Communication and Involvement

Employee participation gives the employees the opportunity to share their ideas and opinions whereas employee involvement is a process where managers encourage their employees to communicated better with the company. The difference between employee participation and employee involvement is that employee participation gives employees the chance to input their views and opinions on any situation in the business, such as if the organisation should use random sampling for their market research, while employee involvement contains issues of their own interest, for example, being a member of the organisations share scheme. Foot, M & Hook, C (2008).

One way that businesses can involve their employees in decisions making is by sharing information such as having team briefings and this will allow their employees to contribute ideas for improve the business as this will give them the chance to talk about and discuss as a team the reason for a procedure to proceed. Another way that organisations can involve their employees in decision making is by empowering them. This can be done as it gives the employees the power and responsibility which would give them a bigger say in the decision process. Organisations can carry out employee opinion survey were they can give opinions and share their views of the business. This will been an advantage for the employee’s as it will help them grow in the organisation and feel more involved. 

Many organisations are using social networking sites as a means of involving their staff for both existing staff and potential recruits. One organisation that uses social networking is Alton Towers. They use facebook to help promote their theme park and by using the social networking sites, it allows them to promote upcoming events and promote the offers available such as 2 for 1 voucher. Potential recruits can find information about any vacancies and how to apply online on facebook, they can post and question about the advertisement and the responses are then given by people that work at Alton Towers about whether any positions are available and how to apply for a position in the company. Existing employees can inquire about the park and check for updates on facebook which makes it easier for them as it’s easy and it doesn’t require the employee contacting their managers for any inquiries.

Organisations using social networking to communicate with staff have its advantages and disadvantages.  The advantages of using social networking are:

•  Embrace your passion and identity. 
• Community, sharing, and connecting
•  Increase transparency in government and organizations 
• Message gets spread very quickly 
• Very cost effective

The disadvantages of using social networking are:

•  Lack of Anonymity
• Scams and Harassment
• Time Consuming

In conclusion, I've enjoyed this topic as I was really unfamiliar with this topic and now found it interesting having learnt a lot from it. It is also a topic that relates to the world of work, which is also why I enjoyed it to such a large extent as it will be relevant information to me once I finish University and find a job. I will know how an organisation analyses their employee and how they want them to communicate.

Reference:

• Foot, M And Hook, C. (2008) Introducing Human Resource Management. 5th Ed. Pearsons Education Limited: Essex
• Mullins, L J. ( 2007) Management And Organisational Behaviour. 8th Ed. Pearsons Education Limited: Essex