Week 4: Insider Activism
Employee Activism
Defining Employee Activism
engagement may entail
promoting or countering change in organization
using organisations as platform to bring attention to issue
all kinds of people
full time & part time & independent contractors (eg uber drivers)
factory workers, white-collar, senior exec.
A brief History
traced back to 70s, started inside big western companies
groups were founded by minorities to form community, to find new way to advocate equal rights and anti discrimination policies
starting in 90s strong growth of employee activism in organisations
sometimes they began receiving corporate sponsorship and rebranded as employee resource groups
4 overarching drivers for growth
Empowerment as management principle
New technologies
Rising Workforce expectations
younger generation workers higher expectations for finding meaning and purpose, not just money
desire for meaning translates to higher expectations that employers act responsibly, if not, younger gen is not shy to campaign and demand change
younger geb have lower levels of loyalty to company, make them more willing to take risks via activism
"Empowerment" - idea that individual employees should have authority to direct efforts and provide input to organisational decision making
if employees have opportunity to share ideas about improving business, likely also concerns about societal issues
Urgent societal challenges
Organizations increasingly seen as powerful and capable agents of change, contrary to governments, perceived to be too politically polarised and slow to be effective
social media platforms - information exchange, planning & executing easier across industries
reach broad audience, eg. when Facebook employees complained about psychological trauma of content moderators, grievance broadcasted widely= legal settlement
at no financial cost
Conceptualizing Employee Activists
triggers of activism
by changes in policies, practices -> grievance (grossman)
new employees uncovering problems within(Einstein)
realising organization has capacity to adress larger grievance and haven't done so (Binder)
in response to observing and learning from outside social movements (Arthur)
Forms of Employee activism (ZALD & BERGER)
Mass movement
Insurgency
Coup d'état
seizing power within organization
When?
expression of minor grievance to major attempts to seize control. Differ in number of participants and visibility
When?
aim: not replace leadership but change aspect of organisational functions
When?
employees efforts to affect leadership succession
planned in secrecy
mostly when leaders,CEOs have records of bad decisions, performance, created enemies
employees wanted new goals, policies implemented but have been explicitly denied by leadership
goal to change behavior AND structure of organization aswell as change in society as whole
Characterising the activists
insider vs. outsider
now: relationship of activists with organisation
Knowledge about organization
Resource dependency
intuition: insiders characterised by high levels of both, outsiders low levels
insiders: high dependency.
insiders: high knowledge
Ex: for slary
implications on how activism unfolds.
Ex: resource dependency may dissuade insiders from participating, due to concerns of being punished by organization
impact unfolds and can create strategic advantages to activists
enables
focus efforts by understanding realistic action
effective mobilising ppl, using knowldege about values and culture
Differntiation from other forms of change
Organisational Mistakes in Responding to Employee Activism
Rushing to quick Fixes
the optimism bubble
trying to be a-political
whistle blowing
claims of illegal, immoral practices to authorities
differs: whistleblower act alone, outside organizatonal system, activists recruit peers, engage in collective efforts, work within system
Labor Movements
target organisations and states with power to regulate conditions
differs: Not confined to single organization, often unable to position as insiders and excluded from access to scion making power, Strive for continuation of Movement itself, employee activists focus on achieving specific target
the more senior -> the more optimistic
result: likely to underestimate challenges pf employees, or feeling around issues ALSO might think employees feel safe speaking up when actually intimidated
leaders sometimes think all is going well and dismiss activism
result: pay no attention until its too late
avoiding optimism bubble means leaders need to accept they may be out of touch with workforce
Solution:
reverse mentoring
employee network groups
increasing organisational diversity via recruitment, enables leaders to stop hearing similar passive uncritical opinions
some leaders believe should not get involved in political issues that employees are concerned with , out of fear could have negative consequence for organization by stakeholders for taking sides
BUT: a-political =\ neutral
Example: McKinsey instructed staff in Moscow to stay neutral during demos and not engage in activism - both within and outside of company
not engaging serve Putins agenda and drew huge criticism to organizations
not taking stand on matters that employees care about leads to leaving organization
opens company to criticism on issue hoping to avoid
leaders often want to fix quick
insufficient thought-through reactions -> alienating emp. bc not taken seriously
results in leaders over promising and under delivering
Solution
leaders need to include responses to employee activism in their strategic plan, to be prepared in case activism happens, be proactive not reactive helps avoid panicked responses
feel changing own organization important step in bringing about larger change
Tactics
activists see themselves as walking on a tightrope between desires to make change in organization and loyalty to it
activism exists in various forms, from internal lobbyig to organised business disruption
disruptive tactics
intended to unsettle both organizations internal actions and its public reputation, pressuring managers to give in to demands
Persuasive tactics
aim to influence fellow employees and managers through communication tolls and approaches often less visible to people outside organization
newer tactics involve use of social media (twitter etc). Allows to mobile employees easily and quickly -> raise awareness about practices among costumers, future employees etc.
direct influence on decision makers