24-1 EXCEL BOOKS

Chapter

24

PARTICIPATION
AND
EMPOWERMENT
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ANNOTATED OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION
Participation has a unique motivational power and a great
psychological value. It promotes harmony and peace between
workers and management. Workers’ participation in management
aims at improving the quality of working life and thereby secure
cooperation and commitment from workers.

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Workers’ Participation in Management:

Different Views
 An instrument for establishing harmonious industrial relations
 A device for promoting solidarity among workers
 A way of tapping human talent by encouraging workers to come out with ideas
and suggestions
 A means of motivating workers and obtain the best from them
 A humanitarian act, elevating the status of worker in the society
 An ideological weapon to develop self-management

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Forms of Participation

WPM is generally interpreted in four different ways

 Sharing information with workers
 Joint consultation prior to decision making (workers consulted,
taken into confidence, suggestions invited to solve an issue)
 Sharing information, offering participation and involving workers
in the joint decision making process while solving work related
problems.
 Involving workers in all strategic, policy and operational issue,
treating them as equal partners with equal voting rights and
encouraging workers to self-manage and self-control activities.

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Government Policy Towards Workers’
Participation

The participation of workers in management is not a novel idea,

imported from outside. It has native flavour and is being favoured by
corporate houses in India even before Independence.
 Mill committees, of course, were there to take care of workers'
grievances.
 The Royal Commission on Labour recommended the
establishment of a joint consultative machinery for settling
disputes between labour and management.
 The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 created a formal mechanism
through the Works Committees to resolve differences between
labour and management over matters relating to conditions of
work.
 The Second Five Year Plan advocated the setting up of Joint
Management Councils
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Joint Management Councils 1958

Objectives
Promote cordial industrial relations
Improve operational efficiency of workers
Provide welfare facilities to workers
Educate and prepare workers for meaningful participation in organisational matters
Criteria for setting up JMCs
The unit must have 500 or more workers
It should have a fair record of industrial relations
It should have a well organised trade union, affiliated to one of the central
federations.
Both management and workers should agree to the setting up of such a unit
Evaluation
Failed to make much headway due to unenthusiastic response from unions and
workers
Management, on the other hand, was mentally reluctant to share ideas and power
with workers in a meaningful manner.

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Government Policy Towards Workers’
Participation

 The idea of workers assuming the role of a board member came

into being in 1970s. The scheme required verification of trade
union membership, identification of the representative union and
the selection of a worker director who is chosen out of a panel of
three names furnished to the government by the representative
union within a prescribed time period.
 Shop and joint councils gained popularity from 1975 on wards.
The joint council would be constituted, comprising of
representatives from both management and labour, for a period
of two years.
 From 1990 on wards, a three-tier participatory scheme as
proposed: giving participation to workers at three levels: shop floor,
enterprise and board level.

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Government Policy Towards Workers’

Participation
Evaluation
The various schemes of participation have failed to deliver
satisfactory results due to reasons such as
 Employer's reluctance
 Workers' apathy
 Illiteracy( workers not fully prepared to face the challenge)
 Lack of knowledge
 Inter union and intra union rivalry
 Lack of support from government

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Effective Workers’ Participation In

Management
In order to make the scheme more effective, certain conditions
should be satisfied
 Managerial attitudes
 Union cooperation
 Meaningful participation
 Workers' attitudes

The scheme, however, proved to be a big hit in some well-known

public and private sector organisations (such as TISCO, BHEL,
MARUTI) where both management and workers were willing to
invest their time and energies in ensuring the success of the
scheme.

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WPM: MARUTI WAY

 Minimise distinctions between employees

 Promote teamwork and employee involvement at all levels
 Meet unions regularly to clarify things
 Exchange facts openly
 Encourage employees to come out with suggestions, ideas
 Allow employee participation in equity

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Empowerment

Giving employees the authority to make decisions and providing

them with financial resources to implement these decisions is called
'empowerment'. There are four essential conditions necessary for
empowerment to gain credibility and acceptance at various levels in
an organisation:
 Participation
 Innovation
 Information
 Accountability

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Alternative Approaches To Participation

A. Quality Circles
A quality circle is a small group of employees who meet periodically
to identify, analyse and solve quality and other work related
problems in their area. The main features of a quality circle may be
stated thus:
 Voluntary group
 Manageable size
 Regular interaction
 Own agenda
 Quality focus

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Objectives

Objectives of quality circles

 Improve quality of service/product
 Satisfy psychological needs of employees
 Utilise human talents and skills fully through self expression, participation
 Improve quality of working life
 Pave the way for cordial industrial relations

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Alternative Approaches To Participation

 Struture of a quality circle

 Quality circle members
 Quality circle leader
 Facilitator
 Steering committee
 How quality circles work?
 Identify problems
 Analyse problems
 Recommend solutions

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Why Quality Circles Fail?

 Inadequate preparation, and consequently, poor presentation

from members
 Poor training given to workers
 Interference from management
 Picking up favourites to fulfil the agenda fixed by management
 Trying to use quality circles to meet short term, quantifiable
goals
 Quality circle leaders not fully qualified in terms of experience
competence
 Inadequate facilities extended by management

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How To Make Quality Circles Effective?

Suggestions for effective use of quality

circles
 Obtain managerial support and involvement for the programme.
 Identify goals for the programme and evaluation criteria.
 Do not expect the QC programme to solve all problems in the organisation.
 Make sure managers realise that any changes will take time.
 Inform all employees about the philosophy and goals of the programme.
 Keep the programme voluntary.
 Select group members based on their technical expertise and their support
of the programme's goals.
 Prepare individuals for their new roles in a participative culture.
 Provide training for managers as coordinators.
 Offer training for support staff who will serve as facilitators.
 Start with a pilot test of the programme in a supportive department.
 Implement the suggestions made by employees.
 Give recognition for employees' efforts.

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Alternative Approaches To Participation

B. Quality Of Working Life

It is the degree to which members of a work organisation are able to
satisfy important personal needs through their experiences in the
organisation.

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Major issues in quality of working

life
 Pay
 Benefits
 Job security
 Alternative work schedules
 Flexitime
 Staggered hours
 Compressed work week
 Job enrichment
 Autonomous work groups
 Occupational stress
 Workers' participation
 Social integration
 Work and total life space.

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How to measure quality of working

life?
 Turnover data
 Morale surveys
 Number of grievances handled
 Absenteeism data
 Performance criteria
 Personal interviews carried out from time to time

Obstacles to quality of working life

programme
 Managerial attitudes
 Union's attitudes
 Cost considerations

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Improving the quality of working life

 Better employment conditions governing employee safety, health and

physical environment
 Equitable rewards in terms of pay, benefits, incentives and services
 Job security
 Enhancing the self-esteem of people
 Participative climate and team spirit
 Training to employees, managers and supervisors
 Autonomy to draw resources and deliver results
 Recognition for work done
 Job design and job enrichment
 Open and transparent management style
 Atmosphere of trust and open communication.

Participation And Empowerment