Involving executive level employees while taking major organizational decisions like, policies, new processes and systems, budgets etc undoubtedly gives employees the feeling of belongingness and importance. It is essential as they can be of major help in the process of reaching the final decision / objective. How? Let’s go through three cases:
Case 1: In a team with very high interactions / discussions, to a limit, the HODs are well aware of the problems faced by the executive level employees while adhering to different aspects of any process and policy. This is the case of teams with supportive & Supervisors with open mindsets.
Case 2: What happens with teams with no/less interactions or discussions? Obviously there is very low percentage of information transfer from one level to the higher level (or we can say selective information is transferred). This is a clear case of Supervisores with less team involvement & focus. In such cases the Manager may lack the information essential while implementing such policies & processes.
Case 3: One more case which can be considered based on the type of company. In cases of Proprietary. Mostly in small companies / proprietorship firms the there are teams with very less members or only one person leading the department. In such case often one person is responsible for handling or managing 2-3 departments at a time and may not be master of all. Hence while taking major decisions for any department this one person may not be aware of the ground facts which are the reasons for ineffective policies or processes unless and until he is the one who is running the show (involved in both operation & management) for any of the departments. In such cases if the 2nd level person is not involved in decision making then there can be some serious issues faced by the company & employees like role confusion, ineffective processes leading to less productivity percentages, higher attrition day by day.
When management thinks of deciding or altering any policy for the betterment of the employees & itself, their motive is to rectify the loopholes and increase the effectiveness of these policies & processes. For this they need to be aware of the loopholes. They need to consider the ground realities related to implementation & adherence of these policies & processes. But who do you think is the source of all this information? Is the manager of that department the right person to consult for advice or changes? He should only be considered as information center but not source.
In case 1, the manager may be well aware of the loopholes but the detailed picture of where and why corrections are required can only be presented by the executive who is involved in its implementation & adherence on day to day basis . In case 2, it’s very much evident that only executive level person can take you through the correct path. In case 3 it’s very much evident that the 2nd level (If present) is the person responsible for right implementation of these policies and processes. Also if there is only one person in case 3 managing the whole department at executive level then what situation it would be if they are not involved in decision making process?The whole department can get ignored in such cases with management dealing only with the departments superficial problems and issues and not being bothered about the key facts giving rise to them.
Now a days many of the companies do consider each and every employee a part of decision making & policy making process and hence go for different ways to reach them and get the clear image before designing any new policies, processes and decisions. This is achieved by having a common point ( HOD/ assigned e-mail ID/ employee helpdesk) where employees can put up their suggestions, complaints and queries. But the effectiveness of this process also depends on how often these issues are addressed and resolved by the management.
If we go by the above three cases obviously there is a need of involving the junior level employees in decision making process as they hold the key to understanding & rectifying various operational level problems which are very much essential in reaching the organizations common goal: Growth.