Employee involvement and participation

Q. 1 What are the strategic principles to adopt for the employee involvement and participation?

A. 1 One of the most common methods used to create QWL is employee involvement.

1. Employee involvement (EI) consists of a variety of systematic methods that enable employee to participate in the decisions that affect them and their relationship with the organization.

2. Through EI, employees feel a sense of responsibility, even “ownership” of decisions in which they participated.

3. To be successful however, EI must be more than just some systematic approach. 4. It must become part of the organization’s culture by being part of management’s

philosophy of management. 5. Although people seek slightly different outcomes from their affiliation with an

organization. 6. First significant long term goals improvements in productivity must be accompanied

by improvements in QWL. 7. In short run, autocratic managers can seldom sustain significant productivity gains in

the long run because declining QWL usually leads as increase in absenteeism and turnover.

8. Or if employees have poor mobility and elect not to leave physically, they may withdraw psychologically.

9. The second observation is that most people report high QWL when they feel they are contributing to the success of the enterprise in some meaningful way.

10. Merely doing their job is often insufficient if their work does not allow them to influence the decision that affects them. People want to know to know that they make a difference.

The implication for managers and personnel specialists is to create an organizational climate that truly treats people as though they are experts at their jobs. When management does this, a Pygmalion effect may result, which occurs when people want to contribute and seek ways to tap that contribution, better decisions, improved productivity, and a higher QWL are likely. Some of the most commonly used approaches to attain QWL through EI are discussed below.

1. Quality circles: Quality circles are small groups of employees who meet regularly with their common leader to identify and solve work-related problems. When quality circle started in Japan, they were called “quality control circles” because their primary focus was to improve the poor quality of products manufactured in Japan.

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2. Socio-Tech system-Another approach to QWL efforts is the use of socio-technical systems. They are interventions into the work situation that restructure the work, the wok groups, and the relationship between workers and the technologies used to do their jobs. More than enlarging or enriching a job, these approaches may result in more radical changes in the work environment.

3. Autonomous work groups: A common, albeit still rare, approach to employee involvement is the use of autonomous work groups. Autonomous work groups are teams of workers, without a formal company-appointed leader, who decide among themselves most decisions traditionally handled by supervisors. The key feature of autonomous workgroups is a high degree of self-determination by employees in the management of day –to –day work. Typically this includes collective control over the pace of work, distribution of tasks, organization of breaks, and collective participation in the recruitment and training of new members. Often direct supervision is unnecessary.

Q 2 What are the development dimensions of Personnel function?

A 2 The development dimensions of Personnel function are:

1. Development a. Development of personnel increases the skills through training necessary for proper

job performance. b. It is an important activity and will continue to grow because of changes in

technology, the realignment of jobs and the increasing complexity of managerial tasks.

c. Discussion of operative, managerial, organization development is to be followed by performance appraisals and career development.

2. Management of development

It is a systematic process of growth and development helping managers develop their abilities to manage.

a) To overhaul the management machinery and improve the performance of managers.b) To give the specialists an overall view of the functions of the organizationc) To identify a persons potential and prepare them for higher positions.d) To increase the morale and versatility of the management groupe) Keeping executives updated with the changes and development in their fields.f) Creating management succession which can take over in case of contingenciesg) Improving thought process and analytical ability and broadening the outlook of the

executives regarding his role, position and responsibility.h) To understand the conceptual issues relating to economic, social and technical areas

and stimulate critical thinking.

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Analysis of development needs, appraisal of manpower, inventory of manpower, planning of individual development programme, establishment of development programme, evaluation of the programme are the essential steps of a management development programmes.

3. Techniques of management development

Managers can acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to make themselves competent managers through formal training or on the job/off the job training. “On the job techniques” includes coaching, job rotation, understudy, multiple management and “off-the-job-techniques includes case study, incident method, role playing, in basket method, business game, sensitivity training, simulation, grid training, conferences, and lectures.

4. Selection of technique:

a. The success of any management development programmed largely depends on the selection of the techniques.

b. The programme objectives should always form the basis in the selection of techniques.

c. In order to make a management programme effective selecting a combination of techniques instead of a single technique will make any management programme effective.

5. Effectiveness of training and development.

a. Measuring the effectiveness of training and development is one of the managers tasks, an evaluation of the programme by the trainee is the prime source of information.

b. Some control points are productivity, quality losses, adequacy of talent reservoir and unit efficiency

6. Development of operatives

The development of operatives needs specific skills and knowledge to perform a particular job. The four methods in use are:

a. On-the-job-training-This method is widely used since most jobs in industry can be learned rather quickly. It motivates the trainees to learn since it isn’t located in the artificial situation of a classroom.

b. Vestibule schools-A vestibule school is operated as s specialized endeavor by the personnel department. It usually trains the same type of job as on the job training, that is, work on a semi-skilled machine.

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c. Apprenticeship programme-This third system of training, apprenticeship programmes, is designed for higher level of skill and is more educational than on the job training.

d. Special schools- The last system of operative training may be classified by some as education rather than training.

7. Organization development:

a. When personnel are subjected to individually oriented training and development programmes, in many instances the impact upon organizational functioning was nil.

b. The trainee must reenter the culture of the ongoing organization, and if it has been unchanged during training, it is more likely to control actual behaviour.

c. As a consequence, there sprang up a considerable interest in altering the organizational development programme.

d. It includes team development, survey feedback and intergroup sessions

8. Career development-

a. It is essential to implement career plans and consists of personal improvements undertaken by the individual employee, training, development and educational programmes provided by the organization and various institutes.

b. The most important aspect of career development is that every employee must accept his responsibility for development.

c. Various career development actions prove useful if an employee is committed to career development e.g. job performance, exposure, resignations, change of job and career guidance.

d. External and internal mobility are two types of employee mobility in career development

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