Increased Employee Motivation and Productivity - Essay Example

Critically evaluate the claim that employee involvement and participation initiatives contribute to increased employee motivation and productivity.The most recent strategy adopted by the Human Resource Management call attention to the straight connection between management and employees and independence. This strategy allows the members or employees to create their individual place in the records of the organization. The direct involvement of the employees motivate them to put more efforts in carrying out a particular task and hence get personal benefits along with the organizational benefits. Employee participation plays a magnificent role in increasing the productivity of a business. Employee participation gives an impression of value and power to the employees in the organization. Employee participation and involvement in the matters of enterprises provides maximum benefits to the firm as the employees work more honestly in order to maintain their records in the organization. The terms employee involvement and employee participation were first used in 1970s (Farnham, 1993, p.361). After the introduction of these terms a number of companies adopted employee participation programs which were designed with an aim to create better workplace plans and implement such operational programs which would bring benefits for the firm and the workers. This kind of programs, which are known as managed work panels, action commissions or employee-administrator committees, usually offer a forum in which workers may present suggestions or thoughts to administration relating to workplace topics and get administration reply. Many administrators judge that this sort of worker-employer teamwork is extremely advantageous to both parties and valuable for the corporation itself to participate in a worldwide economy. The employment department carried out a survey of employee involvement programs practiced by 377 British organizations and observed that employee involvement raises with the company size and value of financial involvement plans have raised from 53% in 1988 to 77% in 1991(Farnham and Pimlott,1995,p.421). The survey further tells that most of the companies which were surveyed have a program formed which can help the employees to join them. Employers also play a major role in encouraging the employees to work harder. These days the employers consider it as an important duty to converse with the employees and make the relations as better as possible. They are further forming employee committees which would help the employees to come forward with their problems. These committees help in decreasing the gap between the employers and the workers. This further creates an environment of security amongst the employees and would encourage them to work harder. The employers which emphasize on the employee morale and relations get the benefits accordingly. These benefits can be in the form of high productivity and good quality. Furthermore the employees would not want to keep a distance from the management if all their demands are being met. Here the employers are also taking the advantage as the risk of strikes and employee co-ordination can be avoided. Employee involvement and participation can be divided in to different forms and hence by using these forms we may conclude if employee involvement and participation initiatives contribute to increased employee motivation and productivity or not. The first form of employee involvement is communication which is considered to be one of the most important methods of catching employees' and employers' attention. Some administrators find it worse to use communication with their employees in order to solve problems. However the CBI concluded that communication, itself, is not responsible for the occurrence of any problem but it is the matter of changing views and approaches. Communication should be used to identify the differences and understand the problems rather than criticizing and creating problems. Employees' involvements in the company using communications motivate them to give a best solution to any problem, the best plan to carry out a task and the best output to discuss their strategy with others. Communications involve employees in almost every decision and hence make it possible for the administration to implement such programs which would help the employers as well as the employees (M Salamon p368). Employment report is another way to involve employees in the company's matters. According to Section 1 Employment Act 1982, the companies with more than 250 employees have to show their yearly record in order to expose as to what they have done to increase employee involvement. The annual report consists of the financial records, general statistics concerning sales, savings and services, upcoming development and further related signs of business strength and wealth. Yearly worker reports should be well presented, without jargon and understandable. In this manner, employees are more probable to become attentive of how they contribute to organizational performance and efficiency. Similarly another process i.e. of briefing groups also plays an important role in the employee participation. This briefing group process helps to bring down both the management and the employees to come together and discuss matters in an informal manner. They help both the employees and management to come together and discuss matters face to face. This method is considered to be reliable as it can help both the management and employees to come out with a possible solution of a problem then and there. Quality circle on the other hand doesn't include the overall employees but it has a particular group of employees who meet the management at times to discuss the pros and cons of their organization. This group of people generally gives their opinion on particular issues and gives a possible solution to the problems in the organization. However in the end the overall power is vested to the central management as they are the one who will or will not accept the ideas given in by the employees. And the last one is known as financial participation which again involves both the employees and the management. Here also the management is the one which takes the major decisions but it encourages the employees to work towards the better of the organization. The employees are asked to analyze the aims of the organizations and are asked to maximize the profits of the organization as much as possible. After the 1950s the companies started to involve employees in their central system and this proved to be very beneficial for the company. The decision making committee also took the recommendations put in by the employees seriously. This involvement of employees results in the boosting of the morale of the employee, it increases his satisfaction, motivates him to work harder, improves the overall performance of the organization and increases the productivity rate. To achieve productivity the American companies view employee participation as a major factor. Farnham (1993, p.363) describes employee involvement in the positive. He describes it to have promoted the profits of the business. This process of employee involvement helps in developing trust and recognizing the aims and goals of the organization. It helps the management to realize the importance of individual employees in their organizations and this helps the employees to have job satisfaction. Employees are considered to be an important part while taking the decisions in the companies and this makes the employees feel their importance. This further helps them to improve their efficiency performance and productivity. While on the other hand the employers know the importance of having a motivated worker in his organization. This motivated worker can help to increase the overall profits of the organization and thus this system of employee involvement is preferred by many companies (Cox Stefan and Mick 2006). If employee involvement is preferred by the organization the employees would not form a trade union and this would prove profitable to the company. As the employees would directly be involved in the decision making process they would not form a trade union in the organization. And thus dealing with the employees would be easier for the employers. (Butler 2005) However on the other hand the critics of participative management have their own opinion on the involvement of employees. The critics point out that involving the employees in the decision making of a certain company gives them a class of superiority and can lead to adverse effects. At times the involvement of employees can also lead to the lower satisfaction of the employees. Some of the employees are not capable or are not ready to take a responsibility of such a nature. And this on the other hand makes them lower the productivity rate. Rather then motivating the employees the involvement of employees can de-motivate them. According to the critics the step of employee involvement should not be taken universally as all the employees are not capable and experienced. The step of employee involvement also involves the employees who are inexperienced and incapable. This result in the lower productivity rate of the organization and can lead to further adverse effects on the rate of profits. Employee involvement is a process which should be monitored properly by the organization if implemented because if the employees are not treated properly after that it can lead to even bad effects on the image of the organization. This process is time consuming for the organizations because it has to take up the opinions of the whole group of employees who are involved in the decision making process. It can also lead to the disruption of powers between the management and the employees as the management has to consider the opinions of the employees. And if these opinions are not considered the employees may get de-motivated and would not work as efficiently as they should. It confuses the whole accountability system of the organization as the employees would have their own views and the management would have their own. It generates mediocre conclusions by the management so as to both the employees and the management are satisfied. The recent years have been very important in the business arena of this world. The decision making in an organization is divided amongst the employers and employees. This makes it easier for the management to take a decision as the recommendations of every person in the company are put forward. The decision taken by the management is taken after all the recommendations are reviewed. This reduces the risk of any conflicts amongst the parties. However it is not necessary that employee involvement will prove to be beneficial for all the companies or organizations. It may only be applicable in some companies while it may prove to be non profitable for many organizations. Hence it is necessary for an organization to review the overall status of this system and then implement it in their organization. However the overall results of employee involvement show that till now this has been profitable to many organizations. Bibliography: Farnham, David. Employee Relations. Management studies, 2. London: Institute of Personnel Management, 1993. Farnham, David, and John Pimlott. Understanding Industrial Relations. London: Cassell, 1995. Salamon, Michael. Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice. London: Prentice Hall, 1998. Butler, P. "Non-Union Employee Representation: Exploring the Efficacy of the Voice Process." EMPLOYEE RELATIONS. 27. 3 (2005): 272-288. Cox, Annette, Stefan Zagelmeyer, and Mick Marchington. "Embedding Employee Involvement and Participation at Work." Human Resource Management Journal. 16. 3 (2006): 250-267. Read More