Week 12 - Employee Voice

Question 1

What is employee voice?

Answer 1

• The informal and discretionary communication by an employee of ideas, suggestions, concerns, or information about problems to persons who might be able to take appropriate action with the intent to bring about improvement or change
• Providing opportunities for employee’s to exercise their voice through organizational policies and culture should increasingly be considered as part of organisational CSR initiatives

Question 2

Why worry about employee voice?

(List 2)

Answer 2

• Employee voice influences
• Modern reality of employee voice

Question 3

Employee voice influences:

(Reason to worry about employee voice)

Answer 3

• Violence at community level (negatively)
• Levels of unrest and corruption at country level (negatively)
• Level of peace (positively)
• Attitudes and behaviours of employees both within and outside the organisation

Question 4

Modern reality of employee voice

(Reason to worry about employee voice)

Answer 4

• The majority feel unsafe to exercise their voice, even on important concerns such as fraud, sexual harassment, medical negligence, product defects, and safety violations
• As most workplaces are hierarchies limited protection is provided for employees
• Employees remain silent due to the belief that their input will be ignored or will not make a tangible difference

Question 5

Employee voice & employee attitudes and behaviours inside the workplace

Answer 5

Effects of employee voice in the workplace:

Perceptions of procedural justice

• Procedures that allow employee input viewed more positively by employees
• Lack of employee input (an opportunity for) may lead to reduced levels of organisational identification, commitment, trust, job satisfaction, OCB, and increased turnover

Perceptions of self-efficacy and self-control

• Lack of opportunities for exercising voice can lead to decline in motivation, dissatisfaction, physical and psychological withdrawal

Cognitive dissonance

• Inconsistency between one’s beliefs and one’s behaviours

Feelings of helplessness, apathy, and anger

• For those who value self-control, lack of voice could lead to anger

Question 6

Employee voice & employee attitudes and behaviours outside the workplace

Answer 6

Effects of employee voice outside the workplace

Community engagement

• Opportunities for self-direction and to exercise one’s voice likely to increase employee community engagement

Affective states

• Voice opportunities impact employee emotions (e.g. life dissatisfaction, stress) which in turn influence their level of community engagement

Cognitive states

• Voice opportunities impact employee cognitive states (e.g. cynicism, alienation, helplessness) which in turn influence their level of community engagement

Behavioural states

• Voice opportunities impact employee behavioural states (e.g. depression, substance abuse) which in turn influence their level of community engagement

Question 7

How do legal frameworks influence employee voice opportunities in the workplace?

Answer 7

The law and opportunities for employee voice

• While advocating a democratic values for the governance of society, most organisations located within democracies do not advocate the same approach for the governance of themselves
• Increase in institutional shareholders (e.g. investment companies) and concurrent decline of organised labour (e.g. unions) has resulted in declining employee voice
• Legislative frameworks that places the interests of shareholders (i.e. owners) above all other stakeholders on average reduces opportunities for employee voice
• Opportunities available for managers to encourage employee voice by citing potential benefits for shareholders in the eyes of the law
• Policy makers should consider developing legislation pertaining to organisations that provides flexibility for organisational decision-makers to think beyond shareholders