What is the difference between employee participation and employee involvement?

Answer 1

Before contextualising the terms participation and involvement in human resources management, it sounds very relevant to try and examine them at the most elementary level of semantic meaning. This will translate into a deeper application at HR level, leading to a practical application of the same at corporate level. At the most elementary level, participation means joining with others in activities. It implies an act of sharing something in common with others. It means taking part in something. which in turn implies sharing ownerhip. In Italiano, this is a contributo, or a partecipazione.On the other hand, involvement implies being contained,or icluded,or just being a part. It implies close connectivity- being enveloped, being encompassed, or simply being subsumed. It simply suggests a state of being wrapped, and therfore being a member. Italianowise, it is a comportare, or a trattare di. Put in the Human Resources Management context, these two, from the foregoing differentiation, practically mean different processes or practices. There is no good reason to try and explain what an employeeis to a technical person as it were, but for the sake of involving eveybody, to help them participate, a brief picture of an employee shall be illustrated. An employee is simply one who makes things happen in an organisation. They are the greatest asset wielding both expertise and vast knowlege to move things. Remove them,and the organisation just ceases to exist. They are the crux of activity. Their talent have to be nurtured, and given a genuine chance to multipy. They make organistions have the real purpose realisation. They dream for the organisation if they are made to play that role, and they take it to greater heights if resources are committed in their direction. They give organisations the zeal, pride, and energy as well as direction. The new crop of employees, Generation 'WHY', best suits, and clearly spells out the differences between employee paricipation and employee involvement. Remember best organisations today jossle to attract and retain this crop of multitalented, and multiskilled employees. Yet, they appear to be the most management challenge to conventional human resources management. They move on when not satisfied. They ask -'why'- for everything they are made to do. And above all, they respect knowlwedge and wisdom than any other generation. They need an almost informal approach than an over-reliance on authority. They 'fly' when bored by an organisation, and when they do so, they don't leave behind their talents, their brains, their energy, and their commitment! This places management not in a dilemma, but in a context where flexible transformative dynamic engagement of such employees will definitely give the organisarion an edge over others, and therefore a large competitive advantage, making quantum breakthroughs- moving into the future with ease, and confidence! The employees truly represent the human capital. Talent-driven firms like Goldman Sachs, will know what I mean here. Where Generation 'WHY' is involved, there is value-addition as long as organisations are prepared to adopt the three methodologies identified below:

a] an educational mindset translating into continuous learning and development of its workforce through a variety of training and learning programs- exposing them to an enabling environment of innovative and flexible thinking!

b] anticipation and answering of common questions during the recruitment and on-boarding process- much like allowing kinda situation where the recruiter and the recruitee think beyond their present situation, with the latter given more freedom to examine situations and possibilities, than the former.

c] tackling the toughest questions head-on as the prospective talent fires them

Best talent management, and human capital measurement and analytics are made realistic by making employees participate, and getting them involved- which brings me to the core of this exploration-, that is the difference between the two. Employee involvement is when employees are included in all issues of their interest. It is therefore both individualistic, and direct, yet it includes every other member making up the involvement constitution. It is therfore, championed by, and led by management with individual employees, getting included and subsumed to achieve some specific goal. It thus assumes common interest between employees and management. Its main functios are to elicit and to grow employee identification and commitment.

There are no specific rules to grow involvement. Employee involvement thus spells out the worthiness of an individual in including them in a certain activity. A typical example is Management by Objectives. On the other hand, employee participation unlike involvement, is collective. It is an act of sharing in something.It is therefore joining with others in every activity that matters. It involves taking part in something, and is more or less often supported by some rule and or, legislation. Where employment rights matter for example, participation is excercised. In the olden days trade unions championed this act but now, and in future this trend is coming to an end with employees playing the central roles in shaping their own lives and lifestyles, with each employee becoming their own representative. Both of them could be practised simultaneously for the best effect in future. Employees have to be both involved and made to paricipate for the sake of both the organisation and the individual employee.I [Mukonyo Absolom], believe that these two are surely indispensable from each other, and that both are typical practices that future- centric organisations can harness and use for innovation and creativity. Managing today and future diversity really needs a proactive effort to practise the two if growth and success are visions driving present and future trends, and if conflict management is to have the best results!