Strategies of Employee Involvement.

In the United States today there is a widespread movement to involve employees in participative work improvement processes. Employees, unions, and management are becoming aware of the meaning and value of Employee Involvement efforts. This study was designed to explore the extent to which two strategies used in implementing Employee Involvement achieved an organizational climate change as perceived by employees and supervisors in three departments at Ford Motor Company. One of the strategies emphasized participation in Problem Solving Groups as the key factor in bringing about change. The other strategy used Problem Solving Groups and other collaborative techniques in a total systems approach which emphasized restructuring organizational systems to bring about change. To determine the extent of change, employees and supervisors completed a retrospective questionnaire two years after the Employee Involvement program had been implemented. Independent T-tests were computed on the gain scores for each of sixty-one questions measuring organizational climate. The data indicated that there was little difference in how each strategy impacted the organizational climate for those employees who were members of Problem Solving Groups. The data also indicated that the total systems strategy consistently showed greater improvement in organizational climate than the Problem Solving Group strategy, thus indicating more effectiveness in achieving a participative environment throughout the organization. Employee Involvement programs that rely only on the establishment of Problem Solving Groups are attractive to organizations because they require a minimal amount of time, expertise, and effort. However, the data from this study suggests that it is questionable whether these strategies can widely impact the organizational climate and that a more holistic approach to Employee Involvement is needed.PhDBusiness educationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160598/1/8512511.pd