What is participation?

What is participation?

Participation means to consult with their employees, bring them in on problems and decisions so that they work together as a team. The managers are not autocratic but neither are they managers who abandon their management responsibilities.

Element of participation/ Describe 3 ideas of participation

There are three ideas/ element of participation: - Ego involvement, Motivation to Contribute,  Acceptance of Responsibilities.

Ego involvement: Participation means meaningful involvement rather than mere muscular activities. A person who participates is ego-involved instead of merely task-involved. Some managers mistake task involvement for true participation. They go through the motions of participation, but nothing more. They hold meetings, ask opinions, and so on but all the time it is perfectly clear to employees that their manager is an autocratic boss who wants no ideas. These empty managerial actions constitute pseudo participation, with the result that employees fail to become ego-involved

Motivate to Contribute: The second concept in participation is that it motivates people to contribute.  They are empowered to release their own resources of initiative and creativity toward the objectives of the organization. Just as theory X.

Participation especially improves motivation by helping employees understand and clarify their paths toward goals. According to the path-goal model of leadership, the improved understanding of path-goal relationships produces a heightened sense of responsibility for goal attainment. The result is improved motivation.

Acceptance of Responsibility: Finally, participation encourages people to accept responsibility for their group activities. It is a social process by which people become self-involved in an organization and want to see it work successfully.

As individuals begin to accept responsibility for group activities, they see in it a way to do what they want to do, that is, to get a job done for which they feel responsible. This idea of getting the group to want teamwork is a key step in developing it into a successful work unit. When people what to do something, they will find a way. Under these conditions, employees see managers as supportive contributors to the team. Employees are ready to work actively with managers rather than reactively against them.