacon, N., Redman, T. and Snell, S., 2009. The Sage handbook of human resource management. London: Sage. Wilkinson, A., Dundon, T., Marchington, M. & Ackers, P., 2004. Changing patterns of employee voice: Case studies from the UK and Republic of Ireland. Journal of Industrial Relations, 46, pp. 298-322. Wilkinson, A., Gollan, P., Marchington, M. and Lewin, D., 2009b. The Oxford handbook of participation in organisations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Van Dyne, L., Soon, A., and Botero, I. C., 2003. Conceptualizing Employee Silence and Employee Voice as Multidimensional Constructs. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), pp. 1359-1392 Read More