KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

BALKUMARI, LALITPUR

TERM PAPER: EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

Submitted to:

MRS. ROSHEE LAMICHHANE BHUSAL

Submitted by:

Pranamya Man Dhoubhadel

Sarun Ghimire
Anubhav K.C.
Yukta Amatya
Shreeya Ghimire
Bipina K.C.
Era Kharel

DATE OF SUBMISSION:
April 7th 2017
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Acknowledgement

It gives us immense pleasure in preparing this term paper on "Employee Involvement". First of
all, we would like to thank Kathmandu University School of Management for assigning this term
paper.

We hereby take the opportunity to extend our deepest gratitude to our course instructor of
Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior, Mrs. Roshee Bhusal for giving us the opportunity to
carry out the term paper. Despite of her academic and professional commitments, she guided us
with her constant support and motivation. We are thankful to her for her aspiring guidance,
invaluably constructive criticism and friendly advice during the completion of the term paper.

We would like to thank all the people who have cooperated and have been directly or indirectly
involved in our term paper and have helped us in all possible ways.

Also, the success of this term paper would not be possible without the sheer hard work and
determination put in by all the group members.

We are also obliged to our family members and friends for their constant help and support.

Thank you!

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Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4
Benefits of Employee Involvement ..................................................................... 4
Productivity ..................................................................................................... 4
Improving Morale ............................................................................................ 5
Internal Resources ........................................................................................... 5
Teamwork........................................................................................................ 5
OBJECTIVES OF THE TERM PAPER .......................................................................... 6
a) Primary Objective ........................................................................................... 6
b) Secondary Objectives ..................................................................................... 6
c) Specific Objective ............................................................................................ 6
Methodology ......................................................................................................... 6
Literature Review................................................................................................... 6
By Jacques Belanger............................................................................................ 7
Employee Involvement and Productivity: How and Why the Connection Matters
........................................................................................................................... 7
Trends in Workplace Practices ............................................................................ 8
The Effects of Innovative Work Systems on Productivity .................................... 8
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 8
Literature Review in Nepali Context ................................................................... 9
Analysis and Findings ........................................................................................... 10
Relationship between Employee Participation and Job Satisfaction: ................ 10
Practical/ application perspectives ...................................................................... 12
Key issues/problems ............................................................................................ 13
Recommendations and conclusion: ..................................................................... 15

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Introduction
Employee involvement refers to the opportunities for employees to take part in decisions that
affect their work, either in their immediate job or in relation to wider company issues. Employee
involvement is concerned with the capacity of employees to influence decisions as individuals
rather than through representatives. It is often used synonymously with the term ‘direct
participation’ and is the common concept that underlies diverse notions of ‘new forms of work
organization’ – whether ‘high involvement’, ‘high performance’ or ‘learning organizations’. It is
also a basic ingredient of ‘workplace innovation’. The factors that encourage or discourage
initiatives to involve employees more closely in decision-making can be identified as
 Type of the work task
 Employer flexibility policies
 Organizational human resources capacity
 Type of ownership;
 Employment regulation

Benefits of Employee Involvement

We can see that employee involvement can have various effects on employees as well as on
organization. Involving employees does not only empowers them to contribute to the success of
an organization, but also saves the company time and money, in increased productivity and
reduced outsourcing. The benefits of employee Involvement are as follows:

Productivity
When employees are involved, they gain a professional and personal stake in the organization
and its overall success. This commitment leads to increased productivity as employees are
actively participating in various aspects of the company and wish to see their efforts succeed
overall. This is not only beneficial to company growth, but is also on-the-job training for
employees.

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Improving Morale
Actively engaging employees increases overall company morale. Many companies have a distinct
separation of power between management and workers; however, active employee involvement
lowers that gap, opening the lines of communication between supervisors and employees.

Internal Resources
Involving employees rather than outsourcing, saves money, time, and offers the company long-
term reliable assistance from those who know the corporation well. Hiring an outside consulting
firm is expensive and can take up valuable resources in fees and the time spent updating outside
consultants in various aspects of the company.

Teamwork
Participation gives each employee the opportunity to voice their opinions, and to share their
knowledge with others. While this improves the relationship between manager and employee, it
also encourages a strong sense of teamwork among employees. It is also a good way to gather
information about the employees as to how they work in a team environment, and where
training may be necessary, all of which leads to an increase in effectiveness, and ultimately an
increase in good teamwork and performance.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE TERM PAPER

a) Primary Objective
 To accomplish credit requirement and achieve better final grades of Organizational Behavior.
 To boost the group participation and team work among students.

b) Secondary Objectives
 To investigate on how employee involvement has been playing a major role in the
organizations.
 To understand and evaluate the concepts related to employee involvement in real life.
 To explain the importance of employee involvement and its applicability in the practical field.

c) Specific Objective
 Employee involvement is becoming essential factor for sustainability of business operations
to create common values among organization’s mission and employee’s perspective.
 To know how employee involvement helps to increase productivity, innovation and satisfy
the employees

Methodology
We have used primary as well secondary sources while preparing the report. The primary sector
includes the personal interview with the executives and employees of “Social Aves” As well the
direct survey through the questionnaires with the employees and employer. The primary sector
provided us enough information to prepare the report which explained about employee
involvement in “Social Aves.”

Likewise, the secondary sources; internet sources provided us information regarding analysis of
questionnaire as well as basic knowledge on various terms. The secondary sources particularly
includes Google, company’s website, investopedia and research reports.

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Literature Review
The Influence of Employee Involvement on Productivity

By Jacques Belanger
Major Innovations in production management and work organization have occurred in recent
decades, including a greater involvement of employees in workplace decisions. Research
indicates that greater employee involvement has a positive impact on workplace productivity
and firm performance generally. This paper presents a qualitative assessment of this research,
with a focus on understanding how employee involvement can improve productivity.

In recent years, it has become a central tenet of management to involve workers in more of the
decisions concerning their work. This research review analyzes these developments and assesses
what we know about their impact on productivity.

There are at least two reasons for looking at this connection between employee involvement and
productivity. First, major innovations in the management of labor have occurred in recent
decades. Secondly, while previous generations of work reforms were instigated in the name of
more humanistic patterns of work or of the quality of working life, the current generation is more
openly driven by objectives of productivity and economic performance. In this context, an
ongoing stream of research seeks to establish the extent to which employee involvement really
contributes to workplace productivity.

Employee Involvement and Productivity: How and Why the Connection Matters
While compensation and general working conditions are agreed in some way at the time of
employment, the employee’s actual contributions, in terms of volume and quality of output,
remains largely unspecified. Much depends on employees’ willingness to invest their skills and
know-how in the production process. In turn, such commitment is built on organizational
arrangements, well accepted working conditions and co-operative relations more generally.

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Trends in Workplace Practices
This paper defines the nature and rationale of ongoing workplace changes and emphasizes how
such practices may stimulate employees’ willingness to use their formal and tacit skills efficiently.
Much of the focus is on the meaning of innovations in the spheres of production and work
organization and on their potential for enhancing productivity.

The Effects of Innovative Work Systems on Productivity

The task of disentangling the effects of workplace change on productivity is highly demanding,
even using the most sophisticated research techniques. The usual difficulty of dissociating the
impact of labor from that of other factors of production remains. Furthermore, the possible
impact of any given workplace practice, or of any given bundle of such practices, on productivity
and other performance outcomes is mediated by many structural and organizational variables.
In short, the chain of reactions is complex. Nevertheless, research is progressing and this review
presents a qualitative assessment of what we know about the impact of new ways of fostering
employee involvement.

A considerable body of research indicates that the new work system have a positive impact on
productivity and firm performance. Current knowledge suggests that productivity improvements
are not achieved at the expense of quality; innovative work systems can have a positive influence
on both.

Conclusion
The paper concludes that innovative work systems can have positive results for productivity and
firm performance more generally. Considering the growing evidence that the effects on
performance are positive, there is much speculation about the reasons why so many employers
stick to more traditional work systems.

This research review indicates that clear patterns are taking shape in the sphere of production
management and work organization. In sum, this research review shows that non managerial
employees are increasingly involved in workplace decisions. These changes, which are not limited
to a specific economic context but are structural, have a real potential for enhancing productivity.

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But this paper seeks to put these developments in perspectives and indicates some of the
conditions that are necessary for sustaining and simulating workplace innovation. In particular,
useless innovative work systems are supported by arrangements that foster mutual gains and
good working conditions, they may lead to economic inequality and social tension. In contrast,
social arrangements which are more conducive to trust and social capital will lead to further
organizational innovation and economic growth.

Literature Review in Nepali Context

Impact of Employee Participation on Job Satisfaction in Nepalese Commercial Banks

By Rishi Ram Chapagai

This article attempts to examine the relationship between employee participation and job
satisfaction in Nepalese commercial banks for which four Nepalese commercial banks — two
each from government and private sectors— were selected as the sample. Based on primary data
the study adopted a questionnaire survey on 200 employees from the assistant to manager levels
of the sample organizations and it received response from altogether 146 respondents (73
percent). Based on explanatory research design, the study showed that that there is positive
relationship between employee participation and job satisfaction in Nepalese banks. The findings
reveal that employee participation is an important determinant of job satisfaction. Increased
employee participation makes a positive effect on job satisfaction of Nepalese banking
employees.

The productivity of the organization can be improved by striving for the shared goals of
employees and managers. The communication can be improved, the morale and employees job
satisfaction can be increased by participating employee into decision making, organizational
goals and strategy formulation, establishing policies and procedures, and determining
compensation and benefits(Bhatti and Qureshi, 2007).

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Based on conceptual framework and a thorough review of relevant literature on job satisfaction
and employee participation, the study brings the first hypothesis which focuses on the direct
positive interrelation between employee participation and job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 1: Employees participation has positive effect on job satisfaction.

Based on the literature and the conceptual framework the second hypothesis is derived as there
is positive relationship between the age and service years of employees to job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 2: Age and service years are positively related to job satisfaction

Analysis and Findings

Relationship between Employee Participation and Job Satisfaction:

From the collected data, it is clear that the employees’ participation is positively correlated with
the job satisfaction. The job satisfaction has positive relation (r=0.485, α> 0.01) with employees
participation which is statistically significant at 0.01 level of significance. The correlation between
job satisfaction and age, gender and service year are negatively correlated and seems not
sufficiently correlated. The correlations between these variables are not statistically significant
at the .01 and .05 levels of significance.

The results indicate that there is strong positive relationship between employee participation
practices and job satisfaction in Nepalese banking sector. The statistically significant results show
the significant explaining capability of employee participation to employee job satisfaction.
Results also indicate that that there is no statistically significant influence of demographic
variables on job satisfaction level in the commercial banks of Nepal.

At a general level, results generated by this study are largely consistent with results obtained in
studies of employee participation and job satisfaction relationship conducted by researchers in
other countries. The findings of this study indicate that dimensions of employees’ communication
and participation are related to employees’ job satisfaction. The study expects that the result of
the study will have several beneficial applications, particularly in human resource management

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issues such as employee participation and job satisfaction. The level of increasing the employee
participation practices can improve employees’ job satisfaction levels.

In conclusion this study indicated a positive relationship between the employees’ participation
and job satisfaction in Nepalese banking sector. But the demographic variables such as gender,
age and service years have no significant correlation with the job satisfaction dimensions.
However, the negative significant coefficient of gender in the regression model indicates that the
female perceived low level job satisfaction. The results state that the employee participation is
the one of the explaining variables of the employee job satisfaction in Nepalese banks. The study
is restricted to the banking sector of Nepal, including only four commercial banks. Covering other
sectors such as manufacturing, educational and hospitality sectors and using probability sampling
technique to analyze and generalize the impact of employee participation on job satisfaction in
Nepal could make future studies comprehensive.

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Practical/ application perspectives
Social Aves being a digital marketing agency is dependent upon its clients for its operation. Being
Nepal’s leader in the field of digital marketing, it has to do its best in order to satisfy and provide
its client with the best of what it has on offer and live up to its name. The company has been able
to live up to its name and cater to its clients from the past six and a half years.

“The company would not have been at the position that it is today had it not been for all the
dedicated and hardworking employees who have been working day in and day out.” says the
Human Resource head of the company Ms. Sneha Pradhan Rai

The role of employees is very important in every organization. Be it a small sole proprietorship
or a multinational company. Employee performance is what matters the most. And it is the
employees in an organization that lead the organization to its set targets and objectives. Thus, it
is very important to make sure that the employees are satisfied with their work and stay
motivated at the workplace so that they do not slack in their work and are at their best. Ensuring
prosperity and growth of the organization.

It is the role of the management to make sure that the employees stay satisfied and motivated.
In order to make sure that the employees are satisfied and stay motivated, the managers need
to involve them in the decision making processes, hear what they have to say, let them share
their ideas and views. This would make the employees feel valued. Providing them with the
authority to make decisions would make them even more responsible. And as they start getting
involved, they would automatically get motivated. The motivation will then encourage them to
work at their best which would ultimately result in job satisfaction. Nothing encourages an
employee more than knowing how much he/she is valued at the workplace and how important
a role he/she has in the company.

Social Aves has always been a step forward in making sure that it pushes on initiations and
accepts new ideas and innovations from anyone in the company. Realizing the importance of
employee satisfaction, it makes sure that every idea and suggestions that the employees give are
taken into consideration even though the final decisions are made by the management. The
company has a practice of calling a meeting involving each and every member of the company to

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discuss on a project or a campaign, a new client, a new video or for clearing and settling even a
tiny glitch in the company. This practice of involving everyone and informing everyone
beforehand what the company intends to do has helped a great deal for both the company and
the employees. The company also feels that involving the employees in the decision making
processes would provide them with responsibilities and responsibilities would make them feel as
they are a part of the organization and they are valued. The company believes that is very
important to make sure that its employees realize how important they are for the growth of a
company as an encouraged and determined employees are what a company needs for maximum
productivity.

Key issues/problems
There are various challenges an organization like Social Aves has to face mainly because it is a
Nepal based company. Digital marketing involves marketing products or services through digital
technologies, mainly on the internet. Digital marketing techniques such as search engine
optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, etc. have not yet
flourished in Nepal. So, some of the major challenges an organization as such has to face are:

I. Getting and retaining clients:

Even though Social Aves is the best in the business, if it fails to sign clients, the business
would be dead in water. The problem with the majority of businesses that operate in our
country is that they are still relying heavily on the traditional marketing tools to market
and sell their products. There are only few businesses that are adapting to the new and
modern ways of marketing. So it is a challenging and a difficult task for Social Aves to get
hold of a client.

II. Identifying the right technology:

Finding right technologies is also one of the major concern for Social Aves. Oftentimes,
this is because feedback on technology is scattered. Identifying and selecting the right set
of technology and changing and removing the obsolete technology is very essential as the
technology is ever changing.

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 III. Issues in using the marketing software:
During this past year, technology’s ease of use has become a much bigger focus for
the marketing industry. This is because of the complexity in the customer journey.
Marketing software has been be a rite of passage. Navigating the complexity of the
modern customer journey, is not easy, with hard to understand interfaces.

IV. Too many different tools:

Stringing together different tools for managing different marketing channels such as
social media blogging SOE, paid search email is not at all easy. Needless to mention an
additional two or three separate tools are further essential to try to dig some bits of
insight into how each of these channels is doing. Having these many tools makes the
marketers’ lives harder because having all these separate tools means that they are less
likely to work together. It makes it much more difficult to get a unified view of the results.

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Recommendations and conclusion:
Digital marketing is a rather un-explored and a new field of marketing in our country. Social Aves
being a digital marketing agent has been able to do quite well in its field. But there are some
aspects where the company can further improve and prosper.

Clients believe in number rather than words. Thus when it comes to winning more businesses,
the company can make sure of keeping a track of all the results that it has produced for its clients
in the past. So that the company can have a cold hard proof to deliver to its clients to win their
trusts. Building relationships with designers outside the industry who can handle anything at a
moment’s notice. Reaching out to them when a client asks to handle a task other than that agreed
on the contract will further add to the goodwill of the company. Managing time and resources
effectively is also very important to win the long game. Thus giving priority to current sources of
revenues while neglecting the prospective ones is not the way to go. Handling both sources is a
must. Asking the clients for recommendations can be a major source of improvement for the
company. It is not a question likely to be answered with “no” as long as company has already
fulfilled its end of the contract. Working with different partners would also help the company
improve its performance and win over new businesses.

Also the employees of the organization must be sent to different seminars, trainings and
workshops where they can further enhance their knowledge and expertise. The company must
also be up-to-date with the advances in the technologies.

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References
 Ricardo J. Vera C., May 2001, The Correlation of Employee Involvement and Turnover,
University of Wisconsin-Stout
 Rishi Ram Chapagai, August 2011, PYC Nepal Journal Of Management, Vol. IV, No. 1
 Apostolos Apostolou, January 2000, Employee Involvement, Technical University of Crete
 Jacques Belanger, June 2000, The Influence of Employee Involvement on Productivity

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