Employee Voice in Small and Large Organizations - Coursework Example

Employee voice in small and large organizations Name University Affiliation Introduction The corporate world has evolved by undergoing various states until it has attained a complex state that needs great intellectual minds to understand it. The way the current corporate sector operates is quite different from the way it operated some few decades ago. This is due to the dynamism that is undergoing and cutting across all aspects of life. The social life, the economic status, technology status and the political aspects have changed, and they have in turn altered the way issues have to be taken care of in this modern world. Well-informed corporate managers have this knowledge and have realized that they have to change their style of management. They have to adjust with the changes in the society so that they can steer their organizations up the ladder of success (Moss, 2011). The current corporate world is quite competitive managers are always on the move to find better ways they can employ to counter the competition and capture good market share (Edmondson, 2006). One strategic management technique that is used by these managers is the consideration employee voice in their management functions. In its definition, employee voice is the consideration and integration of employees’ opinions in the process of decision-making within an organization. Employees of the organization are the pillars of any successful organization; therefore, their exclusion from participation in matters touching on organization would be an indirect way of killing the organization (Muir, 2003). Any successful business organization in the modern days takes matters concerning their employees at heart (Adelman, 2012). This means that if an organization desires to prosper, it must change its perspective towards its workers; it should see its workers as a source of both workforce and ideas (Edmondson, 2006). Employees are the ones that have a direct conduct with the tasks, managers in most cases supervise them in doing these tasks, and this means that the employees have first-hand experience and feeling of the real task as compared to the managers (Moss, 2011). Therefore, their views have to be noted and taken into consideration seriously. Social researchers assert that employees’ voice should not only be listened to, but they have to be acted upon or responded appropriately to bring the desired change. Some organizations claim that they listen to the employees’ voices; however, they do not act accordingly (Bagchi, 2011). Business organizations that seek to promote employee voice are those that believe that employees have the interest of contributing to the organization, but an effective expression of employees’ voice is not what they put out but what gets back (Moss, 2011). This paper discusses issues concerning employee voice. It will show the theories explaining employee-management relations, the mechanisms of presenting employee voice and the importance of embracing employee voice. One of the famous big business organizations that use command and control structure of the employees without considering their voice is Wal-mart Inc. The managers of this stores use authoritative management style in supervising their employees (Lichtenstein, 2011). They do not do this according to their wish, but because of the pressure from the top management that asserts on performance. Moreover, the training of the stores managers is said to be of military style. When these new managers are being trained to be given a responsibility of managing a store, they are exposed to overwhelming tasks to harden them up so that when they assume their new posts, they cope with the situation (Lichtenstein, 2011). Therefore, this kind of authoritative and pressured environment does not give chance for junior employees to give their opinions on the decisions of the managers. Most of the important decisions in Wal-mart Inc are decided by the store managers or the top management (Lichtenstein, 2011). The style of management in Wal-mart is quite different from that of Southwest Airline Company. Southwest airline a small company based in America is known for its culture of concern and respect for the employees (Emerald, 2005). In fact, its mission states that “committed to providing our employees a stable working environment with equal opportunities for learning, and individual growth. Above all, the workers would be given the same concern, respect, and caring attitudes within the organization.” (Emerald, 2005).This means that Southwest airline has put the concerns of their employees at heart knowing very that they are the pillars of the company. The friendly culture in this American airline has made it to propel to the top performing airline companies. Records reveal that since its incorporation in the mid twentieth century, the employees of this company have never gone on strike (Emerald, 2005).This is just attributed to the fact that the management respect, listen and act on the employees voice. Management theories applicable in employee voice There are numerous management theories that scholars have put across that address the issue to do with management. However, a few focuses on the employee-management relation. One of the theories that touch on this relationship is theory X (Adetule, 2011). Theory X argues that workers naturally lack ambition and direction thus; they always need incentives to stimulate them to work hard to increase productivity (Adetule, 2011). It states that managers should give directions to the workers and give them incentives so that they can work towards attainment of the organization goals. From the discussion, managers that believe in this theory would not give a chance to employees to raise their complaints (Vernom& Brewster, 2014). They always believe that they are right and would make decisions without involving the workers. This can be compared to how the managers of Wal-mart conduct their management functions. The second theory is theory Y. Theory Y argues against theory X, and states that workers are naturally driven and can take responsibilities in an organization (Bagchi, 2011). Southwest airline applies this theory in the management of employees and has made it to prosper with maximum cooperation of the employees. While X advocates authoritarian kind of leadership, theory Y encourages employee participation in the process of decision-making. The third employee management relationship theory is chaos theory. This theory postulate that change is constant and occurs in every organization. The fact that some events and circumstances in the organization can be put on control, others cannot be controlled (Adelman, 2012) Therefore, this theory acknowledges that the change is inevitable in an organization and rarely controlled. It further asserts that as organization grows, the complex of the events also grows, this compel the organization to increase the energy to maintain a level of complexity (Bagchi, 2011). Therefore, more structure and a new way of management ought to be adopted enable smooth functioning of the organization (Adetule, 2011). This implies that the management should not be rigid on certain issues, but it should be flexible, for example, listening to the voice of the employees in the process of decision making. Mechanisms of embracing employee voice Trade unions The mechanisms or the channels of the employees’ voice can either be informal or formal (Muir, 2003). This can have a range of intentions that range from mere imparting of information to a means through which the workers and the employers share the responsibilities in making the decisions that affects the organization. The employees’ voice is channeled through three mechanisms. First, we have trade unions membership (Dundon, Wilkinson, Marchington & Ackers, 2014). In the twentieth century, trade unions were the major channel through which the workers could air out their views. Trade unions have significantly played a pivotal role in regulating the employment relationship in the European countries (Bagchi, 2011). The unions did this through collective bargaining with the employers over the workers’ pay, working practices and the general terms of the employment (Wilton, 2010). The union movement reached its peak of political and membership density in late 1970s. During this time, the trade unions had over 13.2 million registered members (Wilton, 2010). This was about 58% of the total employed individuals in the whole of Europe. However, starting from 1980s, the strengths of the unions started decreasing gradually. By the year 2008, only 7.2 million which 24.9% of the workers were eligible registered members of the unions. Wilton (2010) continues to reveal that in UK, the union density is still stronger and is much felt in the public sector where over 57.1% of the of all registered members belongs to the public sector while 15.5% in the private sector. He still points out that the union density nowadays varies with occupations groups; the elite or professional groups have a large percentage of members of about 44.3% as compared to 17.1% of the less elite groups (Wilton, 2010). The age and the lengths service are also another factor that influences the likelihood of the union membership (Edmondson, 2006). Old workers have a large percentage while the young workers have a small percentage of the registered members. One suggested factor that contributed to this drastic fall of the union membership especially in the Europe is that there was a shift in the industrial sector. Most industries shifted from being manufacturing industries to being service-based industries (Wilton, 2010). Manufacturing industries needed wide space of operations and had more risks that faced the workers. These conditions affected workers negatively thus, igniting complaints and grievances hence unions finding grounds to argue the cases on behalf of the employees (Dundon et al. 2014). However, when most industries became service industries, the work-place for the employees in the organization became safer, because the employees were not involved in manual work that was risky. Another factor behind this drop in union membership was technological advancement where new automated technologies came in and replaced workers who did manual work (Vernom& Brewster, 2014). This greatly improved the working environment consequently reducing the complaints. Another contributing factor that led to the decline of the trade unions in the late twentieth century is the political climate. Initially, the politicians used trade unions to influence the public. However, the politics shifted, and people no longer use these trade unions to campaign. Hence the influence of the trade unions has declined (Wilton, 2010). Moreover, many governments around the globe have sought to weaken the ability of the unions through the introduction of the stringent rules governing the industrials action (Bagchi, 2011). Most of the conservative governments have enacted many legal acts to shift the power balance in the employment relationship sector in favor of the management other than the unions (Dundon et al. 2014). These factors have affected the functions of the unions in the modern days making them to lack influence in the employment relation. Indirect participation or representative This is where the employers accept the employees to choose their representatives, and this group of representatives is the ones who will channel the opinions on behalf of other employees (Wilton, 2010). Indirect participation of employee in the decision-making process is regarded to be more substantial form of employee voice because it incorporates a greater degree of joint decision making between the management and the workers (Moss, 2011). Employee participation is not a managerial desire, but it is a desire of the workers to have a greater influence over the decisions that directly or indirectly influence them (Adelman, 2012). Employee participation mainly involves negotiation, this means that there are high chances of the eruptions of conflicts between the management and the employees. This can occur particularly where the employees participate in making high profile decision where different interests are visible (Dundon et al. 2014). Nevertheless, indirect participation works in reaching an effective conflict resolution. This mechanism of embracing employee voice like trade unions has also shown a decline in the last twenty years. Direct employee involvement This is the third mechanism that is used to recognize employee voice in the organizations. This is where the management seeks the opinions directly from the employee body through asking questions in forums, written questionnaires, departmental views and many more (Wilton, 2010). The employers and management takes time to go through the opinions given by the workers and draft general conclusion from them, and a decision is reached (Edmondson, 2006). This can lead to finding accurate solutions to a certain problem but sometimes this approach is time wasting. Hence, it is not applicable to situations that are urgent (Dundon et al. 2014). Organizations that follow this approach are termed to be democratic organizations since the views of even lower individuals are considered (Moss, 2011). Scholars argue that this mechanism tent to harness the talents of employees through soliciting views, opinions and ideas to identify the actual problems which the organization might be facing (Adelman, 2012). Nevertheless, this mechanism to some extent steal the powers of the employees since the fact that the employees are allowed to channel their views but the final decisions still rests in the hands of the management and the employer (Wilton, 2010). Therefore, it is clear that employee involvement is underpinned by an assumption that the employers and the management share their power with the employee but in the real sense the management retains the power of making the final decision (Edmondson, 2006). The implication of employee voice The concept of employee voice generally focuses on the opportunities for the employees to be involved in the process of decision making within the organization. There are about four implication of the employee voice. First, when the employees of a certain organization raise their voices it may mean that they are dissatisfied with some terms in the organization (Bagchi, 2011). In this situation, it may mean that they have an aim of addressing a specific problem with the management. Workers in most cases raise their voice when the terms are not conducive for their work. Some of the issues might be less pay which is not commensurate with the amount of the task, unhealthy workplace environment, and poor management style (Dundon et al, 2014). Therefore, the managers must be vigilant to identify issues that can make the workers become uncomfortable since uncomfortable working conditions hinder the productivity of the work-force (Moss, 2011). The second implication of the employee voice is an expression of the collective organization power. Employees may just decide to raise issues and expect the management to respect and act on these issues to show that at least they share the power with the management (Adelman, 2012) Management, on the other hand should not suppress this because it is a healthy way of management. In fact, the management should encourage the employees to raise the issue, and these issues are implemented according to the employees’ suggestions (Dundon et al. 2014). This promotes the spirit of togetherness, belongingness and power. It in turn leads to employee hard work, trust and confidence in their work hence high productivity (Bagchi, 2011). Therefore, it is good for the management to allow the workers body to exercise their power within the organization because it will at long last lead to the general improvement of the organization. The third implication of the employee voice is that it is a way of showing contribution to management decision-making (Vernom & Brewster, 2014). The purpose of this implication is to show that the employees are also concerned and responsible in the improvement of the work organization and the generally efficiency of the organization (Moss, 2011). Thus, when workers raise their voices in any organization, the employers and the management should be ready to listen and act on the issues raised because it would make the management to realize the areas of weakness which had not been address and apply corrective measures (Moss, 2011). Thus, it is good management practice to consider the voices of the employees. Lastly, the employee voice can be viewed as a form of mutuality. Mutuality here means that the employees and the employers be in partnership where each party has to benefit from the relationship (Adelman, 2012). The typical purpose of employee-employer relationship is that the employer benefit from the services the employees are offering and the employees in turn benefit by being paid for these services. Therefore, this is a mutual benefit in the whole process (Bagchi, 2011). This means that one party should not benefit much than the other party. To establish this balance, the issue and decisions that involve the entire process need to be solved by these two parties to ensure mutual benefit. Importance of embracing employees’ voice The managements that embrace and encourage employee voice in their managerial functions place their organizations in better positions since so many benefits are realized. The first benefit is that free and welcomed communication between the managerial, and the subordinates reduce the chances for the occurrences of conflicts within the organizations are minimized (Adelman, 2012). Researchers reveal that the conflicts in organizations are largely contributed by the poor communications. When the employees are not fed with the necessary information and directed on what to do, the misunderstandings will frequently arise (Moss, 2011). These misunderstanding always lead to serious conflicts that affect t the functioning of the organizations. Managers should be ready to listen to the opinions of the employees, and they would be able to do this through free communication (Vernom& Brewster, 2014). This would eliminate doubts and confusions among the employees that could lead to rebellions that give births to conflicts. The second advantage that accrues to the upholding of the employee voice within an organization is that it stabilizes staff retention. Staff retention is the where employees in various departments work in those departments for a long time without having a feeling of leaving the organization (Adelman, 2012). The employees feel satisfied with the terms of service and work environment. Hence, they do not admire to get out of the organization and join other organizations (Vernom & Brewster, 2014). In other words, it implies that when an organization encourages employee voice, its employee turnover rate will be low since no worker would want to move out (Moss, 2011). This can be of big value to the entire organization because some expenses such as recruitment of new employees’ expenses are minimized. Moreover, when employees are retained within an organization; the productivity of the firm increases steadily (Edmondson, 2006). This is because the old employees have experience and their performance on various tasks remains stable. Thirdly, consideration of employee voice in an organization is one way of employee empower. Empowerment is the transfer of certain powers that the management has to employees. This enables employees are free to make their decision and also have a say on what the management of the organization has said (Adelman, 2012) Empowering the workers is on magic strategies managers of the modern days use to drive their organizations to successes. Empowered employees gain courage, confidence and trust in the management thus; they work hard to prove to the management that they have to the potential deliver (Moss, 2011). When the employees are empowered, they also become more creative in discharging their duties; their creativity can help much in doing their duties in a more flexible and efficient manner (Bagchi, 2011). This would automatically improve the productivity of the entire organization. Social scholars have revealed that an empowered work-force is self-responsible and needs minimal supervision (Vernom& Brewster, 2014). Therefore, it is important that the organizations listen and act on the views of their employees to realize these benefits. Another importance of upholding employee voice in any organization is that it promotes work-place safety. As mentioned earlier, the workers are the ones that are in a direct conduct with the tasks within the organization (Adelman, 2012). Therefore, they understand the risks they face when discharging their duties. This implies that when the managements are ready to listen to the issues these workers raise, the work environment would greatly be improved (Edmondson, 2006). Work safety is one of the primary factors management should take care of in ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations. It is a legal requirement for organizations to harness good working environment for their workers (Bagchi, 2011). The tools that are used by the workers should be maintained, the premises when thee workers work from should be safe and even the goods or services which the workers are involved should also be safe (Moss, 2011). All these can be achieved through promoting employee voice. Conclusion Employee voice as discussed is not a new term in the corporate world; it has been in existence for a long period. The practice of employee raising their concerns before the managements or the employers started during the industrial age where many industries employed many workers and these workers were exposed to certain conditions that seemed to be unfair. Therefore, they started raising their complaints so that the management can take necessary actions. Many management theories try to explain issues to do with employee management relationship (Adelman, 2012). Some argue against and others argue for upholding of the employee voice in organization. Three common mechanisms that are used by employees to raise their concerns have been identified; however, the application of each depends on the size, function and structure of the organization (Dundon et al, 2014). Generally, there are numerous advantages or benefits attached to the organizations that uphold employee voice. The current corporate management depends much on the direct involvement of employ in the process of decision making rather than the use of other approaches. Giving workers greater influence on how they undertake their tasks and encouraging their input in decision making is believed to be important to both the employers and the workers (Kim, MacDaff &Pil, 2010). The future status of this aspect is likely to change due to the changes that always occurring in every aspect of life. References Adetule, P. (2011). The handbook on management theories. Lagos; Author house publishers. Adelman, K. (2012). Promoting Employee Voice and Upward Communication in Healthcare: The CEO's Influence. Journal of Healthcare Management, 57(2), 133-147. Bagchi, A. (2011). Who should talk? What counts as employee voice and who stands to gain? Marquette Law Review, 94(3), 869-888. Budd, J., Gollan, P., & Wilkinson, A. (2014). New Approaches to employee voice and participation in organizations. Retrieved from http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/36031/66053_1.pdf? Dundon, T., Wilkinson, A., Marchington, M &Ackers, P. (2014). The meaning and purpose of employee voice. Retrieved from http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/handle/10072/15400/34180_1.pdf;jsession id=CD5F984D84B2B6FF2DF637757804DD8F?sequence=1 Edmondson, V. (2006). Organizational Surveys: A System for Employee Voice. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 34(4), 307-310. Emerald. (2005). Culture is the key at Southwest airline. Retrieved from http://managers.emeraldinsight.com/quality/articles/pdf/southwest.pdf Kim, J., MacDaff, J &Pil, F. (2010). Employee voice and organizational performance: Team versus representative influence. Human relations, 63:371. Sage publishers. Retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~fritspil/kim%20macdufffie%20pil.pdf Lichtenstein, N. (2011). Wal-mart’s Authoritarian culture. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/opinion/22Lichtenstein.html?_r=0 Moss, S. A. (2011). Yes, labor markets are flawed— but so is the economic case for mandating employee voice in corporate governance. Marquette Law Review, 94(3), 959-981. Muir, D. (2003). Groundings of Voice in Employee Rights. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 36(2), 485 Rees, C., Alfes, K &Gatenby, M. (2013). Employee voice and engagement: connections and consequences. International journal of human resource management. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/2570432/Employee_voice_and_engagement_connections_and _consequences_International_Journal_of_Human_Resource_Management_2013_ Vernom, G & Brewster, C. (2014). Collective employee voice and the strategic integration of HR: international evidence. Retrieved from http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/mgt/research/acrew/brewster-seminar-paper.pdf Wilton, N. (2010). Chapter 10. Employment relations. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/wilton/Chapter%2010%20-%20Employment%20Relations.pdf Read More