EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE STUDY

Decision making before now used to be exclusive undertaking of management. But with organizational reforms and changes going on in organizations, decision making is becoming more democratic. Command and control according to Henritt (2002) is no longer an adequate model in management, therefore a more open and collaborative frame-work is needed to exploit the talents of all employees. According to (Noah,2008). Employee participation is a special form of delegation in which the subordinate gain greater control, freedom of choice with respect to bridging the communication gap between the management and workers. It refers to the degree of employee involvement in organization’s strategic planning activities. A company can have deep or shallow employee participations in decisions making, (Barringer and Bleudorn, 1999). The employee participation in the planning process leads to potential innovation, which may facilitates opportunity and recognition in the organization. (Zikovic et al, 2009). Managers provide opportunities for participation of subordinates in decision making on the basis of their merits as it has been proved by researchers to have improved organizational performance.

More so, there are too many evidences that shows organizational performance increase with the increase in employees participation, (Arthur 1994: Draft and Lewin, 1993) productivity therefore is the performance measure encompassing both efficiency and effectiveness, high performing and effective organization posses a culture of encouraging employee  participation. Also employees are more willing to get involved in decision making process like goal setting, problem solving activities which results in higher performance (Slocum and woodman, 1998). Encouraged more modern participative style of management raise employee productivity and satisfaction even with Low compensation rates (Madison, 2009). Job satisfaction increases productivity through high quality motivation and through increasing working capabilities at the time of implementations, (miller and manage 1986). There are evidences that participative working environment has more substantial effects on workers’ productivity.

Furthermore, every organization seeks to improve and increase its’ performance level by providing opportunities to its worker (Weiss et al, 1999).  Organizations must perform at individual level to improve the performance of the whole organization. All subdivisions of the organization must perform well to achieve overall performance level, (Ward,2007).  Organizations in all the world have designed different processes to improve performance level from functional to employees and till organizational level to perk up overall organizational performance. Organizations are also required to manage performance of its employees and functions by setting goals and achieving then (Good et al, 2004).

According to Dess and Robinson (2009), organizational performance can be entranced by improving employee participation and management must have certain tools to improve employee participation in that sector. Wheelmen and Hunger (1998), says that level of performance is based on objectives and goals set by an organization. For every company working in the market, the main goal is to earn profit and reduce expenses. According to (Lee et al, 2004), Level of progress and participation is different in every organization, many organizations delegate authority and power to their employees and also due to that, authority and organizational performance also increase.

To Ho, et al, (2006), organizations require different analysis to measure their profitability and this shows that organizations’ profitability can be increased when performance level of an enterprise also increases. With these illustrations in mind, it is therefore in the backdrop or premises that the researchers set out to study and examine the employee’s participation in decision making and organization’s productivity using First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Enugu main branch as a case of study.                      

1.2      STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is a modem trend in management that employees participate in decision making. This decision making style came about because the task, the environment and the people have changed, Enisplus, 2016). They contend that competitive advantage is the result of employee participation in decision making.

However, there are some impediments to actualizing a robust employee decision making participation, Enusplus (2016) observe  that qualified, reasonable, honest, and company oriented individuals are not available  especially  at lower organizational level. When they are available, Levine and Tyson as quoted in Ojokuku & Sajujigbe (2014) believe that workers advise and suggestions no matter how good, the management retains the right to make final decisions. This is because it is feared in the words of Ogbonna (2012) that workers are not competent and as a result will not contribute meaningfully in decisions of the organization.

Another major problem stems from the fact that some organizations are deceitful, in that sense, they never intended to use the opinions of their employees. In that light, Tannaem Baum and Schimidt (1980) submitted that problems may occur when a manager uses a democratic façade to conceal the fact that he has already made a decision which he hopes the group will accept as its own. In this perspective, the desire for employee participation by the management is not real or genuine. This is further buttressed by Arnstein in wikipedia (2016) that there is a critical difference between going through the empty ritual of participation and having the real power needed to affect the outcome of the process. This difference is brilliantly capsulated in a poster which highlights the fundamental point that participation without re-distribution of power is an empty and frustrating process for the powerless. It allows the power holders to claim that all sides were considered, but makes it possible for only some of those sides to benefit.

Other problems also emerge. There are social pressures to confirm to groups domination even when one has different idea. Again with ideas coming from many people, time can be an issue (Wikipedia, 2016). According to Debruin et al (2007), possible negative outcomes of participatory decision making (PDM) are high costs, inefficiency, indecisiveness and incompetence.

In the light of the above analysis, this study is set to determine the extent of staff participation on decision making in First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Enugu and its implications on productivity.

1.3      OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general objective of this study is to examine the implications of employee participation in decision making and organizational productivity with the followings as the specific objectives.

(a)       To find out how employees can participate in decision making in First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Enugu main branch.

(b)      To evaluate the implications of employees participation in decision making on workers’ productivity/performance in First Bank of Nigeria plc, Enugu main branch.

(c)       To ascertain the challenges  encountered by  employees in the course of participating in decision making in First Bank Plc, Enugu main branch.

(d)      To make recommendations on how these challenges can be eliminated or solved to enhance productivity.

1.4      THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF THE STUDY

This study will be using empowerment theory of leadership as a theoretical foundation or framework. The empowerment theory was propounded by Kanter (1993). Kanter sees the empowerment theory of leadership as closely aligned with this thrust to gain organizational effectiveness through wise utilization of human  resources,  Kanter (1993) was of the view that empowered employees are generally  more satisfied with their work and would  perform very high in the organization thereby promoting productivity of the organization.

The theory of leadership is used to better illustrate the variables and give a more compelling view of the variables. The concept of leadership has been widely researched due to its relevance to organizational survival which is why Nirenberg (2010) viewed leadership as a special tool required for the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. This definition emphasized leadership to encompass the actions and attitude of the leader(s) with respect to his/her subordinates. Leadership is inspiration that drives positive outcome. The whole essence of leadership can be deduced to consist given others the opportunity to lead and grow and ensuring that right attitude and building commitment to organizational goals and objectives. Mo

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