Introduction
Grassroots organizing is crucial in dealing with challenges due to its direct link with corporate issues. The organizations are usually formulated within communities to address specific decisions facing the local people. Corporate training is a continuous process aiming to ensure that employees have the latest knowledge and skills to meet organizational and industry needs (Periyasamy, 2021). The advocacy work at the grassroots level remains vital in making business progress as it ensures continued efforts towards employee development. Policies are the basis for guiding decision-making and other organizational activities and can help grassroots organizing achieve higher success.
Discussion
Collaboration is a crucial element in every process, and they are vital in grassroots organizations where issues affecting communities are addressed (Ansell et al., 2017). Most of the efforts from the groups are through the collaborative efforts of individuals who want to address skills and knowledge gaps that hinder optimal performance. The shortcomings they experience arise due to various reasons that can be addressed by exploiting the interconnectivity provided in policies. Learning about policies has taught me that corporate regulations on training only function when programs and practices align with a policy’s goals. Grassroots organizing should rely on organizational guidelines to ensure an aligned approach to addressing skills gaps.
Policies are principles or guidelines that ensure functions in an entity are done through specific strategies. In the case of organizational needs, they help to provide a framework to ensure collaborative efforts among members to acquire necessary funding, administrative support, and a structure to guide all operations. Collaboration becomes the primary function of every effort by instilling knowledge and belief that teamwork is the most effective approach to solving issues (Batory & Svensson, 2019). The connection between policy, practice, and program has made me realize that grassroots efforts can achieve better outcomes when efforts are aligned and guided by organizational principles.
Grassroots organizing encourages local, state, and national participation through concerted efforts to address issues affecting workers. Local advocacy groups clearly understand the problems affecting the employees they represent. The groups are a combination of people who want to address challenges to improve efforts to train and educate their members. The energy usually found in grassroots organizing is high since most of the individuals in the organizations come from the affected groups and have first-hand experiences with the issues. It motivates one to be part of the organizing because one knows their efforts are directed towards a noble cause. Grassroots organizing is also encouraging since one gets to interact with the people directly affected by the issues and get a clear sense of what one contributes to solving. Therefore, grassroots organizing encourages one to be involved in their efforts due to the first-hand experiences that inform such motives.
Grassroots organizing encourages involvement at the state and national levels due to the knowledge of the problems affecting employees at the grassroots level and the motivation to address the issues. Efforts at the grassroots level are essential to anyone in advocacy due to the experience gained and the understanding of issues that develop at the level. The experience and comprehension of the problems encourage one to be involved at the state and national levels due to the need to resolve issues. Successful advocacy at higher levels depends on understanding what is experienced at the grassroots level. However, participation in higher levels faces several challenges due to the scope of existing issues. Some challenges include the scope of the problem, whereby issues are no longer confined to one organization or a specific discipline but to a whole industry. Advocacy at this level demands greater efforts and larger groups that need structure, funding, and leadership, which can be challenging to manage when there is a lack of expertise. These factors can discourage one from participating in grassroots organizing, but knowledge and experience of the issues being experienced should be motivation for individuals to address their problems.
Social identity is vital when assessing grassroots organizing since people with the same background share similar challenges. Social identity is the sense of belonging based on the group one shares traits with (Neville et al., 2020). It is essential in grassroots organizing since people come together to address problems that affect them as a community. It helps to determine the level of commitment to achieve change for a group of people since they share the same issues and experiences. The resolution of challenges helps everyone in the group. Workers who experience the same difficulties are more committed to achieving policy changes when the groups have employees with similar social identities. The workers manage to pool their experiences and problems into a common pool, which motivates them to achieve policy changes that address their concerns.
Conclusion
The exercise taught me the significance of grassroots organizing in addressing organizational issues. Training is a crucial corporate process that faces challenges when there is a lack of sufficient support from the management (Salas et al., 2012). However, the existence of policies that ensure collaboration and adequate resources and support helps to facilitate employee development. Participating in grassroots organizing makes me proud and happy that I am positively contributing to addressing a common problem. The knowledge I have gained from the process is motivation to continue participating in grassroots organizing. It also directs me to increase my focus on organizational policies to ensure that the company has the relevant procedures to support training in every aspect. These feelings are important because they reveal my emotional connection to organizational processes and my desire to address the challenges affecting me and others.
References
Ansell, C., Sørensen, E., & Torfing, J. (2017). Improving policy implementation through collaborative policymaking. Policy & Politics, 45(3), 467–486. Web.
Batory, A., & Svensson, S. (2019). Regulating collaboration: The legal framework of collaborative governance in ten European countries. International Journal of Public Administration, 43(9), 780–789. Web.
Neville, F. G., Novelli, D., Drury, J., & Reicher, S. D. (2020). Shared social identity transforms social relations in imaginary crowds. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(1), 158–173. Web.
Periyasamy, R. (2021). Where companies go wrong with training and development. Business 2 Community. Web.
Salas, E., Tannenbaum, S. I., Kraiger, K., & Smith-Jentsch, K. A. (2012). The science of training and development in organizations. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13(2), 74–101. Web.