Unit 3 - Distinctions between employee involvement and employee participation

Employee involvement (EI)	Employee participation (EP)
Individual voice	Collective voice through elected spokespersons and representatives
Task focused	Wider focus including issues such as redundancies, opening hours of stores, etc.
Control remains in management hands	Shared influence
Aims to stimulate individual employee contributions and problem solving	Aims to harness collective employee inputs and agreement
Management inspired and controlled	Government or workforce inspired
Management structures flatter, but hierarchies undisturbed	Management hierarchy chain broken
Employees often passive recipients	Employee representatives highly involved
Tends to be task based	Decision making at higher organisational levels
Assumes common interest between employer and employees	Plurality of interests recognised and resources for their resolution provided
Aims to concentrate strategic influence among management	Aims to distribute strategic influence beyond management