Most of the literature in the area of Participation in Decision Making (PDM) focuses
on the interest and desire of employees to participate in decision making. Many
studies conclude that, as a rule employees are interested to participate in decision
making (Parnell and Crandall, 2001) however, not too many studies really verify this conclusion.
Employees' participation in decision making in organizations is considered helpful
in achieving goals of employees and organizations. For employees, participation can
allow more influence at work, and enhance his or her self-realization, self-esteem,
satisfaction and sense of fairness. For the employing organization, participation can
improve communication and the quality of the decision-making process, and enhance
higher identification with the organization and commitment to implementation of decisions.
It is observed that employees' involvement in organizational decision making leads to
their identification with the organization and its decisions, and consequently contribute
to productivity and efficiency. Participation is also thought to improve the quality of
working life (Sagie and Koslowsky, 2000; Cheneg and Cloud, 2006; Lopez et al., 2006; and Nigboldus et al., 2008).
There are, however, few studies that question the assumed desire to participate
and claim that there are situations in which employees will lack that desire (McCarthy,
1989; and Heller, 1998). In the early 1970s, Walker (1974) published studies from Sweden
and Norway, which showed that most employees were not interested to participate
directly in managerial decision making but rather preferred to participate through their
elected representatives. In another study, Parsons (1997) showed that both British and
French employees did not rank participation among their higher priorities. Since then,
several investigators have shown that there are employees who are not interested in
participating in managerial decisions (Strauss, 1998; and Bar Haim, 2002). |
