Participative Management
Participative Leadership and Delegation
Deborah Clarke
Philadelphia University
Many people complain about their jobs. They feel that they have no say in what they do. They are given assignments and are expected to follow orders without question. For some people however, this isn’t the case. Some companies’ practice a management style called Participative management. Participative management “is a managerial style that invites input from employees on all company decisions.”(Anderson, 2013) Participative leaders consult with group members and use their suggestions before making decisions. The leader and the followers share in decision making; the leader’s role becomes primarily communication and facilitation. (Robbins, 2014) Participative leadership is not the right management style in all situations. It is best utilized when the task is complex and the quality of the outcome is important. These tasks require input from those performing the tasks and also when different points of view are needed so that the best outcome can be achieved. Because participative leadership requires a lot of trust, the organization has to be willing to give trust, and the employees have to be worthy of that trust. In my department, we would not be able to utilize this style with all of our teams. We have a group of people that needs to be monitored and assigned work. They have difficulty being autonomous and working independently. Also, due to some unfortunate circumstances with a previous manager, the employees do not trust the management team fully. If we suddenly switched to this style, they would think that we were up to no good. This group is not ready for participative management. Also, the nature of the work that they do isn’t a good fit for the participative style. (Anderson, 2013) Participative leadership can make acceptance of policies easier for staff to handle. If a person has a say in the policies that are implemented,
Deborah Clarke
Philadelphia University
Many people complain about their jobs. They feel that they have no say in what they do. They are given assignments and are expected to follow orders without question. For some people however, this isn’t the case. Some companies’ practice a management style called Participative management. Participative management “is a managerial style that invites input from employees on all company decisions.”(Anderson, 2013) Participative leaders consult with group members and use their suggestions before making decisions. The leader and the followers share in decision making; the leader’s role becomes primarily communication and facilitation. (Robbins, 2014) Participative leadership is not the right management style in all situations. It is best utilized when the task is complex and the quality of the outcome is important. These tasks require input from those performing the tasks and also when different points of view are needed so that the best outcome can be achieved. Because participative leadership requires a lot of trust, the organization has to be willing to give trust, and the employees have to be worthy of that trust. In my department, we would not be able to utilize this style with all of our teams. We have a group of people that needs to be monitored and assigned work. They have difficulty being autonomous and working independently. Also, due to some unfortunate circumstances with a previous manager, the employees do not trust the management team fully. If we suddenly switched to this style, they would think that we were up to no good. This group is not ready for participative management. Also, the nature of the work that they do isn’t a good fit for the participative style. (Anderson, 2013) Participative leadership can make acceptance of policies easier for staff to handle. If a person has a say in the policies that are implemented,
References: Anderson,A. Chron, The Houston Chronicle online. The Advantages of Participative Leadership. Retrieved November 20, 2013 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-participative-leadership-17629.html Nahavandi,A. (2012).The Art and Science of Leadership: 6th Edition. Boston, MA. Prentice Hall. Preserve Articles online. Retrieved November 21,2013 http://www.preservearticles.com/2012051932586/7-disadvantages-of-participative-or-democratic-leadership.html Robbin,S and Coulter, M (2014) Management, 12th edition. Boston, Ma. Pearson