Participation

Abstract

Participation has been one of the magnificent obsessions of management since the early 1950s. The pressure for the development of participation came from a number of sources. First, there were behavioural scientists who advocated the development of participative management on the grounds that it would lead to more effective decisions; that if subordinates, whether managers or workers, were consulted or involved in the decision process the quality of the decisions would improve. It would also lead, they argued to a greater commitment to particular decisions and hopefully to the organisation itself. In participative management the outcome, it was claimed, would be ‘we’ decided, in constrast to the view that ‘he’ decided, or that with bargaining, ‘it’ was decided. Further, it was thought that greater involvement would lead to a growth of trust and confidence through the diminution of barriers of communication and of feelings. Finally, participative management would contribute to the development of individuals and facilitate their ‘self-actualisation’.