Why Workers Participation In Management (WPM) is Important? Discover How, Where, When, WPM is Best for Industries!!

Abstract:  Workers Participation In Management

Workers participation in management is an essential ingredient of Industrial democracy. The concept of workers participation in management is based on Human Relations approach to Management which brought about a new set of values to labor and management. Traditionally the concept of Workers Participation in Management refers to participation of non-managerial employees in the decision-making process of the organization. Workers’ participation is also known as ‘labour participation’ or ‘employee participation’ in management. In Germany it is known as co-determination while in Yugoslavia it is known as self-management. The International Labour Organization has been encouraging member nations to promote the scheme of Workers’ Participation in Management.

Workers’ participation in management implies mental and emotional involvement of workers in the management of Enterprise. It is considered as a mechanism where workers have a say in the decision-making.

Keywords

Workers’ Participation in Management , Industry, Employees in Decision Making, Freedom of Opportunity, Dynamic Human Resources

Learning Outcomes 

After undergoing this article you will be able to understand the following 

1. What's the workers participation in management exactly mean?

2. What's the importance of workers participation in management?

3. What's the Features of Workers Participation In Management?

4. What's the Levels of Workers Participation In Management?

5. What's the Characteristics of Workers Participation In Management 

6. What's the Objectives of Workers Participation In Management?

7. Under what conditions Workers Participation In Management yields results?

1. What's the workers participation in management exactly mean?

Workers’ participation in management is a form of open management in which employees are encouraged to actively participate in the organisation’s decision-making process.The notion is utilised by managers who recognise the significance of human cognition and aim to build a solid relationship with their staff. They are aware that the employees serve as intermediaries between the clients and the company, facilitating the fulfilment of their needs.

• According to Keith Davis, Participation refers to the mental and emotional involvement of a person in a group situation which encourages him to contribute to group goals and share the responsibility of achievement.
• According to Walpole, Participation in Management gives the worker a sense of importance, pride and accomplishment; it gives him the freedom of opportunity for self-expression; a feeling of belongingness with the place of work and a sense of workmanship and creativity.

The concept of workers’ participation in management encompasses the following:

• It provides scope for employees in decision-making of the organization.
• The participation may be at the shop level, departmental level or at the top level.
• The participation includes the willingness to share the responsibility of the organization by the workers.

2. What's the importance of workers participation in management?

Participative management serves as a motivating drive for employees to achieve certain organisational objectives by involving them in the process. The key concept behind this type of management is that it is about maximising physical capital and the use of intellectual and emotional human capital. This is the process of involving people in the decision-making process to ensure that everyone’s psychological requirements are satisfied on an individual basis. In turn, it boosts the level of job satisfaction among employees and the overall quality of their working environment. Motivated employees are the most valuable assets an organisation can have, and participative management is an excellent method for retaining the top talent in the market.

3. What's the Features of Workers Participation In Management?

Participation means mental and emotional involvement rather than mere physical presence.

• Workers participate in management not as individuals but collectively as a group through their representatives.
• Workers’ participation in management may be formal or informal. In both the cases it is a system of communication and consultation whereby employees express their opinions and contribute to managerial decisions.

4. What's the Levels of Workers Participation In Management?

There can be 5 levels of Management Participation or WPM:

1. Information participation: It ensures that employees are able to receive information and express their views pertaining to the matter of general economic importance.
2. Consultative importance: Here workers are consulted on the matters of employee welfare such as work, safety and health. However, final decision always rests with the top-level management, as employees’ views are only advisory in nature.
3. Associative participation: It is an extension of consultative participation as management here is under the moral obligation to accept and implement the unanimous decisions of the employees. Under this method the managers and workers jointly take decisions.
4. Administrative participation: It ensures greater share of workers’ participation in discharge of managerial functions. Here, decisions already taken by the management come to employees, preferably with alternatives for administration and employees have to select the best from those for implementation.
5. Decisive participation: Highest level of participation where decisions are jointly taken on the matters relating to production, welfare etc.

5. What's the Characteristics of Workers Participation In Management ?

• Participation implies practices which increase the scope for employees’ share of influence in decision-making process with the assumption of responsibility.
• Participation presupposes willing acceptance of responsibility by workers.
• Workers participate in management not as individuals but as a group through their representatives.
• Worker’s participation in management differs from collective bargaining in the sense that while the former is based on mutual trust, information sharing and mutual problem solving; the latter is essentially based on power play, pressure tactics, and negotiations.
• The basic rationale tor worker’s participation in management is that workers invest their labour and their fates to their place of work. Thus, they contribute to the outcomes of organization. Hence, they have a legitimate right to share in decision-making activities of organisation.

6. What's the Objectives of Workers Participation In Management?

• To establish Industrial Democracy.
• To build the most dynamic Human Resources.
• To satisfy the workers’ social and esteem needs.
• To strengthen labour-management co-operation and thus maintain Industrial peace and harmony.
• To promote increased productivity for the advantage of the organization, workers and the society at large.
• Its psychological objective is to secure full recognition of the workers.

7. Under what conditions Workers Participation In Management yields results?

The success of workers portion in management depends upon the following conditions.

1. The attitude and outlook of the parties should be enlightened and impartial so that a free and frank exchange of thoughts and opinions could be possible. Where a right kind of attitude exists and proper atmosphere prevails the process of participation is greatly stimulated.
2. Both parties should have a genuine faith in the system and in each other and be willing to work together. The management must give the participating institution its right place in the managerial organization of the undertaking and implementing the policies of the undertaking. The labor, on the other hand, must also whole heartedly co-operate with the management through its trade unions. The foremen and supervisory cadre must also lend their full support so that the accepted policies could be implemented without any resentment on either side.
3. Participation should be real. The issues related to increase in production and productivity, evaluation of costs, development of personnel, and expansion of markets should also be brought under the jurisdiction of the participating bodies. These bodies should meet frequently and their decisions should be timely implemented and strictly adhered to. Further,

• Participation must work as complementary body to help collective bargaining, which creates conditions of work and also creates legal relations.
• There should be a strong trade union, which has learnt the virtues of unit and self-reliance so that they may effectively take part in collective bargaining or participation.
• A peaceful atmosphere should be there wherein there are no strikes and lock-outs, for their presence ruins the employees, harms the interest of the society, and puts the employees to financial losses.
• Authority should be centralized through democratic management process. The participation should be at the two or at the most three levels.
• Programs for training and education should be developed comprehensively. For this purpose, Labor is to be given education not to the head alone, not to the heart alone, not to the hands alone, but it is dedicated to the three; to make the workers think, feel and act. Labor is to be educated to enable him to think clearly, rationally and logically; to enable him to feel deeply and emotionally; and to enable him to act in a responsible way.

8. How workers participation in management Benefits to organisation ?

Workers’ participation in management is a tool which promotes better industrial relations and establishes industrial peace. It is important concept for both management and workers. The need is to implement it honestly to reap its merits in the form of mutual understanding, increased efficiency of workers, increased production etc. Workers’ participation in management has several advantages.

Workers Participation In Management Participation leads to a better understanding of the company. The workers understand the management decisions. The management also experiences the employee's issues. The workers often get a profit or ownership share.

When employees are encouraged to contribute their insights and take ownership of their work, they are more likely to feel motivated and committed to achieving organizational goals. This, in turn, leads to enhanced productivity, better quality of work, and ultimately, improved organizational performance.

Therefore, WPM, 

• Increase team morale. Participative leaders give every team member a voice. 
• Promote collaboration. ...
• Uncover creative solutions. 
• Teams more readily accept decisions. 
• Improve employee retention.

9. What are the demerits of How workers participation in management?  

Following are the demerits of workers’ participation in management:

1. Workers are not Enthusiastic:

The workers are not enthusiastic about the scheme and employers believe that they being incompetent cause delay in decisions. Some of the good decisions cannot be implemented for lack of support from the workers.

2. Weak Trade Unions:

In India trade unions are not strong enough. There are multiplicities of trade unions and they are dominated and led by political leaders. This makes trade unions weak. They cannot show solidarity of workers. There should be one strong union so that they can elect competent representatives for participation. Moreover there are certain problems require specialized knowledge which workers do not possess hence such problems cannot be solved through participation. They cannot even understand the gravity of situation.

The other disadvantages of WPM are

• The workers may not be enthusiastic about the changes. ...
• Weak trade unions can affect participation. ...
• Participation can delay several decisions. ...
• The decision quality may reduce with multiple opinions.

Why WPM fails

• The Complicated Nature of Both Organization and Technology:-
• Workers Incompetence:-
• More Emphasis on Procedures than Philosophy:-
• Means of Manipulation:-
• Feudalistic Concept:-
• Lack of Initiative:-
• Unskilled Representatives:-

10. Strategies for Employee Involvement for a Better Workplace

The following strategies may be helpful in yielding better results in an organisation by WPM 

1. Keep Them Updated

A great thing you can do to make your workplace even better is by keeping them updated. Those employees who have felt positive regarding their jobs will offer you enthusiasm, support or brainpower.

Your staff will feel engaged when you work transparently and keep them aware of what is happening at work.

Your staff will let you know of the financial situation in your company, whenever you land a big contract and how the work will contribute towards the success of your own business.

2. Give them more freedom

The biggest reason why most people go to work is that they want to earn some good money. 

Employees who empower shall tap into the talent and help you solve problems in a much better and simpler way.

Give your employees when you have the power and freedom to follow up with the decisions and micromanage them at the same time.

3. Give them more flexibility

Employees who can plan their work schedules happen to be more engaged when it comes to the result part.

You should allow your workers to have their schedules as well as deadlines depending on the goals that you have already shared with them.

4. Reward them with success

Employees become far more involve and successful nowadays because of how much they rewarding.

People who are getting a fair wage should be paid more with some incentives that will increase the business and make it even better.

10. Conclusions

Workers’ participation in industry improves relationship between workers and management and establishes better human relations. This leads to increased workers’ efficiency thereby increasing productivity and output of the manufacturing unit. Workers’ participation in management enthuse high morale which can be utilized for increasing production. High industrial productivity helps in attaining the economic objectives of the country.

FAQs

Q. 1. How Workers Participation In Management improve Productivity and Working Condition?

Ans. 

Unique motivational power and a great psychological value.

 Peace and harmony between workers and management.

Workers get to see how their actions would contribute to the overall growth of the company.

They tend to view the decisions as `their own’ and are more enthusiastic in their implementation.

Participation makes them more responsible. They become more willing to take initiative and come out with cost-saving suggestions and growth-oriented ideas.

References 

1. Workers? Participation in Management

Venkataramana P.

Published by A.P.H. Publishing Corporation, 2007

ISBN 10: 8131300692 / ISBN 13: 9788131300695

2. William, Mares, ed. Working together: Employee participation in action. New York: New York University Press, 1985.

3. Power, Susan Mary. Employee participation in decision-making. Dublin: University College Dublin, 1991.

4. Verma, R. K. Workers' participation in management. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Pub. Co., 1991.

5. Hyman, J. D. Managing employee involvement and participation. London: Sage Publications, 1995.