In: Operations Management
QUESTION TWO
Justify the claim that “organizations cannot thrive if management
fails to appreciate the voice of employees in decision making”.
With relevant examples, discuss the elements of employee voice in
organizations.
Select any organization of your choice and critically examine the
stages of employee voice in this organization citing relevant
examples.
Growing research shows that a key indicator of organizational
success is the company's ability to make employees feel
heard.
Providing employees with a voice is a key component to creating a
productive and enjoyable workforce. Only when the employee is
convinced that his or her proposal plays an important role in
deciding that they will be prepared to present ideas, concerns and
suggestions.
Employee voice is what makes it possible to create a corporate
culture around respect and shared values.
However, this theme is a topic that remains a blurry gray area for
many organizations. Here are some answers to these important
questions you may have:
Employee voice content refers to the amount of voluntary effort a
person is willing to put into the communication, suggestions,
concerns and ideas that can be used to improve. It goes beyond the
conventional realm of proposals to seek active participation that
will increase productivity, cooperation and more. Although this is
not a known subject area (at least not yet), the best benefits of
giving a greater voice to employees can be significant.
What happens when employees do not have a share of the vote?
They will not speak. If the employees are not constantly being
targeted, they will remain silent. This can be a big problem
because we often need our employees to raise a white flag and
prepare us for problems that can be ignored.
For a real-life example of this theory in action, consider what
happened at General Motors' assembly plant in Freston, California.
When Toyota first took over GM, there was really no good result.
But instead of hiring and replacing employees, Toyota's first move
was to impose new values on existing employees. This means
providing more autonomy and a share of the vote, which ultimately
leads managers to implement 80% of the requests made by employees
each year. As a result, the factory went from the worst of the
worst to the brightest of stars.
When you haven't heard, you just do what he tells you without
asking or bothering to change anything because you don't think
anything will be said.
The most important first step is to create a system that ensures
that all comments are heard and addressed. If an organization
continues to let new ideas fall, or worse, fail to recognize that
requests are being made, at some point employees will stop offering
them and the commitment will decline.
In order for employees to be, it is important that they not only
put something right but also get something back. Research shows
that closing the cycle - which can be as simple as giving an
explanation as to why the manager has decided to go in the other
direction - will make the employee feel his or her voice. . Even if
the end result is not exactly what is expected, employees feel more
valuable when their ideas are taken into account.