Introduction
Employee involvement relates centrally to core managerial functions and organizational behavior. Employee involvement, in organizational terms, refers to participation and commitment of employees towards adding value to their organizations by utilizing their own creativity, problem solving skills, qualification, experience, and expertise. It is essential to increase the level of employee motivation to raise their level of engagement because motivation serves as a base for any further consideration in this regard (Schneider & Barbera, 2014). This paper sets out to provide some of the most practical recommendations directed towards improving employee performance by increasing their involvement.
Steps to be taken in order to increase employee motivation and involvement for performance enhancement are as follow:
Providing employees with autonomy
Providing timely and accurate performance appraisals
Providing them with healthy and productive work environment
Involving employees in the decision making
Employees should be given the authority to come up with different creative ideas
Detailed Proposal
Giving Autonomy to Employees
Autonomy is a broad term that associates with several ideas. In the modern context of organizational behavior, it holds key importance, as the system of total command and control is not suitable for the demands of today’s dynamic climate of business. There are some typical employees that seek the ways to express their ideas and see them put to life. However, it is only possible if management adopts a participative approach to them through delegation and empowerment. They should be empowered to take and manage their decisions instead of being consistently monitored. They should be given freedom implement their ideas (Schneider & Barbera, 2014).
This suggestion is also backed by theoretical perspective of Maslow, who, in his ‘hierarchy of needs’ considers self-esteem to be one of the highest levels of employee needs as also shown in the figure below:
(Kremer and Hammond, 2013)
And, autonomy is one of the esteem needs giving a message of established relationship of trust between an employer and his employee or group of employees (while taking teamwork in view). In this way, empowerment is considered one of the best sources of self-confidence, job satisfaction and (thus) motivation for employees.
One of the most evident examples of employee autonomy or empowerment is Google that is a giant industry player and a leading name when it comes to innovation. The management at Google believes that it is not the size of the workforce, but the way in which they are tied together and given freedom of opinion to come forward with innovative ideas that give an organization differentiated status. A number of employees at Google, even though, is much smaller than that of Apple and some of its other competitors, yet a culture of consistent delegation is making the company stand out (He, 2013).
Performance Appraisal
Periodic assessment of employee performance following appropriate feedbacks fills employees with extrinsic motivation. However, management should make sure that appraisal system is established complying with full transparency lest it should have otherwise impact (Schneider & Barbera, 2014). This idea is in line with the motivational theory of expectancy according to which the degree of an employee’s commitment to achieve an objective is in direct relationship with his expectation of reward in return of that achievement (Champion et al., 2008).
For example, when an employee or a team is conscious that their tasks will be monitored, evaluated, and rewarded accordingly, they would invest all their energies to ensure high quality accomplishment of assigned tasks and responsibilities.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is also in strong agreement with this concept. For example, self-actualization is the highest level of need for an employee, and it requires an employee giving his hundred percent. Performance appraisal helps him build a habit to give excellent performance on every task. Hence, it encourages intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation (Kremer, and Hammond, 2013).
Aly and El-Shanawany (2016) has conducted a comprehensive research keeping the focus on 323 nurses to check the implications of performance assessment on them. The majority of the participants acknowledged that performance appraisals improved their level of motivation that also reflected in employee engagement and performance.
Representative Participation
Representative participation is one of the key focuses of the participative style of management. Management can better engage employees and increase their level of commitment if it allows them to participate in decision making processes that may affect them in one way or another. It will be a great source of self-esteem among employees, as they will feel to be an integral part of the organization. Thus, they will feel motivated towards achieving key organizational objectives.
In this way, employees are also given a chance to let their creative ideas be noticed and negotiated. Hence, it sets a platform to establish an organizational culture fostering innovation and optimized quality (Schneider & Barbera, 2014).
It also helps employees understand their own objectives more clearly than otherwise and align them with organizational goals. Management should let a representative of each unit of workforce participate in negotiations centered on deciding future roadmap, change, or any other consideration. It is a highly recommendable strategy, as it not only boosts employee motivation and involvement but also opens up new dimensions of consideration for management relating to any matter under discussion. Hence, it helps management take optimized decisions in most of the cases.
Workplace Environment
It is also important to pay attention to the environment of the workplace as well as all other areas discussed above. It implies that merely the degree of complexity of a task does not determine the expected level of performance, but conditions provided to an employee also play a key role in this regard. For example, an employee may not accomplish an easy assignment expertly if poor conditions such as noise, untidiness, and other factors do not allow him to get involved or concentrate properly. Contrary to that, an employee can show a high level of commitment to make a difficult task look easy if he is satisfied with the environment wherein he carries out his project (Schneider & Barbera, 2014).
Therefore, management should work hard to provide employees as much favorable work conditions as possible. Psychological, as well as physical needs of individuals, should be considered while planning the settings and arrangements of the workplace. It serves as a booster to employee involvement that is indicative of high performance on the organizational level as a result of contribution from each unit of the workforce on an individual level.
Conclusion
References
Aly, E. M., and El-Shanawany, S. M. (2016). The Influence of Performance Appraisal Satisfaction on Nurses’ Motivation and Their Work Outcomes in Critical Care and Toxicology Units. European Scientific Journal, 12(20).
Champion et al. (2008). Creating Engagement: The Use of Expectancy Theory in Corporate Customer Service Teams. An Arbor: ProQuest
He, L. (2013). Google's Secrets Of Innovation: Empowering Its Employees. Forbes. Retrieved August 13, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurahe/2013/03/29/googles-secrets-of-innovation-empowering-its-employees/#7731ff937eb3
Kremer, W., and Hammond, C. (2013). Abraham Maslow and the pyramid that beguiled business. BBC. Retrieved August 13, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23902918
Schneider, B., & Barbera, K. M. (2014). Oxford handbook of organizational climate and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA.
