Employee Involvement and Participation

Dundon et al. (2004) claimed that employee voice is a form of contribution to decision-making, an articulation of individual satisfaction or dissatisfaction and a demonstration of collective organisation. Another way of saying, employee voice is the process of employees communicating their thoughts, ideas to employers to provide feedbacks and make improvements. Bryson (2004) described employee voice as a two-way communication between management and employees. This two-way communication between senior managers and employees enables them to exchange ideas. To be more specific, it brings different and new perspectives from employees, give them a sense of ownership towards the decision-making process with relatively higher level of effort and reduced labour cost. Moreover, it has lower cost and reduce risk of disruption due to employee resistance. It is crucial for senior management to understand the importance of ‘employee voice’ since it plays a significant role in constructing a high-involvement working environment and has a crucial impact on organisational performance. There are various advantages of employee voice, however, too strong employee voice will inevitably cause negative impact in the organisation.

All organizations have the common objective of being successful and nowadays due to competition that is not an easy achievement. The most important capital that companies have is the human capital and, to be successful, is essential for the organizations to focus on people.

Contemporary globalization of businesses and growing global market competition has made effective human resource planning as one of the major strategies to forge ahead and remain proactive. It can be said that an organization 's success lies to a great extent to the knowledge, skills, creativity, and dedication of its workforce. Every aspect of an organization needs human capital to drive its activities or operations to achieve individual strategic goals and objectives towards its purpose of existence, growth, and competitive status. Companies can compete at all levels of the marketplace through improved commitment not only through creativity, innovation, and research, but also human resource development (Truong, Heijden, & Rowley, 2010). In this regard, the human resource planning is needed to ensure a systematic analysis of human resource needs so that the right quantity and quality of employees are always available when required. Fundamentally, organizations are looking for the best people that would help drive them to their desired destination of achieving their missions. Therefore, it is important to develop human resource strategies to support organizational strategies, through measures such as forecasting human resource requirements, and effective strategic staffing. Technically, an organization 's mission, goals, and objectives drive its strategy and human resource (HR) and staffing strategy in an interactive manner. The purpose of this

Those individuals with high job satisfaction tend to have positive feelings towards their job, their colleagues and the company that hired him or her. On the other hand, those who are not satisfied have strong negative notions towards their organization (Robbins and Judge, 2015). Employee involvement has a direct correlation with job satisfaction. Companies that allow their employees to be involved in the decision-making process and give them the freedom to show their talent through their work, has become the forefront of employee engagement. For many years, businesses have been following archaic traditions in the sense of people would go to work, complete their hours under supervision and go home. Today, employees look forward to going to work for a company where the workplace is more friendly and connected (Suma and Lesha,

The strategic use of human resources is essential for all organisations that have objectives involving growth and stability. Therefore, it is essential for companies to closely examine their practices regarding their human capital to ensure a successful working environment. A selection of the major strategies and topics involving human capital are illustrated in the following report. Crackberry Communications should use this information to analyse potential risks and opportunities their human resource managers face.

Human capital plays a vital role in providing the organisation with a valuable competitive advantage; in addition a reward and pay system concerning the employment relationship, is often viewed as a key method in obtaining maximum human capital, and thus a central part of managing a business.

Employee involvement has been accepted as one of the best method which helps to expand firm’s efficiency. And it helps to improve productivity according to Wolf and Zwick (2008). Employee involvement has become an important aspect of gaining organisational success and effectiveness. (Shadur, Kienzle, & Rodwell, 1999). Organisational commitment as well as employee involvement has an essential role in managerial efficiency and production. HPWS contains work practices that lead in some way to greater

Human capital plays a considerable role in the economic environments. It is not cash, assets, but it is people, which are the critical differentiators of a business enterprise (Fiz-enz, 2000). It is an organisation’s possess individual tacit knowledge (Nelson and Winter, 1982). There are four factors involved by human capital: genetic inheritance, education, experience and attitudes about life and business (Hudson, 1993). All of these factors are intangible and can be invaluable. Human Capital is a source of innovation and strategic renewal, such as improving personal skills, re-engineering new process or just daydreaming at the office (Hudson, 1993). According to Figure 1 (Bontis, 1998), Human Capital is about the intellect of human. It is an internal control and development

Employee involvement and participation (EIP) became known as part of the new HRM practices of the late twentieth century when stable economic conditions encouraged employers to adopt them. While the method of choice varied between organisations and sectors, the general view was that it is beneficial for a company’s employees to be involved in management decisions. In the UK, workplace employment relations surveys (WERS) showed that direct forms of EIP (employee involvement) became more widespread through to 2004, whilst indirect participation (employee participation) became less extensive (Kersley et al. 2006). This might well be due to the fact that there is a need for the employees to be fully engaged with their work by having more information about their organisations’ activities and increased opportunities to use their experiences and unique knowledge to improve customer service.

An organization’s capacity to manage employee engagement is closely related to its ability to achieve high performance levels and superior business results. Some of the advantages of Engaged employees are • • • • Engaged employees will stay with the company, be an advocate of the company and its products and services, and contribute to bottom line business success. They will normally perform better and are more motivated. There is a significant link between employee engagement and profitability. They form an emotional connection with the company. This impacts their attitude towards the company’s clients, and thereby improves customer satisfaction and service levels • • • • • • It builds passion, commitment and alignment with the organization’s strategies and goals Increases employees’ trust in the organization Creates a sense of loyalty in a competitive environment Provides a high-energy working environment Boosts business growth Makes the employees effective brand ambassadors for the company

Human Capital theory which on the basis of Armstrong “People and their collective skills, abilities and experience, coupled with their ability to deploy these in the interests of the employing organization, are now recognized as making a significant contribution to organizational success and also constituting a significant source of competitive advantage”. (Armstrong & Baron 2002; cf. Armstrong, 2006).

Employee engagement has gained rapid attention in the past five to ten years and all for the right reasons. Data shows that engaged employees tend to perform better at their jobs and also surpass expectations when it comes to helping colleagues, members and the organization. Employee engagement can be defined as a positive emotional attachment that a person forms with an organization leading to behaviors that drive productivity and boost performance. The goal of employee engaging is to provide maximum satisfaction to the employee while in return getting maximum contribution from them.

People are the key to business success. However nowadays of business this is often neglected and people are seen to be a necessary expense. A successful business does not just rely on a person’s power instead it involves continuous effective teamwork and communication. Storey (1995) defines that human resource management is an individual approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques.

Baron, A. & Armstrong, M. (2007). Human capital management: achieving added value through people. London: Kogan Page.

Human Resources constitute as one of the most imperative components of any organization, be it small scale business or a large conglomerate. Some of the key functions of the Human