Employee participation in organizational decision-making and management

Employee Participation

The Person/Environment Dynamics of Employee Empowerment: An Organizational Culture Analysis"

According to this article by Pennie Foster-Fishman and Christopher Keys, participatory management is becoming more common, where innovative service delivery and staff empowerment are becoming increasingly important in management. The article examines a human service agency specifically, entitled SERVE. Among the goals of serve included the objective to strengthen "the voice of frontline staff in agency decision making and policy formation." The administrators believed that this organizational approach would be an effective means of increasing employee morale and organizational effectiveness (Foster-Fishman, 1997).

In this particular instance, the employee empowerment initiative occurred within a public bureaucracy, where typically efforts to empower employees fail due to strict cultural features. Empowerment, defined by this article represents "the process of gaining influence over events and outcomes of importance to an individual or group" (Foster-Fisman, 1997). According to the article, the primary purpose of adopting an empowerment model was to enhance employee's perceived control over their lives, and subsequently affect work outcome. The article pointed out however, that the overall initiative to introduce employee participation and empowerment failed, though some employees were left feeling more "empowered." This failure was attributed to a lack of ability of the culture within a public entity to bend, as necessary to support an empowered culture. Culture, according to the article, provides the framework for establishing an appropriate fit, needed for empowerment to succeed within an organization. A culture has to be willing to embrace individual attitudes and employee behaviors, and an organizational culture must also involve a "shared system of meaning."

This article adds to TQM by outlining the importance and significance of participatory management. Additionally, this article added to my knowledge of the importance of culture within an organization, and it's potential implication on the ability of an organization to empower its employees.

Employee Empowerment: Solution to A Burgeoning Crisis"

According to this journal article, a model for employee empowerment and participation can be taken from the Japanese government. According to the authors, the Japanese government works in tandem with corporate leaders to set what is referred to as a "growth agenda" where management takes on a "paternalistic attitude" related to labor. Workers are encouraged regularly and in fact, expected to participate in "shop-floor management" (Ramos, 1995). Despite this perceived notion of employee empowerment, according to the authors labor in Japan is actually at the mercy of management, as many employees remain loyal to their organizations out of fear rather than loyalty. Employee retainment of retirement benefits is contingent upon an employees ability to commit long-term to working for the same manager.

The article concludes by noting that a better model for employee empowerment would be one that allows employee ownership, such as that in China, where employee ownership is now enjoying a "vigorous revival." The creation of cooperatives and employee ownership programs are the true path to employee empowerment and participation in corporate events.

This article suggests that overall quality management in an organization is contingent upon a company's ability to offer employees ownership in company practices. Even if a company is unable to offer stock ownership, a company should invest in mechanisms that allow employees true participatory ability. Participation can be established by informing employees and allowing their voice to be heard at corporate events, meetings and organizational strategy sessions.

Employee Participation: A Critical Evaluation and Suggestions for Management Practice."

According to this article, American businesses and industries today are challenged to find new ways to improve their effectiveness in an every increasingly competitive market. Improving productivity has become one of the most urgent calls organizations and production manufacturers now face.

U.S companies are now attempting to offer employee empowerment protocols, which have rapidly become an popular industry "buzzword." Many American companies according to the article, are becoming actively engaged in the process of instituting employee participation programs within their organization. For the most part however, employee participation at this point in time has merely been instituted on a "pure faith" basis, rather than based on empirical research. Encouraging employee participation according to the authors, is important to satisfying employees "inner needs" and serving as a motivational factor which in turn will result in greater productivity.

This article recognizes that the idea of participative management and employee action is important, but far from being implemented nation wide, as a majority of information available on the subject is as yet, not studied in great enough detail; is philosophical or subjective rather than empirically based.

This article supports the notion that TQM by nature facilitates employee empowerment programs; many organizations invest in employee empowerment programs without any quantitative evidence that they might add to bottom line; however, employers must be willing to invest in employees in order to realize a competitive advantage.

Dimensions and Patterns in Employee Empowerment: Assessing What Matters to Street-Level Bureaucrats"

This article was an empirical research study crafted to analyze opposing viewpoints on employee empowerment, based on qualitative research gathered from literature studies. These studies indicated that employee empowerment may be beneficial to the future success of organizations. The participants in this study were considered "street-level bureaucrats" defined as employees who "have direct interactions with citizen-consumers" and also as those who did not supervise.

Specifically, the participants in the study were caseworkers located in district offices at the Illinois Dept. Of Human Services. The researches chose thirty six employees, who were asked open ended questions that were directed in nature based on empowerment. The goal of the study was to explore the "value ascribed to empowerment" by street-level bureaucrats (Byrnes, et. al, 2002). The interviews were one half hour each.