A Study on the Way to Promote Employee Participation for Workplace Innovation: A Case Study of SK Innovation

Abstract

As the significance of employee welfare continues to grow in the management field and literature, researchers and practitioners are obliged to pay more attention to hearing and incorporating employee voice. With a focus on SK innovation in South Korea, this study examines the process by which management hears and accepts employee voice. The ‘Workplace Innovation’ project, which has been promoted by the government for more than two decades, aims to improve organizational performance and the quality of work life by fostering the collaboration of labor and management. In practice, however, the project was primarily driven by managerial decisions in the form of system introduction, organizational restructuring, and practice innovation, subsequently losing its original intent and showing limited impact. Regarding employee welfare, the necessity and urgency of each employee vary depending on individual needs and preferences, limiting the effectiveness of collective interests adjustment by a labor union. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the process in which a company collects various demands from the field, individual workers make suggestions for each agenda, and the suggestions and demands of individual workers are converged to establish priorities. This case intends to contribute to establishing a foundation for further enhancing the participation of individual workers and labor unions in the process of achieving and continuing Workplace Innovation. Using the “voice-exit theory” as a framework, the process by which individual employees actively voice their thoughts and opinions are combined is classified into four types in this study. For theoretical and practical validation through a case study, this study provides an example of enhancing employee benefits and welfare at SK Innovation's Ulsan plant and describes in detail how members' opinions are collected and implemented into actual policies, focusing on the Happiness Council operation. Through the implementation of a system that facilitates regular and direct communication between members, labor, and management, the SK Innovation Happiness Council is an example of empowering employees and increasing their awareness of participation in the sense that individual members participate directly in decision-making. The present case has significant implications for Korean enterprises as it facilitates the involvement of employees and labor unions in the workplace innovation processes and enables them to establish a self-enhancing workplace innovation environment through consistent communication between labor and management.