Theory
The term "employee voice" originated from Adam Smith's publication, Wealth of Nations (1776/1937). In this book, Smith raised the concept of employee voice, stating that "The laborer's... voice is little heard, and less regarded; except upon particular occasions when his clamor is animated" (pp. 213). The use of the word "voice" shows that the employee's act of speaking up and expressing their mind originated more than two hundred years ago. From the context of the article, it is evident that Smith visualizes voice as including both individual and group expression. Smith also defines voice to include more than simple verbal communication, as per the idea of "animated clamor." Smith further expresses a difference between voice as communication (the message is heard) and influence (the employer takes action). Smith also suggests that employers do not listen when their employees speak up and that this voice has no influence on them. Smith also notes that the interests of employers and employees "are by no means the same" and "in disputes with their workmen, masters must generally have the advantage" (pp. 60-61). Thus, Smith suggests that employers may be "hard of hearing" either because they are not concerned about employee voice or they feel there is no need to act on it.
Karl Marx also used the term voice. Like Smith, Marx indicates that the worker's voice is often ignored. However, Marx's use of the word "stifled" suggests that employers actively discourage employee voice partly because during the "storm and stress of production," they either have more important issues to deal with or consider voice an imposition. Marx views the divergence of interests between the workers and employers as a "struggle" and frames this struggle as a class conflict.
In recent years, employee voice has become a topic of interest in the field of management. Employee voice behavior is defined as "the discretionary communication of ideas, suggestions, or opinions by a member of an organization intended to influence others to make improvements or changes" (Morrison, 2011, pp. 373-412). Employee voice behavior is essential for organizations to improve their operations and achieve their strategic goals. It is also a crucial factor in employee engagement, which is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization and its goals (Primicias, 2013).
In conclusion, employee voice is a concept that has been around for centuries. It is essential for organizations to listen to their employees and take their opinions and suggestions into account. Employee voice behavior is a crucial factor in employee engagement and organizational success. Managers need to continuously seek better methods of executing operations strategies of their organizations by ensuring that KM operations support and optimize core operations strategies that they pursue in an effort to realize their strategic mission.
Works Cited
Bruce E. Kaufman, "Employee Voice before Hirschman: Its Early History, Conceptualization, and Practice," WP 2013-1-4, January 2013.
Morrison, Elizabeth. 2011. "Employee Voice Behavior: Integration and Directions for Future Research," Academy of Management Annals 4: 373-412.
QinetiQ cares for the people who know how: New HR boss keen to engage directly with employees. (2012). Human Resource Management International Digest, 20(7), 9-
Sloane. A. A., Witney, F. (2010). LABOR RELATIONS (13th editions). Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ
Yellin, Samuel. American Labor Struggles New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 1936; Reprinted New York: Arno Press, 1970.
“I regard my workpeople just as I regard my machinery...When my machines get old and useless, I reject them and get new, and these people are part of my machinery” (Sands 12). A foreman at a textile mill in Fall River, Massachusetts spoke these words in possibly the worst time during American labor history, the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, large numbers of people in the United States flocked to work in factories where they faced long hours, unsanitary and unsafe conditions and poor wages. Labor unions, or groups of organized workers, formed in the United States to ensure workers the right to a safe workplace and a fair wage in the face of capitalistic factory owners seeking wealth. In exchange, union members owe the responsibility to work diligently and to the best of their abilities or face the failure of their company and the loss of their jobs.
“If workplace voice and civic voice are compliments, in the sense that they foster a shared understanding of democracy’s value and common cause, then we would expect the decline of union representation to affect the civic attitudes and democratic behavior of individuals outside the workplace as well.” (Bryan, Gomez, Kretsckmer & Willman)
Labor unions were established as a way for workers’ needs and grievances to be heard by management. According to Fossum (2012), “forming a union creates a collective voice to influence change at work” (p. 7). The collective voice of workers in a union holds much more power than any single employee’s voice. It can loudly draw attention to mistreatment or abuse of workers. The organized collective voice of workers demands to be treated in a fair way by its management in terms of wages, hours, benefits, and working conditions.
Bennett-Alexander, D.; Hartman, L (2012) Employment Law for Business 7th Edition. New York, NY. McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
Edition e-Resource]. Bennett-Alexander-Hartman: Employment Law for Business, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 27, 2004, from University of Phoenix, Resource, MGT/434-Employment Law Web site: https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/
Karl Marx, the preface, “a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy,” written 1859, Progress Publisher, Moscow, Translated by S. W. Ryazanskaya 1999
Karl Marx noted that society was highly stratified in that most of the individuals in society, those who worked the hardest, were also the ones who received the least from the benefits of their labor. In reaction to this observation, Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto where he described a new society, a more perfect society, a communist society. Marx envisioned a society, in which all property is held in common, that is a society in which one individual did not receive more than another, but in which all individuals shared in the benefits of collective labor (Marx #11, p. 262). In order to accomplish such a task Marx needed to find a relationship between the individual and society that accounted for social change. For Marx such relationship was from the historical mode of production, through the exploits of wage labor, and thus the individual’s relationship to the mode of production (Marx #11, p. 256).
It is this capability of the management to cultivate communication that is important towards effective engagement with the employee (Albrech, 2011). It is not just a one-sided affair of a company engaging employee, but also mutual loop where the employee is also engaging the company. After all, it takes two hands to clap. “Voice must be approached in a genuine and authentic way, and treated as more than just a cosmetic exercise. An authentic use of voice means that when the employee is invited to speak up, the company in return will both listen and will respond to what the employee says, even if just to explain why they cannot carry out a request for change. Feedback is vital and action must be seen to follow.” (Dromey et al, 2012, p.17).
Bensaid, D. (2002) In Marx for our Times: Adventures and Misadventures of a Critique. New
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.
Here are some figures that display how Employee engagement practices have bolstered up the efficiency and productivity of the employees and in return have augmented the profits of the companies. According to a new meta-analysis that was conducted by the Gallup organisation amongst 1.4 million employees, the organisations that focus on employee engagement practices to a large extent have reported 22% increase in productivity. These practices even impr...
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. Manifesto of the communist party. CH Kerr & Company, 1906. Print.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. "The Communist Manifesto." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 769-773.