Participation

Defining Participation

Four dimensions are typically used to categorize the diverse forms of participation. The first dimension is organizational level. Participation can range from direct participation at the individual or group levels through more indirect or representative participation at the plant or company levels. Degree of control is the second dimension that can be used to describe participation. This refers to whether employees are consulted; that is, management encourages employees to share their opinions regarding work-related concerns, but reserves the right to make all final decisions, engage in joint decision making with management, or have complete responsibility and autonomy to organize and perform their jobs as they see fit. The third dimension used to differentiate among different types of participation is the range of issues that the decision-making process involves. The greater the range of issues over which employees have influence in the decision-making process, the broader the participation. Finally, ownership refers to economic or financial participation and is determined by how much of the company is owned by the employees.

Forms of Participation

The following are some of the more typical, albeit quite diverse, forms of employee participation. Representative participation is an indirect form of participation whereby a small group of employees participate in organizational decision making. This type of participation is more typical in Europe, where it is widely regulated, than it is in the United States. Examples of representative participation include works councils or having employees serve as members on boards of directors. Quality of work life committees are made up of both union members and managers. The purpose of the committees is to identify changes that will improve both organizational performance and employee quality of life. Quality circles involve groups of volunteers from the same work area who meet regularly to discuss quality problems, investigate causes, suggest solutions, and take corrective actions.

Participative management is a more general philosophy of joint decision making whereby subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors. Job redesign requires changing jobs so that they provide greater employee involvement with the goal of increasing job performance and satisfaction. This may be done by increasing skill variety, autonomy, the significance and identity of the task, and/or performance feedback. Self-managed work teams are typically responsible for a whole product or service and make decisions related to task assignments and work methods, including, for example, scheduling, purchasing, maintenance, and hiring and firing members.

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