Participative Management refers to as an open form of management where employees are actively involved in the organization’s decision making process. Participative Management can also be termed as ‘Industrial Democracy’, ‘Co-determination’, ‘Employee Involvement’ as well as ‘Participative Decision Making’.
The concept is applied by the managers who understand the importance to human intellect and seek a strong relationship with their employees. They understand that the employees are the facilitators who deal directly with the customers and satisfy their needs.
Involvement of employees and other stakeholders who will be influenced by management decisions in helping to make those decisions. Participative management can increase employee commitment to an organization 's goals at the same time it offers fresh insights into how the organization can become more effective. The idea behind employee involvement at every stage of decision making is absolutely straight. Open and honest communication always produces good results both for organization as well as workers. Freedom and transparency in company’s operations take it to the next level and strengthens the basis of the organization. On the other hand, there are several companies that straightway rule out the possibility of participative decision making process. According to them, employees misuse their freedom of expression and participation in decision making as it provides higher status to employees and empowers them.
However, there are many companies who have embraced this particular style of management and are now getting positive results. Toyota is the best example. The company has been following suggestion schemes and employee involvement procedures for over a decade now. The management receives almost 2,000,000 suggestions and ideas every year and around 95 percent of these are implemented by the company. Who is not aware of Toyota’s success rate? Around five
References: 1) http://business.yourdictionary.com/participative-management 2) http://www.academia.edu/467403/Why_should_Employees_participate_in_management_decisions_The_advantages_of_participative_management 3) http://www.ehow.com/info_8526128_disadvantages-participative-management.html 4) Lawler III., Edward E. 1996. From the Ground Up: Six Principles for Building the New Logic Corporation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. P. 22. 5) http://www.managementstudyguide.com/participative-management.htm