Worker’s participation in management: Concepts

Worker’s participation in management is an essential ingredient of Industrial democracy. The concept of workers’ participation in management is based on the Human Relations approach to Management which brought about a new set of values to labour and management. Traditionally the concept of Workers’ Participation in Management (WPM) refers to the participation of non-managerial employees in the decision-making process of the organization.

The philosophy underlying workers’ participation stresses:

democratic participation in decision-making;
maximum employer-employee collaboration;
minimum state intervention;
realisation of a greater measure of social justice;
greater industrial efficiency; and
higher level of organisational health and effectiveness.

Areas of participation

The way in which employees influence, or are involved in, the decision-making processes of the enterprise.
Job satisfaction and work organization that is improving the quality of jobs, making work more interesting, the social organization of work units.
Financial participation, which may include profit sharing and employee shareholding, but is essentially ‘getting the money right’.

Purpose

To improve the quality of working life and the satisfaction obtained from work.
To improve the efficiency and productivity of the enterprise.

Direct Participation

Direct participation may take many forms, from improving the quality of the job itself to sharing the financial rewards of increased productivity. To be really meaningful to the employee, however, it will include:

The provision of all information relevant to his job.
Consultation particularly about changes that may affect him.
Personal involvement in the decision making process at his own level.

Direct participation is possible at every level of the enterprise, but it should start with the basic participation unit, the workgroup — the supervisor with the groups of employees for whom he is responsible.

Indirect Participation

In contrast, indirect participation has relatively little appeal for the majority of employees; and in most situations, only a small minority are willing to take on a representative role, even in a limited capacity in their own workplace. Those who are, however, are often the leaders who influence the opinions and attitudes of others, and given the opportunity; participate, they will take it, and carry their fellow workers with them.

Employees who are not interested In any situation there will, of course, be some who are simply not interested. They want only to come to work, do their job, get paid, and go home, and they do not want any involvement beyond that. Even if at the beginning a large number of employees appear to be in this category that is no reason for not going ahead. Some may seem indifferent only because they have never been given any opportunity or encouragement to become more involved. But in any event, participation should be geared to the highest levels of expectation, not the lowest.

Levels of Participation

Having known the objectives of WPM, the question then is to what extent workers can participate in the decision-making process.

Informative Participation:

This refers to management’s information sharing with workers on such items that are concerned with workers. Balance Sheet, production, economic conditions of the plant, etc., are examples of such items.

Consultative Participation:

In this type of participation, workers are consulted in those matters which relate to them. Here, the role of workers is restricted to give their views only. However, the acceptance and non-acceptance of these views depend on management.

Associative Participation:

Here, the role of the workers’ council is not just advisory, unlike consultative participation. In a way, this is an advanced and improved form of consultative participation.

Administrative Participation:

In administrative participation, decisions already are taken are implemented by the workers.

Decisive Participation:

Here, the decisions are taken jointly by the management and the workers of an organization.