Employee voice at work

Abstract

Work is the dominant activity of most people’s lives. Work acts as an enabler of economic activity for individuals and as the generator of wealth for corporations, nations and individuals and carries with it the important issues of redistribution and fairness. In addition to these economic functions, work also has important social functions in that it brings people together with very different personalities and moreover interests. At the heart of these economic and social interests is the ability of those at work to be able to articulate their position and also that these concerns are viewed vis-à-vis with those of others in the workplace. But as will be developed in this chapter and the remainder of the book, the content and context of voice in the workplace is changing. As such, the field of employee voice has gained prominence in the employment relations, human resource management and organisational behaviour literature in recent years. While these perspectives differ significantly in how they define voice, a common feature of all these literatures are the issues of why, how and when do workers influence what happens in their place of work. The purpose of this book is to add to the understanding of the changing nature of voice from an employment relations perspective.