Explain What Is Meant by Employee Voice and the Main Motivation for Establishing Mechanisms for Voice in the Work Place.

“negotiation about working conditions and terms and conditions of employment between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employer’s organisations, on the one hand, and one or more representative worker’s organisations on the other, with a view to reaching an agreement” (Farnham and Pimlott 1995).

Employees generally seek union representation because they feel their workplace rights from their employer is not being met, or that they have an unfair disadvantage in regards to any needs or workplace desires. They turn to unions to help bridge the gap and ease the power differential that exists between employers and their employees. In order for a group of employees to obtain representation, they must undergo an election process to choose their union or decide if they, as a unit, want a union at all (Cox, Bok, Gorman, & Finkin, 2012). Here, we will discuss the history of and changes to the manner in which employee votes have been counted to determine an outcome in these elections.

Being part of a union gives members the benefit of negotiating with their employer collectively, as part of a group; giving them more power than if they were to negotiate as individuals (Silverman, n.d.). Overall, unions demand fairness which can lead to the unions influencing and changing ‘managerial decision-making at the workplace level’ for decisions in which employees are affected (Verma 2005). Unions are also beneficial to have present in the workplace because their bargaining of better condition will often benefit non-members as the conditions negotiated with management are implemented across the organization with no regard to membership status. Management is also able to avoid union disagreement by benchmarking conditions to that of an already unionized workplace.

From this perspective, trade union is perceived not necessary and the role of it is creating conflict, and it is seen an unwelcome intrusion into the organization from outside competing with management for the loyalty of employees (Rose, 2004). Trade unions exist either as the result of wickedness or perverseness of individual employees, or because of a failure of management to anticipate and incorporate worker needs and concerns (Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring, 2005).

Develop the skills and the potential of the employees through learning opportunities. This also involves allocating time for these activities (Gifford, et al.,

Historically, trade unionization has often been a response to leveling out incongruence in the trade relations between the employers and employees of labour. According to Poole (1986), trade and labour unions are organization of employees or workers who have come together with the primary purpose of protecting the integrity of their trade. This goal can be achieved through gaining better bargaining power by settings safety standards and fighting for better working conditions (Poole, 1986).

In this literature review, the focus is on the benefits of unions on partnership agreements, union participation with administration in deciding organizational matters. The institutional provision is commonly a form which involves union representatives collaborating union guided committees together. A second form of representative involvement, called on-line co-management, may similarly be identified, but is distinctly less common place is perhaps uniquely distinguished in GM’s Saturn plant. Union support is also here distinguished from direct ways of support involving workers in either on-line operational self-directed teams or off-line consultative problem-solving teams.

Dundon, Wilkinson, Marchington and Ackers 2004 journal article entitled ‘The meanings and purpose of employee voice’ presents a framework for exploring the different practices and meaning of employee voice. The article puts forward a model to conceptualise the different meanings of employee voice and the mechanisms for putting the meanings into practice, articulating four different

According to a survey by Employment Relations R & D Centre at Anglia Polytechnic University, individual contracts reflect employer power and preferences rather than providing a mechanism for the empowerment of the individual employee. Real empowerment of employees is best achieved within a collective framework and strengthening collective rights at work.

“Industrial democracy is a substantive commitment to sharing managerial prerogative with workers, or their representative organizations, through such

There are many arguments that agree with the statement. Marchington et al (2004) states that shared voices accomplish what the lone voice could never do: it humanises the civilisation arguing that communal representations is the basis of a partnership relationship that brings positive benefits for the organisation (Marchington et al, 2004). It has been argued that the way employees are treated through the establishment of opportunities for voice may have a more substantial impact on the commitment rather than how much money the employees are getting (Marchington et al, 2004). It is obvious, thus, the term ‘employee voice’ can have diverse purposes that can reinforce a desire for collective voice rather than for individual voice (Marchington et al, 2004).

Besides, power imbalance between employer and employee in the workplace seems to be unavoidable. As noted by Wilkinson et al. (2014), employees are citizens who have the right to be informed and consulted; therefore, the aim of employee voice is to communicate with management and express employees’ concerns about their work situation. Nevertheless, in recent years, decreasing union density has gradually shifted the form of voice in most organisations and countries from collective and unionized channels to direct and individualized mechanisms (Wilkinson et al., 2014).

1149). Another benefit of employee’s voice found in findings of Dundon, Wilkinson, Marchington & Ackers (2005, pp. 307-319) is building a channel for employee to take part in building better working condition with constructive and open atmosphere and consequently, generate a greater performance.

According to Brinsfield (2015) for production to take place all the factors of production needs to be organized by their owners in a way that is profitable and effective. This factors of production are capital, entrepreneurship, land and labor. All the factors of production are important but labor is very unique in that labor cannot be treated like the other factors of production. Labor is derived from human beings who have needs, objectives and feelings and thus they cannot be regarded as tools or objects like the other factors. For instance, land and machines can be handled in such a way the entrepreneur will derive maximum benefits while spending the minimum possible rent or rates on these machines and land. One way in which employees are treated differently from other factors of production is that they must have a voice within the organization. Tomlinson (2016) noted that employees are said to have a voice if they are allowed to take part in the decision making of all the matters that affect them within the organization that they work for. Five types of employee voice mechanism are; competitive labor markets, human resource management, worker control, independent employee representation and government regulation.

Training & Development: Your employees are your greatest asset. Continual development of your team is important, whether succession planning or planning for growth. Use your people management strategy to identify high potential leaders and employees identifying training opportunities to enhance their performance. You should also incorporate annual compliance training, tuition reimbursement options, and a company reading list.