Introduction
Employers’ ability to effectively elaborate and implement employee voice techniques helps foster employee trust, originality, efficiency, and organizational progress. Employees who use their voices to express themselves frequently feel more respected, have more job happiness, have more influence, and have better career chances. Participation and engagement are the fundamental components of employee voice, and these come in the shapes of joint discussions, collective representation, hierarchical messaging, and direct involvement. A labor union can be considered as an effective employee representative participation practice, whereas team briefings provide direct employee involvement.
Main Body
Employee Voice
Employee voice is believed to be the method by which individuals convey their viewpoints to their employers and have an impact on decisions that have an impact on them at work. It promotes the development of honest and dependable relationships between executives and workers, which can result in the advancement of a company. Employee voice is the process of expressing of healthy viewpoints, complaints, or suggestions on anything pertaining to the workplace (Gao & Jiang, 2019). Employee feedback or voice has been acknowledged as a key source of knowledge that supports organization performance (Gao & Jiang, 2019). Workers, nevertheless, are not always open to sharing their opinions, particularly when doing so would extend beyond the scope of their responsibilities or potentially result in unpleasant repercussions (Gao & Jiang, 2019). Individuals need more self-motivation and a stronger sense of self-interest to communicate for change since speech is fundamentally discretionary (Gao & Jiang, 2019). Thus, a well-developed and structured methodological practice of employee voice can be elaborated in order to improve internal corporate communication message channels. Hence, various categories of employee voice conceptions can be applied to organizational settings for discussion purpose.
Information sharing and knowledge transfer with staff members and including them in decision-making are two aspects of participatory management. To make judgments and successfully convey the conclusions, employees need to have the technical knowledge, communication abilities, and intellect. Employee engagement must be supported by the organizational culture, and the problems in which they participate must be pertinent to them. Workers can have a representation and take part in decisions pertaining to their jobs via selected or appointed personnel representatives, which is referred to as representative inclusion and activity. The purpose of representative involvement or representative participation is to allocate influence within the organization by allowing employees to be supported by a limited number of active participants (Markey et al., 2019). Workplace councils and board representative meetings are the two prevalent and commonly used types of representative participation (Prouska et al., 2022). In fact, employee associations known as personnel councils are required to be considered by leadership when determining managerial decisions and to be chosen by their colleagues. In addition, generally, employees who participate in an executive board and advocate for labor problems discussion are referred to as board representatives.
Direct employee involvement or participation can be described as another possible option for management and supervisors in terms of designing and implementing employee voice practices. Employee engagement is the process through which employees actively participate in an organization’s attempts to execute its ambitions and accomplish its purpose by contributing their own suggestions, knowledge, and work to problem-solving and decision-making. According to the study’s results, the majority of participating organizations take into account a formal system of guiding principles that has been defined for all multinational corporations when developing direct staff involvement and participation procedures (Triantafillidou & Koutroukis, 2022). Direct connection with employees, straight two-way interaction, continuous upward feedback and reporting, and direct financial engagement are all examples of direct personnel involvement and participation strategies (Triantafillidou & Koutroukis, 2022). Direct employee engagement is the ability to define how the organizational structure is designed or altered and it may occur in the form of debate with more significant and long-term organizational factors (Khalid & Nawab, 2018). Therefore, it is feasible to state that direct employee involvement incorporates differentiated subcategories of methods and techniques utilized by companies to establish constant communication.
Depth
With regard to the depth of the comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of an employee representative participation practice, it is possible to emphasize the aspects of labor unions, or, in other cases, trade unions. In order to improve salary, benefits, and workplace conditions, employees in a given profession, industry, or corporation organize labor unions. A labor union, often described as a “trade union,” a “union representation,” or generally a “labor organization,” chooses representatives to engage in collective agreements with employers. When negotiations are effective, an agreement that specifies conditions for workers for a while is produced.
In terms of the depth of the selected methodology in the field of representative employee participation procedures, it is reasonable to highlight the practical depth of the conception and its strength. In other words, it is needed to recognize the depth of solutions that can be implemented and their output. Union members have more authority and access to higher benefits and salaries than non-members, which can enhance both individual and organizational health (Eisenberg-Guyot et al., 2021). At the same time, there are specific weaknesses of labor unions and union workers in the sphere of the depth of the real results, for instance, in the framework of corporate and social responsibility. According to the empirical findings of the study, corporate social responsibility activities of businesses are inversely correlated with both the presence of unions and the ratio of unionization (Chun & Shin, 2018). Furthermore, the non-owner management enterprises are more strongly associated with this unfavorable relationship (Chun & Shin, 2018). Consequently, the strengths of representative participation in the depth of processes are related to authority and benefits, whereas the shortcomings are connected to diminished standards of internal corporate and social responsibility.
The second employee voice technique linked to direct employee involvement is team briefings, also known as group meetings. In order to provide information, answer questions, and gather feedback, team briefing represents managers and their staff together in person. A team briefing design is a common approach to facilitate communication inside an organization on all levels, including sideways and upward. Team briefings are formally described as a form of interaction in which the management and team meet in person to exchange information, pose questions, and offer feedback. Internal communication is one engagement tactic that businesses employ to promote successful communication at all organizational levels since it makes use of inclusion approaches (Chaudhry et al., 2021). In contrast, the weakness of team briefings in terms of the depth of the practical outcomes, it is feasible to underline the lack of authority and power among the workers that contribute to the process (Richardson et al., 2021). In fact, team briefings lack in depth and direct solutions provision since executives are able to create constraints for the staff in their intention to develop decisions and impact strategic management.
Level
Considering the comparison of strengths and weaknesses of employee representative participation practice, which is a labor union, in terms of the level of influence, it is possible to assess this conception as useful. As per the advantages, workers’ bargaining strength is increased by unions, and since union employees can negotiate as a group, their contract terms can be adequately handled (Vinichenko et al., 2019). Thus, the workers can improve their level of impact on the supervisors and executives by providing their alternatives for negotiation. At same time, the weakness of this approach is that while minimizing individual differences to a range of degrees, shared behaviors and personal characteristics are demonstrated to be especially significant in the corporate setting (Spong, 2019). Hence, in this case, labor unions can negatively affect and discourage individuality.
With regard to direct employee involvement and team briefings, the benefit for the level of organization and influence, it can be stated that this methodology provides acceleration for decision-making procedures. At the conclusion of the briefing all choices are reviewed and precise specifications or amendments might be suggested and adopted (Kalkman et al., 2018). Concerning the weakness of the described method, it is feasible to underline the probability of the emergence of a disrupted agenda due to deficiencies in communication processes (LeBlanc & Nosik, 2019). Consequently, using team briefings, employees can rapidly generate problem-solving ideas, but, additionally, agenda disruptions and interruptions can occur.
Scope
In terms of the scope of the activity or practice, labor or work unions assists employees in protecting their rights and act as the representatives of the employees. Over the past twenty years, labor and trade unions have been more involved as stakeholders via their retirement and support funds (Grant, 2021). Alternatively, the drawback of labor unions in the realm of their scope of activity is related to differences in opinions between union members and other individuals (Hertel-Fernandez et al., 2021). Unions can promote workplace improvements that do not always benefit all workers or they may promote specific perks above others that are not of the highest priorities. Therefore, the scope of functioning of labor unions encompasses protective measures for the personnel, but disagreements and conflicts of interest can arise.
Referring to the scope of practice of team briefings, which are a part of the direct involvement methodology, group meetings can sufficiently strengthen team bonds and enhance communication abilities. Meetings have a social function in relation to being a crucial business activity, which encourages original recommendations, new ideas, and improved teamwork (Mroz et al., 2018). In contrast, even though meetings are commonplace in firms, but the people who must participate in them everyday frequently dispute their relevance (Mroz et al., 2018). Hence, a conversation that is unrelated to the meeting’s primary goal may commence as a tangent that develops into another subject of discussion. A leader who is in charge of organizing the conversation is essential for ensuring that briefings are implemented for their intended purposes.
Form
According to the form of the practice, in fact, labor unions, which are officially recognized by all parties, pretend to be a serious tool for impacting decision-making procedures since they represent official associations and groups. The idea that employees have a right to participate in decision-making at work, in some cases through labor unions formally via distinct representative structures, has gained widespread acceptance on an official level (Gumbrell-McCormick & Hyman, 2019). Economic globalization additionally underlines the necessity of transnational measures to achieve worker voice, or more radically, oversight, in the trendline of labor relations (Gumbrell-McCormick & Hyman, 2019). As per the weakness, since organizations tend to pay unionized workers increased salaries, they, in general, have to charge customers higher prices. Firms might lose clients and target audiences if their prices are excessively high for individuals to pay; thus, this feature can become a dangerous shortcoming.
With regard to team briefings and their form, the major advantage is linked to the notion that group meetings are not to be formal and official in a mandatory manner. In other terms, a team briefing, as it is frequently developed in a casual way, is believed to be a procedure that can be easily approved by the executives and implemented in workplace settings. At the same time, the main weakness of this form of direct employee involvement practice is assumed to be a lack of executive power that it entails. Four factors influence team engagement, namely, the transactive memory system, task cohesion, social cohesion, and subgroups (Waight & Edwards, 2021). As a consequence, the aspects of authority, power, and limited ability to provide positive impact are to be considered.
Value to the Employee
In terms of the value to the employees, it is feasible to state that members of labor unions have access to higher pay and perks than non-members of such organizations. Different or additional substantive rights for employees are provided through present institutions and organizations, as well as alternative platforms for expressing opinions and taking collective action (Galvin, 2019). In order to enforce legal labor rights and guarantees such as parental leave, overtime pay, and safety and health regulations, unions are essential. Since unionized employees are more knowledgeable, they are more positioned to gain from social programs including unemployment benefits and workers compensation.
As per the value of team briefings to workers, it is possible to note that employees can be provided with advancements in the sphere of communications and cooperation. Businesses are using social media more frequently to innovate, which may help with team meetings and collaboration (Muninger et al., 2019). Regular face-to-face communication that prevents rumors and the gossip from acquiring legitimacy, is one advantage of team briefings. The two-way communication technique involves listening to people’s inquiries and concerns as well as providing information. Employees are able to communicate clearly and with assurance, adapting their information to the target audience.
Conclusion
To summarize, team briefings offer direct employee involvement, whereas a labor union is an efficient method of including employee representatives. Employee voice is thought to be a way for people to share their opinions with their supervisors and have an influence on decisions that affect them at work. Employees in a particular profession, industry, or company form labor unions to better pay, benefits, and working conditions. Compared to non-members, union employees have more power and gain access to higher wages and benefits, which can improve both organizational and personal health. Team briefing simulates in-person interactions between managers and their workers in order to convey information, respond to inquiries, and gather feedback. A strategy that is frequently used to enhance organizational communication is a team briefing design.
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