Lesson 4.
Employees as Part of Decision-
Making
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Accountancy, Business, and Management
1
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2
Business organizations have hierarchies. There are
leaders, managers, and employees.
3
Decisions are usually made at
the top and cascaded down to
organization members.
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As social beings, people
naturally want to
participate. It gives them a
sense of purpose and
belonging.
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Quick Look
Participation in Organizations
Observe an existing organization you encountered in the past. How do
leaders make their decisions? How involved are members in planning and
strategizing activities? What meetings do members attend? Recall these
details and answer the questions that follow.
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Quick Look
Questions to Ponder
1. What are forms of participation available for members?
2. How does members' participation affect the organization's actions?
3. What will happen if members are not allowed to participate in the
organization's decision-making process?
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Learning Competency
Encourage employees to play active roles as decision
makers in the business enterprise (ABM_ESR12-IVm-p-4.2).
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Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to do the following:
● Explain the importance of employee involvement.
● Examine problems related to employee involvement.
● Recommend strategies and techniques to support employee
involvement.
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How should a business treat its employees if
its purpose is beyond profit?
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● refers to the extent
employees participate in
Employee the decision-making of an
enterprise
Involvement
● Members are
contributing actively to
the organization’s growth
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Employees as Part of Decision-Making
● Frontline employees have valuable skills, knowledge,
expertise, and experience.
● They see problems that executives do not.
● They offer practical solutions.
12
Employees as Part of Decision-Making
Complex problems often require multiple perspectives and
multi-pronged approaches. 13
● views employees as
Business Beyond participants rather than
mere costs or variables
Profit Motivation
● develops human
resources
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Benefits of Employee Involvement
Increases
Enhances productivity
innovation
Employee
Involvement
Develops healthier Raises morale and
relationships commitment
15
Benefits of Employee Involvement
Increases productivity
● more involved, focused, and
relaxed
● understands the importance
of fulfilling their day-to-day
tasks
● makes correct and accurate
decisions
16
Benefits of Employee Involvement
Raises morale and
commitment
● remain motivated when faced
with challenging tasks
● develops a sense of
ownership over business
goals and objectives
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Benefits of Employee Involvement
Develops healthier
relationships
● Seniors and juniors learn
from each other
● Fosters trust and
understanding
● Minimizes misunderstandings
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Benefits of Employee Involvement
Enhances innovation
● Enhances creativity in solving
problems
● Allows managers to foresee
possible shifts
19
Employees are Involved in Everyday Decisions
Closer L
o ok
It makes sense to involve frontline employees in decision-
making. They make daily decisions based on standard
operating procedures and on the goals they need to reach.
20
Employees are Involved in Everyday Decisions
Closer L
o ok
For instance, the employee will have to choose from various
options when a customer forwards a complaint about a
product they bought. How should I handle the situation? What
will I tell the customer? Should I call someone to take it? These
questions are just some of the decision points they face every day.
21
Employees are Involved in Everyday Decisions
Closer L
o ok
More often, employees make decisions in a split second. These
decisions can significantly impact the business positively or
negatively. If they can make such crucial decisions in the front
end, they can contribute to decisions at the back end.
22
Check Your Progress
1
Do you think that employees should be involved in all kinds
of decisions? Explain your answer.
Answer area
23
Strategies in Employee Involvement
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Strategies in Employee Involvement
Gathering Feedback
● surveys employees to gather
qualitative data about their
opinions, ideas, and
satisfaction levels
● maintaining a culture of open
communication
25
Strategies in Employee Involvement
Forming Committees for
Participation
● gathering employees from
different departments to
address a specific issue
● learning about a problem
more deeply
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Strategies in Employee Involvement
Setting Performance
Targets
● letting employees participate
in deciding their performance
targets, goals, and standards
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Strategies in Employee Involvement
Collective Bargaining
and Negotiation
● giving employees the power
to directly influence
decisions, particularly on
salaries, benefits, rights, and
working conditions
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Raising Employee Involvement
Closer L
o ok
A social enterprise demonstrates how it deviates from
traditional business organizations by instituting an advanced
employee involvement structure and process.
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Raising Employee Involvement
Closer L
o ok
Some traditional businesses often treat their employees as
mere variables in production: they are hired for their skills and
the time they spend contributing to the company. If the
situation of finances is not good, they can cut costs on them.
30
Raising Employee Involvement
Closer L
o ok
The social enterprise believes otherwise. It views employees as
partners and participants in business success. They are
humans who learn and have creative and innovative
capacities. Thus, the social enterprise started to conduct
regular seminars and training to let frontline employees
comment on the plans and decisions of the company.
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Raising Employee Involvement
Closer L
o ok
They are allowed to pitch their suggestions and
recommendations. The social enterprise also emphasized that
open communication and learning from each other should be
upheld at all times in all levels of the organization.
32
Check Your Progress
What is the most important factor in encouraging
2 employees to participate in decision-making? Justify your
answer.
Answer area
33
Employee Involvement at Columbia Aluminum
Case Stu
dy
Columbia Aluminum changed management. The new
management implemented an "open door" approach to
encourage and engage the entire workforce. However, the
efforts yielded minimal results.
Scontrino Powell, “Employee Involvement Case Study,” Scontrino-Powell,
[Link]
m
34
, last accessed on July 11, 2022.
Employee Involvement at Columbia Aluminum
Case Stu
dy
The company hired a consulting firm to help them resolve the
issue of employee involvement. The consulting firm
determined that the best approach would be to improve and
implement a formal and structured employee involvement
process.
Scontrino Powell, “Employee Involvement Case Study,” Scontrino-Powell,
[Link]
m
35
, last accessed on July 11, 2022.
Employee Involvement at Columbia Aluminum
Case Stu
dy
The following are the key features of the approach:
1. Management created a steering committee of 18
employees from all levels and areas of the plant. The
members underwent training workshops. They also went
to other plants in the country to witness first-hand how
employee involvement works.
Scontrino Powell, “Employee Involvement Case Study,” Scontrino-Powell,
[Link]
m
36
, last accessed on July 11, 2022.
Employee Involvement at Columbia Aluminum
Case Stu
dy
2. The committee designed an employee involvement system:
training, facilitation, and problem-solving teams. The
leaders equipped employees in the problem-solving teams
with the tools to identify problems, develop solutions, and
implement them.
Scontrino Powell, “Employee Involvement Case Study,” Scontrino-Powell,
[Link]
m
37
, last accessed on July 11, 2022.
Employee Involvement at Columbia Aluminum
Case Stu
dy
The results were positive and encouraging. After two years of
implementation, over 60% of the workforce actively
participated in the problem-solving teams. As a result of their
work, the outcomes were:
● Over 1000% return on investment
● Product quality improved
● An employee stock ownership plan
● There was a significant improvement in safety
● Labor-management cooperation improved dramatically
Scontrino Powell, “Employee Involvement Case Study,” Scontrino-Powell,
[Link]
m
38
, last accessed on July 11, 2022.
Keep in Mind
● Businesses whose purpose is beyond profit must treat their
employees as participants rather than mere costs or variables in the
business's financial data. They must recognize that their skills,
knowledge, expertise, and experience add value to the organization.
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Keep in Mind
● Employee involvement refers to the extent employees participate in
activities and decisions of an enterprise. Employees' effective and
active participation develops one of the most critical resources of a
company: its human resources.
● Employee involvement contributes to increased productivity, higher
morale, healthier relationships, enhanced innovation, and better
management of changes.
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Keep in Mind
● Some of the strategies and
techniques to encourage the
active participation of
employees are shown in the
figure below.
41
Practice Your Skills
Read the following scenario and answer the questions.
Mr. Romeo is a businessman and manager of a textile
company with more than 200 employees. His business has not
been in an ideal financial situation since the start of the year.
He was thinking of various ways to solve his company's
problems.
He decided to let employees be involved in the brainstorming
process. He set up a suggestion box and conducted employee
surveys. He even let some team leaders attend the board
meetings to hear their opinion and ideas.
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Practice Your Skills
Read the following scenario and answer the questions.
The employees presented their observations and forwarded
some suggestions. However, Mr. Rome was not impressed with
his employee's ideas. He maintained the plan, management
style, performance targets, and all aspects of business
operations.
After several months, the business situation did not improve.
The employees and some supervisors gathered on their own
and submitted a proposal to Mr. Romeo. However, Mr. Romeo
disagreed with the proposal. He believed it was too risky to
change their approach at such a critical time.
43
Practice Your Skills
Answer the questions.
1. What were the employee involvement techniques
employed by Mr. Romeo?
Answer area
44
Practice Your Skills
Answer the questions.
2. How did the employees show their decision-making
capacity and concern for the organization? What can be
inferred about these actions?
Answer area
45
Challenge Yourself
Read the following situation and provide answers to the questions below.
Umbrella Corporation is a pharmaceutical company developing
different vaccines and medicines. The company generates an
increased profit every year. However, the employees are not
allowed to participate in any decision-making process. Plans,
targets, and performance standards come from the top
management. Due to the company's success, they plan to
expand to new markets and develop new products.
46
Challenge Yourself
Answers may vary.
Identify at least one weakness of Umbrella Corporation. What
advantage is the company missing?
Answer area
47
Challenge Yourself
Answers may vary.
If you are the next manager of Umbrella Corporation, what
strategies will you apply? Create a simple plan for employee
involvement and its management. Place your output in the box
below.
Answer area
48
Photo Credit
Slide 1: Woman Stairs Career Business Woman Training, by geralt is free to use under the Pixabay license via Pixabay.
Slide 3: Organization Chart Hierarchy Staff Organization, by geralt is free to use under the Pixabay license via Pixabay.
Slide 4: Silhouettes Hierarchy People Man Woman by geralt is free to use under the Pixabay license via Pixabay.
Slide 5: Businessman Businesswoman Team Spirit Teamwork Euro, by geralt is free to use under the Pixabay license
via Pixabay.
Slide 13: Civil engineers manage flood prevention project, by ThisisEngineering RAEngg is free to use under
the Unsplash license via Unsplash.
Slide 16: Work Load Productivity Mechanism Force Efficient, by mohammed_hassan is free to use under the
Pixabay license via Pixabay.
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Photo Credit
Slide 17: Man Businessman Pointing Gesture, by DreamDigitalArtist is free to use under the Pixabay license via
Pixabay.
Slide 18: Career Hiring Job Search Boss Employee Respect is free to use under the Pixabay license via Pixabay.
Slide 19: Idea Concept Doodle Business Innovation, by Saydung89 is free to use under the Pixabay license via Pixabay.
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Bibliography
Gennard, John and Graham Judge. Employee Relations. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development,
2005.
Kappel, Mike. “How To Encourage Employee Involvement In Decision Making.” Forbes, April 4, 2018.
[Link]
making/?sh=61b3f5146561
.
O’Donnell, Kathleen. “What is Employee Involvement and How to Improve it?” Empuls, January 27, 2021.
[Link]
Rabha, Mrinmoy. “Employee Involvement: Why it Matters in Every Organization.” Vantage Circle, May 21, 2021.
[Link]
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