ILPC 2027

This paper seeks to explore why many multinational corporations (MNC) appear to continue to ignore the voices of their employees as they attempt to compete in a turbulent and often, precarious economic climate. This is particularly surprising considering the fact that Rees et al (2013) found that organisations who listened to the voice of the workforce gained an advantage in the market place as employees demonstrated a higher level of performance than those that are merely allowed to participate in organisational discussions. Kuvaas and Dysvik (2010) highlight that management/leadership have to ‘hear’ the employee voice and have placed value on it in order for it to have an impact on their economic performance. Morrison (2011) has also suggested that organisations that allow and facilitate the ‘employee voice’ to be heard, provide themselves with the opportunity to improve productivity and profitability. Morrison and Milliken (2000) conclude that organisations that hear and listen to the voices of the employees are able to address problems within work systems and are able to identify untapped markets and a variety of other competitive opportunities. Detert et al (2013) state that both practitioners and academics have recognised that allowing employees to have a voice is a good thing and that failure to give them a channel to be heard has a negative impact on organisations. However, despite the plethora of evidence that suggests voice of the employee adds value to organisational performance, there is a considerable amount of data that implies that not all employers are prepared to ‘hear’ the voice of the workers. In fact more recently, due to the turbulent economic conditions, they have increasingly rejected and on some occasions suppressed the ‘cry’ of the employees. The reason for suppressing the opinions and suggestions of employees have been many, ranging from the lack management and leadership skills (Hayes 2012:4), management fear of their own inadequacies and potential loss of power and/or control, to organisational culture. There can be little doubt that organisational policies and procedures have, over the last twenty years or so, increased the number of employee involvement and participation schemes (McGovern et al 2007) which have cascaded information from the senior echelons of the organisation to the lower line level employees. There is also evidence, however, to support the claim that there has been an improvement in the communication procedures in many organisations which should allow the opinions of the workers to contribute to the decision making of the organisation (Williams and Adam-Smith 2010). Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that senior management are failing to hear the ‘cry’ from the employees in relation to decision making process and that although communication channels from the top down have improved the channel from the bottom up is not heard. The paper has adopted an interpretive phenomenological analytical (IPA) approach to the research methodology in an attempt to access a wider range of data. This is a relatively new methodological tool within employment studies, however, it is believed that it can add a new perspective on the management’s ability to understand why management fail to listen to the employee voice especially when employees are viewed as an organisations most valuable assets. In conclusion then, this paper attempts understand the failure of management to listen to the voice of the employees especially in times of economic crisis. It will consider what appears to be a contradiction between many corporate mission statements and managerial policies to the management practices that are undertaken within the workforces using a ‘new’ methodological approach. It will, further, challenge why, in many organisations leadership and management appear to turn a ‘deaf ear’ to the ‘cries’ from their employees when their Mission Statements clearly suggest that employees are their most valuable assets. References: Detert, J. R., Burris, E. R., Harrison, D. A., Martin, S. R., (2013) “Voice Flows to and around Leaders: Understanding when Units Are Helped or Hurt by Employee Voice” Administrative Science Quarterly Vol. 58, No. 4 pp. 624-668 Hayes, D., (2012) “Introduction” in Department for Business Innovation and Skills (2012) “Leadership and management in the UK: The Key to Sustainable Growth” UK Gov. McGovern, P., Hill, S., Mills, C., White, M., (2207) Market, Class and Employment, Oxford University Press, Oxford Morrison, E. W., Milliken, F. J., (2000) “Organisational Silence: A Barrier to Change and Development in a Pluralistic World” Academy of Management Review Vol. 25 pp. 706-725 Morrison, E. W., (2011) “Employee Voice Behaviour: Integration and Directions for Future Research” Academy of Management Annals, Vol. 5 pp. 373-412 Rees, C., Alfes, K., Gatenby, M., (2013) “Employee Voice and Engagement: Connections and Consequences” The International Journal of Human Resource Management Vol. 24 (14) pp: 2780-2798 Williams, S., Adam-Smith, D., (2010) Introducing Employment Relations: A Critical Approach, Oxford, Oxford University Press