The term employee voice has been used over the years to denote to the collective bargaining power or a joint collective representation. It is a foundation of the relationship that brings positive benefits to an organization or business. According to Pohler and Luchak (2014) i t is also heralded as the primary trait of high performing and precursor employee involvement. The need for the voice has been used in various contexts denoting diverse meanings that are all vital to an organization. For example, a conceptualized voice is the customer's voice of how an organization responds to complain, or decline. With the increasing need to cement the relationship between the employer and employee, there arose the need to establish a voice mechanism. Pohler and Luchak (2014) argue that t he concept made the conflictual and consensual image lead to a constructive effect on productivity and quality at the workplace. At the same time, it represented how a business or organization responded to problems at the workplace. As the realization increased, the need to have a practical voice mechanism shaped up with the establishment of trade unions and performance work systems. As such, both union partnership arrangement and high-performance systems are a route to providing employee voice at work.
As a route, the two concepts provide employees with the appropriate environment of sharing and engaging with employers on mutual grounds of sharing, talking, engaging, and affirming their commitment to growth and productivity. As a route, the two concepts provide employees with the appropriate strategy to articulation their opinions and concern towards improving their relations at the workplace.
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Unions as Collective Bargaining Platforms
Employee voice represents a strategy by which employees participate and involve in an issue that affects their well-being at the workplace. The concept of employee voice has a procedural dimension, the strategy through which their needs and well-far is expressed, the level that shapes their impact at the workplace ( Pohler & Luchak, 2014) . Employee voice can either be direct or indirect. The latter denotes to representation through a collective representation or intermediary such as a trade union or performance work system. Unions serve various purposes at the workplace. Budd (2017) maintain that unity is strength and help workers have a collective and powerful representation to management on their frustration and dissatisfaction. Unions also create a strategic methodology of negotiating terms and conditions for workers. Between the employer and employee is the concept of agreement and discussion and is mainly protected by a union. Established unitary frameworks help in fostering fair negotiation for employees. Choi and Chung (2016) maintain that w ith a union, workers stand for excellent and equal pay without any form of discrimination. Besides being a safe framework of operations, established unions help workers feel safe with their work pegged on how much they do and undertake at the workplace ( Pohler & Luchak, 2014) . In many ways, these represent how employees air their grievances and frustrations at the workplace, giving them a strong voice to air their concerns.
According to Pohler and Luchak (2014) u nions help workers improve their engagement through collaborated efforts and close sharing. Partnerships are established behind the backdrop of fostering closer ties of collaboration. Unions offer the platform of sharing by giving employees a voice and power. When and if employees come together, they form strong bonds that strive for improvement in their day to day work engagement. According to Budd (2017) representation in unions strengthens democratic ideals by giving the employees a voice in policy establishment and debates. By having representation, employees can collect their opinions, formulate them into one, and air them as a team. Such help employees have a reliable bargaining power that shapes their working engagement.
According to Choi and Chung (2016) a lmost every day at the workplace, an employee may feel powerless and unrepresented. Coming together as one or joining a legally established union gives an employee the power and voice to negotiate essential elements within their working conditions. Through this, employees can secure good health care, better remuneration, healthy workplace enhancement, bargaining negotiation, and the development of dispute resolution. Pohler and Luchak (2014) maintain that t hese are issues that an employee may not and cannot advance and settle at an individual level. Thus, having a union provides employees with a voice that ensures that the employer honors their agreement and obligations ( Budd, 2017) . The collective bargaining offers the employee the opportunity to say what they desire, their opinions in the day to day management of issues, handling work-related conflicts, and solving disputes.
The voice is established within the laws and privileges of the union in the business or organization. Despite the frosty relationship between government and unions, employee representation in unions is protected in the constitution via labor laws that define the power and privileges of their membership, rights, and membership Pohler and Luchak (2014) . Approved unions are required to work within established frameworks that front the needs and opportunities of the employees. Through this, employees have a legal platform of approaching employers within a balanced structure and power. Chosen officials represent multiple voices of employees through well-crafted points of concern.
The unity represented by a few (union officials) helps establish a stronger voice through which employees can confidently confront an employer in a dignified manner without making the employer feel vulnerable or outnumbered. Through this representation, workers feel accommodated and heard removing the limited power an individual may have if faced with a challenge. For example, a lone employee may think that a strategic measure needs to be implemented in the company Pohler and Luchak (2014) . However, as a loner, he may feel limited to push for such an initiative. However, if the entire employee body comes together for the strategy, the company will readily agree to the idea or renegotiate for an alternative. Such is the voice of employees through a union. A union allows a lone employee to forward an idea without feeling intimidated or limited.
Union acts as a go-between employee, and the employer giving the workers the power to air their voice for better working conditions, pays, among other benefits ( Choi & Chung, 2016) . Essential laws and policies such as anti-discriminatory laws, child labor laws, and social security have been achieved due to the strong voice from unions who identify what is lacking in their engagement and push through a negotiated arrangement with the employers. As business owners and managers advocate for their economic benefits, employees also join together in unions to have a healthy, confident, and more significant voice that supports their well-being at the workplace.
While unions are bodies that advocate for workers' well-being, high-performance work systems refer to established management procedures and practices that try to develop an environment within an organization where workers can have the best responsibility and involvement ( Harley, 2014) . These are practices that enhance a business' ability to effectively develop, hire, select, and attract high performing employees. They include; engagement of staff, developing and acquiring talent, empowering employees, and aligning leaders.
Aligning Leaders; these involve influencing the ability of business leadership in evolving and running the entire organization as an entity. It includes successful planning, performance contingence compensation that aims at the successful accomplishment of departmental goals, division, and as a corporate body ( Harley, 2014) . Through this practice, leaders are aligned with the training needs of the organization, for instance, the use of core competency models that guide in feedback programs, assessment, and training. As a voice for the employees, this practice opens up avenues to relating closely with the organization's leaders. For example, through succession planning, an employee will have an opportunity to air his view on career development, planning, and analysis with the future leaders of the organization. At the same time, management training, such as the core competency models that guide in feedback programs and assessment, help the employees voice their concerns, opinion, or views on relevant issues affecting their well-being at the workplace.
Empowering the Frontline; these involve motivating and empowering the employees to impel the safety and quality of team providers ( Harley, 2014) . Through decentralized decision making, employees have an opportunity to contribute to decision making, a strategic framework that enhances communication, thus increased voicing of their concern at the workplace. For example, during teams' decision making an employee can take the opportunity to air his frustration or interest in an area of concern within the organization.
Developing and acquiring talent; under these are extensive training, selective hiring, rigorous recruitment, and career development. For example, Van De Voorde and Beijer (2015) maintain that under career development, employees can use the opportunity during career development to voice their concerns on areas that need improvement or realignment within the workplace. Rigorous training also provides the employee with the opportunity to share with the management relevant strategic practices, planning, and programs that affect workers' well-being. Through such methods, workers have the chance to put forth their concerns and opinion on relevant issues within the workplace.
Engaging the staff is a strategic way of providing employees with a voice at work. These are accomplished through direct workers' involvement in decision making, sharing of vision and mission, and information sharing. Harley (2014) argues that workers can use the opportunity to engage the employer in clarifying their role within the workplace and purpose in the established procedures at the workplace. Information sharing is an essential process through which an employee can share vital details of work-related issues such as compensation, leave plans, and work-related practices. Practices such as employee involvement help in influencing decision making. These help in employee engagement.
High-performance work practices entail procedures and strategies that relate to improving organizations' effectiveness in hiring, developing, selecting, and attracting the best performing employee. Through these practices, employees have a direct and indirect mode of engagement with the administration (employer) through which they can voice their concerns and grievances, ideas, and disputes.
Comparison
As human resource practices, these practices High-performance work systems (HPWS) are designed to improve on employee effectiveness, unlike unions that strive to establish a collective bargaining mechanism. At the same time, HPWS seeks to get the best of the employees, enhancing their effectiveness and efficiency at the workplace in addition to improving their relevance with the organization's goals and mission. On the other hand, unions strive for representation in which all workers are brought under one umbrella body.
As an umbrella body, unions represent workers' grievances, frustrations, and concerns ( Pohler & Luchak, 2014) . At the same time, unions are for the well-being of the workers and their working environment. While unions first focus on the workers well-fair, HPWS focus on employee effectiveness, motivating, training, empowering, and helping workers excel in their performance. HPWS also focus on group performance while unions emphasize on the proper treatment of workers within the workplace with greater emphasis placed on remuneration, leave, conflict resolution, and leading on negotiations.
The two concepts are, however, for the good of work relations, productivity, and sound engagement. While HPWS helps employees improve their production and effectiveness, unions strive to ensure the working environment is fitting for productivity. The two also strive to provide that the relationship between the employer and employee is good and constructive. As HPWS applies HR resources such as appraisal and compensation to get the best of the employees, unions strive to build a cohesive and professional fitting worker who adheres to established standards, rules, and regulations.
Conclusion
Unions and High-performance work systems (HPWS) provide workers with the appropriate environment and opportunity to air their voices. They are the routes to employee's voices at work, giving them the chance to talk, engage, share, and relate with the employers in a mutually constructive environment. Through the frameworks, employees can share their grievances, frustrations, ideologies, concern, and feelings to improve their work relations and build on sound systems of engagement.
References
Budd, J. W. (2017). The effect of unions on employee benefits and non-wage compensation: Monopoly power, collective voice, and facilitation. In What Do Unions Do? (pp. 160-192). Routledge. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Budd2/publication/228384724_The_Effect_of_Unions_on_Employee_Benefits_and_Non-Wage_Compensation_Monopoly_Power_Collective_Voice_and_Facilitation/links/0046352cc3b56c9404000000.pdf
Choi, Y., & Chung, I. H. (2016). Voice effects of public sector unions on turnover: Evidence from teacher contracts. Public Personnel Management , 45 (2), 213-233.
Harley, B. (2014). High performance work systems and employee voice. The handbook of research on employee voice , 82-96.
Pohler, D. M., & Luchak, A. A. (2014). Balancing efficiency, equity, and voice: The impact of unions and high-involvement work practices on work outcomes. ILR Review , 67 (4), 1063-1094.
Van De Voorde, K., & Beijer, S. (2015). The role of employee HR attributions in the relationship between high ‐ performance work systems and employee outcomes. Human Resource Management Journal , 25 (1), 62-78.
