Employee management: Good Governance, Communication and Social Capital, as key management principles.
Chantelle Marx
When it comes to strategic management and employee engagement, three key concepts should be incorporated in an organisation’s strategic management plan (Marx, 2019: 48). These three concepts include c) Good governance, b) communication capital and c) social capital. The last mentioned are explained in the following sections:
1. Good governance
“Good governance” concentrates on how employees believe they have alternative choices to the “rules” set by top management, and how the authorities respect and include the employee’s needs. The aim of Good Governance is to always ensure adequate performance and communication guidelines to employees. To apply good governance, five questions should be asked:
👍Does my company have an adequate organisation culture that includes performance reviews, incentive, talent management programmes or leadership programmes? Every employee wants to be acknowledged and developed.
👍Does my company have a proper and well communicated reporting structure?
👍Does my company have a dedicated committee and identified personnel to oversee responsibilities within the organisation?
👍Does my company possess proper reporting channels?
👍Are my company policies (such as social media policies) and regulations in place?
2. How do I build communication capital?
Transparency between the company and employees are of utmost importance. According to Deloitte (2013), good governance requires the organisation to explain all policies and procedures, prior to implementation. A “feedback loop”, should be created, where management and employees can discuss their needs, conduct a risk assessment, brainstorm, and visualise over future possibilities and developments within the current structure of the organisation. In short, communication capital refers to the systems and methods used to ensure adequate and open communication that includes employees of all levels in the decision-making process.
3. Why is Social Capital important for an organisation?
Social capital refers to support structures and social unity within the institution. Baker (1990: 619) defines social capital as follow: ‘a resource that actors derive from specific social structures and then use to pursue their interests; it is created by changes in the relationship among actors’. Social capital is developed and encouraged by systems and methods encourage unity and teamwork within a company. Below are a few great ways to create social capital in a company:
1) Weekly meetings,
2) Team building,
3) Monthly/quarterly feedback sessions,
4) Feedback loops (as stated above) and an
5) An open-door policy
6) Social gatherings such as Friday out-of-office meetings or even the good old Friday South African workplace Braai.
To apply the above a company should encourage engage and consult their employees on a regular basis. Communication is KEY!
The above is a short summary of the following research article:
Marx, C. 2019. MITIGATION OF BRAND RISKS POSED BY DIGITAL ACTIVISM AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY. Available at: https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/uj:33435?site_name=GlobalView&view=null&f0=sm_identifier%3A%22uj%3A33435%22&sort=sort_ss_title+asc