Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, Assistant Professor, Department of Management & Marketing,

1. The approach of the academic community in regards to employee direct participation, its extent, impact advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of the academic community Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, Assistant Professor, Department of Management & Marketing, The I. Gregoriou School of Business Administration, European University Cyprus (EUC)

2. Employee involvement: • Employee involvement (EI) refers to the opportunities for employees to take part in decisions that affect either their immediate job or in relation to wider company issues (organizational participation).  • Employee participation(EP) is distinguished as: • Indirect EP: the involvement of employee representatives (e.g. local trade unions or works councils) in decision-making processes, while, • Direct EP (DEP): direct interaction between employers and employees. • EI is concerned with the capacity of employees to influence decisions as individuals rather than through representatives. • EI is used synonymously with the term DP: it underlies diverse notions of ‘new forms of work organization’ (e.g. high involvement, high performance or learning organizations). EI is also the basic ingredient of ‘workplace innovation’. Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC

3. How EI improves decisions: Leads to better definition of problems Improves quality of solutions More likely to select the best option Employee Involvement Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC

4. EDP Research & Benefits: • Research in the EU investigated the impacts of EDP initiatives and practices upon employee and organizational performance and reported that EDP leads to improvements in the workplace well-being and to some organizational key performance indicators. Some of the outcomes of previous research concerning the advantages of EDP are including: • Developing the skills and leadership capability of individuals, creating a sense of mission and fostering trust and cooperation; • Increasing of employee satisfaction and commitment to the organization; • Fostering team creativity and innovation, and enhances competitive advantage; • Helping employees to understand quality principles and instilling these principles into the corporate culture; • Allowing employees to solve problems immediately; and, • Improving quality and employee and firm productivity. Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC

5. EDP implementation in the workplace: • In spite of the EDP potential benefits (as reported by previous research and supported by the academic community, policy makers, and practitioners especially in large organizations), still the relationship between DEP and employee, group and organizational performance it remains unclear, across and within several national contexts and particularly in the context of Cyprus. • This is largely due to the fact that more research is needed in this area and that 99.9% of the firms in Cyprus are micro, small, and medium-sized independent/family-owned enterprises‘. - On one hand, many owners /directors they might not be educated, they might lack basic managerial skills, and knowledge to understand the importance of EDP and its potential benefits. - On the other hand, EDP might challenge old ways of working or traditional managerial practices. This it is considered as a thread to undermine management control, thus, managers are reluctant or not willing to give up too much of their authority, to share the tasks of setting goals, making decisions, and solving problems with their subordinates. Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC

6. Academic approach to EDP implementation in the workplace: • The academic community and in particular academics in business schools through several attempts are encouraging the implementation of EDP initiatives in the workplace. Such attempts are including: • Field research cross-sectional and longitudinal in the area of EDP implementation in SMEs’ to identify changes and particularly improvements; • Change of mindsets and attitudes of (a) business and management students (the future leaders in organizations) through business management modules and (b) of current leaders in organizations through training seminars that aim to enhance awareness about EDP and its implementation as an important component of modern management, if organizations are going to harness its potential benefits. • Though there are improvements, still, the above involve a consultative approach to EDP initiatives implementation (e.g. upward communication -through employees representations in management boards, mentoring systems in which senior managers or employees counsel others at lower levels, team-building activities, company newsletters, open door policies of senior executives, employee attitude surveys, formal and informal regular meetings among other initiatives) rather than a delegative EDP. Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC

7. Concluding remarks: • A lot of effort is needed to reach the level where both types of EDP (i.e. Consultative and Delegative) will be evenly implement in the workplace. • More research to clarify the precise impacts of EDP implementation upon individual, group and firm performance in particular is needed in order to strengthen its base. • It also needs to be explicitly stated that ΕDP should not be as a quick fix to ailing levels of organisational performance. Nor can the implementation of EDP be an overnight solution. • Longitudinalcommitment is required, with ongoing evaluations and adjustments, periodic audits, and in general systematic management efforts (e.g. changing policies and setting up facilities) along with respective investments in financial and other resources if the potential benefits are to be gained and sustained. Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC

8. Concluding remarks (Continued): • The contribution of practitioners (top-management in particular) to the successful EDP implementation in the workplace is vital. Still, policy makers (e.g. governments, non-governmental agencies, trade associations and unions) have also an important role to play in the EDP implementation in the workplace. • By encouraging (e.g. through incentives/funding, training programmes) the safe experimentation and adoption of such initiatives, as well as through the development of benchmarking schemes and the dissemination of EDP practices that are better suited to local predicaments (e.g. workforce composition, seasonal effects). - For example, it is recommended that policy makers and in particular national bodies encourage the development and funding of a series of seminars and other relevant material to raise EDP awareness to managers and employees via qualified personnel on a systematic basis. • Finally both practitioner and policy making efforts are also likely to require and benefit from research (e.g. for the undertaking of the aforementioned evaluations, or establishing the practices to be transferred). It is thus recommended that collaborations between these three relevant groups of actors are pursued to the above effects. Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC

9. Thank you for your attentionAny questions? Dr. Christakis Sourouklis, EUC