EMPLOYEE PATICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING AND ITS IMPACT ON PRODUCTIVITY AN APPRASIAL OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING PRESS AND TWO OTHER PRIVATE FIRMS IN ENUGU AND LAGOS

ABSTRACT

This research work is centered on the employee participation in decision making  and  its  impact  on  productivity:  an  appraisal  of  government printing press and two other private firms in Enugu and Lagos. Research into leadership style has exposed employee’s desire for involvement in decision making in their organizations. Employees are at the same time important elements in organizational goals. But there is no democratic participation of employee in most of our organizations and employee are forced to cope with autocratic style of government and leadership. The research adopted the survey research method and is highly descriptive and inferential in nature. This involved the use of tables and simple percentages as basic statistical tool employed to analyze the raw data. The raw data was consequently subjected to Chi-square test as a major tool for hypothesis test and analysis .All the alternative hypotheses of the

four hypothesis postulated were all accepted showing that the extent of employee’s involvement in decision making process of the organization is low, employee participation in decision making has an impact on job satisfaction, it also has an effect on employee performance and finally employee participation in decision making has an impact on organizational productivity .Findings revealed that among other things that the non involvement of employee in organizational decision making impacts heavily on the organization’s productivity .it was concluded that the management in Nigerian work enterprises are not favorably disposed towards granting employee significant measure of involvement in management decision making. Hence a lot is needed to be done to change the current negative disposition of the Nigerian companies/ establishment management towards employee involvement in management decision making .Finally it recommended among other things that for employee participation to be effective, the commitment of both employers and employees are required to facilitate its initiatives.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The concept of employee participation represents a popular theme in  the  analysis  of  the  world  of  work  among  scholar  in  the  fields  of industrial sociology, industrial relations as well as management (Noah,2002,2).it refers to any arrangement which is designed to involve employees  (workers)  in  decision  making  within  the  workplace.  This implies that rather than saddling only a group within the enterprise with the responsibility of making decision, all those who are to be affected by these decisions including the employees or workers would be involved in its formulation and implementation.

In recent times, scholars have directed increasing attention to the issue of employee participation and its broader corollary, industrial democracy. In the United States, industrial democracy is practiced, employees are encouraged to buy shares in their companies enabling them to have a say in the management of their organization, in other developed countries like Britain, Germany and Russia, participatory management is popular.

In Britain and Russia, it is known as joint consolation and self management respectively while in Germany, it is known as co- determination (Mankidy,1984:239,yesufu,1984:20,Adenumi,1993:14, verma and syha:1991:28) These concerns reflect a growing interest in finding  ways  to  make  work  more  meaningful  and  satisfying  to  the workers.

This   rests   on   the   belief   that   organizational   goals   of   high productivity and harmonious industrial relations are best achieved when higher level needs of human elements (employees) are satisfied. Employee or worker participation implies arrangements which are designed to involve workers in the enterprise or organization decision making process. This allows for workers involvement in the initiation, formulation and implementation of reasons within the organization the concept can also understood in terms of a new approach to industry and society in which people want to be interested with the taking decisions which have direct bearing on them (Eilson, 1986:2)

Macgregor   (1960:14)   contends   that   employee   participation consists basically in creating opportunity under suitable conditions for people to influence decisions which affects them. It is a special case of delegation in which the subordinate gain greater control, greater freedom of choice with respect to bridging the communication gap between the

management and the employee. This serves to create a sense of belonging among the workers as well as a conducive environment in which both the workers would voluntarily contribute to healthy industrial relations. In Nigeria, participatory management has come a long way, the  Nigerian  military  government  in  1971  decided  to  democratize industrial ownership  in  Nigeria  by  promulgating  the  Nigerian indigenization decree part of which provides that 10 Percent total equity share of any enterprise on schedule 2 and 3 should be reserved for workers. This is to ensure that employee have a sense of belonging in their respective organizational (Damachi, 1990:26).

Damachi (1990:2) also is of the view that participative decision making  can  be  possible  in  a  sector  of  economy  and  not  in  all government owned enterprises because of the government intention to mobilize popular support for development. He  goes further to say that workers participation in the multinational companies, on the other hand has at best remained elusive most of these companies are controlled by and depend on their parent bodies abroad for policies and decision. Among the indigenous employers, particularly the small and medium sized   organization,   their   attitude   to   workers   is   paternalistic   and authoritian.

Their activities are often shrouded in secrecy. They are suspicions of the workers and  therefore cannot afford  to share information and decision with them we have experiences of some managers that fail to delegate, as they do not go on leaves, where some go, they are on working leave, still attending work, some while on the leave lock up certain jobs/documents in their drawers, thus making such pending till they resume, where as participative management involves nothing more than sharing information with subordinates.

Specifically,  the  refusal of  work  organizations  to  recognize  the human  factor  in  industrial production  through  greater  involvement  of employee in its management decision making would tend to create several human problems in this setting. An employee is a social being who  bring  his  personality,  hopes,  aspiration,  anxieties  feeling  and attitude to the work place. He seeks satisfaction and meaning in his work as he does in other spheres of life. Despite this recognition, there has been no much study on employee participation in decision making and its impact on productivity in Enugu and Lagos. This research work attempts to fill this knowledge gap by providing data on the level of the employee Involvement in decision making and factors which will aid or hider the observed level of participation in government printing press and two other private publishing firms.

1.2    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Research into leadership style has exposed employee’s desire for involvement in decision making in their various organization. Employees are at the same time important elements of the accomplishment of the organizational goals, and thus organizational survival. But there is no democratic participation of employee in decision making process in most of our organizations; consequently, the employee are forced to cope with the autocratic style of government.

Specifically, the refusal of management of organizations to recognize the human element in industrial production through greater involvement of employees  in  its management decision-making  would lead to create serious human problems. The employees are restricted and denied the opportunity to utilize their potentials fully and effectively under such management control, the employee engage in negative behaviours like absenteeism, apathy low commitment and in fact low productivity which negatively affect the organization. The problem mainly lies on the fact that participation though obtained has not been clearly understood as well as it benefits some of the managers feel that the decision making process is their sole prerogative and as such should be protected.

Again top management likes to remain aloof from its employee to build anal   important   air   around   them   but   this   is   negatively   affecting productivity as  the  employee do not give out their best .It therefore based on the foregoing that this research work wants to unravel the impact that employee participation in managerial decision making has on productivity.

1.3    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study is to determine level of employee participation in management decision making and its impact on productivity with reference to government printing press and two other private publishing firms in Enugu and Lagos. Specifically therefore the study aims at achieving the following:-

1.      To ascertain if and to what extent employee are involved in the decision making process in the organization under study.

2.      To  find  out  if  employee  participation  in  management  decision making has any impact on job satisfaction of employee in the organizations under study.

3.      To  find  out  if  employee  participation  in  management  decision making has any impact on employee performance in the organizations under study.

4.      To  find  out  if  employee  participation  in  management  decision making have any impact on organizational productivity of the organizations under study.

1.4    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions will guide the study.

1. To  what  extent  are  employees  involved  in  the  decision-making process in the organizations under study?

2. Do employee participation in management decision making have any impact on job satisfaction of the employee in the organizations under study?

3. Do employee participation in management decision making have any effect on employee performance of the organizations under study?

4. Do employee participation in management decision making have any impact  on  organizational  productivity  of  the  organizations  under study?

1.5    RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The following null hypothesis are formulated for this research work

Ho:   The  extent  of  employee  involvement  in  the  decision  making process in the organizations under study is low.

H1:   The  extent  of  employee  involvement  in  the  decision  making process in the organizations under study is high.

Ho:   Employee  participation  in  the  decision  making  process  has  no impact on job satisfaction of the organizations under study.

H2:   Employee participation in the decision making process has impact on job satisfaction of the organizations under study.

Ho:   Employee  participation  in  the  decision  making  process  has  no effect on employee performance of the organizations under study.

H3:   Employee participation in the decision making process has effect on employee performance of the organizations under study.

Ho: Employee  participation  has  no  impact  on  organizational productivity of the organizations under study.

H4:   Employee participation has impact on organizational productivity of the organizations under study.

1.6    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is a research work into an assessment of employee participation in decision making and its impact on production with reference to government printing press and two other private publishing firms in Enugu and Lagos. The study will therefore will be significant in

the following ways: Practically, it will raise the productivity level of employee/workers through appropriate motivational techniques. The involvement of employee in management decision making is seen as a means of inducing motivation in the workers leading to positive work attitude and productivity.

Also the study is also necessary in view of the benefits of employee participation in organization and the society at large employee participation is capable of providing workers and employee with conductive work environment, opportunity to exercise their innate potentials and willingness to pure corporate goals of the organization. Theoretically, the study will contribute to the enrichment of literature on employee participation in decision making and its impact on productivity.

1.7    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This work covers the impact of employee participation in management decision making and organizational productivity with particular reference to government printing press, Rocanna Nigeria Ltd in Enugu and Dominion publishing House in Lagos. It is the desire of the  researcher  to  investigate  on  more  firm  but due  to  limited  time, financial constraints and unwillingness of some managers in using their organization for research by the researcher.

1.8    LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The researcher encountered a lot of constraints and  limitations during  the  research  work  which  are  usually  encountered  during  the course of such academic exercise. Collection of primary data for this study was a major constraint as the researcher has to be present on the field personally in all the data collection processes.

Financial constraints also posed a major problem during the investigation. The researcher would have wanted to carry the same type of  investigation  in  similar  firms  but  for  financial constraints.  Time  is another limitation encountered during the course of the study. Time constraint have forced the researcher to concentrate on the employee participation in decision making and its impact on productivity rather than extending it to the entire human resources management practice sometimes, secondary data collected were not reliable , hence they were rejected. A lot of time was spent on the selection and examination of secondary data for the study. Delay in filling and returning of questionnaires by respondents, smallness of sample due partly to limited financial resources and finally lack of significant research and literature were also limitations encountered.

1.9    DEFINITION OF TERMS

Employee: A person who is paid to work for somebody.

Employee participation:     This is the process whereby employees are involved in the decision making, rather than simply acting on orders.

Productivity:    This is a performance measure encompassing both efficiency and effectiveness.

Decision Making: This is an art considering and making a judgement concerning a particular issue or issues.

Employee Commitment:     This is referred to as congruence between goals of the individual and organization whereby the individual identifies with and extends effort on the behalf of the general goals of the organization.

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