Impact of Employee Involvement in Decision Making On Employees Work Commitment
HRMG 4200 - Strategic Human Resource Management
Walden University
2022
Impact of Employee Involvement in Decision Making On Employees Work Commitment
Guest (2001) explains that employee commitment refers to congruence between the goals of the
individual employee and the organization whereby the individual identifies with and extends
effort on behalf of the goals of the organization. According to Guest & Hoque (2002), argue that
most employees commit themselves to decisions and goals that they have taken part in
formulation. Employees feel that they own the goal and objective that they have been actively
involved in formulation. Employee involvement ensures that workers commit themselves to the
responsibility and duty assigned to them. Wagner (2001) explains that employee commit
themselves to goals of organization if they are allowed to come up with ideas and strategy for the
organization. Workers perform their duty not only because they are supposed to perform the duty
but because they have passion and commitment towards the task. All this can only be achieved if
companies can take the initiative and involve employees in decision-making, goal formulation
and policy formulation for the company.
According to Dundon (2006) shows that most employees were found to commit themselves to
company goals that were actively involve in during formulation process. The report further
shows that employees who are not actively involved in decision-making were less likely to
commit themselves to the goals of the company. This clearly show that employee involvement
play a critical role in daily management and running of organization. Without proper mechanism
to commit employees to the goals of the company it would be hard for the organization to
successful meet their target. The issue of employee committing themselves to projects and
responsibility affects company efficiency and work output significantly (Yousef, 2003).
Thompson (2003) explains that employee involvement in decision making has significantly
reduced industrial dispute in many organizations and increased work commitment. This is
attributed to better communication between management and employees. Most organizations
have given the employees freedom to express issues that affect them both in the work place and
at home. Some organizations have gone a step further to provide psychologist to assist workers
to deal with work pressure. This has significantly reduced the cases of strike in many
organizations around the world. Most organizations have come up with strategy that allows them
to communicate directly with employees without involving trade unions. At Weaveco the
management provided model of partnership where management actively constructed a collective
voice strategy which was less reliant on the trade unions. This was an attempt by the
management to provide communication channel beyond union channels through a disclosure of
partnership and teamwork. Weaveco replaced its traditional quarterly union-centered JCC with
monthly departmental meetings. Other company that followed the same system includes
Southern Shoe EWC. The company came up with a strategy that allowed the management to
communicate effectively with the employees directly rather than using the union. The direct
meeting with employees resulted in low levels of absenteeism, better staff retention and
productivity improvement Ackers, (2004). In addition managers should be aware that the
implication of decision-making is more than simply making choices. It is a five stage process
with each stage progressively increasing the employees’ decision-making authority. The
authority level is lowest at the first stage when the employees are only allowed to identify the
problem. Employee authority increases to stage two when employees are granted opportunities
to discover alternative solutions. The third stage allows them to evaluate the pros and cons of
those alternatives and stage four permits them to select the desired solution. Finally, stage five
gives employees the responsibility to implement and follow up on the impact of their decision
Fottler, (1999).
2.6Benefits of Employee Involvement in Decision Making
There is assumption held by many scholars and managers that if employees are adequately
informed about matters concerning them and are afforded the opportunity to make decisions
relevant to their work, then their will be benefits for both the organization and the individual
(Shadur et al, 1999). Hence the following are the benefits of employees’ involvement in decision
making:
It increases employees’ morale or job satisfaction and enhances productive efficiency Lorenzi,
(2002).
It provides employees the opportunity to their private information, which can lead to better
decisions for the organization (Williamson, 2008).
As a result of the incorporation of the ideas and information from employees, organizational
flexibility, product quality and productivity may improve (Preussi Loutsch, 2002).
It contributes to greater trust and sense of control on the part of employees (changes, 1999)
Through employee involvement, resources required to monitor employee compliance can be
minimized hence reducing costs (Mishra, 1999).
When employees are given the opportunities of contributing their ideas and suggestions in
decision making, increased organizational performance may result since deep employee
involvement in decision making maximizes view point and a diversity of perspectives
(Kelmelger, 2002).
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