Employee Relations and Decision-Making - Essay Example

? Employee Relations Collage: Today, most of the organizations in the global market have adopted various types of empowerment initiative. One of the above mentioned forms of empowerment that has proved to be effective is giving the employees the opportunity to be engaged directly in making decision-making processes in the work place. In order to be successful in the modern business global business environment, organizations are supposed to have the knowledge, energy, ideas and particular creativity of every worker, beginning from the front line employees to the top rank managers in the executive team (Frese 2008, p. 70). The top organizations achieve this by empowering the employees to take part in work place decision making. Therefore, employee engagement in decision making is a powerful factor in organizations’ success. Employees who are engaged in decision making processes in an organization are more focused on their customers and more productive. Therefore, the profit making organizations and employers retain them for the key purposes of business success and continuity (Kahn 1990, 9.700). According to various researches carried out across the global business markets, employees’ engagement in work place decision making is a significant strategy for organizations that aiming to succeed in the global market place. Employee engagement in decision making is not a Human Resources initiative that top level management need to be reminded always. Employee engagement in decision making is a significant initiative, which drives the employee performance in the work place, accomplishment and continuous improvement always (Conway & Monks 2009, p.155). It is the impact from the way a particular organization associates itself with the employees in order to move the business outcomes. Therefore, various organizations can create employee empowerment by engaging them in decision making processes in the organization. The employer’s key responsibility is to create a conducive environment for the employees and making choices that are effective for the business continuity and success. And, employees who are engaged in work place decision making are good for the business. According to various researches, the working population ratio of the engaged employees in decision making to those actively disengaged employees in two to one. The employees who are actively disengaged in making decision process in an organization’s bottom line erode business success and they break the morale of the other employees in the process. Nevertheless, employees are more likely to be involved in work place decision making if the organizations provides various factors (Bakker & Schaufeli 2008, p. 150). For instance, the employee engagement in decision making should be a business strategy and it should concentrate on finding engaged employees and retaining the employees engaged in work place decision making throughout the employment contract. In addition, employee’s engagement in work place decision should mainly focus on business results. This is because workers are mostly engaged in decision making process when the key objectives of the organization are aligned with the objectives of the employees. It is evident that workers feel empowered and motivated when they are accountable to the business success and they can measure and value the results of the performance and active participation in decision making. The strategic goals and objectives of the employer and the employees should be frequent and there should be an effective communication that informs and reaches the employee at his or her rank and performance in his or her job. Engaged employees in decision making in an organization have the information needed in order have an understanding of what they are supposed to do each day and how their performance affects the company’s priorities and goals (Konrad 2006, p.4). Employee engagement in decision making is very critical to an organization’s success. Nevertheless, some of the organizations do not it carry it out effectively. This is because implementing a business strategy such as involving employees in workplace decision making is a hard task and several organization do not regard it as affecting their bottom line. Notably, employees’ involvement in work place decision making effective management, which is very much committed in evaluating workers performance and holding all the employees accountable ( Macleod & Clarke 2009, p.150). In addition, the management should be in a position to provide adequate information, which is required to align all the employees’ performance with the business objectives and goals. The managers should focus on employee development in order to ensure success and also make a commitment to maintain the workers engaged in decision making processes since they hold that no other empowerment strategy will enhance success for both the organization and the employees. There are various factors that affect the willingness of workers to be engaged in decision making processes in a workplace. One of the factors that affect employees’ involvement in decision making is implementation of an effective reward and recognition system. The above mentioned enhances employee recognition, engagement, frequent and it identifies the actions that are worthy recognition. Adequate recognition and identification involves written and verbal acknowledgement from the management on top of the physical supplied provided. Moreover, there should be frequent feedback between the employees and the employers since it improves employees’ performance appraisal (Parker Williams & Tuner 2006, p.642). An effective performance feedback should take place every day and it should focus on what the employees do and what needs improvement. In engaging employees in decision making in a work place there should be shared values and key guiding principles. This is because employees perform very well in a work place when their personal values are aligned with the organization’s guiding principles and stated goals and objectives. In addition, there should be positive relationships with the co-workers. Employees who are engaged in decision making should work with the rest of the co-workers who are also equivalently involved (Corporate Leadership Council 2004, p.3). Employees have an important input into an organization and they have an impact over various decisions ranging from the high-level strategic decisions to the day to day routine decisions on how they do their jobs in the organizations. Therefore, increasing self-managing employees is the key mechanism for developing accountability and authority. Findings across various studies demonstrate how employees and their organizations benefit from empowerment of employees by engaging them in decision making. Notably, when employees are empowered at work place, positive performance is evidenced and this enhances business success and continuity (Robinson Perryman & Hayday 2004, p.14). Empowered employees in an organization report a high rate of job satisfaction and this has been consistent across a large number of global markets. In addition, empowered employees report high levels of organizational commitment and this leads to reduced turnover and less job strain. Nevertheless, empowerment to employees is not only associated to positive work attitudes; it is also associated to positive work performance especially in employee effectiveness, productivity, managerial effectiveness and new joiner’s role performance (Keller & Dansereau 1995, p.130). This is because employees who are actively involved in work place decision making are more motivated to carry out their tasks effectively. Empowerment of employees by engaging them in work place decision making enhances performance this is because employees go beyond what they are supposed to do and they become more innovative and influential in their daily work. Moreover, empowerment of employees by engaging them in decision making results to more effectiveness at the work place. It is evidenced that empowerment at work place leads to more innovation and improved organizational citizenship behaviours. More empowered employees gain better work-unit productivity, performance, customer satisfaction, team process improvement and effectiveness (Gatenby Rees & Truss 2009, p.21). Empowered employees are very proactive, committed to the organization and they are very satisfied with their tasks. The top level management can raise the levels of empowerment by giving the employers an opportunity to engage directly in work place decision making, which affects the organization and their work. Notably, the employees should be consulted and all communication passed over to them in regards to all issues that have an impact on them. This is because employees’ involvement and engagement results to positive relationship between the frequency and the extent of involvement. Employee involvement in decision making in an organization is also associated with inconsistent in lines of communication between the employees and the organizations. This is because when the employees have high input of ideas to the organizations, the management must be aware of those decisions and how they affect the organization. Nevertheless, the management may have a difficult time in monitoring the activities and decisions made by the employees in order to protect the organization against bad impacts and also to protect the potential of chaos. In addition, employee involvement in decision making in an organization makes the distinction between the mangers and the employee blurred (Gatenby & Rees & Truss 2009, p.26). There are various types of employee voice and it is evidenced that employee communication and involvement in decision making is related to various benefits such as higher commitment and less exits, reduced absenteeism, increased performance and efficiency. Research demonstrate that high involvement of employees in work place decision making develops the practices and beliefs related with employee empowerment and this leads to various kinds of discretionary behaviours that results to enhanced performance (Kirkman & Rosen 1999, p.65). In conclusion, there is a clear need for employees to be given an opportunity to engage directly in work place decision making. This can only be achieved by establishing various links between individual tasks and the organizational goals and objectives, and deep sharing and understanding of the organization’s purpose. Employees should be given various opportunities in order to express their ideas and to know that their views will be put into consideration. Organizations play a vital role in the development and growth of the world economy. Notably, the effectiveness and efficiency of the success of the above mentioned organizations largely depends on employee involvement in decision making. The discussion of this essay demonstrates the important relationship between employee involvement in decision making and organization’s performance. It is revealed that organizations with high rate of employee involvement in decision making outperform organizations with low rate of employee involvement in decision making. The study illustrates the need for organizations to exhibit high rate of commitment to employee involvement in decision making so as to promote their performance. References Bakker, A & Schaufeli, W 2008, ‘Positive Organizational Behaviour: Engaged Employees in Flourishing Organizations’, Journal of Organizational Behaviour. Conway, E & Monks, K 2009, ‘Unveiling the Complexities of High Commitment: An Employee-Level Analysis’, Human Resource Management Journal. Corporate Leadership Council 2004, Driving Performance and Retention Through Employee Engagement: A Quantitative Analysis of Effective Engagement Strategies, Arlington, VA: Corporate Executive Board. 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Robinson, D Perryman, S & Hayday, S 2004, The Drivers of Employee Engagement, Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies. Read More