Tuesday, November 9, 2010

KEY TO SUCCESS OF EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

Success in the employee involvement arena requires, first and foremost, a recognition by top management that participative management means cultural change which, requires management commitment and a long-term perspective.

i. Management Commitment: People resist change, as it requires behaviours and responses that are not familiar. Management commitment to change must be apparent and unambiguous, if this resistance is to be overcome. Management must be willing to support change through the provision of resources, modification of the organisational systems and personal involvement in the change process.

ii. Long-term View: Management must also adopt a long-term view for the change to succeed. Attitudes and behaviours do not change overnight, and managements demand for quick success will heighten resistance and undermine the process.

iii. Supervisory Support: Being the buffer between the top management and nonmanagement employees, it is upon the front-line supervisor that the greatest pressures in EI effort fall. He is called upon to transform his familiar and comfortable style, yet he lacks the knowledge and skills to do so. If his needs are not attended
to, there is a strong likelihood that he will resist.

Since supervisory support is such an essential ingredient to this process, they must be educated about EI; they must understand what it is, why it is needed, their new roles and how they will be supported. The resistance of supervisors can be further reduced by involving them in planning and managing the EI process. Their input in
the plan and its ongoing execution will provide them with a sense of ownership and control and a better plan will probably result.

To be effective, the supervisor must also be provided with the needed skills such as group leadership, active listening, communications, providing feedback and problem solving through training, coaching and reinforcement.

iv. Union Support: If the Union, as an institution, is not involved in the employee involvement initiative, they may well resist the effort. Awareness programmes should also be conducted for them covering the business scenario, status of the organisation, need of EI, management plans etc, so that they also understand, appreciate and extend necessary support for the success of the EI programme.

v. Training and Development: Awareness training must be conducted at all levels in the organisation. Managers and supervisors must appreciate that participative management represents a major change from the traditional styles of management. 

For them to embrace this change, they must understand the nature, rationale and implications of participative management. Training in problem solving must also be provided to equip the employees and supervisors / managers with the skills to analyse problems and to develop solutions.

vi. Strategy: Employee involvement requires a well-developed strategy to achieve long-term success. EI challenges long-held beliefs and impacts broad areas of organisational functioning. 

Changing management style is probably the most difficult and frustrating task facing the chief executive who desires to institutionalise the EI process for performance improvement in the organisation. An intelligent, longterm strategy is, therefore, a vital ingredient for success.