Employee Motivation: Involvement and Participation Programs

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Employee Involvement and Participation
Introduction
There is quite a long list of stakeholders that play a significant role in its success or failure for any organization. The key stakeholders may include customers, employees, shareholders, the local community, partners, and government authorities. These stakeholders can be categorized into two broad categories: the internal and external stakeholders, to denote those inside and outside the organizations' governance structure, respectively (Derakhshan et al. 99). The shareholders and employees form the essential parts of the company's internal stakeholders as they significantly impact the overall success and outcome of the company's strategic goals from within. In this regard, company employees need important recognition as part of the company's overall success, and organizations ought to treat with utmost concern the need to create a highly motivated workforce. This can be attained by using employee involvement and participation processes that can go a long way in empowering the employees and boosting their morale, commitment, and ability to build heath relationships that collectively lead to a high level of motivation and productivity.
Employee Involvement and Participation Programs
Employee Involvement and Participation programs (EIP) are used to describe the actions that an organization can incorporate into its strategic objectives to enhance employees' commitment to its overall success (Judge and Robbins 294). This implies that, with an EIP program, employees become part and parcel of the crucial management meetings aimed at making important decisions that impact the organization. To facilitate employee involvement and participation, companies may utilize strategies such as open-door policy, suggestions boxes, selective participation, and most significantly, implement EIP programs available today. According to Judge and Robbins, companies utilize two special EIP programs in management: participative management and representative participation.
Participative Management
In a participative management employee involvement model, the employees are encouraged to partake in the decision-making process (Judge and Robbins 294). The management employs various means to get the input of the subordinates in the decision-making. The success of this technique is anchored in the trust and the cordial relationship between those in leadership and the subordinates (Judge and Robbins 294). Poor implementation of the participative management EIP programs can be a recipe for poor morale and low productivity. The key attribute for successfully implementing the participative management theory is the effective distribution of information to all the internal stakeholders to instill a sense of involvement among the employees. Training is also useful in the participative management model to enhance employee skills and knowledge based on some of the concepts and hands-on experiences necessary to accomplish specific tasks in an organization.
Representative Participation
Rather than having all the subordinates partake in the decision-making process, the representative participation EIP programs use some representatives to air the views of all employees in the decision tables (Judge and Robbins 295). These representatives can participate in board meetings or work council meetings to represent the interest of the employees who elect them on these representative positions. If the employees are confident in the influence and the level of representation by those selected, this model proves more effective in motivating them.
Regardless of the EIP program adopted by an organization, there is a positive relationship between the intrinsic motivation of employees and the application of an EIP program in an organization as a motivation strategy. The relationship between employee involvement and motivation is measured in terms of employee involvement in the decision-making and the level of commitment, morale, and ability to build lasting relationships that are key in boosting productivity.
EIP Programs and Employee Motivation
From an organizational behavior perspective, motivation can be perceived as the psychosocial factors that guide the employees' behavior that consequently impacts the level of commitment and effort towards the organization's overall success (Kirilina and Panina 68). There are several ways and management models that organizations can employ to sustain a highly motivated workforce, and one of the measures is to deploy an EIP program to enhance employee involvement and participation.
Empowering Employees
The main aim of any EIP program is to empower the subordinates by ensuring that their presence at the decision-making table is highly acknowledged. Employee empowerment enhances personal control and consequently result in increased creativity (Judge and Robbins 435). This can be achieved by incorporating measures such as open communication to provide a high level of involvement as well as adopting empowering leadership. A high level of involvement signifies a more robust workforce whose input becomes more visible in the outcome of the decision made. The need to make the employees more knowledgeable and skilled with the incorporation of EIP programs is also useful in empowering them as they seek to make fruitful contributions in the decision-making. Implementing an EIP program is a great way to ensure that the employees feel highly valued and consequently motivated.
Enhancing Morale
EIP programs are also credited for their capability to enhance employee morale. Morale concerning organizational behavior signifies the attitude and the positive emotional connection employees have towards their job (Patil et al. 3). Employee involvement ensures that the employee is involved physically, emotionally, and psychologically in the activities of an organization, leading to efficient collaborativeness and team ...