The importance of employee voice

The importance of employee voice

 

Definition for employee voice-

The term ‘Employee voice’ refers to the say employees have in in matter of concern to them their organization. Participation and involvement in this chapter are treated as aspect of employee voice although as Wilkinson and Dundon (2010): 168) noted: Employee participation, involvement and voice are somewhat elastic terms with considerable in the range on definition.

As defined by Boxall and Purcell (2003: 162) ‘Employee voice is the term increasingly used to cover a whole variety of process and structures which enable, and sometimes empower employees, directly and indirectly. To contribute to decision making in the firm’. The elements of employee voice are participation and involvement. Participation takes place when employees play a greater part in the decision-making process by being given the opportunity to influence management decision and to contribute to the improvement of organizational performance.   

Nature of the Employee voice-

Employee Voice allows employees the opportunity to communicate their opinions and promotes a belief that their ideas and contributions are valued, which in turn engenders a positive disposition within the worker towards their employer and organisation. Employee Voice is not a singular and independent feature of an organization, but rather is dependent on a number of factors existing in a certain way. The continued sustainability of open communication channels between employer and employee is reliant on a number of external factors to the employment relationship

joint Consultation is a managerial strategy in order to promote Employee Voice, involving constructing a committee that includes representatives of management and workers that provides a forum for employees to voice their opinions (Cregan and Brown, 2010). This strategy of opening communication channels would ensure employee culture and opinions are in line with organisational goals to ensure the growth of the company as a whole, and would also ensure that any rising issues or miscommunication between employer and employee could be repaired through the open communication channels, quashing the need for any Industrial Relations action or misrepresentation of the organisation by its employees.

The importance of the employee Voice-

The importance of Employee Voice can be seen through the effect it has in the Employee Relations structure. Open communication channels and strong Employee Voice have continually been linked to high performance and high commitment in turn would lead to increased productivity and commitment to organisational goals.

These include the perceived profitable benefits of the open communication channel decided by management, time associated with the hearing and consideration of employee opinion and also external financial pressures not controlled by management. These factors combined with the already present corporate culture regarding conflict management converge to have a direct impact on the survival of Employee Voice.

 

Picture 01, The importance of employee voice

Conclusion-

Employee voice is the main way to employees influence matters that affect them at work. For employers, effective voice contributes toward innovation, productivity and organisational improvement. For employees, it often results in increased job satisfaction, greater influence and better opportunities for development

References-

Armstrong, M. and Stephen Taylor (2014) Armstrong Handbook of Human Resource management practice, 13^th edition

Marchington, M, Wilkinson, A, Ackers, P and Dundon, A (2001) Management Choice and Employee Voice, London, CIPD