Workers who are involved in change decisions are more likely to be
 Employee involvementrefers to work structures and processes that allow employees to systematically give their input into decisions that effect their own work. Some examples of employee involvement include: Show
Depending on your background or specialty, you may refer to it as engagement, voice, participation, democracy, etc. Effective organizations everywhere understand the importance of employee involvement in all levels of work and researcher has found strong links between employee involvement and important work outcomes, which will be described below. What is employee involvement?So what exactly is employee involvement and how can organizations benefit from it? Employee involvement can be defined as: When employees participate directly to help an organization fulfill its mission and meet its objectives by applying their ideas, expertise, and efforts towards problem solving and decision making More specifically, employee participation can be broken into: representative participation (through unions), direct communication, and upward problem solving. To simplify, we will focus on the latter two categories because, although unions do help ensure that the employee “voice” is heard, this blog article is more about understanding outcomes, tools, and methods. Employee involvement is something that can be present at varying degrees within an organization, and is reinforced by leadership, culture and environment. Changing an organization from a strict top-down hierarchy to one that engages employees at all levels to make decisions is not an easy thing to do- it involves not only structure and policy changes but also cultural change, which takes time, effort, and expertise. That being said, organizations from every industry are applying the concepts of employee involvement to drive the continual improvement of their processes and performance. Outcomes & BenefitsTo understand the benefits of employee involvement, let’s take a look at what the research has to say. The following outcomes of employee involvement initiatives have been identified through empirical organizational research:
How to “get” employee involvementIn order for an employee involvement process to be effective, three things need to be present:
Like I said earlier, sustaining an entire employee involvement process is no easy task. It would require the work of highly trained internal or external consultants with expertise in assessment, training, management education, and evaluation. A formal process involves manager and employee training, support from the highest levels, and the application of specific measures to increase employee participation. These can include: quality circles, self-directed/self-managed work teams, gainsharing programs, employee ownership, problem solving teams, and cross-functional task-forces (to name a few!). Additional ResourcesBelow is a list of articles we’ve written that provide specific strategies for building employee involvement. Look for future blogs to dive deeper into these separate, yet vital, tools of employee involvement.
– Robert Bullock Organization Reviews, Strengthening Organizations Employee Engagement Surveys: What to Do with Your Survey ResultsThere are many employee engagement surveys and examples available in 2017. Some of the surveys are useful and some are not. The dividing line is often whethe... Strengthening Organizations Why Organizations Fail to Execute on StrategyIn a recent interview with Harvard Business Review, strategy expert Paul Leinwand described an under-appreciated yet ultimately critical gap that persists in... Who should be involved in change management?Involve all stakeholders, process owners, and employees who will feel the impact of the changes, as much as possible, in the learning, planning, decisions, and implementation of the change. Often, in change management, a small group of employees learns important information.
Why is it important that employees be involved in change management?By getting employees actively involved in a change that impacts them directly, you will provide them with an increased sense of control, build their commitment to the change and reduce the amount of resistance that is likely to occur.
How are employees involved in decisionHow to start including employees in decision-making. Employee surveys. The fastest way to give employees a voice is to ask them what they think. ... . Allow them to set their own performance targets and goals. ... . Strategy days. ... . Implement flexible working.. What means employees are involved in day to day decisionDefinition: Involvement or employee involvement can be defined as creating an environment in which an employee participates more in the day-to-day decision-making which leads to a better relationship with the manager.
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