Category: Administration

Involving Employees in Decision Making Write a 3-page paper selecting the three of the most significant concepts you have learned in this course. Please be as specific as possible and use examples
from the course material as well as your experiences to illustrate your arguments. Use APA formatting, meet the Grading Rubric requirements, and name the
file as required.

CONCEPT 1. Involving Employees in Decision Making
Inviting employees to participate in making decisions about the organization’s future can strengthen the employee-employer relationship. Respect can be gained from your employees and a sense of ownership & responsibility can improve productivity in the workforce when employees voice their opinions.
Trust
Trust serves as a key factor in determining your employee relations. Companies that make decisions while keeping employees in the dark may lose their
employees’ trust. Some employees may believe that the company is keeping decisions about its future plans secret because those plans include adverse outcomes
for employees. By involving your employees in the company’s decision making, you’re bringing transparency to the workplace. You’re essentially saying
" This is what we have on the table, for better or for worse." Even if one of the potential outcomes is negative for the employees, you’re at least
gathering their thoughts and involving them in the process.
Different Angles
When there is only one person or a handful of people making a decision, the decision-making process can become narrow and focused on one topic or one
outcome. When you involve more minds, different ideas may be brought to light and solutions may be proposed that were never before thought of. Your employees
may have a few ideas on how to improve the company, but unless they’re brought in to share their thoughts, they may never have a chance to express themselves.
Employee Relations
Including employees in the decision-making process tells them you value their opinions. Employees may understand that their everyday actions help or hurt the company, but it’s difficult for them to see that impact directly. When an employee sees that his input helped implement a beneficial company change, he can see his impact; it makes him feel that he’s making a difference. Helping employees understand that the company needs and values them is important for building a strong working relationship. Explain to your employees how you considered their input once a decision has been reached. For example, suppose the
discussion is centered around hiring a manager from outside the company or promoting from within. You could explain that your decision to hire within came
from the fact that the majority of employees strongly opposed hiring outside of the company.
CONCEPT 2. Stages of Team Development
Almost all teams go through a process of coming together to complete a task. As a leader, it can be helpful to describe these stages to those managing a team project. As a team member, this is useful to know, as you will see these stages play themselves out in almost all group settings. Understanding what is happening during the group process will provide you with the knowledge that what is happening and quite natural.
" Dr. Bruce Tuckman published his Forming Storming Norming Performing model in 1965. He added a fifth stage, Adjourning, in the 1970s. Tuckman’s model
explains that as the team develops maturity and ability, relationships established, and the leader changes leadership style. Beginning with a directing style, moving through coaching, then participating, finishing delegating and almost detached. At this point, the team may produce a successor leader and the previous leader can move on to develop a new team. This progression of team behavior and leadership style can be seen clearly in the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum
– the authority and freedom extended by the leader to the team increases while the control of the leader reduces." (source businessballs.com)
CONCEPT 3. Leadership and Influence
What’s the difference between a manager and a leader?
Leadership is the ability to influence employees to voluntarily pursue organizational gains.
Management is about coping with complexity.
Leadership is about coping with change.
Management – Coping with Complexity:
• Determining what needs to be done – planning and budgeting • Creating arrangements for people to accomplish an agenda – organizing and staffing
• Ensuring people do their jobs – controlling and problem-solving
Leadership – Coping with Change:
• Determining what needs to be done – setting a direction
• Creating arrangements of people to accomplish an agenda – aligning people
• Ensuring people do their jobs – motivating and inspiring
Grading Rubric— Paper
Content
Clear Definition of Subject/Topic
Class Material Employed
Integration of Personal Experiences
Integration of Additional Outside Research
Conclusions
Comprehensiveness and Completeness
Skills
Demonstration of Knowledge Depth
Demonstration of Critical Thinking
Presentation and Format
Following of APA Guidelines
Demonstration of Professional Writing Skills
Readability, Sectioning, & Flow of Presentation