Alternative Methods of Involving Employees in Decision Making - Essay Example

Moreover, I have realised the method of transition from one paragraph to another in order to keep the flow of a paper from feedbacks. Introduction “Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a tool. Rather, employee involvement is a management and leadership philosophy about how people are most enabled to contribute to continuous improvement and the ongoing success of their work organization” (Employee Involvement: How to Involve Employees in Decision Making, 2012). Advancements in science and technologies and subsequent development of new organizational principles stress the importance of employee involvement in decision making process in an organization.

Earlier, top management and middle management were responsible for taking critical decisions with respect to the functioning of the organization. However, the necessities of employee involvement in decision making process are well documented by modern researches. “For a company to remain healthy over the long term, a new strategic direction that would help it to grow and offer its people challenging work, is needed” (Xarcos, 2009). Ensuring employee participation in the decision making is one way of giving a strategic direction to an organization.

“The concept of employee involvement originates from a leader kind of philosophy where people contribute to the effectiveness of the company and improvement is continuous. Companies that employ this strategy are most successful in areas of their business”(Alexander, 2011). Employees are the most important resource as far as an organization is concerned. In fact employees are the only active resource of an organization and the supervision from this active resource is necessary mobilize all the other passive resources of an organization.

Being the only active resource in an organization, employees should be given participation in the decision making process so that they may feel more attachments towards the organization. Different methods are used by different for ensuring employee participation in the decision making process. This paper analyses the alternative methods of involving employees in decision making and the benefits and challenges that these might present for an organisation. Alternative methods of involving employees in decision making The following figure illustrates the ladder of decision making in an organization.

Ladder of Decision Making Level 1. Executive Decision Level 2. Executive Decision with Report Level 3. Consultative Decision Level 4. Employee Recommendation Level 5. Delegated Decision (with Veto) Level 6. Delegated decision (w/o Veto) Level 7. Employee Decision Responsibility for the Decision (Gallagher, 2002) At level 1, the chief executive is taking decisions independently and he may or may not inform his decision to the employees during latter stages. At level 2, the executive takes decisions and inform it to the employees in the near future itself.

At level 3, the executive welcomes ideas from employees before the decision making process. At level 4, the executive assigns the duty of decision making to the employees whereas at level 5, the executive can accept or reject the decisions taken by the employees. At level 6 employee decisions will be accepted by the executive whereas at level 7, employees may not even inform the executive about their decisions. “Strategies to encourage employee involvement through participatory, consultative and cooperative workplaces have been widely promoted since the 1970s”