Employee involvement is creating an environmentin which people have an impact on decisions andactions that affect their jobs. Employee involvementis not the goal nor is it a tool, as practicedin many organizations. Rather, it is amanagement and leadership philosophyabout how people are most enabled tocontribute to continuous improvementand the ongoing success of their workorganization.

My bias, from working with peoplefor 35+ years, is to involve people asmuch as possible in all aspects of workdecisions and planning. This involve-ment increases ownership and com-mitment, retains your best employees,and fosters an environment in whichpeople choose to be motivated andcontributing. It is also important forteam building.

How to involve employees in decisionmaking andcontinuous improvement activities is the strategicaspect of involvement and can include such methodsas suggestion systems, manufacturing cells, workteams, continuous improvement meetings, Kaizen(continuous improvement) events, corrective actionprocesses and periodic discussions with the supervi-sor.

Intrinsic to most employee involvement processesis training in team effectiveness, communication,

and problem solving; the development of rewardand recognition systems; and frequently, the sharingof gains made through employee involvement

efforts.Employee Involvement

ModelFor people and organizations

that desire a model to apply, thebest I have discovered was devel-oped from work by Tannenbaumand Schmidt (1958) and Sadler(1970). They provide a continuumfor leadership andinvolvement thatincludes anincreasing role foremployees and adecreasing role forsupervisors in thedecision process.The continuum

includes this progression.Tell: the supervisor makes the

decision and announces it to staff.The supervisor provides completedirection. Tell is useful when com-municating about safety issues, gov-ernment regulations and for deci-sions that neither require nor askfor employee input.

Sell: the supervisor makesthe decision and thenattempts to gain commit-ment from staff by "selling"the positive aspects of thedecision. Sell is useful whenemployee commitment isneeded, but the decision isnot open to employee influ-ence.

Consult: the supervisorinvites input into a decisionwhile retaining authority tomake the final decision her-self. The key to a successfulconsultation is to informemployees, on the front endof the discussion, that their

input is needed, but that the supervisor is retainingthe authority to make the final decision. This is thelevel of involvement that can create employee dissat-isfaction most readily when this is not clear to thepeople providing input.

Join: the supervisor invites employees to makethe decision with the supervisor. The supervisorconsiders his voice equal in the decision process.The key to a successful join is when the supervisortruly builds consensus around a decision and is will-ing to keep her influence equal to that of the othersproviding input. humanresources.about.com

The spotlight will yet again be on theAssociation of HR Professionals (HRP) when itunveils the latest edition of the 'HRM Awards 2009- Super 10', with its strategic partners. This much-awaited event on the HR calendar is expected toonce again highlight Human ResourceManagement as a pivotal component of modernday business, and is slated for early 2010. The cov-eted HRM Award is organized by the Associationof Human Resource Professionals every twoyears in keeping with its mission to bring HR tothe forefront.

The HRP as its avidly referred to among thelocal HR fraternity, from its inception has strivedto offer to the profession, stimulating knowledgecontent through innovative and dynamic initia-tives. A young organization, with a futuristic out-look, the HRP has endeavoured to maintain ahealthy balance among key players in the localHR arena, but offering customized HR solutionsto standardize and upgrade Sri Lanka's HumanResources profession to be best among equalswith the rest of the World.

The last edition of the awards was held in 2007and attracted over 90 companies and 50 compa-nies were short listed and evaluated for theaward. Following companies were adjudged asGold & Silver award winners at the last HRMAwards.

Gold Awards - Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC,Commercial Bank of Ceylon Limited, DFCCBank, Hatton National Bank, HSBC, Keells HotelManagement Services Limited, MAS IntimatesSlimline (Pvt) Ltd, Sampath Bank Limited, SriLankan Air Lines Limited, Virtusa (Pvt) Ltd.

Silver Awards - Aitken Spence & Company PLC,Fonterra Brands (Lanka) Pvt. Ltd., Hemas

Manufacturing (Pvt) Ltd, HeritanceKandalama, John Keells

Computer ServicesLimited, Nations Trust

Bank, Sri LankaInsuranceCorporation Limited,Trans Asia HotelsPLC, Union AssurancePLC.

The panel of judgesfor the HRM Awards2007 was chaired byProfessor Guanapala

Nanayakkara, a veteranand much respected

Global Citizen andPatron HRP.

The rest ofthe panel

comprisedof

Dr.Santrupt Misra (Director - Aditya BirlaGroup), John Lavelle (Former HR StrategyAdvisor - World Bank), Dr.Norman Maharaj(Commissioner - Public Services Commission,South Africa), Aruna Fernando (FormerPresident - CIMA Sri Lanka), and Ravi Peiris(Director General - Employers Federation ofCeylon)

The technical support for the HRM Awards 2007was given by Hewitt Associates whilst JohnKeells Holdings was the main sponsors to theevent along with many Associate and co-spon-sors.

This is the 4th occasion the HRP is presentingthe HRM Awards in Sri Lanka. The Award aims toidentify and recongnise best HRM practices incompanies that are aimed at developing its peoplewho drive businesses and help the organizationsto gain and sustain competitive advantage. HRPwill involve several professional partners to thisyears Award to bring in quality and transparencyto the awards. The evaluation process will havespecial emphasis on the efforts and strategiesadopted during the last 2 years in improving theHR processes in the organization. We are expect-ing over a 150 applications this year as most com-panies have under gone several HR challengesduring the past 2 years which will allow them toshow case their best practices in HRManagement, that we as a nation can be proud of.Further considering the down turn in most busi-nesses but looking at the prospects of the futurean appropriate event is expected in keepingwith the gala awards night of 2008. The awardsnight will be preceded by the popular and inter-active "Learning Conference" featuring emi-nent personalities from Sri Lanka and over-seas.

Previous occasion HRP changed itsformat to a HRM study, by enhancingits focus on the "people factor of driv-ing business growth". Hailed as thedriver of HR benchmarks in Sri Lanka,the HRP will showcase the best HR

strategies in the country, honoring the trailblaz-ers in industry. This time HRP will emphasis onthe new role of HRM in turbulent times and inthe united Sri Lanka. HRP will call for applica-tions in the near future with the Awards beenscheduled to be held early next year.

President of HRP Isuru Tilakawardana statesthat "The HRM awards are very significantbecause it highlights the organizations which aredeveloping best practices and encourage others tofollow it" whilst the Vice President of HRP andChairman of the HRM Awards 2009, AsithaJayatunga states that "The HRM Awards & theLearning Conference will highlight the impact ofHRM on corporate performance and create a plat-form to honour and recognize top performers and

also share experi-ence and gainknowledge"

ST APPOINTMENT PAGE 3SUNDAY JULY 12 . 2009

HRM Awards 2009 to highlight HumanResource Management as a pivotal component of modern day business

This is the 4th occasion the HRP is presenting the HRM Awards in Sri Lanka.The Award aims toidentify and recongnise best HRM practices in companies that are aimed at developing its peo-ple who drive businesses and help the organizations to gain and sustain competitive advan-tage.HRP will involve several professional partners to this years Award to bring in quality andtransparency to the awards.The evaluation process will have special emphasis on the effortsand strategies adopted during the last 2 years in improving the HR processes in the organiza-tion.We are expecting over a 150 applications this year as most companies have under goneseveral HR challenges during the past 2 years which will allow them to show case their bestpractices in HR Management,that we as a nation can be proud of.Further considering thedown turn in most businesses but looking at the prospects of the future an appropriate event isexpected in keeping with the gala awards night of 2008.The awards night will be preceded bythe popular and interactive "Learning Conference" featuring eminent personalities from SriLanka and overseas

How and when to empower peopleIsuru_Thilakawardene Asitha_Jayatunga